My loving spouse reminds me that I have been remiss in my duty to keep her and the other (theoretical) readers of this blog occasionally entertained with my pithy observations and snotty asides.

So, let's see. I went to Seattle & Portland last weekend for a conference. Hefted many a brew with my friend DJ William F. Buckley, Jr. (no, seriously!) (but that's not his real name). While walking about downtown Seattle, the two of us encountered the Juggalo Army and lived to survive. Favorite moment in that was a young Juggalo decked out in his Insane Clown Army best shouting to a parking lot full of similarly-made up young people: "Can I get a whoot-whoot?" Dead silence.

I visited my wife's aunt at her store in Pike Place Market, Cibola (stop in and buy something) and got a tour of the Market from her friend, who presides over the scene from his overlooking apartment.

I drove down to Portland and stayed with some great people and met a few others. Also got to visit Powell's City of Books and drop some dough.

On the pop culture front, Deadwood is still killing me. The episode this week even mocked the High Victorian locution of the characters, which is so very, very rich. I've been rewatching The Wire, too. Season 1 is even better on second viewing. Knowing what's going to happen demonstrates the care and craft of each well-laid plot point and characterization. Even as pissed as I am about HBO not giving Deadwood a full 4th season (and believe me when I say that I'm mightily pissed), I'm torn by my love of the network's willingness to back these dramas despite their lack of any concessions to mainstream TV.

Books: Since the last update, I've read Beto Hernandez's Palomar (I mentioned this a while back), Caetano Veloso's autobiography Tropical Truth, Miles Marshall Lewis's There's A Riot Goin' On (a 33 1/3 book), and a shitload of books about Sufism and Sufi wisdom for my own forthcoming literary attempt for the fine 33 1/3 series.

Speaking of that, how can I leave without some plummy youtube goodness? Here's one of Richard Thompson at age 17 tearing it up with The Fairport Convention (the lead singers are Ian Matthews and Judy Dyble):



And HEY, here's the adult Richard Thompson on the ever-popular "1952 Vincent Black Lightning":



What the heck. It's been a while since I posted, so one more. This one is from the Live at Austin City Limits dvd with Michael Jerome on drums and frequent collaborator Danny Thompson (no relation) of the great 60s band The Pentangle on bass.