FINALLY - I can check "Write review of The Dwarves show at the Croc" off my lifetime "To Do List"

Ah, yes - the weekend before the weekend before the Midterm Elections. Can you sense the excitement America? Well, in that case you're probably hopeful. Or terrified, depending on your political persuasion. Me? Confused as hell. I watch and read more than a family of political lowland gorillas. And I'm still only sure of how I'll vote. Yup, straight anti-LaRouche ticket. As ever. So I'll instead move on to other things.

The Cards won the World Series. In essence, 713,247 out of 227 million baseball fans (I'm estimating) are psyched about this year's October blandfest. And since the last time the Cards won was in '82 when they beat Real America's Team (the Brew Crew) and crushed my junior high aged heart...well, baseball's dead to me for the year when it comes to talking about these guys. Congrats. Now shut up. And vote McCaskill.

Maya's developing a strong appreciation for physical comedy. And since I'm the only comic she's familiar with, I'm feeling a bit thrashed about after the past week. Unfortunately, she caught some sort of stealth bug Monday nite and essentially spent the next few days whimpering while hopefully whining "Perform for me, Daddy!" So I did what any sucker would and ran my gag reel repertoire to the limit. And I got to work on my impressions of Sesame Street characters. Let's just say that my Ernie continues to kill. Yet aside from the occasional unintentional headbonk thanks to our incredibly irritating dining room light, I can't say that I'm planning to keep this routine up. Regardless, all you Maya fans should know that a pratfall will surely be the best way to win her heart next time you see her.

I've still not put up a review of the rock and roll show I saw last weekend. The Hold Steady. At the Crocodile Cafe in Belltown. My All-Time Favorite Club on the Planet. The space sucks. The drinks are hardly stiff enough for a place so steeped in musty edginess. But I used to hold court with some of my favorite people in the World in the corner booth in the back bar area way back when-ish. So my bias is hard won. On this occassion, I went back on my own, expecting to be a fly on the wall and hopefully not in the ointment. No such luck. The Hold Steady is this particular moment's bar buzz band and they take their timing from said buzz. Translation: they didn't hit the stage until well after two hilarious openers had gotten us all impossibly tangled. Incredibly friendly crowd. Ironically reminded me of the time in '98 when I saw a guy blow The Dwarves bassist to end a set just before the headlining Cows came out and bombed like LBJ. Oh wait...am I still typing out loud? Anyhoo, the point is to say that The Hold Steady is insanely good at what they do. Great band, greater crowd. When's the last time you went to a concert where two incredibly nice, obviously straight guys you'd just met argued between themselves about who should buy you a beer? For me it was last Saturday. If you have the chance, be there whenever they come through town.

If you're still reading, you have my utmost thanks. I'm just wasting time, avoiding the bigger writing that needs me. Hope your own timelines allow such departures today. Rock on.