Good god

The news that American soldiers tortured and sexually abused Iraqi prisoners--and took gleeful photographs documenting the abuse--makes me want to scream. (Video of a CBS report about the abuse, with some of the photographs, can be seen here.)

Vietnam is the wrong analogy for our intervention in Iraq. Iraq is our Afghanistan, as in the nation the Soviet Union invaded in 1980 in order to install a friendly regime. You'll recall that the Soviet Union imploded as a result of that caper.

Except we already have an Afghanistan. It's called Afghanistan.

Nice to be back

At the Slipper Club last night I played my first show since the Action Wisconsin benefit in February, and it was good to be up there! After the demise of El Segundo and #1 Dad last December, I was feeling a bit blah about live music, wondering if it is more trouble than it's worth. But yesterday's gig reminded me that when a show is going well and the room has a warm, friendly vibe, there's really nothing I'd rather be doing.

I also learned--to my immense surprise--that in my months away from the game, show business hasn't changed. That's why I'd like to offer aspiring performers some advice, and also a simple truism. The truism first: for the entertainer, at least half of entertainment is sitting around and waiting. I used to fight this, but now I accept it.

And the advice: eat dinner before sound check. You may think you'll have enough time for food after sound check, but odds are something will go wrong, and you won't. (I did have a bite after sound check (Ereck worries about me), but it wasn't leisurely.)

Tough interview

I dreamed I was hired to write an editorial for the New York Times. I lost the research material I was going to use on Dick Cheney, something to do with a series of inconsistent stands he'd taken on NASA funding, but fortunately my mom was entertaining Dick and Lynne Cheney in her home that day. Dick was grandfatherly and accomodating, except that he didn't answer my questions.

Huh?

Last night at the library I started to read a U.S. News cover story on adult attention-deficit disorder. But I got bored, so I stopped.

You oughta know

Next Wednesday yours truly is playing a solo gig at the Slipper Club in downtown Madison. That's the old Rainbow Room, site of many of my past glories. (No, not that kind of glory.)

I do believe it's my first billed solo show! If you know what I mean. There'll be two sets of country music old and new, original and unoriginal.

The lowdown:

WHEN: Wednesday, Apr. 28, 10:00 p.m.
WHERE: Slipper Club, 121 W. Main St., Madison
HOW MUCH: $3
WHY: Because I like you

Hooray! Kill Bill: Volume 1 is opening at Market Square, the cheap cinema, so anyone who wants to the opener can catch up with it on the big screen before moving on the second installment.

Cash back

After four months, during which I made several phone calls and wrote one nasty email, I finally got a $50 rebate check for the external hard drive I bought last year. The check was two months late, and I can say with near certainty that I had not followed up repeatedly, I never would have gotten the money.

So is this rebate business a scam, or what? The rebates let retailers advertise really attractive prices and gamble that consumers won't be patient, persistent, or (in my case) mule-headed enough to see the rebate process through. I definitely felt silly grubbing for fifty bucks, but my Scots nature triumphed in the end.

Now, what shall I spend the $50 on? Oh yes, rent and food.