You guys need to read this.

What first caught my eye was that it was written by Steve Earl (who opened for DMB in Philly last month). I had known in doing some research on him before the concert that he was a passionate opponent of the death penalty. Now I know in part why.

The article posted on Utne is Earl’s first-person narrative of Jonathan Nobles’ last 10 days, spent on death row in September 1998. Earl and he had written back and forth for 10 years, finding a common bond in a similar history (prison, drugs, rehab). The humanity and intensity of their friendship really comes through as he and his friend face Nobles’ death. Very well done.  § “”

U2 finally announced their official tour dates today. Ooooh: MCI Center: DC: June 14th.

Now the big question is seating. The way they set it up is $45 general admission, $130 Golden Circle seats (off the floor, next to their heart-shaped catwalk around the arena), and $85 kinda other seats. First of all…damn. Those are some large numbers for tickets. So the big question is do I go for the cheap, up close (in theory) “seats” to the band, and risk being mauled in the process, go for the expensive good seats along the perimeter or risk being up in the rafters like at First Union in December?

Then comes into play getting the tickets. Last time around my girlfriend and I got tickets for Pop in Raleigh, but as luck would have it: cancelled. Leave it to the largest LED display in the world (picture a big ass Lite-Brite) to be touchy in the rain. Propaganda will be providing tickets to members through a more clunky, though admittedly less frequent, system than the DMB Warehouse: the U.S. Postal Service. So do I wait out Prop? Succumb to TicketBastard/SFX? Or whore myself out to both?

Ideas? Suggestions? White or Wheat?  § “”

I determined the other night that popcorn is the work of the devil. Not evil, really, just a little joke that the malicious entity of your choice likes to exact every now and then.

Sure, I get cravings for its buttery goodness once in a while, but I can’t explain them. I have never had popcorn without several of the kernel husks being thoroughly lodged between my gums and teeth. After too many minutes of dental wrangling I usually finally pull the sonsabitches out of my mouth. Sometimes I won’t notice a tricky one until the next morning. (Stupid popcorn.)

I’m also one of those types who, after the popcorn’s gone, usually start in on the unpopped kernels. They’re kinda fun to eat, but hazardous on the teeth. Maybe it was a dentist somewhere who invented the stuff.

So my message is this: Beware Jiffy Pop and beware the deranged Orville Redenbacher! (I have messages now? Since when do I have messages?)  § “”

I finally got my act together and cleaned the place up. Vacuuming, sweeping, wiping, laundry, dishes, the whole bit.

While waiting on the 6th load of laundry to finish, I found these. I bet they would be great to watch absolutely wasted.  § “”