In Which I Ask, “How Is Beating Someone With A Tire Iron Not A Criminal and Arrest-Worthy Act?” – More on the Henry Granju Case

So I woke up today to find this flood of online stuff just everywhere – so much I couldn’t really keep up with it fast enough, and I haven’t even made my way over to Facebook today yet – mostly stuff resulting from the KCSO’s most recent announcement regarding their stance on the investigation of teenager Henry Granju’s death and the preliminary autopsy results, which set off  another firestorm pretty much around the globe, and rightfully so.

Also this morning, which I didn’t read until after I woke up today, Henry’s mama – who has tried extremely hard throughout this entire ordeal to be as patient, polite and respectful towards law enforcement as possible – expressed her disappointment with KCSO’s most recent statement on the case:

I am disappointed that… the Knox County Sheriff’s Office chose to release a statement in response to media coverage of Henry’s death in which they stated that the “preliminary investigation shows no evidence of homicide as a result of an assault.”

As a mother who has lost a child, it is certainly tempting to get into a point by point refutation of KCSO’s statement; I won’t do this however, because I do not wish to sully or interfere with their ongoing investigation. Suffice it to say, however, that the “preliminary investigation” to which they refer has been extremely disappointing at this point despite my own active efforts in following leads, talking extensively with witnesses, and BEGGING authorities to follow leads I’ve provided. Let me also say that as I sit here next to my dead son’s medical records that refer to “assault,” “skull fracture,” closed head injury,” etc it’s hard for me to understand reasoning that assumes at this point that the assault he DID experience in the 24 hours preceding his ER admission has no relevance to their investigation.

I have been trying pretty hard as well, though not always wholly succeeding, to hold my temper in deference to the family – especially in dealing with the species of troll that is an entire species unto itself and tends to feed mainly off newspaper and TV station websites. Trolls are trolls and always have been, but that particular breed of troll is always astounding in their sheer fortitude and need to expound on every single thing and towards everybody no matter what the subject, and almost always negatively or insulting. It’s absolutely amazing sometimes what people will say from behind the protection of their anonymous usernames and their keyboard. (I can assure you there is nothing on this blog nor anything I’ve ever written anywhere else on the Internet that I have any qualms about saying to whoever’s face, and nickname aside, I’m pretty non-anonymous after 15+ years of relatively high-profile activity in online music sects as well as elsewhere.)

In any case, yeah, all that happened today, and frankly – and especially since Katie publicly expressed her disappointment with KCSO’s statement – I’m not going to bother trying much to hold my tongue in check about it anymore.

People (mostly trolls) are coming to Katie’s blog and asking does everybody expect law enforcement to just “drop everything” to investigate this?

Drop everything? How does waiting almost five weeks to make any major moves on this investigation constitute “dropping everything”?

Can someone explain to me how five weeks (going now on six weeks) constitutes expectations of “dropping everything” or asking for “immediate answers”?

And the only other thing I really have to say today is pretty much what I said this morning before I went to sleep, in a discussion in response to a mutual friend’s similar statement.

Granted, I’m no expert. But I don’t get where you get to just walk around free for over a month when you beat someone nearly to death with a tire iron – AND there are witnesses.

Henry’s drug overdose is totally a moot point. How is that tire iron beating NOT a criminal act?

How in the world is beating someone brutally and violently and nearly to death, and to the point where it causes a jaw fracture, a skull fracture, a closed head injury and other damage NOT a criminal act? And how is it not reason enough to pick someone(s) up off the street, when you already have their names?

The fact that Henry eventually did die notwithstanding – I am really, really having trouble wrapping my brain around why his three assailants weren’t picked up WEEKS ago and charged with attempted murder, assault, WHATEVER. At the very least. Something.

They’ve had their names for weeks. They’ve had witnesses’ names for weeks. The people who beat Henry with a tire iron are still walking around. Why is what they did not criminal enough to pick them up on reason of beating someone with a tire iron alone?

For that matter, it’s been going on six weeks since the assault. They could be in Timbuktu by now, this much later.

I’ve seen people picked up and hauled in for far, far lesser offenses – if not almost immediately, within days - and I just don’t understand.

If there were NO witnesses it might be a little different.

But this makes no sense to me. Henry’s drug overdose is totally beside the point. Violent criminal activity took place and there were witnesses, yet these people are still walking around going on five, almost six weeks later. And weeks after their names, and the names of witnesses, were given to KCSO.

