On Sunday, I was able to talk jpinsd in to going to The Hole for the beer bust. Our friend Rob tagged along, and after The Hole, JP and I joined some other friends to go to the Roger Waters concert.

It was a great day to go to the Hole, because it was our one chance to meet Dominick cuboz from Australia. He's one of the hosts of the Bears in the City podcast, so, of course, I fanboyed out on him.



Dominick is a really cool guy. He was easy to talk to, and he was really fun. It's a bummer that he was only in town for one day. If I ever get to visit Australia, I'll certainly look him up!

I just uploaded my latest video. You should check it out. It's cutesy, because that's what I do. Cutesy. And it's only 4 minutes. Original music by me!

I'm so in love with this TV show called Smash. It's a musical drama about a group of people trying to get a Broadway show together. It's done so well! The music itself is really well written, and the characters are dynamic and fleshed out.

Katharine McPhee, kind of the central actress of the show, is perfect. I don't watch American Idol, but I had heard of her via the Howard Stern show a few years ago. They said she was a great singer, but I had no idea. She's really great. Uma Thurman and Debra Messing, among others, are also really fun to watch on the show.



I think the last episode of the season is next week. But I've heard it was picked up for Season 2. Yay.

A while back, a friend of mine talked me in to signing up for the Rhapsody music service. You pay $10 a month and get unlimited music streamed to your computer and phone. I didn't think it would be my thing, but I wound up really liking it. I still buy CDs all the time, but occasionally, it's nice to have access to everything... ever. But then it became trendy to sign up for Spotify, a very similar, but new, service. "Why should I switch? How is Spotify better?" I asked everybody. Never got a solid answer.

Then last night, per the recommendation of my friend Brian, I signed up for the free 30-day trial. Within minutes, I could tell it was better.



Here's why:

- MORE STUFF: With Rhapsody, there were certain songs that they couldn't secure for legal reasons, so you simply can't have them. I looked those songs up specifically, and there they were.

- PLENTY OF PRINCE: Prince is a great litmus test for stuff like this. I typed in his name and saw all kinds of stuff. Albums, maxi-singles, compilations, you name it.

- MULTIPLE DEVICES: With Rhapsody, I could only listen on my phone and my computer. My iPad and iPods counted as "additional devices" and cost extra to be allowed to use. With Spotify, apparently you can use all of your devices.

- SHARING: I have already had a few friends share their playlists and songs. It's fun and easy.

- FASTER AND BETTER: The UI is clearly better. The menus run much faster, and everything just makes more sense. As my friend Mike said, it just feels more modern.

Upon finding out I switched, Brian very appropriately said, "Thanks for allowing me to assimilate you." Ha! True story. I've been assimilated.

This is my new favorite thing ever. Those crazy Japanese people. What will they think of next?

Yesterday was the three year anniversary of me being a homeowner. I love my silly, little house. We jokingly call it "the McMansion".

Mark and I have had this tradition of eating bacon-wrapped hot dogs on a bed of baked beans every year to celebrate McMansion Day. But this year, Mark had his own thing going on, and I knew I would be having dinner with JP, who is a vegetarian. No problem; I picked up vegetarian beans, hot dogs and even vegetarian bacon.



It wasn't bad. We both finished our plates. And then we were off to see the RuPaul's Drag Race finale.

Back in December, Matt and I flew to Oakland to see Tori Amos in concert. While we were there, we agreed that destination concerts are really fun, and we should do more of them.

For our second destination concert, we drove out to Arizona to see Active Child at the Crescent Ballroom. We had a really great time. Matt booked a super flashy, mid-century hotel called the Valley Ho.



Our room was huge. We could have easily thrown a party for 20, if only we had that many friends nearby. The concert was great, and we got to meet the man behind Active Child, Pat Grossi. He signed our CDs while Matt gushed about what a huge fan he is.

Old Town Scottsdale was a hoot. There are cowboy/native American themed souvenir stores everywhere. Want a toy gun or candy cigarettes? They've got them. Coachella was fun vacation, but this weekend was the desert air / relaxation weekend I've been looking for. A definite success.



The one downside to the trip was Matt turned me in to a slight Katy Perry fan. Yuck.

In my 20's, back when I first started dating Mark, I knew I liked musicals, but I hadn't seen too many of them. So, Mark was constantly expanding my Broadway horizons.

For my first Easter with Mark and his friends, we all sat down after dinner and watched it. My mind was blown. Wow! Here's a film that somehow tells the story of Jesus without disrespecting the bible and brings the ROCK N ROLL. The singing and dancing is so over-the-top. I love it.

It turns out watching Jesus Christ Superstar was an Easter tradition among my friends. The tradition lived on for years and years until my dumb lesbian friend had Easter at her house and, because her new internet girlfriend was getting cranky, made us leave before the movie ended. We watched it a few more times since, but it hasn't been the same.

I especially missed our little tradition this Easter. Finally, weeks after Easter, I watched it on my iPad yesterday. I got my JCS recharge!



Over the years, I've seen both of the leads, Ted Neeley and Carl Anderson, perform their roles on stage. Ted Neeley played Jesus with Corey Glover from Living Colour as Judus. When I saw Carl Anderson play Judas, the role of Jesus was played by Sebastian Bach. That was pretty great. Apparently, Jesus Christ Superstar is playing on Broadway right now. I might need to see that.

I don't know how this could have happened, but a bunch of guys that went to Coachella came home with a nasty cold. (kennel cough)

Mine didn't kick in until the other day. It started with a scratchy throat and moved on to a nasty cough and a runny nose. I was overjoyed to find some DayQuil in the hallway closet.

A Coachella friend of mine was pretty sick too, so he followed my lead. We traded NyQuil pics. Blurry NyQuil party!



I'm feeling much better now. Just in time for an Arizona road trip with xxtapemakerxx!

I was so excited about Record Store Day Saturday morning. A few years ago, for Record Store Day, I drove up to Fingerprints Records in Long Beach, and I scored some great vinyl. This year, I decided to go to my local hipster record store, M-Theory.



The store opened at 10am, and I got there at 9am. When I arrived, there was already a line past the store and covering the library next door. I had the pleasure of standing right where the library entrance was. So much for reading in line.

"Oof, excuse me."
"Oh, excuse me."
"Oh, sorry about hitting you with my shoulder."

All I wanted was the new Flaming Lips album "Heady Fwends" and an Of Montreal/Deefhoof split 7". I was also on the lookout for the new 7" by Garbage for xxtapemakerxx.

The way the store handled the crowd was kind of poor. They let about 5 people in the store at a time. Each customer could hang out as long as they liked. As far as I could tell, they could also buy as many copies of anything they wanted as well. I overheard a guy say that everybody ahead of me was buying the Flaming Lips album. By the time I got in the store, there was a tiny cardboard box representing the last of the Record Store Day exclusives. It was pretty sad. I won't be going to M-Theory for next year's Record Store Day.



I then sped over to Off The Record, near my house. I picked up 2 45s from them. One was the new Sufjan Stevens/Rosie Thomas split 7".

Later that day, JP and I stopped by Record Heaven. They had their act together! Free Twinkies and soda, and a nice table with all the Record Store Day stuff laid out nicely. I should have gone there first. I picked up a Lana Del Ray 7" and a rare Of Montreal LP. Plus I picked up a James Bond DVD for $4. Score.

Overall, it was a fun day visiting record stores. I was bummed about not getting the Flaming Lips album... until I eventually did find it... online...