hello.

i’ve been in allentown for two plus weeks and it’s not at all like billy joel said it was. there are a lot of diners here (complete with the claw-grabby-stuffed-animal thing. i almost won an orange fish). and there was snow a few days ago. and an amazing architectural structure called the toff mahal.

anyway, there’s also a great basement here, the basement of the Richman family, where Dave and their son Adam and I have been making sweet sweet music for twelve hours a day. it’s been wonderful.

i miss the sun.

i’ll see the west coast soon.

dave drunk-dialed me last night from gainesville.. the connection was really bad so i couldn’t really hear what he said, but i think it was something about a country estate.. i don’t know what that means, but i’m sure that it’s a lot more fun than this electoral politics reading.

in the last two days i experienced the best and the worst that music has to offer.

the worst: kenny chesney and uncle cracker on conan obrien.. it was seriously the most derivative frankensteined focus-grouped song that i have ever heard. it has the chord progression of the famous uncle cracker song (follow me), the intro riff of the sugar ray classic (fly), and the feel of jimmy buffet (who, as a sidenote, i like from time to time).. the song included a lyric that went something like “we’ll be hanging around, things will be easy/we’ll by lying in the hammock, where it is breezy” and kenny chesney was wearing a cowboy hat, a cut-off baby blue shirt, jeans, and sandals (the style-child of garth brooks and jack johnson).. and it was all done seriously.. awful.

the best: the we are scientists/bishop allen/on the speakers show.. it was an all-out rock extravaganza.. on the speakers was great, bishop allen was fantastic, and we are scientists made people touch themselves.. honestly, it was the truest rock show that i’ve ever been at. thank you WAS and company for redeeming music for me.