Last Stop Tokyo

Tomorrow we head off for South Dakota for the baby. We're stopping in Corn Palace capital of the world, Mitchell, SD. Per advice from Justin, we should check out a Taco John's in South Dakota as they are pretty high class sort of deal up there. Not need-to-make-a-reservation type status, but they're pretty well kept and fancy and even have their own newsletter.

He said he once toured through there and the band he was with played in South Dakota and loves Taco John's and mailed them info and asked to sponsor the show and they did. The fliers and stuff had Taco John's logo and stuff and they went to some office and got coupons for a bunch of free stuff, so they're aces in my book.

Jeff and Margaret came over the other night and also stopped by work today. It was way too busy as a result of yet another airing of us on "Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives."

But anyhow, I'm mostly packed, I bought (via Rick Philbin) "East Bound and Down" for $10 at Best Buy and am highly stoked. I'm still loading up the iPod and making a playlist for the road. ESPN Madison, the Fall, the Birthday Party, N.W.A., Guided by Voices, some other spoken word and comedy are going to be in heavy rotation and of course, the Friends album by the Beach Boys.

Speaking of rotation, after bad coffee last week at brunch, we stopped at Crane Coffee on the way back and the barista said him and his co-worker were taking a poll and asked if I liked the Beach Boys. I looked at Jeanne and said, "Man, you couldn't have found a better source for you cause than this dude here." I went into the whole thing on the best era, how most people who don't like the Beach Boys are talking about the car/surf songs (though still good) they are tired of hearing those and not being able to understand the musical greatness of it all, and even if the "Who's better, the Beach Boys or the Beatles?" argument comes up, the Beatles were so inspired by Brian Wilson's writing that they started developing their music writing and became competative contemporaries and if "Smile" came out when it should've, "Sgt. Peppers" wouldn't have been as sucessful or impactful as it was.

Then he looked at me and closed the window...no, he was pleasantly happy with the results...I think.

We're both excited about the whole birth and hope everything goes well and...Funny People is a great movie.