I went to a big hotel convention in Vegas last year. Went to the cocktail party. Found a high-top by an hors d'oeuvres table, then went over. Sliders. Just mediocre little sliders. Waited for other stuff to come out. It didn't. Just sliders. Walked around. More sliders.

I went to a business meeting where as an ice-breaker they asked everybody what they wanted their final meal to be. Almost everybody went with "kid" stuff - chicken wings, fingers, hamburgers. I said nasi goreng (Indonesian pork-fried rice). Everybody thought I was the weird one.

BITTERBALLEN, dude! And rijsttafel. And poffertjes. Hagel slacht. Rum beans. Genever.

I video everything on my trips. It's a ritural: I hand someone else the camera, eat a herring, and walk around Scheveningen with fish smell on my fingers while holding the camera to my face.

I've eaten it on my trips to Holland by holding the tail. Frankly, I'm more concerned about spilling chopped onion all over my chest than I am about the flavor. It's OK, and it is healthy. And if pickled herring is an acquired taste, I guess olives and kosher dills are, too.

I've only heard it in background on Spotify while working. Some decent hooks, but that rough Buckingham solo sound, and a sad lack of harmony between the two. I've always been a huge fan of their two voices blended ("Hold Me," "Shadow of the West," "Think About Me").

When we lived in Randolph, a trip to Ellicottville's Lock Stock & Barrel was a thing. We bought a silver stapler there. Cockaigne's ski lodge burned down a few years ago - it was the Austrian pavilion at NYC's 1964 World's Fair. And yes, my mailing address was "Hunt Rd, WE, Jamestown…" - West Ellicott.

Yeah, I went to SOUTHwestern Central HS, just west of Jamestown. The drive to Buffalo was too long a hike, usually.

She's one smoker whose voice actually got better over the years. Go all the way back to "Future Games" and you'll see she was good for two excellent songs (at least) every album.

John Mayer is a great guitarist. Full stop.

Western New York State wasn't much better. I did see 10,000 Maniacs a few times, but they were local (Natalie Merchant was in my college drama class).

My first rock concert was Fleetwood Mac in Buffalo the week "Dreams" hit number one. Stevie Nicks introduced "Landslide" as a song she wrote in Buffalo. I also saw them at the Bills Stadium show touring before Tusk was released (opening acts Foreigner, Pablo Cruise, and former Mac-er Bob Welch, who Fleetwood and…

The good news (I guess) is that the American public is not as traitorous and mentally unfit as Congress.

Yes!

Rachel Maddow has been disciplined on this very important point. Last Friday's show started by ignoring the CNN/pro-wrestling shiny object and sticking with his general lack of care for our country and his office. Behind her the screen reminded us, "FOCUS."

In related news, Levi Stubbs is rolling over in his grave.

He actually has people feeling SORRY for him! Maybe he is a genius. (He definitely is an idiot.)

They both are attention whores.

Here's an appropriate place for me to mention that the current #1 on Sight and Sound's poll of critics, Vertigo, is set in SF and includes all the paranoia and perversity of classic film noir, but without guns and with color.

Ironically enough, next week they will have a category called "Black & White Movies" where the questions are going to be "What is Do the Right Thing?," "What is Mississippi Burning?," "What is Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?," "What is The Defiant Ones?," and "What is Loving?," and that will seem more insulting.