General update/to-do list.

• Still must write and post reviews of NIN|JA, Band of Horses, John Vanderslice, and Zoop! concerts. If I end up going to see Old 97's tonight, that will be added to the never-ending to-do list.
• In the next few days I plan on blogging about an upcoming EP from an Denton, Texas band called Sleep Whale. The EP is very good indeed, and I'm excited to share it!
• Today marks the first day of the Infinite Summer. Are you in?
• Thanks to the support of everyone, I raised $1125 for the autism walk, besting my goal by 50%. Now I have a ton of cover songs to record. If anyone else still wants in, I will be accepting requests until June 30. Click on the thermometer to your left or go to http://tinyurl.com/thom09.
• Seriously, should I go see the Old 97's tonight? I have never seen them before, so I'm thinking maybe I should.
• Oh yeah, I have been vegetarian for nine days now. It's a small, possibly lame milestone, but it's a big change for me and I'm proud of it. I will blog more about it later this week, possibly. (See, I told you this wasn't just another music blog!)
• Seeing the film Food, Inc. later this week. You all should, too.

We're gonna build read something this summer.

For those who are joining me in taking on the challenge of Infinite Summer, here are some valuable tips and resources that will hopefully help us in our light reading project:

How to read Infinite Jest.

Printable Infinite Summer bookmarks with the reading schedule. (after reading the previous entry, I would probably recommend printing out the 5-bookmark sheet)

Note that while I will likely be reading ahead of the official schedule, I will make every effort in any blogging or discussion in which I may engage to avoid revealing spoilers.

Please comment below and let me know if you are participating!

A supposedly fun thing I'll probably bail on.

92 days.

981 pages of prose. small print. 

97 pages of footnotes.

two weeks from today, i will be dropping whatever i'm reading to participate in infinite summer.

who's with me? let's discuss!

Backlog/upcoming show schedule/autism fundraising.

So lately, I've been a busy busy bee, which explains why it took me so long to get the Grizzly Bear review up. In that time, I have seen a few shows which need to be reviewed:

June 5 - Jane's Addiction/Nine Inch Nails/Street Sweeper Social Club

June 6 - The Decemberists/Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3

Plus, I have several shows coming up:

June 7 - PJ Harvey & John Parish

June 11 - Band of Horses/Arbouretum (acoustic)

June 12 - John Vanderslice/The Tallest Man on Earth

June 13-14 - Zoop! (the Mountain Goats/John K. Samson/Peter Hughes)

I am going to try to get the NIN/JA, Decemberists, and PJ Harvey reviews up on the blog next week, but I make no promises; my work schedule has been hell lately, and the rest of my schedule is absolutely hellish this week; on Monday and Tuesday I have two different doctor appointments, and Wednesday is pretty much my last evening I have free to make preparations and pack for Zoop!

And while I have you here, I'd like to talk to you a bit about my autism fundraiser. To your left you should see a thermometer that represents how far along I am in my fundraising efforts for my autism walk. I have worked with individuals with developmental disabilities for nearly ten years, and this is a cause that is important to me. This year, I have set a rather ambitious fundraising goal for myself, and I am hoping that you will consider donating to help me reach my goal.

As a thank you, should you choose to help, I will accept a request for one family-friendly cover song, which I will record and then distribute to all donors on a compilation CD. This is my third year playing cover songs for donations, and so far it is my most successful year yet. Last year, I covered Coldplay, Lou Reed, Shearwater, Okkervil River, Bob Dylan, *NSYNC, and the Most Unwanted Song. Two years ago, this atrocity was unleashed upon the world in exchange for some much-needed funding for autism research:

I would like to assure you also that 100% of your donation will go to the autism fund; the cost of production and distribution of the CD is handled completely out of pocket by me.

And, just to raise the ante, if I reach my goal of $750, Bill and I will collaborate on a sequel/continuation of the Mountain Goats and John Vanderslice's brilliant Moon Colony Bloodbath EP. If I do not reach the goal, this does not happen. The MCB sequel is in addition to the cover song compilation, not instead of.

If you are able to help out, I would appreciate if you donate by clicking on the thermometer to the left or by going to http://tinyurl.com/thom09. If you do not want to donate online, you can e-mail me by clicking the e-mail link to your left and I will send you instructions on where and how to mail in a check. If you donate, please e-mail me your request rather than leaving it in the comments; I think it's more fun when the songs are a surprise for all of the recipients!

The walk is this coming Saturday, June 13, but I will continue to raise money until the end of July. Thanks in advance for your support, and thank you as always for reading!