Beltmann

I'm occasionally confused for Stephen Colbert, but more frequently Bob Saget.

You've elucidated the difference between polished technique and meaningful self-expression (which sometimes has little to do with conventional notions of craft). In my view, being able to appreciate the difference is key to being able to appreciate art.

I was surprised. I'm definitely among those that think the live incarnations were (substantially) less than stellar. Let's hope the tune underwent some major evolution in the studio.

I didn't know the purpose of criticism was to help others make up their mind. Interesting.

I have no idea what the best album of all time is, but my favorite is YHF.

Definitely. It's pretty close in spirit to All About My Mother and Talk To Her. (I thought I was the only one who rates Live Flesh so highly!)

It's no Talk to Her, but I enjoyed it.

Ditto. Unfortunately, I've curbed my trading to such a degree that I don't bother with BT. I'll have to wait for somebody to help me out with an old-fashioned trade or B&P, but I can be patient a little while longer.

I have nuts. Do you hate me?

I've been addicted to their new one all week.

http://www.daytrotter.com/

The lack of audience may be a trend... Autumn Defense is set to play Milwaukee soon, and this week the Pabst Theatre started giving away free tickets to their email subscribers. There's no catch; just go online and print one off.

Way to rub it in.

I loved it. It was the soundtrack of my summer.

Happy birthday, Allison! Hope to see you again soon!

It's impossible to stop kids from using Cliffs Notes or SparkNotes, or whatever. I just tell them that if they want to use that stuff, they should use it as a supplement to the actual reading. Reading those without actually reading the book is akin to reading a movie review and saying you saw the movie--there's a huge difference in experience, and what's lost in the summarizing process can't be substituted for by any kind of outside analysis, no matter how complete or perceptive.

You, sir, should go into marketing.

In general, I don't care about licensing songs for advertising. It's a non-issue for me. In most cases, I think the whole idea of "selling out" is an artificial distinction based upon an artificial, idealized notion of artistic purity. In related news, this morning I heard the New Pornographers in a commercial for (I think) Phoenix University, and I've been hearing Spoon all over the place.

Same here!

John Candy fans? Why, yes.

Interesting how "Satan Said Dance" is already shaping up to be one of the most polarizing songs of the year. I definitely dig it--I find the strange clacks, noises, and electronic clutter deeply musical. Like the album overall, it's really grown on me. But I should probably stop playing the song around the house. Tonight, at the dinner table, my 2-year-old daughter suddenly started singing, in a quiet whisper, "Say-tan, Say-tan..." That'll be tough to explain to her grandmother (a lifelong church secretary).

Neal: [riding in the back of a pickup] What do you think the temperature is? Del: One.

On Friday, our super swore to us that we would have school today. We closed.