NP: CMJ New Music Monthly, March 2003 (CD)

So, I'm now old enough to have my second passport. Granted, that could mean a lot of things, depending on when I got the first one, but let's state for the record that I got the first one after college. Therefore, old I am. Reckless is he. Now things are worse.

See what I did there? Yoda is really old.

And I had to relinquish my standout green passport for the traditional blue. I don't remember exactly why I got a green one the first time around, but there was some reason for it. The upside is that I no longer have to use the picture of me that looks not unlike a constipated CIA agent, but I get to keep the old one to show at parties.

Moving on, I had the revelation yesterday that I've actually made enough money in the past two weeks playing music and doing music-related things to cover a month's rent. With any luck, and some degree of hard work, I'm hoping this might become a trend. That said, last night's gig was brutal. I should know better than to leave my earplugs at home, and that was just for the DJ pumping in some godawful rap in and around our set. See, I'm sounding more like a grumpy old man every day. It's not that I don't like rap. It's just that I don't like some of it. Probably a lot of it. And I definitely don't like it at ear-bleeding levels while we're trying to get some semblance of levels on stage.

I also worked out this week for the first time in six or eight months, not counting soccer, and the initial soreness is starting wear off. Contrary to the theme of the rest of this entry, said soreness doesn't make me feel old. The massive, wide-reaching fatigue after soccer, yes; the more targeted burn of working individual muscles, not so much. I'm feeling like a bit of a lump lately, so a little physical discipline might go a long way.

Still skimping on political ruminations, but the crux of it is that I don't know what to make of Clark, Leiberman and maybe Edwards skipping the Iowa caucuses. I can't get a good read on how Clark is doing overall. The opposition wants to paint him as untrue to the Democratic party, but what I think they miss is that there's a big independent wing of the party that is responding to that. Of course, it's unclear whether or not they vote in primaries, so, like Iowa, it's a risky strategy. And there was a fairly even-handed story about how Clark is perceived as avoiding the media that troubles me a bit, because the media element is crucial to how this whole thing works.

Okay, slightly more than the crux, but now I've gotten it out of my system.

Backtracking even more through the week, I'm almost finished with my first turn as a recording engineer, which now includes a clever little slice-and-dice of a vocal part that started out in an entirely different, although somewhat related, part of the song. That project hould wrap next week.