These are the Daves I Know

You know what the awesome, superfun thing about applying to grad school is?

Nothing. There is nothing awesome, super or fun about applying to grad school. As a process it seems designed to cause total neurosis in anyone who embarks upon it. I'm applying to grad school, is this not sufficient evidence of pre-existing neurosis? Anyway, in case you're scoring, I'm currently 0-1, with three more responses expected in the next two weeks. If you're looking for me between now and then, check behind a glass of whiskey.

But not all is doom and gloom! March has shone her sunny face down upon Ithaca, making my scarf temporarily obsolete. Even now, someone is cleaning the outside of the hard-to-reach record store windows to allow precious natural light into our little fluorescent lit cavern. Hopefully this sunshine will be accompanied by her sweet sister, Commerce, although the closing of Juna's, long threatened and finally carried out, does not bode well for the downtown area.

On the plus side, we've had some pretty darn remarkable shows out over here. Just a few days after traveling to Hamilton College to watch those practioners of post-quarterlife panic, the National with a small collection of nineteen year olds who (I'm guessing here) have never had a job, much less one of the "dead end" variety, the store ended up playing host to the Super Furry Animals, who are the nicest group of Welsh people I've ever met. Which is to say the only group of Welsh people I've ever met. When I get the pictures from Damascus, I'll put them up, but a good time was had by all, even if I did fall off the steps of the tour bus at fourish in the morning after what felt like a tour of all the world's whiskeys. All credit goes to the Lawyer on putting this one together, but thanks go most especially to Damascus, the Midget, a handful of FanClubbers and John from Sound on Sound for playing roadie with us. By the way, let me warn you off: being a roadie is a young man (or woman)'s game; it is not for the faint of heart or feeble of back. Lesson learned.

In other good news, and part of the reason for this post's title, my editor, Dr. David Barker was nice enough today to assure me that the book is still happening and has been announced for July. Which means at some point in the summer, I'm going to be looking to come to your town and read in your favorite book store. Any help on this front will be greatly appreciated and reciprocated with whiskey (which has now officially become the theme for this post). Other top-notch Dave, who heads up the sales department at Matador records, has been nice enough to provide the store with the new Stephen Malkmus CD which is pretty darn good, especially given how lukewarm I've felt about other post-Pavement stuff from the Malk. I think this one is catching me at just the right time; the weather's improving, my seasonal affective action is winding down and I needed a cheery guitar rock album. Plus there's something about knowing Sleater-Kinney's Janet Weiss is still working that assures me all is right with the world.

I'm going to do a March events posting tomorrow, cause we've got half an assload of stuff coming up.