Peruvian Nights and Jamaican Days

IN OTHER NEWS I JUST REMEMBERED..

I'm working on submitting a paper to a journal (Landscape and Urban Planning), so blogging may not be extensive in the near future. Then again, it may be heavy, as I try to avoid actual work.

I suck at trout fishing. We got up at 3:45 this morning so we could drive to this lake nearby, and get in some fishing, and be back by 7:30 so Jenn could get purdied up and go to a conference thingy by 8:30. Yup. Caught nuthin'. We even cheated (bait). I don't get that lake..

Wednesday night we went to open mic night at the local coffee shop, Coal Creek (see the link on the left). Damn. There are lots of talented people 'round these parts. If I remember right, there were about 10 different individuals/groups that played/read. Only 2 poets. They weren't that great. Typical "I have angst, dammit" and "I am goth, dammit" kind of stuff. But the music was pretty great, really. Of the 8 or so people (mostly guitar people), there was only one that wasn't pleasant to listen to. He was a 14' tall cowboy guy that did a cover of Johnny B. Goode, Desperado, and, worst of all, the worst version of Folsom Prisom Blues I've ever heard (and I've heard MYSELF do it on a number of occasions!!) Johnny B. Goode...Ha! Not too Goode. He was about my skill level as far as guitar goes, a worse singer (so overall pretty horrible), but massive. Apart from that..Maggie Simpson (not the one from The Simpson's)..who is actually (pretty sure about this) the daughter of the brother of Alan Simpson (I disremember the brother's name..for now I'll call him 'Carl' - think he's famous, too). She is pretty amazing. Kreg Viesselman, another guy we saw at Coal Creek once, said that "when Maggie sings, it makes me want to pee my pants." Pretty good description. I believe my first reaction to her was, "Man..that is one funky white lady..."

Uh. Other notables..Some dude named David Lightborn (something like that) that looked pretty much just like Steve Buschemi (too lazy to find out how to spell that for real) but did these amazingly good renditions of old blues songs by Blind Blake and others..then..a girl that sang a real tender and moving song that was sort of a love song she wrote for bread products (she had kind of a Juliana Hatfield thing going on)..some guy that was younger than me but played guitar like an old blues man, though his singing stunk..oh..some lady that got up and did 3 songs and pretty much blew everyone away and then refused to do more because she said she hadn't practiced anything else...then there were a couple of guys...with guitars..better guitar players and singers than me..you know, only mildly bad..but they had no banter skill, and they sang pretty normal (original, but very Matchbox 20ish) stuff (boohoo I'm a sad white kid)..probably forgetting some people..anyway.. If you're ever coming to visit us, you should plan your trip so you're here on the first Wednesday night of some month..so you can catch the open mic thing.

I think Fairly Crass (w/ special guest Bongwater Taffy and/or Shaken Moneymaker Syndrome) would be a big hit there. Probably wouldn't make any damned money, though.

uh. and my time limit is now up.

-m