La Villa Strangiato

Hello, friends.

"WHY CAN'T THEY MAKE INTERESTING MOVIES ANYMORE?"

Alex Lifeson, guitarist extraordinaire for the Canadian power trio Rush, said that at a recent concert.

He didn't say that at the show I attended on Saturday night, but it's okay. I actually couldn't understand what he said during his little rant, but that's okay. I could understand what Geddy was saying, and since he does lead vocals, that works out pretty well.

Did I mention it was a good show? If not, let me say it.

"It was a fantastic show. 31 songs, 3+ hours, and they played pretty much everything I could have asked for. It's amazing how much sound 3 guys can put out. And how well they all play. I mean, if I were putting together a band, my first choice for bass and drums would probably be Geddy and Neil. Neil wins hands-down over anyone, I think, and Geddy might just eke out a victory over Vic or Lord Adam Clayton. It'd be pretty damn close. And after 30 years, they don't seem to have lost much of anything. They sound better now than a lot of bands do in their prime. I really can't see any of today's bands being popular enough to play to a full house in 30 years. Hell, I can't see some of these bands being around in 5 (insert Nickelback joke here). So yeah, go Rush.

But why aren't they in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame?

In other news:

Congrats to mum and Mike on their (more or less) acquistion of a house.

Kudos to Aunt Diane for: a.) not killing me with her cooking, and b.) getting Chip in her cat carrier twice, and not suffering anywhere near as many injuries as I did trying to get her in that thing once.

I'd like to think I'm pretty...stiff upper lip when it comes to pain, but having a set of cat claws dig into my back put me over. Trying to get Chip into her carrier yesterday was an ordeal the likes of which I've not had in some time, and I'm not exaggerating. Granted, I was trying to put her in the wrong way most of the time, but still.

Ouch. Sweeny Todd is playing on my back, if you catch my drift.

All of this so I could get the cats to Aunt Di's house for to see the vet. Why drive 2 hours when there are lots of vets here in town?

Dr. Unal: $32 for shots
STL vets: $80 for shots

There you go. "Cat Trauma Weekend" has officially ended for this year. At least I'll know what to do when we do the shots thing next year.

I am now knee-deep in my vacation. It's pretty cool, and it reminds me how much I miss this sort of thing every summer. One of the pitfalls of working all the time. I took a walk around Auntie Di's place today, and realized, when I got back, that I hadn't thought about a single concrete thing. Generally, people take walks to think, but I took a walk and completely shut my higher brain off. How cool is that? I should do that more often.

I should take a week off more often, too.

From one concert to another: we're hitting the Flecktones tomorrow. Good times ahead. But for now, Ima go change my sheets.


They call me the workin' man, I guess that's what I am,*
Dave




*not this week!