Wow. That header title (click the thumbnail) just evokes visions of kink you'd never guessed at before now.

I left San Francisco yesterday afternoon at about 84 degrees Fahrenheit and got into the Twin Cities last night at a reported -27 degrees Fahrenheit (really about 13 without wind-chill). I'm so thankful for modern technologies like insulated jackets, heated vehicle seats and pink fiberglass lining in the walls of my house. Without these things I'd surely end up the lauded anthropological find of a future generation, encased in a rind of blue ice, a frozen grimace upon my face and curled into a desperate fetal position clutching my iPod as if trying to nurse some white-hot heat from the music within. Instead, I bask in the cool cathode glow of my computer and return repeatedly to the same entreaty of the universe: Why Minnesota... WHY?

I don't know what the hell show Jon Bream saw and reviewed ("seemed so businesslike, so dispassionate... rarely ignited the throng of 1,500"), but it sure wasn't the show Austin and I saw last night. Modest Mouse ripped the place up as far as we were concerned. Right from the first song, all the way through the almost two hour performance, they pumped energy into the crowd and the crowd fed it right back. The front of the floor was in perpetual, and fairly rowdy, motion all night long. The only mellow guy there was the dude sitting up on stage hidden behind the amps the whole show (is that his job?). I spotted Lori Barbero (Babes in Toyland) in the crowd and that one guy who only wears all black or all white and has that little moustace and that headband thing on his curly dark hair all the time (who the heck is that?). Truly a great show, way more energetic, edgy and passionate than the albums. And I almost didn't go. Craig got the tickets but wasn't feeling up to it and I've been so busy with work and house projects (as in solid work for past three weeks, no weekends) that I just didn't know if I could manage a show that didn't start until 11:00pm on a Monday night. I played "Moon and Antartica" ceaselessly when it came out and I'm so glad I went last night. And on one level I had to go to prevent the mocking my wife would've given me for being an "old man" had I stayed home and gone to bed. Four hours of sleep is more than enough!