NP: David Bowie, The Singles Collection (CD)

Lots and lots and lots of stuff that's been accumulating, so here goes.

Wrigley shooting. This was more than a little unsettling for me, seeing as how I lived two or three blocks away from the stadium for about ten years, but moreso because I've been known to take my right-of-way as a pedestrian very seriously. Don't know that I would hit a SUV with a miniature baseball bat, so maybe there's a key distinction that will keep me from meeting an unfortunate end before it's my time. I haven't kept tabs on the fallout past whatever passes for "debate" on the Morning Zone, which I must point out, is only a few letters away from a morning zoo.

"Alleged" abuses in Iraq. I see a lot of emphasis on allegations, and I understand the whole "guilty until proven innocent, unless you're at Guantanamo Bay or Abu Ghraib" mentality, but unless this is a Photoshop scandal of epic proportion, I think we can call a spade a spade here. The depressing thing about all of this is that I can't imagine anyone with any significant rank in the Bush administration is going to get their head rolled about anything in Iraq. I don't even want Cheney or Rumsfeld. Give me Condi. Or Tenet. Just give me somebody, because the notion that the brain trust (and I use the term loosely) is beyond reproach for anything that's gone wrong in Iraq is downright insulting. Unless you claim nothing has gone wrong, I guess, which seems to be the prevailing policy.

What debate? Interesting to see Nancy Reagan getting involved in this, considering how Reagan's legacy is a major touchstone for our current Prez. Key quote from the Washington Post in a related story: "The meeting should not be taken to suggest that the White House is reconsidering its stance, said spokesman Trent Duffy." I think Bush has that embroidered on a pillow.

Interesting reading. Every once in a while, I venture into the actual news content of The Reader, and come back feeling like I should do it more often. This time, it's the second item in Hot Type, about how the Tribune is actually developing a reputation as being anti-Bush. This is despite being an acknowledged GOP paper, which, though obvious, I had never seen stated so plainly.

Wonkette update. Still haven't heard back from Ana Marie to get to the bottom of why her name looks so familiar, but it did lead me to this hilarious bit on Chris Holmes and Yum-Yum. If she had anything to do with it, I'm shoving Wonkettina to the curb and pining for a married woman in a different city who barely knows I exist. Which is probably a step up from a crush on an illustration, for whatever that's worth.

New walls. The biggest difference between my concentrated inertia a couple of nights this week and earlier instances of intentional inactivity that I've documented on this site is that this time, it's pure exhaustion. Ozomatli on Thursday? Too tired. Soulfix last night? Sorry, wiped out. But the only thing even approaching depression is the state of the couch cushions. I think I watched at least parts of five different soccer matches yesterday.

So, hitting this particular wall is okay by me. Speaking of walls, both my parents and my grandmother have buyers for their houses. I may fly home next weekend for a Fire match, but if not, I'll be saying goodbye to the William Street homestead for good in mid-June. Grandma's house may already be gone, figuratively, by then.

Tell me about your weekend. Friday's gig got off to a rough start, not for any real good reason. There was this very needy drunk guy who wasn't happy with the lack of attention he got from my bandmates, so he confided in me that he had my back in case there was trouble. I assured him that it probably wouldn't come to that. Then my shoulder was bothering me a bit. I eventually came around toward the end of the second set, though. The biggest difference between last week and this week was that the women attending this week seemed to have a much harder time grasping the notion that you had to walk through the band to get to the ladies' room. And I'm calling Patrick "Number 6" from here on out, and will explain it to him if he reads this far down.

Ending on a good note. This makes me very happy. I'm not much for conspiracy theory, but this whole thing stank from the get-go, and it's nice to see they're not getting away with it.