I met up with Lisa for the first time today, someone I only know through online journaling. We had brunch in the lower Haight. You know, it's qualitatively different meeting someone through online journaling. There isn't any period of uncertainty or "getting to know" each other, no putting up fronts, figuring each other out, or trying to come across as this or that. If you've been reading each other's journals, you already know if you like them or not, and you have an idea what's going on in their lives. It was just, boom, what do we have to talk about. Familiarity isn't there, though. Maybe it'll come, maybe it won't, but the reason why you read their journal doesn't change and you'll presumably continue to.

We saw each other again this evening at Throwing Muses. Lisa and I have been mentioning meeting up at shows since Mission of Burma last year. The reason we met for brunch today was because it was, "OK, let's quit this, meet up, get it over with, we know each other, next time we're at a show we'll recognize each other, starting with Throwing Muses".

Throwing Muses blew the roof off the dump. Unlike their 2nd Gut Pageant reunion show a couple of years ago, they were well-rehearsed and the crowd was totally there with them. I don't know what it is about Kristen Hersh and Throwing Muses, it's very inaccessible music, but something just draws me into it. And it's not just me. I met two people at the show who had met each other at the shows in Boston and have been following Throwing Muses to New York, to Los Angeles, to San Francisco, and will continue following them up to Seattle. There was another English couple who have been following them through the European leg of the tour! I thought I was nuts for going tonight and tomorrow night. I'm not.

I think the highlights of the show was the new material, especially "Mercury" and "Pandora's Box", which totally rocked. Hopefully they'll put "Portia" back in the set for tomorrow night.