ursulav's new book Nurk (The Strange, Surprising Adventures of a (Somewhat) Brave Shrew), just below The Hobbit, on the shelves at Barnes & Noble, University Village, Seattle.

Ursula Vernon's an artist I've been following for about 9 years now, ever since stumbling across her artwork on the vast amateur art gallery site Elfwood. Ursula's long since stepped up from amateur to professional, though some of her art can still be found here in Gallery 1. Her main site has been Metal & Magic, but some of her artwork is adult in nature (she describes it as "PG-13" - basically occasional nudity), and given her move into children's literature, she's setting up a new family-friendly site, www.ursulavernon.com.

Ursula also writes and illustrates the fantastic (in multiple senses) webcomic Digger, about an anthropomorphic wombat lost far from home. Note that the first few chapters - 286 pages - are currently available for free on the site (check the table of contents page), but to read it all you have to subscribe to Graphic Smash. Sofawolf Press has published three volumes of the series so far, but that only covers up through chapter six, and chapter nine is just starting online.

I'm at Bauhaus again. I like this place for a bunch of reasons. It has a neat two-level layout that's good for people-watching. It feels comfortable for hanging out for a few hours. It's in a good location on Capitol Hill, although parking's a problem when I drive here and taking the bus isn't that convenient. The baristas are generally playing good music. They make a good hot chocolate and during the day at least usually have Top Pot doughnuts. And, as I mentioned last week, there are lots of good-looking women on the Hill, which for me is a substantial part of the people-watching enjoyment.

I'm at home a lot, especially since starting freelance work, but even before that I'd be home alone more often than not. So spending a few hours in public feels like being social to me, even if I spend that time on my computer and don't talk to the other people around me.

This is one thing I have against watching TV as an activity - it feels unsocial to me, even though you can talk during commercials or even during the show if it's not particularly involving. To me, watching TV or films is similar to reading - if it's at all worth my time, then it requires my full attention, which means I'm not interacting with other people, which means I might as well do it by myself. Going out to the movies, however, is a social activity - it's a specific event of limited duration, like going to a concert or a play, and you discuss it afterward. So along those lines, I'm sometimes okay with watching a specific TV show with friends as a social activity, but I hate sitting around the living room with a TV on just for "watching TV".

(The other thing I have against watching TV is its general inanity, particularly that of commercials. Similarly, I'm coming to really hate going to the movies simply because I hate sitting through the asinine trailers.)

This feeling of sociability is why I also tend to view bars wistfully, at least when I'm walking past by myself. They make me wish I were out with a group of my friends, just hanging out in public having a good time. I'm not just tired of being lonely, I've been tired of being lonely for years now.

I've been fortunate to have great friends all my life, even in elementary school when I was teased a lot for being different and temperamental. I still have great friends. So it seems odd and wrong that I'd still be longing for companionship so much.*

Incidentally, I'm smiling at myself, a bit ruefully, a bit mockingly, as I write this melodrama. I'm serious, but I'm not taking myself that seriously. Just to go for the full-on LJ high-school-level drama, self-absorption, and pretentiousness, let's throw a deep meaningful song quote in here: "This is no social crisis / Just another tricky day for you." Ooooh, deep...

Coming back around to the good-looking women, they make me mopey because they represent to me the companionship I feel I'm lacking. Not just romance, having a particular woman to be dating, but also the general sociability of being out on the town with friends. This is particularly true on a Friday night, when there are so many groups of women (and men) walking by, dressed up fancy (well, for Seattle), heading out to the bars and clubs. Instead of being cool, content with myself and all the things going well in my life, and enjoying the simple pleasure of seeing a pretty lady, I get all caught up in the lack, the longing, the loneliness. This isn't particularly good or healthy. As I mentioned last week, I need to work on working on other things.

