In which I discover I like music I thought I hated, or at least was ambivalent about.

One of the awesome things about having so many friends who are so into music is that once in a while, I get totally schooled on something i thought I hated or at least thought I didn't care enough about to formulate an opinion on.

Last year, it was Bob Seger. If you'd asked, I woulda told you Bob Seger was my LEAST FAVORITE MUSICIAN OF ALL TIME. He was the guy that made me run screaming for the radio dial, begging and pleading with the gods to MAKE THE SONG END and ease my pain. But then someone at my online haunt The Record Room hipped me to his first couple records, which are, in fact, whip-ass white-guy rippin' psych-soul a la the MC5, and bear no resemblance to the later stuff that made me want to gouge out my eardrums.



Today? The Steve Miller Band. Now -- y'know, I didn't HATE Steve Miller at all. I mean, when "Fly Like An Eagle" comes on, you bet I don't change the channel. But that's all I knew were the hits, and I didn't like them enough to love them. But Ian Wagner o'er at that self-same record room hipped me to his first two records, "Children of the Future" and "Sailor," and HOO BOY WOW, those are some amazing records. They sound more like the Band or Procol Harum than, like, shufflebluesboogierock. Y'know?



Anybody else have stuff they want to tell me about bands I hate? Like, uh -- wow, the number keeps shrinking the more I learn.

R.I.P. Jerry Reed

Folks who know me well know of my fondness for the music of Mr. Jerry Reed, he of "East Bound And Down" from "Smokey And The Bandit," one of my all-time favorite movies. Sadly, Mr. Reed apparently passed away a couple days ago. His lung collapsed. Yet another reason to quit with the coffin nails.

Here's Jerry and Glen singing two of my favorite songs -- "Country Roads" and "Ko-Ko-Joe," one of Jerry's weird idiosyncratic late-60s hits.

I Want A Cleee-e-e-e-ean Shaven Man!

So this weekend I shaved my beard off.

Oh -- I kept some gigantic Neil Young-ish mutton chops, but the bulk of my beard? GONE. Within two seconds of the hair hitting the sink I regretted my decision WHOLEHEARTEDLY. Why? Because without a beard, I have a goofy looking face. The beard gave me the illusion of youth. Now? My jowls are out there for all to see. I look like Paul McCartney if you maybe punched the guy hard in the kisser, broke his nose, and took about 50% of the hotness away from him. Or -- Paul McCartney, NOW.

Oh, and according to people on the internet? I gots a double chin. And it's true. I do. I went through a phase where I lost about 30 pounds and I *still* had a double chin.

WITH the beard I look like a bohemian hobo, sort of late-period Beatles meets 70s Bob Dylan. WITHOUT the beard I look like a jowly Mike Nesmith.

Sigh. HOW long does it take to grow a beard back?