Today was a better day than yesterday because the sun came out. Still no road trip plans. Still watching DVDs and reading House of Leaves. I did take the dust cover off my music equipment the other day. Today, I not only took the covering off, but turned it on as well! I even plugged a guitar in! Baby steps.

I headed out in the late afternoon for drinks at Beale St. with ex-coworkers. At 7:30, Delphine picked me up to go to a Noise Pop show I wouldn't have been going to otherwise, but how can I say no to a free ticket and a photo pass. One of the opening bands was Built Like Alaska, and I really wanted to like them, but they just bored me to sleep. Literally. I actually fell asleep and caught myself while falling forward. I think Delphine saw the stumble, but didn't know what it was really about. I tried to maintain my composure. Next up was The Stratford 4, a local up-and-coming power-pop quartet. I don't know if they lived up to the hype surrounding them, but they were pretty good. Except the drummer. They need to lose the drummer. Nothing kills power-pop like uninspired, lackluster drumming. Maybe she was overcoming a cold. Or a migraine. Or allergies. Or all at once. Delphine also noticed that the drumming sucked, but said it is fine on the new record, which she got an advance copy of because she's reviewing it for Bay Area Buzz.

The headliner was Camper Van Beethoven. It was a sold out show, and I got in free not knowing a note of Camper Van Beethoven. What a crime. They were big on the college scene in the late '80's, but as musically unfashionable as I typically was/am?, I never got into them. They broke up for most of the 90's, but now they're back doing some shows, and they were quite good. They certainly held my interest for the whole show, which went pretty long, but we didn't stay for the encores. Now if only Delphine can get me into a show that I want to see.