in

We had a great show at Nectar Lounge last night -- one for the records really. Thanks to everyone who made the effort on a Wednesday night.

First off, focuspoint had a solid set. I had a failed attempt at climbing on Danny's drum kit, but. otherwise. we kicked ass and made a really great impression on some promoters there.

Secondly, we played with some great bands, M Bison and Discs of Fury. M Bison had a very chill, new-school-Seattle-pop-rock sound, and Disc of Fury, well, where to begin?

Before soundcheck, one of the Discs of Fury members came up to me, put his hand on my shoulder and asked, "Do you know what you'll be witnessing tonight?"

"Um, no," I replied.

"Dude, we're putting on a rock opera," he said. "Seriously. It's gonna be awesome."

This man told the truth. Discs of Fury put on their rock opera, complete with a narrator and fog machine. The storyline of the opera was basically the bastard love child of Jim Henson's "The Dark Crystal" and "The Neverending Story" -- but on crack. What made the whole thing work was that the band members were a) phenomenal musicians and b) stayed in character the entire set. The lead singer had an amazing range reminiscent of Queen's Freddy Mercury.

You watched this act and couldn't help but say, "What the fuck am I watching, and why do I like it so much?"

From the start, Scott, Kenna, Claire and I were dying laughing. The opera was so damn funny in a "This is Spinal Tap" kind of way. Kenna suggested that Scott and Courtney hire these guys for their wedding. I was thinking the same thing... Mu ha ha ha ha....

in

Fair warning: I'm playing at Nectar Lounge tonight at 9:30. Make it happen, people.

Per Scott's request, I posted the above map, which you can click to enlarge. In related news, Scott now knows where Italy is because of the map I posted below.

in

Comrades,

Finally! I purchased my roundtrip airfare to Zurich, Switzerland, to see a little bit of South-Central Europe this fall. I'll be gone August 29 - September 18.

Definite destinations:

  • Zurich (duh.)
  • Lake Como
  • Milan
  • Cinque Terra
  • Tuscany
  • Rome
  • Naples
  • Assisi
  • Bologna
  • Venice
  • Florence

Possible destinations:

  • Innsbruck, Austria
  • Munich, Germany

Also, I'm making my first trip to Boston May 22-25 (woo hoo!) for work (boo hoo!).

Sincerely stoked,

Paolo, World Traveler Ph.D.

in

In case you were too busy text messaging to notice, Gov. Christine Gregoire signed the nation's first law on Friday to ban DWT -- driving while texting.

According to the NY Times article, "Mobile texters in the United States sent 158 billion messages last year, up 95 percent from 2005." (Nina, Sergio and Courtney are reportedly responsible for nearly 1 billion of these. ) That's a lot of text messaging, and certainly more than a few of these occurred while driving.

As many of you now shiver with remorse, gladly willing to trade in your driver's license before your phones, fear not. It's a weak law. DWT is only a secondary offense, meaning that the police cannot pull you over for DWT, but they can give drivers tickets if they have already committed another traffic offense. So don't run a stop sign while texting, OK?

Lastly, the fine for DWT is only $101. Hell, I know Shelter girls who pay more than that a month for just for bouncing checks.