Sociability's also a reason for going out to concerts regularly. Even though again I don't make an effort to talk to other people at shows, I still generally feel better just being out among people. And when a show's good, it makes me happy, it makes me not care about being by myself because that show was awesome, it was so great to see them and I have that experience to treasure. Sure it'd be great to share that experience with someone, but I don't need someone else's presence in order to enjoy it for myself. Much like reading a good book, as it happens. Or watching a good show or film, for that matter.

Since I've brought up going to concerts, I should mention that Farida came with me to see Sons and Daughters on Tuesday, and I am grateful for her company as well as glad that I could bring her out for a fun event. Also, now that I've been volunteering with KEXP, I'm starting to make new friends, and we sat with a couple of those friends at the show, which was also a good thing. I've been going to a lot more concerts lately simply because there've been a lot of good bands in town, but it's certainly crossed my mind to deliberately plan on attending more than one concert a month instead of catching more than one only when there happens to be more than one I want to see.

All right, it's approaching 1 am (the posted time is when I started), Bauhaus is closing shortly, and it's past time I get home. And hey, I still haven't started watching season 4 of Battlestar Galactica, which is available for free on SciFi's website - but the first episode of the season should be dropping off the page next week, so I'd better get started. Enough with the non-social sociability, time for some solitary Internet-based TV watching...

*Afterthought: I should've mentioned, too, that I actually spent the afternoon playtesting an RPG with some friends, and then went to dinner with the Dowlers before going to Bauhaus. So this whole melodramatic mediation on loneliness and sociability really seems out of place considering how I'd just spent hours being social. But hey, it's what I was thinking about, what I've been thinking about a lot.

Yesterday afternoon I had the good fortune to see Sons and Daughters performing at The Triple Door as part of KEXP's VIP Club concert series. These concerts are recorded live and broadcast later in the same afternoon, and they are only about 45 minutes long with no opening act. The band professed bemusement a few times at finding themselves playing an early afternoon show, saying it felt like a David Lynch film, but they didn't let the weird feeling hold them back, and they delivered a great show.

Sons and Daughters are the quartet of Adele Bethel (vocals, tambourine), Scott Paterson (guitar, vocals), Ailidh Lennon (bass), and David Gow (drums). They played an energetic set of punk-influenced indie rock. Their previous album, The Repulsion Box, featured acoustic guitars and mandolin and had more of a folk-punk sound; judging by the new songs at this show, the band has gone electric on the new album This Gift, taking cues from '80s and '90s Britpop. Naturally their set favored the new album, but they also played a few older songs, including "Dance Me In" from the previous one and "Johnny Cash" from their first album Love the Cup. Although none of the new songs have caught my ear as strongly as "Red Receiver" did when The Repulsion Box came out, hearing them in concert made me feel remiss for not having picked up This Gift yet. The fancy cabaret seating of The Triple Door almost worked against the band, as their music called for some stomping and dancing, not just mild finger-and-toe-tapping. However, the audience still gave back as much enthusiasm as Sons and Daughters offered with their passionate performance. All too soon the concert was over, and I regretted that I had not made arrangements to attend their show at Neumos that night, as it would've been totally worthwhile to see them twice in one day, but still even the short show made me very happy.

This time I was close enough to the stage to get decent photos... but the head of the hat-wearing gentleman seated in the row in front of me intruded in all the photos. Still, I went ahead and uploaded four of the better photos, starting here.

Once again, I will include the disclaimer that although I am a volunteer for KEXP, the opinions expressed in this review (and all others on my blog, for that matter) are solely my own and do not represent the views of KEXP.

---

May is upon us, and that means the Ladytron show at The Showbox is just a few weeks away on May 24. I haven't done a full calendar review yet, but I imagine it's likely I'll catch something else in May as well - a quick look at the Three Imaginary Girls calendar listings shows Film School playing with Swervedriver at Neumos on the 26th, for example. Also, Peter Murphy's playing at El Corazón on the 30th, but that's the first evening of our game convention Go Play NW, so I won't be able to make that show. I'll take another look through the club calendars soon and see whether there are any other smaller shows I might want to catch.

