End of Y

A through X = $2411
Y = $91
A through X + Y = $2502

ALMOST THERE! Or, almost done with the LPs. All that's left is one Z, which should be up today, a handful of comps and the LPs I got for Christmas that I've been saving for the very end. And then the real fun begins with the 7"s. I'd love to start putting up MP3s of some of these, because there are some amazing songs coming up, but given that blogger has been DESTROYING any blogs that so much as BREATHE on an MP3, I better not.

Hopefully it doesn't take me 2 weeks to get to the 7''s though, busy times around the office (i.e. my living room, where I am currently sitting)! Lots of Pitch stuff, lots of regular work stuff at the CD Tradpost, lots of comix drawing, lots of playing actual music and writing actual songs for the first time in months. AND, I've been secretly buying records again. It's a cruel mistress, Love Garden. They recently obtained a massive collection of all the kinds of records I hope to find there some day, and I simply avoided the place for a couple of weeks to keep myself from doing something stupid. Finally, I went in to survey the damage and see if there were any scraps to pick up and blew about $20 in two days. Not bad, considering my track record (See: $2502 so far...), but still, money doesn't grow on trees like it used to (see: my student loan days, which I now realize were foolish, very, very foolish). However, I've decided the best way to satisfy my desire to own records is to stick almost exclusively to 7"s. They're more fun to listen to, and I really love b-sides. And Love Garden is VERY good at making me second-guess my budget. Like, I bought the 7" for Teenage Fanclub's "The Concept," one of my favorite songs of all time. It was the shortened version, lacking the guitar solo that I get sick of about a minute and a half before the song ends, BUT the next day I saw that they had the same single on 12"! And I ALMOST BOUGHT IT...and I might still buy it. Goddamnit. Not to mention a Sarah Records single by one of my favorite Sarah bands that I really should have bought by now but am fighting!

Anyway, it's been busy and I've been poor. Naturally, when I finally started to have some spending cash I slipped on some black ice on the front stairs and destroyed my laptop screen which, thanks to my buddy Andrew, only ended up setting me back $160 but still! Funny, though, the laptop broke my fall and now it's bent. As in, I put a disc in and it spits it right back out because the goddamned disc drive is dented! It works, so there.

AND THERE ARE 8 MILLION SHOWS THIS WEEK. Is anyone going to Surfer Blood at the Reeps on Saturday? I only just realized it's the same night as the Kid Congo Powers show across the street at the Jackpot and I REALLY WANT TO GO TO THAT and I'm pretty sure most cool people will be at that show. But Surfer Blood = getting paid to write about, so that's where my heart lies. That, and their debut LP Astrocoast is the jam. Should have a Gut Feeling reev of that up soon, come to think of it! AND the rating system has been expanded...or will be, as soon as I ink the drawings for "Real Goddamn Good" and "Hella Fuckin' Good," or whatever they are.

For no reason, here is a picture of what the dog is doing right now, inspired by this afternoon's reading of Dave Eggers' short story "After I Was Thrown in the River and Before I Drowned," which is told from the point of view of a dog.