Que tal

I have slacked off on blogging for what feels like weeks now. I've been throwing an occasional link or quotation or brief, wry comment up, but not much of substance. I'm not sure what's going on, except that I quit drinking coffee, which has sapped my energy considerably. But I have in the last few days begun drinking a little black tea now and then, so look for some improvement. In the meantime, I can tell you about a few things:

• The World's Greatest Lovers played a wedding a few weeks ago, and I identified strongly with this kid who shyly approached me after the show. One of only a handful of youngsters at the reception, he was 13 and wanted to know what kind of guitar I play. I showed him where it says Telecaster, and he said he wants a Gibson SG. I told him this is an excellent choice. He said he plays in a band that till recently was called Hormones, and now is called something he couldn't remember. I said it was a shame they hadn't stuck with Hormones, which is a great name for a teenage band (or a greying-thirtysomething band, for that matter), but I encouraged him to keep rocking.

• Thanks to my loving partner Ereck, I was able to buy a relatively inexpensive domestic-partner membership to the gyms at UW-Madison. As the coldness approaches, you'll find me doing much less running by the lakes and much more on the giant indoor track at the Shell, the super-old-school gym next to Camp Randall stadium. I've also begun to do a bit of work with the weight machines, though I can't shake the nagging feeling that I ought not to mess around with machines and instead should use the free weights. But these intimidate me.

• The World's Greatest Lovers have added Adam Davis, a superb pedal steel player. If you ever wondered what Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff" sounds like with pedal steel, you can find out at an upcoming World's Greatest Lovers show (check the column on the right over there for dates).

• H�agen-Dazs dulce de leche is where it's all happening.

• Joy Dragland kicks ass.