Last night I was browsing online personals, and I found someone who looked pretty cute and seemed pretty cool, and I actually went ahead and sent her a message right away rather than putting it off indefinitely as I tend to do. I then found someone else that I'd been communicating with in the fall, who'd never got back to me about a tentative date we planned, and I discovered that she'd updated her profile with a general apology for being too busy and not responding to people's emails. I figured I had nothing to lose by trying to get back in touch, so I dropped her a brief note too. I'm hoping to hear back from at least one of them, we'll see.

So this evening, after hanging out with Tony for the afternoon, I figured I'd come to Bauhaus Books & Coffee (which bizarrely has no website of its own, that's the Citysearch profile) to get some work done. I've been at home a lot lately, and haven't been working too well there. When I'm out somewhere, I'm more inclined to feel I have to get a certain amount of work done before I can head home for dinner or whatever. In the hours I've been here, there've been a large number of startingly attractive women coming in or even just walking by outside. And it's made me feel mopey and surly, first pitying myself for being alone here on a Friday night and then annoyed with myself for being so lame and self-pitying.

Interestingly, it's been a while since I've really felt that way, a while in which I haven't been thinking as much about meeting people and dating. I had decided to drop my HurryDate membership, as I'd been increasingly dissatisfied with their events and felt I'd be better off to take a break from them, and maybe try to find a different speed dating service. So I canceled that in mid-February before it renewed. I also wasn't browsing the online personals much, checking in more to cross-post concert reviews in one of them than to look for matches. I've also been alternately busy or else avoiding dealing with some tasks, and when I get into avoidance mode on one thing I tend to start avoiding lots of things. All of that seems to have taken my mind off fretting over loneliness so much. (Have no doubt, there's still been some fretting.) Apparently, simply trying to reach out to someone is enough to bring it all back in sharp relief.

I wish I found it easier to let go of that and just do something else. I've been thinking about a few gaming-related projects recently, or even just playing a computer game, and there are other ways I could be occupying my time as well. But it's hard to break out of the inertia of moping, or the inertia of avoidance - which involves spending hours aimlessly poking about on the Internet - and do more constructive things. Meh.

---

On a positive note, I managed to avoid tax evasion. I got my taxes done on time, and fortunately I did not have to pay a penalty although I failed to submit any quarterly estimated tax payments last year. I also had enough money on hand to cover what I owed, due in part to a good February for work and in part to relying on my credit cards for purchases over the past few months. That does mean my credit card debt's bumped back up again, which is annoying. However, at the end of January I agreed to a part-time retainer arrangement with one of my clients, so I now have a reliable level of income again but still have freedom and flexibility to work with other clients as well. With the retainer income, I should be able to finally clear up the credit card debt for good, and then get the next step of my dental implant work done. I've also made adjustments to put aside some money each month to cover and pay my estimated taxes this year so I won't be in trouble next year.

So if I could just get off my mopey ass and make some effort to deal with things, I might actually start going places and meet people. There's so much I could do if I'd just do it...

(...man! there are some gorgeous women on Capitol Hill...)

Last Friday (April 11) I went to El Corazón to see My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult. Originally Beehive were on the bill, so that was really who I was going to see, but unfortunately they had to cancel; I decided to go anyhow, as I know and enjoy at least one Thrill Kill Kult song ("Glamour Is a Rocky Road") and I was curious to see what the show would be like. Also on the bill were local bands Miss Solar System and Furniture Girls, and the Urban Bombshells burlesque troupe performed between the musical acts.

I don't have much to say about the opening acts. I came in late and missed much of Furniture Girls' set. This is the third time I've seen them in almost as many months, and they remain moderately entertaining but not really interesting to me. Perhaps next year they'll have developed further. I did think their music was a bit light for the bill, but they were the last-minute replacements for Beehive so that's excusable. As for Miss Solar System, they've added a drummer to their live lineup since I saw them last year, but since their music is already rhythm-heavy drum & bass, it's more for color than anything else. The music was pretty solid, but not really remarkable - I enjoyed it, but nothing really stood out for me. Like Furniture Girls, I'd like to see more growth from Miss Solar System; I feel like they could be more exciting than they have been.

