Ahahaha I was gonna tag you, but assumed your pain was already pretty severe.

Missed ya too. I checked my messages recently and saw a ton of baseball shoutouts from y'all. How was it around here when the Cubbies won?

(I'm the tuxie tho I call dibs, arguewithatree)

I have been what some may call a 'silent observer'. But I promise I am working on a long post for you all, slowly, intermittently, and between the very few times I'm not working 18 hour days.

Well I would love number 7, if still available, mon amie.

I promise! Hahaha. We've just been a bit busy lately with Chelsea doing her thesis and me working a ton. But it'll be up soon for sure.

It's my survival friend. We got caught in one hell of an ice and wind storm last night and got pounded by it walking back. Of course, face was just fine. Beard looked even more fantastic afterward too.

I'm telling you, man, I've been to literally hundreds, possibly thousands of shows. Nothing I've ever been to has compared to seeing him. There is an unreal energy about every single aspect of his shows. I can't fathom what he has planned for a free festival, in his home, with the lit up inner harbor.

In. Chelsea and I will do a joint one just as soon as we decide what we want to talk about. We're very reclusive people, so we really have to wrack our brains for something worth talking about.

Mom had her surgery. It went well. She was in the ICU for a week, then in the recovery rooms, and went home the other day. Getting more info from her is like pulling teeth, but she sounds like she's in great shape.

She would be better, but apparently on one of her last days, her mother called and wasn't making any sense. A check later and they determined she had a stroke. Major surgery that gets rid of cancer, and then her mother's in the hospital. This poor woman can't catch a break.

But all in all, good news for her future it seems.

In other news, we survived the storm in DC this weekend. arguewithatree and I went walking in the blizzard on Saturday for fun. My beard got... a bit frozen.

Today was the first day back at work too. We had every day from Friday until Tuesday with the entire city shut the fuck down because they, even with nearly two weeks' warning, couldn't properly coordinate clearing the roads. They're still a mess in most places.

I'll also be back around these parts. I took a break from pretty much everything for a while because I'd been working an obscene amount between my job and bartending and stress was just weighing me down hard.

Additionally, is anyone here familiar with Maine? Chelsea and I are tentatively planning on driving up for her second Spring Break (She calls in Jesusween because they have spring break and Easter break, because Jesuits are serious about this shit) and wanted to see if anyone had suggestions. We were thinking of going to Portland, because if we're up there we absolutely have to, and maybe do some nature trips, but I don't know enough to know where exactly.

The National is one of my absolute all time favorite bands. I've seen them perform 5 times between festivals and their own shows.

St. Paul is some fantastic, new soul from a guy you would never expect to have a voice, let alone one with that much soul in it.

I've heard Cold War Kids put on a hell of a show, but I can't speak from experience.

Shakey Graves is an absolute must. By far one of the most talented musicians working today. Try to be sober for that, if at all possible. He's truly phenomenal.

Ahhhh, I know the place! I'll pop in next time I'm out there and add more stickers. I have such an incredible amount of them.

Interesting story about that. My boss is Bosnian and was telling me the story of how during the siege of Sarajevo, Iron Maiden was one of the only bands that came to play, where they were already loved. He said they almost worship Bruce Dickenson as an idol there now. There was a great article about it all too. I'll loop you in when I post it.

So I need to send you a PM to get your address. Last night at my bar I had two Puerto Rican metal bands playing that put on one hell of a show. I thought you might be into it, so I grabbed two CDs for you for Christmas.

I love love love visiting it. But my friends that live there are going stir crazy. It's tough for some people to live like that. I really think it's one of the few areas of California that I can say I truly love.

Was the ice cream shop also a donut shop just off the town center?

You should see my shave kit from before my beard/when I shaved my mustache. A Gillette fatboy, a Merkel, and a thinner Gilette circa 1957. Boar's hair brush, of course, shaving soap puck, stiptic pencil, and after shave cream of either eucalyptus or... Shit, what was it? Witch something. Witch hazel?

Did you see BrewDog's blog post about the buyouts of this year? They mentioned Elysian specifically as a massively sad one.

https://www.brewdog.com/lowdown/blog/nailing-our-colours-to-the-motherfucking-mast

I went to look up "site:hubski.com kleinbl00 asshole" for a giggle, but all of it is from you or ref using the word. I was hoping to read some buttmad ragequits.

Alright, who's going to buy it and write a review for us? I feel like enlisting JTHipster would be a good course of action.

I completely understand your point, but Nicki is a bad example because she is an objectively great musician. Her lyrics are masterful.

(All her friends were cats tho)

This one I truly don't know. I'll look into them today.

"World Music" is usually used as a catch-all for "non-Western", therefore "other", therefore "not as real as our music". It's a horrendous term, but conveyed the point well: Look at the wildly complete spectrum of music that's been posted in this thread! There are no shortage of genres, styles, types, cultures, histories. I think I got every continent involved here now. That's a wide variety to be in one record store bin.