sorry I'm late. the highway was jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive.

I can't possibly express the exhilaration of sleeping late and staying at home on a Monday morning. the day seems full of possibilities. and likely none of those possiblities will become reality (I'm exhilarated, not energetic), but being at home on a "school day" is enough.

happy Columbus Day.

suggested viewing: "Christopher"

but back to the Springsteen theme.
I received an e-mail from a friend, a longtime Bruce fanatic, shortly after five p.m. which let me know that the setlist for last night's show in Philly was already circulating.
huh?
how does a setlist circulate three hours before showtime?
it's like the starting lineup for a baseball game or sumpin' (am I the only one who's more than tired of hearing Yankees announcers bitch about the bugs in Cleveland? "if it wasn't for the bugs we would've won." "we'll just say one more thing about the bugs in Cleveland on Friday night, and then we'll let it go" (jeez, I wish). you've got the largest payroll in baseball, and have for years, and you want to complain about what's fair? grow up already).
but she was right.
"Incident on 57th Street" at number 12.

and while all that was going on in Philamadelphia, 60 Minutes broadcast a Springsteen segment.
Bruce's comments seemed cogent, but correspondent Scott Pelley was all over the place, trying to not only show off his E Street knowledge but to push the ratings envelope with several stabs at pinning Magic as a "controversial" album (I guess Pelley hasn't heard "American Skin (41 Shots)" off the Live in New York City set (ugliest Bruce cover? I think so).

my favorite Bruce: Darkness on the Edge of Town (but you don't want to be around me while I'm listening to it)

lack of daytime access

to personal e-mail accounts (insert curse word here) does take some adjustment, as well as extra hours once I'm finally home (he wrote at 1:41 a.m.), but there's all sorts of technological tomfoolery going on too. the cell phone died (and was resurrected) three times in the past 24 hours, and now the external hard drive on the home computer is refusing to accept the download of an interview I conducted this afternoon. says it's full. and despite a couple hours of effort I haven't had much luck creating space.

the camera, however (and knock wood), seems to be functioning as well as one could hope. last night I photographed the Mekons show at Gramercy Theater to run alongside a Voice column next week (extras will eventually land at the recently neglected last concert I ever saw). and next week (most likely) I'll also have two blog entries in the Voice's Sound of the City section as the super secret project is already about half unveiled (not trying to be mysterious; it's just late and not a particularly quick explanation) with a piece on the songwriting predilections of the Fiery Furnaces' Matthew Friedberger.

other good stuff to read (assuming my Furnaces work is good to read): Mark Jacobson's article on the man convicted of murdering Malcolm X (call it a jealousy piece; as in, 'damn, I wish I'd have thought to write about that').
I'm thinking about posting a long interview I did with Mark about a year and a half back because the original publication died and departed for magazine heaven so I'm pretty sure it's no longer on the Internet.

last album I listened to for no reason at all: Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy

(danbert nobacon) impressionism (21)

danbert nobacon (opening for the mekons)
gramercy (blender) theater
new york city
10/03/2007

it's over

the Phillies beat the Nationals 6-1 and the Mets lose to the Marlins 8-1 to complete the greatest collapse in major league baseball history.

but Auburn STILL beat the previously #4 ranked and defending national champion Florida Gators(for the second year in a row) in the Swamp 20-17.

and while the Mets blowing a 7-game lead with only 17 to play is a real shocker, and Auburn beating Florida (an 18-point favorite) for Urban Meyer's first loss at home, the true holy shite moment of the early fall is Kentucky (not South Florida; Kentucky) ranked in the top ten in football (#8 in both major polls).
I love me some underdogs, but this will never (ever) last. three of their five wins have come against Eastern Kentucky, Kent State and Florida Atlantic (not exactly football powerhouses) and neither Arkansas nor Louisville, even excepting their respective losses to the Wildcats, are playing like folks thought they should.
though the 'Cats have a very favorable schedule (only one away game thus far), it's nothing but SEC opponents, including LSU and Florida in successive weeks(though both games are at home), left on the schedule.
I think they'll be doing well to finish the year at 8-4 (and they're 5-0 now).

but returning to a more pleasant note, all hail freshman kicker Wes Byrum.
and War Eagle.

a recap

I've never written for Pitchfork (and that's okay).

I don't believe I've ever received a SubPop promo (less okay, esp. now when there's new Iron & Wine and Band of Horses I'd like to hear (though, boy, Sam could be the double for Will Forte as "The Falconer" in this promo for his video on Amazon)).

the Mets, after a soon-to-be legendary September swoon (something like 11 losses in the last 15 games, most of them at home and most against cellar dwellers), finally came around yesterday and kicked butt, both literally and figuratively. a bench-clearing brawl in the fifth, John Maine takes a no-hitter into the eighth and the Mets take the Marlins 13-0. and with the Phillies' loss to the Nationals (the true NL East cellar dweller, and also a Phillies home game), the Mets crawled (too on the nose?) back into a tie for the division lead, a place they'd been (until Friday night) since April.

enter Tom Glavine, winner of 303 major league games and near certain Hall of Fame selection (since no 300+ game winner has ever been denied the Hall of Fame).
then exit Tom Glavine, 303 game winner, in what has to be the worst (and possibly last) outing of that Hall of Fame career.
the Marlins go through the order against Glavine who records but one out before being pulled and after a mere half inning Florida leads the Mets (in the Mets' most important regular season game in, well, the history of the franchise) 7-0.

something stinks in here, and it's not the Camembert.

(above photo: Mr. Met, in happier days)

war damn eagle

happymabirthday mr. faulkner

William Faulkner, approximately half the reason that the South gets credit for producing exceptional writers and athletes (though precious little else, thank you very much), is/was/would've been 110 today.

though not the majority choice, I still prefer Light in August.