The Urban Bombshells were also much less interesting than I expected. They performed three or four routines between each musical act. With one exception involving popping balloons, they did not perform stripteases, just themed dance numbers involving scantily-clad women, and the dancing (and striptease) was really more just prancing about in a vaguely enticing manner. One routine involving a maiden menaced by an evil priestess of sorts and her minions involved a lot of flailing about on or near the stage floor, so most of it was only visible to the front row of the audience. The Urban Bombshells could have been a fun addition to the show, but I ended up feeling I'd rather have seen another band on the lineup.

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult are the duo of Groovie Mann (vocals) and Buzz McCoy (synths, backing vocals). Appearing with another synth player (throughout the show) and a female vocalist (on most songs), they played a mix of heavy dance music influenced by industrial rock, goth rock, surf rock, and even disco. Both the style and substance of the music evoke exploitation films of the Sixties, reveling in sex, drugs, rock and roll, and a little flirting with Satanism on the side. As a show, it was tamer than I expected, particularly for a twentieth-anniversary tour; there were no dancing girls or other theatrics, just video clips running on the curtain behind the band. However, that did put the focus on the music, which was plenty of entertainment in itself. Although they didn't play "Glamour..." as I hoped they would, they did play many early tracks including the hits "Kooler Than Jesus", "Sex on Wheelz", and "The Days of Swine and Roses". Thrill Kill Kult got me bopping and dancing about, and made up for the lackluster earlier groups. They brought the fun to the show, and I'm glad I went.

Only six photos from this show, three of Thrill Kill Kult, one each of the other bands and of an Urban Bombshells dancer; the photos start here.

Last Wednesday (April 9) I went to Neumos to see Meat Beat Manifesto, with Raz Mesinai opening.

Raz Mesinai appeared as a solo artist, one man sitting at a table with a laptop and some electronic gear. He played a continuous 45-minute set of rhythm-heavy electronica. He had no presence to speak of - his table was off to the side of the stage, he had no distracting visuals, and the music was easily mistaken for the club's background sound. In fact, the friends I was with didn't realize that the opening act was playing at all. I found it nicely atmospheric, and interesting to listen as he worked through his variations, but not particularly compelling. On his MySpace page he lists several collaborators, mostly acoustic musicians (including Mark Feldman, the violinist who played on TMBG's "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)"), and I'm curious whether the electronica he played is representative of that collaborative work. He definitely seemed to be on the experimental/art side of electronica rather than dance/pop, and to be worth further investigation.

Meat Beat Manifesto is primarily the project of Jack Dangers (laptop, electronics, and occasional vocals). Accompanied by Mark Pistel (laptop and electronics), Lynn Farmer (drums), and Ben Stokes (video), he played nearly two and a half hours of techno, trip-hop and other electronica. Most of MBM's songs use samples from various film and video sources, including theatrical films, TV series, evening news, public service films, and even concert footage of other artists. These were played real-time during the show, making the video display an integrated part of the concert and not just something for the audience to watch. A strong vein of science fiction ran through the samples and music, as in the opening song with its repeated refrain, "Greetings from the children of planet Earth"; other themes included control, communication, war and violence, and music. They played "It's the Music", one of the few MBM songs I know well, and I noted it was different from the recorded version, demonstrating that for Dangers the music is living and dynamic, not static works to be reproduced exactly the same each time. My main complaint with this show was the distinct breaks between songs, which I found slightly long and a bit disconcerting; the breaks prevented the energy in the room from building, and it seemed like they ought to have used musical segues between the songs. Overall I think I enjoyed their last show in 2005 more than this one, but it was still quite a good show and it reminded me that I still need to get some more MBM into my music collection.

I have one photo of Raz Mesinai and nine of MBM, starting here.

