Less than one week to go until my M.A. oral comprehensive exam. Please God, make this stuff stick in my head and come out of my mouth in some kind of coherent way. Its all or nothing, pass or fail, and no second chances. Everything else is finished. I either get the M.A., or I don't. Kinda stressful, but I will prevail. Please God...

Now we are launching missiles at Libya. Why? I don't really understand it. I am no friend of Gadhafi by any means, but why do we care? I do not understand.

Why is my tax money being used to drop bombs on Libya? What the FUCK?!?!

We are addicted to war.

Another night online. Tonight I'm watching PJ Harvey videos, among other things. She's been making music which has captivated me for 20 years now, I guess. She doesn't have anything close to a lame album, hardly even a weak song. There are very few artists making popular music who stand up to her in terms of longevity and quantity of quality. There are a few; I put her on the short list along with Dylan, Sonic Youth, maybe Neil Young, possibly Prince. I'm probably forgetting somebody, but there ain't many. She's one of the big ones, it is becoming more and more apparent these days. Her new album, Let England Shake, is fantastic. How many musicians are actively breaking new ground in their 40's? I could imagine her doing this for another 20 years. Her music is a serious pleasure for me, and I am one who has always taken my pleasures rather more seriously than maybe I ought to.





Hope all is well with everybody.

Hello all. Captain Amerika sends greeting from Washington, DC, where the new congress is now in session. What will happen? Is this government being called to account by the will of the people, or one more step towards literal fascism? Will Captain Amerika be able to stop the villains, give aid and comfort to the good, and generally help get turn Amerika back into America?

Stay tuned.

I felt restless this evening, and just had to get outta the apt. Looking thru the local nitelife paper, I saw that Rev. Horton Heat was playing in town, so I set out for the show. I don't go to too many shows anymore, but he (or would I say 'they'?) is one of the good ones.

Anyway, I got there during the second opening band, who were sooo boring, although some of the crowd seemed to be into them. My tolerance for bands I find dull is really low. They did play some radio hits, tho, so I finally understood why some of the crowd seemed to be so into them, including several hot girls. The band was Cracker. This was like music these girls remembered from childhood. I can understand that. I remember seeing Peter Frampton in the early 90's, and how fun it was to hear him play his radio hits from the mid 70's that I knew as a kid. Still, Cracker was terribly boring.

Rev. Horton Heat was in fine form, as usual. True show-biz professionals, and a good sound, a cross between rockabilly and hardcore, maybe? Also, not only was it fun, but also educational. One of his new songs is about how the Suaro cactus, frequently used in graphic representations of Texas, does not in fact grow in Texas. (The peyote cactus, however, does, among several other varieties.) Anyway, an OK nite. Got my restless itchies out.

"They say goldfish have no memory.
I guess their lives are much like mine,
And the little plastic castle
Is a surprise every time.
It's hard to say if they're happy,
But they don't seem much to mind."

Do ya ever feel like Ani in that song? The capacity to forget is a great blessing.