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Lots and lots of things happening... relatively. But most importantly to most anyone reading this, the new CIF show is posted. The show was at The Handlebar in Greenville, SC on 04 September 2003. Lots of new stuff... the new songs are all great. Check it out. Got to go to the Spread Your Wings Benefit this past weekend. CIF rocked... obviously... the rest of the bands were good for sure, but none of them "rocked". Weird scene but fun. Although I still hate the Neighborhood Theater for seeing bands, and I will stick by that until they take out the first 15 or 20 rows of seats, get a real bar, and allow smoking. Otherwise it's just... well... crap. I have no idea how they were voted best place to see live music in Charlotte. That is WRONG. But whatever. This was also coming off two nights at Tybee Island. Everyone there was EXTREMELY nice to the band and myself... plus it was on the beach. Nice. Other than the 19-year-old girl who paid about as much attention to me as she did to the music (that is to say: not at all), most of the crowd was either way younger or way older than me. Not that that's a bad thing by ANY means - just means that it's a strange crowd from my point-of-view. Very fun nonetheless. Even though I did lose my sweet sunglasses... And I suppose that's all the music news at the moment. I'll be heading to Raleigh and Flat Rock this weekend, then to Ziggy's and possibly Rocky Mount the following weekend. Although I think I have to work, so Rocky Mount might be a casualty in that battle... Been reading a lot lately... comic books. I don't know ANYTHING about anything. I'm reading the recent series 100 Bullets, and it's really blowing my mind how cool it is. Premise is that someone gives you a briefcase with a gun and 100 totally untraceable bullets. Doesn't even matter if someone sees you pull the trigger - they're untraceable. Inside is also irrefutable proof that someone has directly and intentionally screwed you over in the past and caused your life to take a nose dive for some reason. What you do with the gun is up to you... there's a lot more to it, but that's the basic idea. Very very cool. Also been rereading the entire Sandman series. Just finished Brief Lives the other day and the introduction (that actually appears at the end of the hardcover) by Peter Straub is absolutely brilliant. I used to think I understood these books, but I really never had a clue. There's a new Sandman book coming out today... if you get a chance pick it up and read it. Then read it again. Then read it again. I'm sure it will blow you away. Brief Lives was never one of my favorite Sandman arcs, but now that I am a lot closer to understanding what it's actually trying to say, I find it to be absolutely brilliant. Whenever you die, it's your time to die. Everyone gets the same thing - a lifetime. Is there a word for when you realize that you've forgotten the name of a former lover? Is there a word for when you're introducing two people and, all of a sudden, you realize that you don't remember either of their names? And what's it called... the thing that makes you realize that time is passing? Oh yeah, Change. "I was afraid of that." Change. Is it really that scary? I think the book is sort of trying to say that change doesn't have to be scary. It shouldn't be, and it's necessary to move forward. (Obviously) But people are almost always inherently afraid of change. Stick with the Status Quo and what not. If you do that, will you really be happy at the end of your time? (that's equal to everyone else's - a lifetime) "Brief Lives indeed" says Straub. The intro is just a few pages long - if you can locate it, read it. It will make sense even if you haven't read the book itself. It will, in fact, give much of the plot away, but the ideas it approaches are really really fantastic. Maybe more on that later... after I've re-read it again. And Neverwhere finally came out on DVD in the US. Brian Eno does the music... didn't know that before... very neat stuff. There are definitely some problems with the show (as Neil points out in the commentary), but all-in-all, it's been quite enjoyable. I haven't watched Disc 2 yet, and it's been a while since I've read the novel, so I'm definitely looking forward to the end. I think I remember the big plot twist, but not the details. Don't spoil it for me. That's about it for now. Nothing earth-shattering. Find the Sandman. Listen to CIF. Watch Family Guy. Suggestions from your friendly neighborhood blog. Later...