brownie

Wow, very small!

I'm in Parsippany. Many years ago, I used to work in Murray Hill and my coworkers and I would sometimes go to Scotch Plains for lunch or dinner. These days, I only get there to meet an old friend from those days at the Charlie Brown's there near Westfield.

Yes, first time I've been to SOPAC. Somehow I didn't know it existed until recently, which is odd since I'm only a half hour away myself. I loved the venue! I want to see all of my favorite bands there! And the Furs were awesome! I don't even want to think about how many years it's been since I last saw them. This may have been the most enjoyable Furs show I've ever seen....the crowd was totally into it and Richard Butler ate it up and fed off it. There was dancing in the aisles! (including by me)

Psychedlic Furs

Sure, that would be fun. PM me closer to the day and we'll sort it out.

Hey, I'm going to that one too! I also have Kermit Ruffins coming up in February.

Yes! It's been practically the only thing I've listened to in my car for at least a month, probably more than a month. The more I hear it, the more I love it. I still don't feel like I know it inside out yet, though. (I don't spend huge amounts of time in the car every day.)

NRBQ via Yo La Tengo's cover of What Can I Say on their Fakebook album. I went on to become a bigger fan of NRBQ than of Yo La Tengo!

That would be Down From Above, no? Every time that song plays I think I'm listening to Pavement. I am really coming to love this album. I find myself listening to it more and more as time goes on, finding more and more subtle details that draw me in. That hasn't happened to me with the last few Wilco albums, so I'm very glad to see myself really falling for Jeff's music in a long-term kind of way again.

I gave Sukierae its first listen on a road trip yesterday. The two songs I found myself repeating right off the bat are Please Don't Let Me Be So Understood (wow, what a great sound to open the album with) and Summer Noon. It's definitely a great "car" album!

Wow, Dumptruck?! I loved this band back in the day. I didn't know they were still around! I would love to hear about this show.

I'm about halfway through my first listen via a stream on The Guardian site. My first reaction is that many of the songs have very "different" sonic things going on, which is definitely engaging and makes for very interesting listening. This is a good thing.

Just home from a free Emmylou Harris/Rodney Crowell show. Great stuff. Emmylou never changes. This is a good thing.

I saw Jerry Seinfeld last night. I laughed so hard, my face hurt.

The show was very enjoyable. The last few songs were the best....among them, Ain't That Enough, The Concept, and Sparky's Dream were all played back to back to back....that was enough to nearly make my head explode. I had only seen this band once before, many years ago when they opened for Radiohead, when Radiohead was still a fairly small band. At the time, I wasn't really familiar with their material. I'm glad I finally got to see them again after all these years!

Teenage Fanclub

A few weeks ago I saw a Queen tribute band called Almost Queen who were surprisingly good. In fact, there is a quote from Howard Stern on Almost Queen's website that says the Almost Queen show is better than the current Queen (+ Adam Lambert) that's touring now. In the past week I've seen Matthew Sweet (great) and NRBQ (first time I've seen them since it's become Terry Adams and 3 Guys I Don't Know - not sure what to make of that show, actually).

Too funny! I've lived in NJ my entire life, so I guess I have to respond to this one. To live in NJ you should * Love Springsteen, Sinatra or Bon Jovi Never a big fan of either Springsteen or Bon Jovi, but I do love a lot of Sinatra. (Although never a "huge" fan.) * Know the best hole in the wall pizza joints Reservoir Tavern in Boonton * Know what exit you live off of on the Parkway (135/137) or Turnpike (14 A) I don't live anywhere near either of those highways, but if I had to choose, I'd say Exit 145 off the Parkway and 15W off the Turnpike. And then add about a half

No. I don't think I have a favorite band any more. My favorite band is whichever one is knocking me out at the moment. And that seems to fluctuate between at least 10 different bands/artists these days, and almost seems to depend on which one I last listened to with any purpose and intensity. Wilco is definitely among my favorites, but I can't pick one. The last time I could zoom in on one favorite was almost 10 years ago.

Or why not just have the deluxe edition option when the album is initially released? I love Yo La Tengo, and I love this album. I would have gone for a deluxe edition on the first go around. But I'm not buying it again.

I was at Neil's showcase in NYC on Thursday promoting this album. He had a 9 piece string section, a drummer, a keyboardist (the arranger), and Neil mostly played grand piano. The show was phenomenal, and the new songs were unlike anything I've heard from Neil before. Almost jazzy, very late night vibe. Fabulous.

Agreed. I loved the last one, but can't seem to get any excitement going for this one.

Well, I guess if the only thing that puts a place to work in the top twenty is salary, then people might think this is okay. Honestly, salary has become almost secondary in this job. The harrassment from both students and administration outweighs any salary for me.

Really? You think he could be President? I don't see it. He just seems too "in your face" to me. Mind you, Chris Christie was born and raised, and still lives, within 25 miles of where I have lived my entire life. If anyone here is from NJ, it has been offered up to me by others who were born and raised here, that he is trying to be "Nicky Newark." *laughs* Those from northern NJ know exactly what I"m talking about. Others, sorry, I honestly can't explain it, you'd have to have grown up in northern NJ.

Okay, I admit that I saw red when I'd read that statement and responded rashly. More reasoned response: Your statement implies that more teachers are skating by than not. I just don't see it. Not in my school, anyway (a public school of about 1300 students), nor in the other high school in my town which is about the same size. We all work like dogs. Math, science, English, social studies, etc. Maybe there are a few who skate by, they are a few. I would have to think hard to actually name one. What a lot of people don't seem to realize is that for a teacher to be all things to al