"R O C K In The U S A"

So, Mellencamp.

Mellencamp kicked seven different kinds of ass. He came up with new kinds of ass, just so he could kick them. Donovan was pretty cool in a psychadelic, hippy-drippy sort of way. The only aspect of the show I didn't like was the quartet of thirty-somethings in front of dad and me. They were what I refer to as "thirty year old frat boys," because, though they might be in their thirties, with sagging features and growing paunches and all that, they still behaved like 19 year olds at a kegger. But that wasn't really Mellencamp's fault, so we don't hold it against him.

Dad and I managed to meet up before the show early enough to do the shopping spree and grab dinner at Arby's (mmm, roast beef sandwiches...). I grabbed four new CDs--Beck's Guero, the Rolling Stones' 40 Licks, B.B. King's Ultimate Collection, and Glen Phillips's Winter Pays for Summer (which I honestly wasn't expecting to be able to find, since it was only just released today. The others didn't surprise me, as they're all pretty mainstream--I grabbed the B.B. King on dad's recommendation and suggestion--but Phillips is fairly indie, or at least really minor mainstream. That's the advantage of moving to a major label, I guess). I also grabbed a spindel of blank CDs, 'cause dad wants copies of about a dozen or so different CDs of Clif's and mine. I also got a Mellencamp t-shirt (perhaps it shall be modelled tomorrow, we'll see). All in all, a very successful endeavour, I must say.

(Note: yes, I know I just used the British spelling of 'endeavour.' I prefer it to the American spelling. Why we think we can just remove vowels willy-nilly from words just because we don't think they need them is pretty arrogant. But then again, this is America. I digress.)

Anyway, tomorrow I'll probably have some thoughts on CD or two. I'll also have more developed thoughts about the Mellencamp concert.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: John Mellencamp, "Little Pink Houses"