Ryan Triumphs Over The Crud

My dreams of posting an exciting weekend recap went awry as I became crippled by the medical condition known only as "The Crud." With gallons of gatorade in my stomach and pills on my tongue I now bring Mojobrand up to speed.

The Shins on Friday night were great, although my own aging is taking over. Couldn't have everyone enjoyed the show if the band had come out at say, 6 PM instead of 11 PM? Despite coming out several hours past my bedtime I was kept alert and aware thanks to hundreds of stinky people, humidity as thick as yak fur, the combined fog of a thousand cigarettes mixed with pot, and the awesome sight of several girls dancing and thrashing about as if a mouse was running wild in their pants. Other observations from the show:

1. I find it odd that the lead singer and songwriter (James Mercer) almost never spoke on stage. It seems that singer-man is usually the main talker on stage and does all the mindless jibber jabber between songs, but not the case with James. And, he wasn't in the center of the stage like most other singer-men. He was all the way to the right, where I would expect to see the usually unexciting bass player. Perhaps he is very quiet and introspective and despite being an amazing performer, prefers to be low key most of the time.

2. I almost went 5 for 5 with my fave Shins tunes, only to have my number one song get the shaft! How could they not play "Fighting in a Sack?" This was the only disappointment of the evening. I thought after playing "One by One All Day" I was a cinch to bat 1.000 but I was mistaken. Boo on mistaken!

3. It always frustrates me to see television/radio dominated by diseased meat-bags like the Simpson sisters, J-Lo, the latest catchy rap jingle, or latest flavor of the week boy-crooner suck wad. It's awesome to see a great band get their due and have tons of folks out there to witness & support them. There may be hope for this society yet.

In other news, both the Wiggler and I battled sickness all week. Sheridan's crud manifested itself in hacking cough form, prompting us to rethink giving her the Lil' Camel non-filtered nico-pacifier she cries so loudly for. That's all for today. Get back to work!