Next One

OK - so the house that we were in contract on ("Sale Pending") fell through. Can't share specifics (for reasons of legality and courtesy), but briefly - we found a few red flags in the inspection, and countered the seller to get a credit. They came back a few days later, and said 'No Deal'. Kind of odd, they wouldn't budge a nudge. A few days after that, we found out they had taken it off the market, are doing repairs we outlined in our inspection, and will put it back on next month. Considering ours was the only offer, it wasn't very much over asking, and we came back to them after we found out these things, hard to believe they'll get a better deal without sinking many thousands of dollars into it. Well, who knows.

Now, we have another deal pending, looks really good. Once we know more, if anyone's interested, I can share the info. But not being premature...

So, Bonnie's mom Annie was in town, spent a nice afternoon Saturday in the Gourmet Ghetto (including the new Epicurious Garden, Cheeseboard, and the rather silly vegan Cafe Gratitude, and went by the (now-defunct) house to show her. She's made several real estate transactions, she and her husband Steve have been very helpful in this process. Thanks, if you're reading this!

A busy weekend last time - party on Thursday, noisy jazz show on Friday at Starry Plough (Good for Cows, and Nels Cline). It's always great to see Ches and other fellows (and see how many bands share members). Saturday was Jewdriver and ArnoCorps (and Ron Nichols' band which I didn't know about!). I squeezed in 2 (two!) movies while I was waiting for the show - Scary Movie 4 and 'The Wild'.

Thinking of starting a weekly profile/spotlight/review on some recent albums. So this week is "Operation Mindcrime II" from Queensryche . A sequel of sorts to the grand concept album from 1988 (!). One of the first videos I remember seeing on "Headbanger's Ball" - "Eyes of a Stranger", and I was a fan ever since. "OM II" is definitely the best Queensryche album since "Promised Land" , but doesn't come close to the original. Solid songwriting and production, but lacks interesting elements, doesn't come across as an 'album' (again, falling way short of the original), and is far too polite for its context. I suppose if I were to give it a ranking... 3 out of 5 for mild listenability, and sheer chutzpah for revisiting the Mindcrime... Guest vocals by Dio!

One last bit - celebrating National Poetry month with a gift from Bonnie (an e.e. cummings assortment! yay, my first!), and got Purgatorio, and Paradiso from Dante's Divinia Comedia. The Inferno is, in my opinion, one of the greatest writtern works in history. I'm embarrassed to say I haven't read the other 2. I admit this was sparked by the new Sepultura album, Dante XXI, based on the trilogy. Quick review of that - some great metal, interesting Sepultura flourishes, probably their best with Derrick Green. (though I still think I'm a bigger Soulfly fan) 3.5 out of 5. Yah!