By the family, no less. Perhaps KCSO needs to budget some of their 2010 salary budget to pay Henry’s family for doing an important part of the investigation for them.

Bottom line – a kid was beaten savagely with a tire iron.

The fact that he also overdosed on drugs is a moot point.

How is that savage beating NOT a criminal act?

And how is it not worthy of arresting someone(s) for committing it – whether someone’s dead or not?

All along, the family has been unbelievably patient. They never expected “immediate” answers or for KCSO to “drop everything” to investigate.

But five weeks later – going on six weeks – that is NOT “immediate”. Nor is it “dropping everything”.

Whatever the autopsy results show – and even if the medical examiner declares Henry’s death is not a result of the beating – as long as those people walk free for that brutal, savage and violent beating – the world is being told that it’s okay to come to Knox County and beat someone bloody until they’re nearly dead.

The young man’s drug overdose is beside the point here.

Until and unless someone(s) is/are held responsible and accountable for this beating, it must be okay to beat someone with a tire iron in Knox County. Or hey, if you do it – you’ll have several weeks to get away somewhere else, and therefore maybe get away with it.

That is the point. And it’s sickening.

I never really worried too much about my family, future in-laws, in Knoxville’s overall safety much, to be honest. Having lived down here in Crime Central as long as I have, Nashville and especially Knoxville always have seemed so much better in this regard. But this situation really, really gives me pause to be a whole lot more concerned about my people up there than I ever have. My family, my people, my many friends who are Knoxville and Knox County residents and tax-paying citizens.

In any case, that’s all I’ve got for right now. My head feels like it’s going to explode from all this stuff.

I just do NOT understand how and why that beating with a tire iron is not a criminal act.

Or not criminal act enough for someone to actually DO something about it.

I just don’t understand.

Aunt B. says some of my same and similar thoughts today much more eloquently than I ever do right here.

The inimitable Les Jones blogged about Henry’s case today here.

Michael Silence of the Knoxville News-Sentinel and Katie’s associate Shane Ryne have compiled fine lists of all the other blogs writing about Henry’s story and his case here. At last count I saw, Shane had compiled the list from 87 blogs, many with multiple entries.

Michael Silence also announced today that he will be writing about the avalanche and outpouring of support worldwide in blogs and social media networks regarding Henry’s story in his Sunday column for the KNS.

On another note, I know I mentioned the other day that I thought it was pretty downright not smart of KCSO sitting on this case for over a month as they did when they had a distraught mother on their hands who was not only well-known in Knoxville media overall, but a former employee/online producer (and not all that long ago for either) of the Knoxville News Sentinel and TV news station WBIR. I failed to mention at the time that Henry’s father is the director of a Knox County agency.

To their credit and as far as I’m aware, I don’t think either of them tried to use any of that to any advantage, and they have certainly been more patient with law enforcement through this ordeal than I probably would have been. But I do know a little bit about how violent crime investigations go and that information about the “alleged victim’s” (yes, I’m using that term loosely) parentage should have been turned up in any decent preliminary investigation almost right from the start – as well as the fact that it’s just plain common sense that someone down at KCSO most likely knew that info anyway, or someone who did know would likely have made someone aware of such a thing at some point. Come on, Knoxville is NOT that big of a town.

I guess that just goes to show you that obviously no preferential treatment is afforded anyone no matter who they are – nor am I saying there should be. But it does seem pretty ridiculous when you look at it (an acquaintance was not quite as kind, calling it “downright stupid”). If I’m Knox County law enforcement and I have a kid beaten nearly to death on my hands in the hospital with a severe head injury, and I find out not only is the kid’s mother a former KNS employee and WBIR producer, but that the kid’s dad is director of a county agency? Uh, yeah, I think I’m not going to be too lazy with that case, if it were me.

I’m sorry. I have dear, dear friends – especially two who are like little brothers to me, even though they are far from little anymore – who are police officers. I worked down at the record store many years ago with one of the finest Memphis PD officers I have ever known, who worked down there to make some part-time money. I know of other law enforcement officials who have been kind to people I know when their colleagues weren’t. I am not anti-law enforcement.

But much as Aunt B. said – things have become very strange in the case of Henry Granju. Something is obviously terribly wrong.

If I go beat somebody nearly to death with a tire iron tomorrow, and someone sees me do it and knows my name? I don’t expect to have more than a day or two – if even a whole day – to be free and out walking on the streets.

