Two Little Stevies and an Ugly Betty

First of all. If anyone ever wondered (or had forgotten) how great Sesame Street used to be, check this link out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ul7X5js1vE.

(That kid in the red shirt, up there at the top of the steps? My new hero. That woulda been me.)

(That's the best thing about Stevie; he always looks like he's having two tons of fun. What a guy.)

(Anyone else remember those old public service announcements Stevie did about drunk driving? His line was, "before I'd let a drunk person drive me home, I'd drive myself." Oh hell no. I mean, I may be pissed... but at least I have frickin' sight! Am I right? But then Stevie is like 7 ft. tall. Kind of intimidating.)

(And while you're on that page, click on the "Stevie drum solo" link over there in the right nav pane.)

(In other news, that guy wearing the blue condom on his head is playing my guitar.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8JcWD1rHVo

Can there be any argument that The E Street Band is the absolutely coolest band of all time? I mean, you have Bruce. Nobody has aged as well as Bruce. Gotta be the coolest guy on the planet. And then there's Max Weinberg, Conan's band leader... and of course Clarence Clemons, pretty much the only rock sax player who actually improves his band (not a huge fan of the rock sax thing)... and then, if that's not enough... Little Freakin' Steven??? Silvio himself??? Oh yeah, and Nils Lofgren, just as a throw in. He played piano on "After the Gold Rush" when he was 17. So he's got that going for him... which is nice.

Just for the accordian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5PoIrcyd34

Spent turkey-day in Spokane, as previously covered. Great times. Lots of good food and company. My first night in town, Thanksgiving proper, me, Eric, and two of their friends/neighbors (and now my friends), Ian and Jed, stayed up til 3am drinking beer and playing Rock Band.

For those of you who haven't heard of this wonderful, terrible thing: it's like that video game phenomenon "Guitar Hero," except instead of only a single player option with Rock Band you get the four player, honest to god, holy crap we're a real BAND option. Fake drums, two guitars (one for bass), and a microphone. It's like super karaoke. Now, I have never, ever been a video game geek. I'm all sorts of other types of geek, but I never got bit by the video game bug. But this Rock Band... my goodness is it fun. And we all bought into our respective roles, too. Eric was the singer, and he was throwing his head back and wailing... Jed was lead guitar, and he was doing his best Keith Richards impression... Ian and I were the rhythm section, laid back and solid... we called ourselves AA, and the "groupies" (who left early without us noticing) were dubbed "The 12 steps."

God we're dorks.

But yeah, a great time. Unfortunately, I caught a cold right before leaving, and then all the congestion was rocket-launched into my brain on the flight home. It didn't help that my flight out of Seattle was delayed five hours, of course. I'm a lot better now, but my ears are still completely clogged. My head feels like it's packed in cotton wool.

And now I have to admit to something I'm not proud of. But damn it, in the immortal words of Woody Allen (right before he married his daughter): "the heart wants what it wants."

I love "Ugly Betty."

Yes, that's right. The tv show. The biggest chick show this side of Grey's Anatomy. But it's so great! Really funny and ironic and self-aware. And there are a bunch of gay characters on the show, and it's not even a thing; they don't treat it like it's a big deal or anything. So that's cool, too. But honestly, it's really really good.

(I can hear it now: Jerod moves to San Francisco, "the city of brotherly love," and suddenly he's into hippie dancing and the gayest show on t.v. All I can is, save it.)