Happy New Year...belated greetings and welcome to 2004. Home is a great place to run around for 2 weeks and coming back to Chicago is freaking insane at 8 degrees. When people see my car, they stop me, point and say "Texas?"...like they've seen the Creature from the Loch Ness or Lagoon or whatever.

Sunshine and snow is pretty and as soon as I get the feeling back in my toes, I will walk outside for 45 seconds and enjoy it.

Some observations over the break: 1) I can shop for the entire family in 4 hours if I have to; 2) Silly String is always a popular gift; 3) Giant is not as good a movie as I remembered and James Dean mailed it in; 4) I do have a halfway decent poker face when playing, uh, poker.
___

Oliver Future is returning from their first successful tour of the West Coast - no broken bones, stolen equipment, or excessive crowd harassment. From what they tell me, people were very excited and complimentary after the shows. The write-ups keep coming in, all in the positive and even, multi-linguial.
___

Now, we need to turn the spotlight over to Shane Bartell. Shane's second release (first full length) is happening on January 31st, in Austin, Texas. He will be featuring the Tosca string quartet, the full band and even some lesser named record label owners on stage. It's shaping up to be a very large and overwhelming production - so don't miss it. "Too Soon to Say" will have some streaming mp3's for you to hear, in about a week at www.shanebartell.com.
___

Oh...and guess who forgot the damn Jiffy Pop for stockings...such an idiot.