Two Saturdays ago, on April 5, I went to the High Dive for a concert and live broadcast of KEXP's local music show Audioasis. KEXP has been doing these broadcasts at the High Dive on the first Saturday of each month for just over a year now, and the proceeds of each show are donated to a local charity, in this case the Seattle Public Library Foundation. The performances of two bands are broadcast live on the air during the normal hours (6-9 PM PST) of Audioasis, and then a few bands perform after the broadcast. For this show, Mono In VCF and The Dimes were featured on the air, followed by The Transmissionary Six, A Gun That Shoots Knives, Cancer Rising, and finally an encore performance by Mono In VCF.

Since first seeing Mono In VCF live at the Triple Door in February, I had been wondering how the band would sound in a small club, and whether they would use the full seven-member lineup or just the core quartet. The answers in short are, they did use the full septet, and they sounded almost as gorgeous as before. Some nuances were lost occasionally in the general volume even in the early set, before the levels were turned up for the later acts, but still it seemed fairly well-balanced for a large band in a small club. One detail I noticed in this performance, one of the guitarists actually used the head of his guitar to play a keyboard part simultaneously during the song "Spider Rotation", which I thought was pretty neat.

The Dimes played a mix of upbeat indie-pop and slower folky songs. They sounded something like early R.E.M. or perhaps The Decemberists, mixing in some mandolin and melodica to their basic lineup of three guitars, bass, and drums. I half-jokingly remarked to a friend at the show, "they sound like a Portland band," as indeed they are from Portland. They decorated the stage some, adding in an old TV and floor lamp and many candles, creating a living-room feel for their set. Although the band were all decent players and the music was appealing, they didn't really catch on with me, but I can see them getting popular.

The Transmissionary Six, belying their name, appeared as a quintet at this show, including lead singer Terri Moeller and musicians on bass and backing vocals, guitar/pedal steel guitar/backing vocals, guitar, and drums. (Their MySpace page suggests up to nine people are regular band members, with a bunch more occasional members.) They had an even stronger folk element to their sound than The Dimes, almost being country-rock. They reminded me of the Cowboy Junkies, and Moeller has a similar nice low voice. Their songs were more on the midtempo moody side than rocking out.
They had a good sound, and although I wasn't compelled to seek out a CD, I'd like to hear them again and they may grow on me.

As A Gun That Shoots Knives were setting up the stage for their set, something told me I'd better put in my earplugs. Perhaps it was the wacky costumes they wore, or the large gong they set up, but I guessed that this was not to be another moody folk-rock band. Sure enough, the quartet (vocals/keyboard/gong, guitar/backing vocals, bass/backing vocals, drums) seemed to be a noisy punk band at first, but proved to be something more. Their songs were more melodic than the typical fierce-young-guy punk band, with vocals that were (more or less) sung rather than growled or hoarsely screamed. The music had an early eighties vibe to it, hinting at the reggae-influenced punk of The Clash and The Police, and varied from upbeat to fast and thrashing. Their song topics included literacy (apropos for the benefit), karate dojo, sushi, birthdays, an exhortation to "stay in school motherfucker", and a faux-metal tribute to the Balrog of Moria (yes, really - and it was AWESOME). The lead singer was very engaging, at one point asking the audience proudly, "Do you like the gong? We rented it for the weekend!" A Gun That Shoots Knives was highly entertaining both to watch and to hear, and I'll be looking for them in the future.

Cancer Rising, in short, were not my thing. A hiphop trio including two rappers and a turntablist, they seemed to me the most out of place in the evening's lineup, although in fairness the whole lineup was pretty disparate and A Gun That Shoots Knives was just as strong a contrast to the previous bands. I did recognize at least one song that I knew from KEXP airplay and found it reasonably enjoyable, though unfortunately I don't now remember what it was. I thought the DJ made good use of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Phenomena" for one rap, but otherwise I didn't notice anything remarkable (which I think says more about my listening than his actual skills). For the most part though, I found them abrasive and didn't care for the set.

