Don't you just love tv?

Ever since I found out that The Avett Brothers are performing at The Grammys Sunday night, I've been joking with my brother Ben that the only thing that could make the experience more perfect would be if Tim Riggins sat next to me at the show.

So, speaking of TAB and FNL, one of the episodes from season two that I watched last week ended with If It's The Beaches playing while Tyra and Landry kiss. Awww. Two worlds collide, in the best way.

Now, more of things tying together, I think Jasmine and Crosby's pastor/pre-marriage counselor guy from this week's Parenthood episode was Coach Deeks from Whitmore University from FNL. Plus it looks like Crosby and Lyla hook up next week! I'm glad Haddie got the parental ok to date Vince.

Also, I just noticed while watching Coach Taylor get the new Lions up and running -- the Under Armour rep from an early episode in season three of FNL is the guy who is the stay-at-home dad carpenter guy married to the Traffic girl on Parenthood.

OK, this is the last one, and it's kind of lame and I'm probably the only one who noticed, but in the Christmas episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, there was a scene in a mall, and Mac and Charlie walked right by who I'm positive was Chris Raab (Raab Himself) from CKY.



p.s. I'm flying to LA tomorrow morning for my fun-filled, star-studded Grammy weekend! See you next week!

The Avett Brothers at The Grammys!

I just found out that The Avett Brothers are playing at the Grammys! With Bob Dylan and Mumford & Sons! And, just to remind you, I'll be there!

I have to go change, just peed my pants!

A story about Boardwalk Empire turns into a story about Joel Gion and a t-shirt‏

I've watched five full episodes of HBO's new show Boardwalk Empire and I'm still not sure if I like it/dislike it/have any real interest in it. It's pleasant to gaze at Michael Pitt (so dreamy), and I love that a Brian Jonestown Massacre plays during the opening credits, but other than that I could kind of take it or leave it.

Speaking of BJM, if you think it seems like I'm obsessed with the Avett Brothers at the moment, trust me when I say that when I first saw the movie Dig! my obsession with Anton Newcombe and Joel Gion waaaaaaaay surpassed whatever I'm going through right now. Which is not to belittle my current fixation, not in the least. Just so you know, when I find something new that I love I get excited about it, sometimes rather enthusiastically excited.

When I lived in LA I had the chance to go see Joel's band, The Dilettantes. When I first walked up to the venue (Silverlake Lounge?), Joel was outside by himself smoking a cigarette. I showed him the couple dollar bills and bunch of quarters in my hands and admitted that I was using my laundry money to see him! Twenty seconds later, the girl at the door refused to take the coins so I had to walk straight back outside and explain the situation to Joel who very kindly gave me dollars for all the quarters and told me that now he had laundry money! That was a strange moment, but he was super-nice about it, plus he complimented me on my t-shirt! That was already one of my favorite shirts, but ever since then it's been my lucky shirt too. That whole night was super-fun -- I talked to Joel and Dave Deresinski after the show and ended up hanging out with people I met that night till like six in the morning.

It might be time to retire this shirt. When I wore it earlier this year when BJM were in St. Louis I still got turned away from that super-sold out show. Maybe I've worn all the luck out of it.

Virtue of the Week: Tolerance

The older I get the more I understand that nobody is perfect, least of all me, and it's important to keep an open mind in all situations. This is something I've been particularly mindful of the last couple weeks. When I was five days into my discovery of the Avett Brothers all I wanted to do was quit my job and listen to them all day and go see them as much as I could, and it was at that moment that I realized that I had become very much like people who are into Phish, people I have made fun of for years. Ooops. Lesson learned.

Twice in the past five days I've come across Plato's quote "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." And this week's Virtue of the Week from St. James the Greater's bulletin? Tolerance. Perfect!


The entire rest of the post is copied directly from the St. James bulletin, with no permission whatsoever.

Virtue of the Week: Tolerance

Tolerance helps us to accept differences and frees us from being judgmental. It is recognizing that all people have feelings, needs, hopes and dreams. Tolerance is an appreciation for diversity, whether of culture or temperament. It leads to unity. It is being patient and forgiving when others make mistakes, while calling on discernment to know when to stand up for justice. Tolerance is accepting things that we wish were different with humor and grace. It allows us to embrace the pain as well as the joys of life.

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves." -- Carl Jung

The Practice of Tolerance
I appreciate differences.
I free myself from prejudice.
I refrain from judging myself or others.
I forgive mistakes.
I accept what I cannot change.
I balance acceptance with justice.

I am thankful for the gift of Tolerance. It broadens my horizons.

The Grass is Always Greener

Remember when you were little and it was always more fun to go play at somebody else's house? There was absolutely nothing wrong with our house; our house was a very very very fine house. There was always someone around, tv to be watched, a big backyard with a sandbox and swingsets, yet I usually preferred our next-door neighbors' house. The vibe was more relaxed over there, plus someplace else often seems more interesting just because it's someplace else.

The dad at that house was a Playboy fan, evidenced by framed photos of him and his dad (and accompanying bunnies) at a Playboy club hanging in his office, a super-cool Playboy pinball machine in the basement, plus a stack of Playboys in his bathroom. My parents are pretty conservative, and were even more so when my brothers and I were kids, so to know someone in our very own neighborhood that seemed to flaunt a hearty interest in pornography, soft though it was, was kind of a big deal (in my head).

The laid-back atmosphere at the neighbors' house was in such stark contrast to my house where we weren't even allowed to say words like poop or fart or boobs. My brother Rich made the mistake of saying "Ow, my nuts!" when he and my brother Mike were roughhousing one time when we were kids, and he got disciplined by my dad with a good belt-spanking for using "that kind of language" in front of me. Seriously, that happened.

But enough about the hilarity of corporal punishment, let's get back to the neighbors' house -- the fun basement housed two (count 'em, two) pinball machines, a jukebox stocked with Olivia Newton John hits, and mats on the floor that my best friend and I used to practice gymnastics and make up dance routines. We spent so many countless hours down there that I could probably still remember some of our dances, and I definitely get the song that the Playboy pinball machine played stuck in my head every once in a while.

Upstairs, they had a microwave in the kitchen, a couple of marlins on the walls of the family room, and a real life babysitter. We didn't get a microwave until I was in junior high, so theirs was a real novelty. On the days when the mom worked this lady named Mona watched the kids and, speaking as Kid# 4 out of six kids, the idea of a babysitter who wasn't a sibling was a novelty to me too. I remember her name after all these years because she is the only Mona I've ever known, not counting Mona from Who's the Boss. The marlins were just cool.



This is like the one the neighbor's dad had. You can hardly tell it from this image, but one of the four women in the hot tub to the left of Hef is an old granny with gray hair in a bun, glasses, a big nose and chin, and old lady boobs.

Unrelately, I haven't stopped listening to the Avett Brothers except to sleep for the past couple days straight.

The Avett Brothers

I caught the Avett Brothers on Austin City Limits the other night (originally aired in January of this year) and they totally blew me away. Beautifully crafted songs with beautiful lyrics, performed beautifully. I've read about these guys for a few years and they always seemed like they'd be right up my alley. They are.

The song Murder in the City makes me feel so tenderly towards my own brothers that it almost makes me cry. All right, there's no "almost" about it, the truth is I've cried twice in the past three days listening to that song. The lyric Always remember there was nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name gets me every time.

** when you watch this video, you have to look past the tank tops and beards. Close your eyes and just listen if necessary. Then watch the whole Austin City Limits show. You won't regret it.