Listening to the Motown box set. It’s amazing how talented Michael Jackson really is, or at least was when he was a little black boy and not a crazy white woman.

Okay everybody, take note. This would make a fine 28th birthday gift. Disregard the recommended ages, I’m sure they know not of what they speak.

I want to go find some WHO officials and give them a great big hug.

np – Cinerama / This Is Cinerama

The above comes from the Rotate This tickets listing web page. Piss on the WHO for declaring Toronto a plague zone. Fucknuts. Our health officials believe it’s safe to travel to Toronto. Seeing as how I have to live here anyway, I’ll choose to believe them. I wonder how we’re perceived by the rest of the world right now, whether they think we’re shuttered away indoors refusing to leave our homes without full SCUBA gear. Truth is, the streets have as many people as ever. We are going about our business like always. It’s not a leper colony for chrissakes.

I won a copy of the new Bettie Serveert album off of eBay today, and received my previous win, the Hitsville USA Motown box set in the mail. Sweet soul music.

This is too good. Creed fans sue Creed for sucking.

I just paid my taxes online. One fell swoop and I am $3000 poorer. But richer in life experience, or some shit like that.

np – various artists / Hitsville USA – The Motown Singles Collection 1959-1971

My browser refresh button got a workout last night at 1 AM EST when the More Like The Moon EP went live on the Wilcoworld site. You need the CD catalog number to access the downloads, but that’s not the tricky part. As of this morning, the download links still pointed to the Wilcoweb FTP directory, which is password protected. I had to set up a profile for the server on my FTP software to download it. If you want to do it this way, I used hostname “wilcoweb.net”, user ID “EP” and password “Wilco”… though I just tried logging in that way again and it didn’t work. Maybe they fixed the web links – I can’t tell, their servers are getting clobbered right now. I’ve already burned myself a copy of the EP but I still need the PDFs of the artwork.

The new as-yet-untitled Beulah album arrives August 26, with a tour to follow in the Fall.

I tried to pay off my taxes owing this morning, but the damned bank was closed. Chumps. I will just mail in a cheque.

np – Longwave / The Strangest Things

I will say this for the Leafs… Actually, I will say nothing about the Leafs. I’m not surprised one whit. Been through this too many times before. Whatever. Anyway, now I can pull for other teams that have a better chance of winning and not get too emotionally invested if they fail.

I am also not at Longwave tonight, free show though it may be. It’s not nice out, I’m tired and I’ve seen them twice since December already. I did pick up The Strangest Things for real cheap though, so I’m supporting them that way. I also grabbed The Lips’ Fight Test EP. More Yoshimi goodness. The CD has the video for “Fight Test” and a trailer for Christmas On Mars.

Today is Brad’s birthday. As a gift, I was going to try to get the Lake Holiday blog working. Try. Oh well, he’ll have another birthday next year anyway.

np – The Flaming Lips / Fight Test

The Chameleons have split again, and it looks like this time it’s even more permenant than their split in the late 80s. Thanks to the wonder of the internet, the in-fighting between Mark, Reg, Dave and John has become very very public and is pretty nasty. It’s sad to see, but I can’t say I’m terribly surprised. At the reunion show in Toronto last year, Mark seemed to be having a blast but Reg and Dave didn’t look overly happy. The tension was palpable then and I guess it just blew up. A pity, but I’m glad to have been able to have caught them live during their abbreviated armistice.

Now – let’s get The House Of Love over here before Terry, Pete and Chris remember why they ditched Guy in the first place.

Today is Earth Day. Go outside and hug some dirt.

np – Portastatic / The Nature Of Sap