...life, death, love and other small vanities...

Today my neck was bare so as not to be taken for trying too hard. I spoke to you anyway, Tsanami you call me now because I'm powerful like that. I'm just wanting.

Shivering in my room at 1:30 in the morning, only partly from the cold. The rest is residual tremor from Buddy Miller at the horseshoe tonight. Endurance like no one I've seen, the man went three hours straight. Just hit after hit after hit, and we were dancing and singing and stamping along. Such a warm performer, he drew us in with more than his incredible voice and powerful, image-laden songs; he captured us with tales from his early days, the food scene in Nashville, and the true reason he went to the Grammy's this year. Exhausted now, but still reeling from a true masterful performance (oh child, if you could have seen it).

Interjection: Rachel pulled psychoanalysis on me again, reminding me that he is no child. I only call him that to make him seem younger than he is, in my mind. For the same reason that for the past week I have told people I am 21 when asked, though I am still 6 months short. I like 21 better, one more year to his... several long years older than 21.

Justin opened tonight for Buddy Miller. It was interesting seeing that set after his performance on Thursday night's cd release. On Thursday, Justin was a master act. Maybe it was the comfort of knowing that they had all been there for love of him, but the ease and stellar manner with which he belted out his songs on Thursday was completely different from tonight, which came off exactly as it was: an opening act.

Opening act or not, I don't think I'll ever get tired of listening to him sing. So much talent, mind blowing. And these beautiful, simple lyrics that are so true to life-emotion and spirituality. Signing the inside of my CD (today I played groupie), he writes "thank you very very very very very much, Jason Rutledge". That's an inside joke. To get it, you have to read the current issue of The Strand, and an interview which made me laugh buckets. Oh Carole, what did you write...

To demonstrate that I am not, in fact, a loser who hangs around my place of employment even on days when I'm not working, I will not go in to the store at ALL until Friday night's shift.

Further, despite the approaching deadline of the social anthropology paper on commodity cultures, I will go out tomorrow night encore une fois. The Duke of G it looks like it will be, for MAH2 pub night, and reunion with the FTC-ers.