LATEST ADDITIONS

I'm getting excited about the Show. You know what <a href="http://www.he2006.com/">Show</a&gt; I'm talking about. I have this good feeling that I'm going to rock it. Hmm, thinking back, I've actually had this good feeling before every show I've attended. Then, I get there, I shake somebody's hand, and I get sick. Disappointed and fatigued, I get left in the dust. <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/010606neer/">The guys call me names.</a> But, that's not going to happen this time. No, it isn't. Today is a new day.

When I was a corporate speechwriter, I wrote a speech for the head of the "research" division. He bragged that his store could track customers so accurately through their purchases that he could send targeted sales supplements to expecting parents, in some cases, <I>before</I> the wife informed her husband she was pregnant.

Back before music fans morphed into gaming fans, before lip synching became the rage, before utter horseshit like American Idol was even a wet dream, there were thriving clubs and committed music freak club owners like Clifford Antone.

There are LP collectors and then there are those <I>freakin' record lickers.</I>

Craig Robins couldn't understand why his favorite show wasn't available on DVD, but instead of carping about it, he bought the rights and released it himself. I'd consider buying a copy for that alone, but now that I know that the show in question was written by Steven Moffat, who created <I>Coupling</I>, it's a no-brainer.

I'm listening to Margot & the Nuclear So and So's now. They sing songs about vampires and kittens, mice and clowns. You might like them. Their story is one of poverty and despair and desolation thwarted by sudden friendship, a burst of creativity, and life on the road. It sounds familiar, but then not. They make music with trumpets and cellos and keys.

English comedy doesn't work in German&mdash;and that's no joke. Blame it on a "geographical accident."