Salty, icy, ramblings

A few random ramblings:

• I'm not going to say a thing about the cold because, well, why? Rather, I'm going to whine about the fact that during a week of freezing cold (after a Sunday of near-flood conditions) resulting in slick, slick ice, there was no sidewalk salt to be had in SE Wisconsin, apparently. Until today, that is. Brian went to all the local gas stations, as well as Home Depot, and nobody had any salt. Everybody told him, "Thursday." And true to their word, we finally were able to pick some up, but not before I put a giant black and blue mark on my butt from a wipeout Monday morning. Plus, I'm sure this isn't news -- but it's the old law of supply and demand. Demand is up, and therefore, so is the price -- seven bucks for a 50# bag!


• I've had to enable comment moderation, because, oh dear, I've got a troll. One who doesn't know the difference between the possessive "your" and the contraction of 2nd person pronoun with the 2nd person conjugation of "are" to make "you're." (And that loses credibility for me right there.) One who doesn't have the balls to post his/her name and stand behind their convictions. (So even if s/he had a clue about grammar, they'd have still lost me right there.) One who doesn't seem to be too eloquent, either. Seems all s/he can come up with is the brillaint "You're an idiot" or some poorly cliche-strewn comment that doesn't seem to add to his/her point.
  
  I'm all for people who disagree with me, and that's well and good. Miss Lemonie had a few words for me last summer, but she made her point well, identified herself in her comment, and while we have decided to disagree, her post was written in a spirit of actually engaging in intelligent debate. But I'm not going to allow bandwidth to be taken up with stupid "You're an idiot" stuff. Why? Do you disagree? Did I post something false? Don't like what I'm writing? Fine, but can we engage in some intelligent discourse? I don't have time for one liners. So I'm going to have to steal PastaQueen's disclaimer regarding comments. It pretty much sums up how I feel about this, and what my comment policy will be:
  

  
  Half of Me is a fascist regime ruled with a benevolent fist by PastaQueen and the macaroni military. Lively discussion is encouraged, but any comment may be deleted or edited according to the whims of your monarch. If you write something nasty, it will be removed, but only after I laugh at you and mock you to all of my friends. Play nice and I won't have to slap anyone with a wet noodle.

  
  Rest assured, anonymous commenter, I've laughed at you and mocked you to all my friends as well. And the majority of my friends were also English majors (or at least could have been!) I especially like the part about a blog being a fascist regime. God Save The Queen!


• Tonight the Milwaukee Ballet continues on their Shakespeare bent, this time going with a happy Bard story. Some of Stella's peers from her ballet class have roles in it, and the Milwaukee Children's Choir (who sang the anthem that time Miss Annie and I hit a Bucks game, with our friend's kid in it!) will be providing vocals. Stella and I will be, per our usual, at the Friday performance.



• Also on Friday, Snooky is back in town! They're at Club Anything on S 5th. I know little about the club, but I know enough about Snooky. They're solid rock, great players, versatile, frosted with a delicious punk attitude. Juniper Tar opens for Limbeck at Turner Hall, and as a friend wrote about them, "Go see them upstage the headliner."


• Saturday, after the Bucks game, we might stop into Cafe Brucke to catch an Eat the Mystery set. Or may be we'll be in the mood for some poppy punk, which should be delivered nicely by the Jetty Boys and the Busy Signals. I know little about these two bands, but I liked what i heard on their respective myspace pages. Guess I'm still reeling from my dose of Keno-Core last weekend.


• Finally, The Ring is having an all ages show Sunday night with Droids Attack and Imperial Battlesnake. I really like what Paul Kneevers is doing there on Sundays -- just good shows, early enough in the evening for those of us who have to work the next day, but at the same time, giving us the sampler platter of local up and coming bands. The Ring isn't a club, (I don't think they even sell liquor!) it's the central hub of Kneevers' compound. A former boxing/sparring ring (it used to be the Duke Roufus Gym over there on South 1st), the whole place is more accurately an incubator for musicians. Even if you don't record with Paul or "get in the ring" it's still a good vibe floating about that place, a vibe which is breeding some nice sounds. As Paul signs every email "When are you gonna get in The Ring?" Props to him for not succumbing to some awful "battle of the bands" cliches.