Last night was a very good night. My brother came up to visit, we ate out at Pasqual's (always a good experience), went down to First Avenue and saw Billy Bragg (for free!) and then went to Pizza Luce afterwards. It was a great time.
Thanks to Dan and Michael, who are First Ave members, we got to see the Billy Bragg And The Blokes show completely gratis. They are all fine musicians and the songs covered a nice range of old and new, including some of the Mermaid Avenue songs (Woody Guthrie) and even some children's tunes that everybody really responded well to (perhaps a little too much for a song about not wetting the bed). Bragg is very up-to-date on current events and politics in all parts of the world and he spoke his mind about a few topics -- including the US Democracy and foreign affairs and third parties and British royalty and Stupid White Men and Jesse -- to which the crowd also responded well. One of the songs I liked (a new one, I think) contained the line: "Take down the Union Jack / It clashes with the sunset." And also the one about "No representation without accountability." How true. How necessary.
I saw Anita and Rick standing outside before we entered the parking ramp. Where'd you kids go?