That makes sense.

What’s happened with Henry’s case doesn’t. Not at all.

I can’t do much. I am very sad that I can’t get to Knoxville for the memorial service on Saturday, but I’ll be there in spirit.

I can’t be there for hands-on support and can’t help cook meals and carry the other Granju and Hickman kids around to where they need to go, and get pianos tuned and arrange for musicians for Saturday, and all the other absolutely wonderful things so many others I know have been doing all along throughout this ordeal and doing now this week. All of these people are just absolute angels.

I can’t donate much money in Henry’s memory for the memorial scholarship fund, but I’ve sent what I could. And probably will continue to for a long time to come, and send much more when I am able to. I frankly cannot think of a more appropriate fund for PC and I to set aside any philanthropic funds we are able to for, for the rest of our lives – and the fact that it is in honor and in memory of Henry, even better. “There but for the grace of God” for us and all that, as PC was Henry at that age – we were just fortunate that he lived through it, and that his parents were able to afford treatment – which is what the Henry Louis Granju Memorial Scholarship Fund is for, for families that can’t afford to put their teenagers through drug and alcohol treatment. We also have another family member who’s been through the same terrible struggles. For us personally, it’s an entirely appropriate charity and we will support it indefinitely.

So I can’t do much. But I can blog, and use various other social media to keep Henry’s story out there, so hopefully other families won’t have to suffer this same tragedy. And to keep it out there until this case is fully, thoroughly, and finally brought to justice.

So that’s what I’ll do, because it’s all I can do.

It’s been five weeks. Going on six weeks. No one’s ever asked for anything “immediately” or to “drop everything”.

And even if they had, “immediately” and “now” has long since passed, these five – almost six – weeks later.

When the people responsible for savagely beating this young man with a tire iron until he was nearly dead – and who now has died – are off the streets, then maybe I’ll really sleep again instead of waking up every five or ten minutes.

How that brutal and violent beating was not a criminal act worthy of hauling someone’s butt into jail – as soon as their names and the names of witnesses were known – is something I am just not ever going to understand.

When All’s Quiet on the Tojo Front

And now, on a lighter note – sleeping with cats.  Sleeping with Tojo the Psycho Cat, specifically.  Somewhat surprisingly, this is usually a more than just pleasant experience.

Lately (for reasons too long and boring to go into), I’ve been sleeping in the guest bedroom – which, as readers know, is Tojo’s room, mainly because all the other cats hate him so much.  That’s where he mostly lives, playing with and arranging his Beanie Baby dog and cat army (and the flamingo, who always seems to get tossed on the floor for some unknown reason), rearranging my guest room in ways I don’t quite understand how a relatively small cat manages to do – I’ve long since stopped to go open the door and look when the odd thump or bang emits from that room.

Tojo is great fun to sleep with, though.  All his other psychoness aside, he actually is one of the most affectionate cats I’ve ever owned, and is surprisingly snuggly.  He will curl up in my arm, or alongside my arm or leg, snoozing away and purring loud and happily and doing what an ex-boyfriend’s mother used to call “making biscuits” (patting with his paws) on my arm or leg.

And sleeps the sleep of the DEAD.  That cat does NOT wake up unless I actually am getting up and getting out of bed and moving.  I have rarely seen a cat that is THAT unconscious while asleep, other than my brother-in-law and sister’s cat, Mouse, who is missing a few important brain cells anyway.

I’m so used to sharing a bed with various pets that when I’m spending the night away from home, sometimes it takes a little getting used to having a bed to myself and falling asleep.

And sleeping with cats is not always so pleasant.  When Schuyler, who passed away this summer, was healthy and big, he was great to have cuddled up with you in the winter and some nice extra warmth – not so much in the summer, and even more so with his habits of sleeping on your head (our family research over the last 40+ years shows this to be a definite black cat thing) or biting you sometimes – not hard, but not very comfortable, and another black cat thing – in places you would rather not be bitten.  He also had really bad breath as he got older and more sickly, so that was even worse.

But Tojo is just a delight to snooze away a rainy morning with.  I woke up several times yesterday and just got a kick out of him, purring and snoozing away, unconscious like the dead, occasionally stretching and so obviously happy and comfy and snuggly, just so peaceful.  And you think, how on earth can this relatively small and – right now – very, extremely peaceful little being be such a psychotic chaotic maniac tearing through the house like the Tasmanian Devil most of the time, terrorizing the other cats and sometimes a dog or two, and just generally leaving mayhem in his wake everywhere he goes?

