Bloggity Blah Blah Blah

Yeah, I've been way busy, so posting has been light. Some recent highlights...

- The Taste Of Champaign was pretty good. It sucks that a lot of truly awesome restaurants don't participate (tons of crap pizza, but no Papa Dels or Jupiters, for example). There are some phenomenal places that don't bring it out, but I'm sure they have their reasons. The best deal going was the Famous Dave's pulled pork barbecue sandwhich for 1 ticket. The worst deal? One rib for one ticket at Hicory River's tent. I love their food, but that's just silly. At least Garcia's made an appearance for the local legendary pizza chains. Qdoba had a nice tent, as well, which only made me wonder why more of the local mexican places didn't hop on board (like Real Hacienda or the other places that aren't Dos Reales). Dos Reales is hands down the best all-around Mexican food in town, so it'd be nice to sample other places without dropping a lot of dime. Cest la vie.

- American Minor decided to stop back into town on Thursday at Cowboy Monkey. They dropped a decidedly rocking set that pulled from audience requests, their recent self-titled album, and material that they were covering for a upcoming biker rally performance. A cover of The Hollies' "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress" was most certainly a surprise. I only wish they would have followed up "Mississippi Queen" with "Buffalo Creek" for dramatic effect. Opening was Elsinore, who were freakin' amazing that night, as well. Ryan Groff has got to be one of the friendliest local frontmen in recent memory, and he has a set of pipes on him that just soar. Make it a point to see them this summer.

- Exile On Main St. (this blogger's fave local retail establishment) is having a big sale this week through next Thursday, July 6th. Buy 2, get the third item three of anything but new video games. Mix and match however you like, and the cheapest one goes home with ya for nothin'. I scored the Replacements recent Best Of (gotta have the two new tracks), the Gram Parsons Complete Reprise Sessions, and my freebie was the Doobie Brothers Greatest Hits for my mom's birthday present. All pre-paid special orders are 25% off, too, which is a heck of a deal for CD's or DVD's. Beats the hell out of Best Buy! You have no excuse not to stop in.

- Little Blog OTP reports that Jupiters and Papa Dels with both have locations in southwest Champaign at The Crossing. I'd say they're both gonna bank big time with the high rollers livin' out there. Glad to see them doing well. I promise I won't talk about pizza anymore. Not in this post, anyways.

- Seth Fein is taking a break from his duties at the Buzz, which is unfortunate. It's hard enough waiting for Don Gerard's columns at The Hub. What's a reader of weeklies to do? Well, I guess you're reading it...

- Nic's Basket Case is going out of business. The downtown Champaign gift store that has a little something for everyone is putting everything on sale. Check it out while you can!

- I honestly almost forgot that it was 4th of July weekend. I usually don't assign that holiday as a "weekend" celebration like I do Memorial Day or Labor Day, especially when it's on a Tuesday, but I digress. There are plenty of events in any little town around here to sate any patriotic fervor. I'll be visiting the 'rents in Ford County. A fun thing to do is to drive on I-57 around 9 or 10pm and drive past all the fireworks displays on the interstate. Too bad gas is so expensive!

Have a great 4th of July and be careful with those firecrackers. You can't comment quite as easily with only one hand. Here are the aforementioned Replacements with one of the greatest underground rock songs of the '80's, "Alex Chilton." Sure, it's probably the most boring music video ever produced, but just listen to it.