The only other band that will keep me out late on a school night.

Arrive late, park close, sit in chair through opener, hog front and center stage in a smoke free bar with nice ambiance, with a musician playing his guitar in your face and the lead singer a foot away. How does it get any better than that? My favorite band, Son Volt, kicked off their tour supporting their new CD release, Searching, right here in Bellingham. So I didn't know any of the new songs, no one did, it just came out. But they broke into their old favorites after awhile. That close, the sound kind of sucks and you have to wear ear plugs, but to be that close? Closest I've ever felt to being a groupie. It's even worth feeling a bit brain dead today. One of these days, I'll catch up on sleep...

Some lyrics for y'all...

::Still Be Around::

I don't see you through the windshield
I don't see you in faces looking back at me
Alcohol doesn't have much that matters to say
Can't imagine where you and time to kill will stay

When the bible is a bottle
And the hardwood floor is home
When morning comes twice a day or not at all
If I break in two will you put me back together?
When this puzzle's figured out will you still be around
To say you've just been there
Walking the line upside down

Walked and breathed many a cancerous mile
Where the bat of an eye is too slow to beat the coffin
They won't tell it on the TV
They can't say it on the radio
They pay to move it off the shelf and into our minds
Until you can't tell the truth
When it's right in front of your eyes

When the bible is a bottle
And the hardwood floor is home
When morning comes twice a day or not at all
If I break in two will you put me back together?
When this puzzle's figured out will you still be around
To say you've just been there
Walking the line upside down