All over this town, yes, a low wind may blow.

3/1 – Orlando, Fla. – Hard Rock Live
3/3 – Jacksonville, Fla. – Florida Theatre
3/7 – Atlanta – Variety Playhouse
3/9 – Asheville, N.C. – The Orange Peel
5/11 – London – Royal Albert Hall

Mandi and I went to Los Angeles for five days in early May. I couldn’t really get a good feel for the city or the people in such a limited scope of time, so I’ll have to go back to really figure it all out — if that’s even possible. I don’t know if I’ll be able to comprehend a place that posts barbed wire around its freeway signs to keep them from getting tagged. But the weather was nice, In-N-Out Burger was great, and we were in the same 6 foot-by-6 foot room as Andy Dick; he even said “excuse me” or something.

The Santa Monica Pier.

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This photograph ran on the front page of the newspaper I’m now editor of on Nov. 17, 1992.

I found it going through archives on Wednesday night.

Since our last episode, I made it back from Munich alive (but without my watch; lost it on the plane), finished the semester without going into a diabetic coma from all of the Coca-Cola on the sleepless/sleep-little nights and have been named the editor of The Independent Florida Alligator.

It’s been a whirlwind. Now I’m home for Christmas in Port Orange, listening to a great Morrissey bootleg from a recent show in Boston and hanging out with my dog, who just found a Scooby Snack she hid hours earlier. Needless to say, we’re both pretty content.

I’ve still got a few more presents to buy, but I bought myself one today: “Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72.” I was looking for journalistic inspiration before I start my new job, and since “All the President’s Men” is back in Gainesville, I figured, Why not buy a book by a man who I would never, ever emulate? It’s been a great read so far though. I wonder how HST would do on the campaign trail right now, going into grocery stores with the Clintons and Magic Johnson. He’d probably just drop dead near the shopping carts. I’d also like to know how Lewis Black is holding up, but that’s for another time I suppose.

For now, I need to get to making application packets to send out to newspapers tomorrow, if in fact the post office is open on Christmas Eve.

And tomorrow I really, really need to experience Clark W. Griswold:

Hey! If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I’d like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the other rich people and I want him brought right here, with a big ribbon on his head, and I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is. Hallelujah. Holy shit. Where’s the Tylenol?

The gift that keeps on giving the whole year.

When Stevie (a.k.a. Soz) and I got to Miami Beach, spirits were high. We took in the sights of South Florida, which we rarely see, ate subs and walked to the venue. There was a small crowd of Irregular Regulars, and everything looked in order. Two told as we approached the theater that the show was canceled. I thought they were kidding us, but a Moz fan knows not to blaspheme like that.

It was all too real. Apparently, he got sick.

After sitting dazed for a few minutes, we decided to walk around – still dazed. We hoped aloud that we’d find the man sipping a cappuccino at an outdoor cafe. No such luck.

We walked back to the venue to see the marquee updated:

It was official. He’ll be back on the road soon, though. Still, I’m truly disappointed.

Rush to danger, wind up nowhere.

Truly disappointed.

Going to Miami Beach tomorrow for Morrissey with Stevie.

Words can’t explain.

He’s been playing “Sister, I’m a Poet,” “Jack the Ripper” and “Stretch Out and Wait” lately and has included “Interesting Drug” in a few sets. It’s the last show of the epic tour he started in March of last year, so I’m hoping for some surprises.