Half Price Books in St. Louis Park has a copy of The Raven from 1889 for $50! I just stared at it and tried to imagine all the shelves it's called home and all the people that've read it over the past 120 years. I think the oldest stuff I have are some W. Somerset Maugham books that look like they're from the 20s and 30s. (How can you tell for sure how old something is? In both these cases, there's only one year printed in the book...)

The second book I read this year was Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story, by Laurie Lindeen. It's really good! I have a Babes in Toyland book I wanna read and see if there's any overlap, since everything took place around the same time and place. I also finished The Tao of Willie, by Willie Nelson, which was very good. He seems to have no problem believing and finding truth among a variety of philosophies and religions, which is nice. Also, he's very funny! I started reading The Hammer of God, by Arthur C. Clarke last night. So far it's pretty good -- it's the old doomsday-bringing asteroid story, but the way he prefaces chapters with actual accounts of near misses in our past breaths some life into the story. Today I found Rat Salad: Black Sabbath: The Classic Years, by Paul Wilkinson at Half Price Books -- it looks like a ridiculously academic, in-depth discussion of the music found on the first six albums. SRSLY GUYS. I just opened to a random page and found:

"The initiating riff in C sharp minor, a scalar descent from the tonic to the subdominant, is one of those anthemic, almost fanfare-style, affairs for which Iommi has been so rightly accorded plaudits. The semitonal slurs -- from G sharp to G natural and back again (the eighth, ninth, and tenth notes of the riff) -- chucked in to fatten the motif out and give it a menacing violence, are archetypically Sabbath."

And on and on and on.

Anyway, I ran a couple of miles today, had some Mac & Cheese at Noodles, and changed the strings on my Les Paul and Ovation. I don't do that nearly as often as I should, so I always polish 'em up really good while the strings are off. They look so shiny! Tonight we're watching Hellboy 2 and having a few drinks. Other than random aches and pains, life is pretty good. And so far the doctors haven't found anything all that terribly wrong with me, so maybe it's just age.

The soundtrack to this morning's commute was Hangover Music Vol. VI by Black Label Society. It's cool 'cuz you get to see Zakk's melodic side, but here and there his crazy chops are still on display.

The first book of 2009 is On The Road With The Ramones, which I'm just about done with. It definitely falls under essential reading for any Ramones fan. Comprised largely of interviews with the band, crew, and other associated characters, the book reads a lot like an extended version of the film "End of the Century" (essential viewing for any Ramones fan). Like, the movie just touched on themes that are further explored in the book (e.g., Joey's mental illness, Johnny's almost comical right-wing/conservative mentality, and so on).

The first show of the new year will be Luna Mortis @ Station 4 @ 8 p.m. on the 16th!

That is all.