I'm running between meetings right now, but I was thinking about the fine folks of the Diner this morning. Thought I'd say 'hello'. When the weather turns in Chicago, I think about a cozy vinyl booth in a diner, next to a frosty window...and the good people who would sit there with me.
I hope everyone is well.

In my car, under seats and in the un-definable crevasses, I find things. Often, I find CDs. If I'm lucky, these CDs are labeled. Now, I have this quirk, when I make a mix tape or CD I name it after a city I have been to that the music reminds me of (not because the artists on the mix are from that city, but because the mood of the pieces somehow fit with the mood of the city). For example, a mix called ``Marietta'' would be named after the burned out and abandoned southern Ohio town Marietta and be full of sad country and blue grass music. Today I found a mix CD (who knows when it was created) called Kent (Kent, OH). To me, Kent sounds like a combination of hippies and comic book shops. Well, I popped it in, and I was indeed getting good earthy, live music and also edgy young ``comic book shop''. Well, on came a Pete and Laura singing ``Explain'' (Jeremy Enigk). That is a great recording. I thought of diner folks and smiled on my way to work. If any of you have access to that recording, go listen to it right now. It really is outstanding.

They're here! Hungry Fathers' cd "Will The Lightning Bug Return?" is finally here! As a matter of fact, a box full of discs is in my hands as we speak. Tomorrow night, at Deja Vu (2624 Lincoln Ave.), we are having a CD release show. I still can't believe a bunch of suckers with day jobs, wives, children, pets and meatloaf night were able to find time to be creative. It's not perfect by a long shot. If I could have, I probably would have worked and re-worked these recordings for 10 years. But I'm glad we completed it, warts and all.

Stan, you're in my prayers. As are you blvdgirl. The Diner is a good place to come face to face with how complicated, rich and textured life is. Here we have a stack of posts, one about painful struggle, centimeters above sits a post about the joy of new life.

Congrats to the Wagginses!

I can always tell when I've got something at work that I'm dreading (or simply can't finish) because that's when i remember my friends at the diner!