Finishing the site / Drive-By Truckers rule!

The new site for Sorry Ma Publishing should be up soon. A good bit of work has gone into it, so it will be a relief once it is finished. It will also be a relief to get this new story Ennui finished. I finally locked myself in my room and put a few hours into it. Writing, for me, is one of those things that I sometimes fear during anticipation, but can't stop during execution. That's exactly what happened yesterday. I procrastinated and procrastinated, but once I sat down to do it, I didn't come up for air for nearly two hours. And how much got done after three hours? Maybe two pages, total. Oh well, if it were easy...

Last night only re-confirmed my belief that the Drive-By Truckers could be the biggest band in the United States if they keep going at this pace. Their show at the Great American Music Hall gave me new hope that the raw power and emotion of a rock'n'roll show circa Van Halen, Motley Crue, even back to ol' Led Zep or the often referenced Lynyrd Skynyrd, could be married to such a talented group of songwriters/musicians. Sure, they get their 80's hard rock ya-ya's out, what with Cooley doing solos on his Flying-V up at the front of the stage. But it's almost as if they are doing it a little tongue and cheek, as if they want to give the audience a little of that rock star attitude that has been missing for the last decade or so, even though they don't actually possess it. The crowd was so into it, they stomped their feet and chanted for not one but two encores! They played just about the entire new record, along with my favorites like Living Bubba, Women Without Whiskey, Zip City, Let There Be Rock, and a new one called Grandaddy. And though I miss hearing songs like Steve McQueen, Box of Spiders, Don't Be In Love Around Me, and 18 Wheels of Love (I'm hoping they'll bring 'em back more regularly after this tour), I have to say that the new DBT really has something going. They seemed almost too big for the tiny GAMH stage.

Tonight, Brock and I are going back to GAMH to catch Umphrey's McGee. Should be a totally different experience. Brock isn't a big Phish fan, and has never really listened to Umphrey's before, so I am hopeful that he will enjoy it. Rachel will be across town at the RjD2 show at the Independent. May have to take Saturday off to give my ears a break!