Finally, Mono In VCF closed the evening with a second set, featuring a different order and more songs. Both of their sets included a new song, which was great to hear. In this set they had a weird break in middle, that seemed like it might be technical difficulties. Then they began an instrumental, and then to my surprise brought out Cancer Rising to rap over it. I didn't think that blended well at all, but I have to give both groups props for giving it a try. There seemed to be a lot more people talking rather than listening during this set, but it was the end of the evening, and perhaps the juxtaposition of Cancer Rising and Mono In VCF made for a weird mix in the audience. In the early set, the band had an almost Cocteau Twins sound for the song "Chanteuse"; for the late set's last song, "Cinch Ring" (if I recall correctly), the higher volume levels produced a lot of shoegazer-style feedback. It was totally worthwhile to stay through the whole evening - including Cancer Rising's set that I didn't care for - to hear Mono In VCF twice, and I can only see my love for the band growing.

I ended up not getting many good photos, as for the most part I was not near the stage. I did upload 11 photos, starting here.

I should probably add a disclaimer: although I am a volunteer at KEXP, the opinions expressed in this review (and all others on my blog, for that matter) are solely my own and do not represent or reflect the views of KEXP.

Two weeks ago on Monday March 31, I went to see X at The Showbox. Opening for them was Skybombers and Guns & Rossetti.

Both Guns & Rossetti and Skybombers are straightforward garage rock quartets - guitar and vocals, guitar and backing vocals, bass and backing vocals, drums. On their MySpace page Guns & Rossetti say, "we got together as an excuse to drink sixers, smoke weed and get away from our old ladies two nights a week," and that's about all you need to know about the band. They were decent but thoroughly unremarkable. Skybombers however were more energetic and more engaging than Guns & Rossetti. They made a real effort to work the crowd and get them excited. The lead singer had some serious guitar trouble, apparently breaking strings, and had to swap out guitars at least three times during their set. However, the first time it happened mid-song I didn't even realize there had been a problem, the band was so tight I just thought he was supposed to be without a guitar for that song. They did sound weaker - not worse, but weaker - without both guitars, but still pretty good. Although Skybombers also didn't hook me, I did enjoy their set more than Guns & Rossetti.

Legendary punk-rockabilly band X are the quartet of John Doe (bass, vocals), Exene Cervenka (vocals), Billy Zoom (guitar), and D.J. Bonebrake (drums). Setting the stage for the evening, they opened with "We're Having Much More Fun". Billy Zoom mugged for the audience the whole time, playing with a big grin. He seemed to be off in his own world, not really interacting with the rest of the band, but still played tight and made even his solos look effortless. John Doe did most of the talking for the band, whether thanking the audience or urging them to vote in November before playing "The New World". At one point he took a potshot at Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran for forgetting the lyrics to "Hungry Like the Wolf" and promised that wouldn't happen this evening, before the band played "The Hungry Wolf". Two songs later, Exene visibly slipped up on the lyrics and gave John an apologetic shrug and smile. Other hits they played included "In This House That I Call Home", "Los Angeles", "Johnny Hit & Run Pauline", and the show-closer "The World's A Mess; It's In My Kiss"; unfortunately they did not play "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts", which I would've liked. I found that although I recognized and enjoyed the hits, I wasn't grabbed by the songs I didn't know, and I think I'd be satisfied with a greatest-hits compilation. Also, although I enjoyed the show, it felt a little rote to me, as though X themselves were satisfied playing a greatest-hits compilation; they lacked passion. Still, they're definitely worth seeing live, and I'm glad that I did.

Ironically, the only decent band photo I took was of Guns & Rossetti, as I could get near the stage for that one; I was too far from the stage to get good photos of the other bands. The small set of six photos begins here.

