UFO's are big rigs far from home

Several years ago someone put together a CD of truck driving songs. On the CD is the song below my Mojo Nixon. Mojo sings as a truck driver that meets a UFO. It turns out that UFO's are truck driving workin' guys and if you get far enough away from earth there are no speed limits.

Straight to the top

You know what created Abu Ghraib? I tell you what, it was the rot that started at the top and trickled down. God bless George Bush.

In other news it turns out the Pope is ashamed about the priest sex scandal. That's a relief. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if a reporter asked the Pope how he felt about priests having sex with little boys and he said, "Well, it turns me on a little. What can I say?"

Tonight Show 10th Anniversary

I came across a blog with a few Youtube videos of the 10th anniversary show of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson from 1973. This is great stuff. You can view the videos here.

Clinton makes me bitter

I've been really disappointed to see Hillary Clinton jump all over Obama's remarks about working class America. After what she has said, her disgusting willingness to twist a real issue just because Obama could have put it a little better makes me sick. I'll never vote for Hillary Clinton for president. I can't vote for McCain, though. I reckon if it's McCain vs. Hillary I'll go third party or write myself in.

If you would like to read an intelligent analysis of the situation I recommend this blog post.

The post office gets more retarded

Last night we did the most American thing you could do, we prepared my taxes while watching the Yankees and Redsox play at Fenway Park on ESPN. John Miller is still the best baseball broadcaster in the world but Joe Morgan still talks too much.

Today I scooted down to the post office with a pocketful of change. I was going to buy four stamps from the self-serve stamp machine and attach the stamps to our completed taxes and shove them in the box and head to work. No such luck. The post office has removed the coin operated machine and has installed a touch screen self service machine that created quite the bottle neck. I can see a self service machine being pretty handy, it has a scale so you can probably do a lot of stuff for yourself, but why in the hell would you take out the stamp machines?

Embedding music

John Scalzi tried embeddng from this site so I will also. One of my favorite songs is T.V. Eye by the Stooges. I recommend playing it at full volume on your headphones while walking through the mall. It's a surreal experience.



Is it just me or is only about thirty seconds of this available?

If that's not working properly give this song off of the most recent White Stripes album a shot. It's called Rag & Bone and it was the first song off this album that seemed like an instant White Stripes classic on the first listen through.

Mad Fold-In's

I've always enjoyed the fold-in's at the end of each issue of Mad Magazine. You can find a great story (with examples) at the New York Times website here.

Tokyo By Night

I find these images courtesy of Metafilter. I love night photography and this is some of the best I have seen. He must have had the shutter open for several minutes when taking these photos.

Digging a hole in a circle of stone

I just learned a few moments ago that there is a dig going on at Stonehenge. Pretty exciting stuff. You can follow the dig here. I believe every fictional account of this event has led to bad things happening, ghosts and stuff. Maybe even the devil.

The Dirtbombs Bring It

Yesterday Melanie and I drove up to Asheville in a car we rented from Triangle. We got a Ford Fusion. It had been a long time since I had driven a nice sedan on a little road trip and it was fun. We got a pretty good deal and I saved some wear and tear on my little Honda Civic. My car doesn't have much of a sound system either and it was nice to be able to do some good jamming while driving.

The reason we went to Asheville was to go to the Orange Peel to see the amazing Dirtbombs. They are a band from Detroit that are directly in line with the classic Detroit rock and soul sound. Two basses, two drums and standing in front of that wall of sound, Mick Collins.

After we got settled into our hotel room we walked down to The Laughing Seed for dinner. I go there mainly for the honey sweetened berry tea that is to just die for. Not to mention the kick ass veggie burger I had. Melanie got a rice bowl with tofu and zucchini. She liked it but was jealous of my veggie burger which she couldn't eat because of her many, many allergies.

Afterward we went back to our hotel, the Four Points Sheraton. Not a bad place. It has free wireless and flat screen tv's in the rooms. I do have a few questions for those that run the place. 1) You have flat screen high definition tv's in the rooms yet subscribe to cheap basic cable that features snow on some channels. WTF? 2) I was unaware that bathrooms were built that didn't come with fans. WTF? 3) Those benches out in front of the hotel are plastic and uncomfortable. WTF? 4) You used to have a real nice complimentary continental breakfast. Now you don't. WTF? 5) I believe they do make sheets that fit king size beds. WTF? The desk for the laptop was nice, though.

We went to the Orange Peel around 9 pm and caught most of the set by the opener, Kelly Stoltz. Stoltz was excellent. He was one of those nice surprises you get every now and then at a show. Not often do I come across an opening band that interests me enough to consider exploring their output. Some of what I heard reminded me of the Kinks. I think the One Big Loud Guy should go to Kelly Stoltz' website. I am confident that he'll be pleased by what he hears.

The Dirtbombs came on about ten and proceeded to destroy the place. I've seen a lot of shows over the years and last night I saw one of the best live bands I have ever seen. The rhythm section is just awe inspiring and Mick Collins has incredible stage presence. Much like the Drive by Truckers, they were having a blast onstage. There really wasn't that big of a crowd there but they played like the place was packed. I think if it had just been me and Melanie they would have played the same show. They came to play loud and fast and crazy no matter how many people were in that room. It's a shame the place wasn't packed because a classic American balls to the wall rock band like this deserves a much bigger audience. It was an honor to stand front row and yell at a band of this quality. In a just world that place should have been sold out and I would have been near the back wishing I was closer.

The show was so good that I wish everyone I knew could have been there for it.

I took a few pictures last night that you can view here.

Also, the highlight of the show was their performance of Thin Lizzy's "Ode to a Black Man." It was furious and got the biggest crowd reaction of the night. After they finished that song Mick said, "you guys like that one, huh?" Yes, we did. Below is a snippet of a performance of "Ode to a Black Man" from 2005. They just kill this song.