Busy weeks and good music

My life has been a happy, hectic mess these last few days. Lets see...

Thursday after work I traveled with several friends out to Ord, NE to hang out and briefly attend Comstock Rock. The concert was typical for Comstock: Jackyl, a one-hit-wonder band from back in the day, screamed "rock and roll" to a bunch of drunk rural Nebraskans who really believed him when he told them they were the biggest badass rockers in the country. I actually rather enjoyed the show, in a primitive, visceral way. They played Johnny Cash, which wins anyone kudos from me.

Friday was great fun. We rode around on decades-old bikes which I wound call retro except that antique would probably be closer to the truth. That afternoon we went 'tanking', a great example of bucolic western Nebraskan life. Essentially, we floated down a river in a huge plastic drinking trough for cattle which had a picnic table in it. Good times.

Saturday I worked all day, but also made a great discovery for lunch. At 48th and R they just put in a new food joint called "Raising Cane's". Its out of Louisiana, and is essentially a slightly classier version of Chic-Fil-A. However, they serve sweet tea, perhaps my favorite beverage and one of the South's few redeeming features. The food was good; yummy chicken and a good special sauce which is rather hard to describe.

Next week I have to drive up to Ogallala to play for a friend's wedding, which puts me out of commission for Friday and Saturday, and then Sunday evening at my old church in Milford I have to preach. So no rest for the weary, but it should be a lot of fun.

My most recent purchases for music are Jens Lekman's "When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog" and the Mountain Goats' "All Hail West Texas." Jens is one of those boyish crooners who wins you over with a naivety which seems to ridiculous to be feigned ("Yeah I got busted/So I used my one phone call/To dedicate a song to you on the radio") He also has a great voice. As usual, I love the Mountain Goats. The songwriting is brilliant, the lo-fi production fits perfectly, Darnielle's voice is delightfully raw, and I find myself yelling along with the lyrics already ("When you punish a person for dreaming his dream/don't expect him to thank or forgive you/the best ever death metal band out of denton/will in time both outpace and outlive you" or "whoa-whoa/whoa whoa/the pirate's life for me"). All in all, both highly recommended albums.