Cats & Dogs

I just spent 20 minutes (!) waiting for my food in a Chinese place. In a ridiculously small one, I might add. Across the street form a much larger one with a banner in the front that reads "WE'RE the best Chinese food in town". I'm not kidding. I have this massive soft spot for failing businesses. Not that I go out of my way to find terrible food, but given the choice when buying generic Chinese food, I really don't see all that much difference anyway. I've got a weakness for the third place cola, or the manufacturers of store-brand cereal or whatever. I don't know, I guess I think that everyone should have a sense of pride in what they do, and every one of these companies wants to put out the best product possible. Of course, it isn't always so, and if there's a noticeable difference, I go with what I like. Makes sense enough, right?. I'm not going to display brand loyalty strictly because more people like the one, you know? But yesterday I was in the dollar store next door, buying a candy bar* when I saw something that officially made me questionb my stance for the little guy. Yes, they sell pregnancy tests at the dollar store. and apparently condoms from time to time. Listen folks, if you're gonna splurge on something, drop the extra three bucks one one of these. yikes.
So back to waiting for me food, it was nice to just sit there and look out the window for a minute, watching traffic and the rain continue to fall. It's been raining here all day and is supposed to rain all night. It was relaxing, and I realized I spend almost no time looking out any of my windows unless I'm in the kitchen, which strikes me as really odd. I think I'm gona start cutting peepholes in theblinds of Cobra-La or something so I can check out my surroundings a lot more. Anywy, while I was watching the rain, Mercury Rev's "Holes" a song that I totally forgot about in the last couple years, came on. Mercury Rev is all too often lumped in with the Flaming Lips, and not without good reason (band leader was in the Lips, their bassist has been both band's producer for years, large, surreal backdrops, many incarnations of the bands, the singers' voices...), but there's still core differences between the two, and they should definitely be appreciated separately. In any case, I wanted to post that song because it worked so well with my quiet little moment inthe shitty Chinese place. and i wanted to post the covers because A) though Donahue omits all of the pertinent references, the song was written by Neil Young about Philadelphia. Hey Dingus, why you taking away our Neil Young song? and B) I think that Lou Reed's "Caroline Says" is one of the most flattering pieces of music for anyone to perform, ever. I've probably heard this song covered by about 20 people, and I can't really think of any terrible versions. Maybe I should record it.

"Holes" - Mercury Rev
"Philadelphia" (Neil Young cover) - Mercury Rev
"Caroline Says" (Lou Reed cover) - Mercury Rev
Buy Deserter's Songs here.

There's an interesting conversation here about the state of music, led by Jarvis Cocker and featuring people like Nick Cave and Beth Orton. I recommend it. Also, this graphic, which I just read about:
which I don't find nearly as encouraging as a bunch of people I know do. I don't know, I figure that most of my generation is gonna get heaps of money thrown at them at some point and then concede on most of their issues. It worked the last time, didn't it? sigh. Okay, back to the rain.

*are there even candy bars anymore that aren't made by mars, nestle, or hershey? curious. Incidentally, my allegiences lie with Hershey there, thanks to the actions of the great Milton Hershey.