---

I still have reviews to write for the KEXP Audioasis Live at the High Dive show last Saturday (April 5), featuring Mono In VCF, as well as Meat Beat Manifesto at Neumos last Wednesday (the 9th) and My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult last night at El Corazón. It's been a busy week! Coming up, I'm considering attending two more shows at Neumos this month, Simian Mobile Disco on Thursday the 24th and Sons and Daughters on Tuesday the 29th. Next month, Joe Jackson is at The Moore Theatre on Sunday May 4, but honestly I'm not that excited about his new album Rain and with ticket prices starting at $39.50 (plus service fees, so really starting at $50) I think I'm just going to skip this one. However, I won't be missing the return of Ladytron, coming to The Showbox on Saturday May 24 - I've already got my ticket! I'll check the listings again in a week or two to see if anything else interesting turns up for May, and to get a glimpse of June.

Bah. Today, I am a failure.

I have a lot of work to do, as well as the review of the X show still to write, and other things to do this weekend - clean the catbox and my bathroom, plus I'm attending the KEXP Audioasis Live at the High Dive show tomorrow evening (already bought a ticket, I'm definitely going).

When I started trying to do work this afternoon, I couldn't stay awake. I spent an hour struggling with that. Finally I shifted gears and started playing a Web arcade-platform-style game, as a "break"... and that's all I've done for the rest of the day. And the stupid thing has only 24 levels, I was already on level 8 when I started playing, but the levels started getting extremely difficult around level 20. So now I'm all stressed out, frustrated, and angry as well.

I'm such a jackass. Bah. I'm going to read a bit to hopefully unwind, and get to bed.

Let's see, I have a bunch of general updates.

My dad's doing well, he's in a rehab center working with occupational and physical therapists to build up his strength. He's able to stand up and go for walks on his own now, and he's hoping he'll be able to go home next Monday. He said he's eager to get back home and start cooking again.

My nose has remained persistently congested since last week, with some sneezing bouts, but I haven't had a bad day of near-incapacitation since last Thursday. Tony did show up with Claritin later that evening, and that seemed to help for a couple hours but then the non-stop sneezing and nose-running resumed, so I just went to bed. But to my surprise, my nose behaved manageably well throughout the night. I don't see why lying down would make a difference, but in any case I've been better since then, although I'm still waiting for the rest of the congestion to clear up.

Nimiel's also been doing well, the medicine alleviated her symptoms pretty quickly. Unfortunately, after a few days she decided that she really doesn't like the medicine after all, so she's been fussing and making more effort to avoid the medicine and get away. Hopefully she won't start putting up a serious fight, we've still got at least another 9 days to go.

I finally settled on going to see X at The Showbox on Monday for my March show. I had decided to go direct to the Showbox's box office to get tickets for the Ladytron show coming up on May 24, because paying $8.75 extra per ticket as Ticketmaster's "convenience fee" is not as convenient as simply going downtown to the box office and paying only $2 extra for advance tickets. So when I finally got around to doing that last Monday, I checked and tickets were still available for X, so I got one. I'm not quite sure what to expect from the opening acts (or the audience), but it should be an interesting show.

I've also got my eye on a few concerts in April. There are three shows at Neumos I'm considering: Meat Beat Manifesto on Wednesday April 9, Simian Mobile Disco on Thursday April 24, and Sons and Daughters on Tuesday April 29. Of those I'm most likely to catch Sons and Daughters, but I did like Meat Beat Manifesto last time I saw them, and I've also been digging Simian Mobile Disco's current album Attack Decay Sustain Release, so if the shows don't sell out in advance I'll probably try going to each. However, there is another show in April that I will definitely attend: the live broadcast of KEXP's Audioasis local-music show at the High Dive on Saturday April 5. This show is part of their monthly series benefitting local charities, and this one benefits the Seattle Public Library Foundation. It's not so much the particular charity that's drawing me out as it is one of the bands on the lineup, Mono In VCF. I'm very interested to see how they sound in a small club, and whether they can recreate the ambience that fit so well at the Triple Door.

Finally, speaking of KEXP, I was very pleased on Tuesday to discover that the photo I took of "the last pledge" at KEXP's recent pledge drive was used (with credit to me) for an article on the Seattlest blog about KEXP's Radio Liberation NYC broadcasting project.