In any case, I truly treasure our fun and sweet little naps together.  As I should, because those hours before he wakes up again are like the eye of the storm in Hurricane Tojo.

On Another Note (I Hate It When There’s Another Note)

I’ve got so much going on here right now trying to get so many things done and work related, and now to boot have two very sick elderly dogs – I had enough on my plate with one sick one (Lulu), and suddenly out of nowhere, Dobie took a turn for worse last night – anyway, I’m having trouble coming up for air right now.

Be back soon with more details, but for now, just keep us in thoughts and send good karma this way for my four-footed babies if you will.  They could use all the good karma they could get right now, and thanks.

Bits & Pieces, Or Just Bits ‘Cos I Don’t Have Time for the Pieces Right Now

There’s just really no time to be spared, so pardon me for this hit & run update.

1. A little while ago, I ate a cheese Krystal – because I was badly in need of food that I could get quick and didn’t have to cook and it was 3 in the morning – and it was unbelievably, horribly, terribly, awfully & ungodly bad. I have never had a Krystal that tasted that disgustingly, putridly bad in my life. Yes, I realize that Krystals are not haute cuisine, but come on – it’s a Krystal. How can you screw up a Krystal that bad?? If I die in my sleep here in a little bit, you’ll know what happened. Blech. A shoe sole would have tasted better I think.

2. I’ve been eating entirely too much fast food lately anyway, which is kind of okay because I never eat anyway and all I ever get is, like, one little McDonald’s cheeseburger, and they’re all of a dollar and I DO NOT HAVE TIME to cook. But let’s not talk about the fact that in the past two weeks I’ve been served (A) a cheeseburger that was between two top buns, and (B) got home one day and opened the bag to discover I had a top & bottom bun with cheese in the middle – and no burger. Wake up, people! I know it’s just an unimportant $1.00 cheeseburger, but it might just be someone’s only meal of the day that you totally screw up.

3. I know I shouldn’t have laughed because they’re both elderly and one’s a little sickly and might be a bit senile, but watching not just one but two of my cats fall off the desk a few minutes ago, within a few minutes of each other, with an empty chip bag (the small 99-cent Big Grab size) on their heads was almost as funny as a few years ago when my elderly then-16-year old cat got his head stuck inside an empty Krystal Chik box.

4. On a not-as-amusing note, Maggie’s (same Maggie as in the pic above) new favorite place to nap is with her head on the edge of my keyboard, which usually eventually occurs to me at some point after being puzzled as to why I’m typing in all caps or ““““` is appearing on the screen again.

5. I am apparently now completely and totally assimilated into the electronic communications world at this point, because now that my fax AND my printer are both borked, and a fax that I needed to get where it needed to go so I could start getting some commission payments didn’t go through because that dinosaur of a mid-’90s era fax that I inherited from my old office is totally dead now… it took about a month for it to finally occur to me that I could just put a stamp on an envelope and MAIL it.

6. Besides the petered out fax and printer, now my desktop is apparently on its last legs too – I’ve known it was coming, was hoping to hold it off a little longer, seeing as how that’s pretty distressing since I do 100% of my work on this computer these days – but it spit out a frightening serious error at me the other day and threatened to not start (but it eventually did). In the course of seeing what I could afford to ditch in an effort to get it speeded up a little and prepare to defragment the drive for the first time in I dunno how long, after going through some other directories, I took note of the millions of Notepad files I’ve got saved to the desktop – and had a bit of a chuckle over the title of some of those files, such as: CLC Links Widget, WP Tutorial, Moved Blogs, kathyt, kathyt Links Widget, More Moved Blogs, B Blogger Template, one simply titled B, B Tutorial (yes, I don’t remember why I felt I needed to make her her own instead of giving her the one I gave everyone else), and Sarcastro Stuff (which reminds me yet again that I STILL need to repost all his old photos one of these days, ugh). Anyway, giggle – yeah, I’m a blog geek.

7. There are angels in the blogosphere and in my MySpacesphere too. Angels, I tell you.

8. I’m so tired I don’t have time to BREATHE, and I don’t have time anyway because I have way too much work and projects to do. This staying up for a day and a half at a time, sleeping a few hours and starting all over again is getting a little old. I’ve been up again for about 38 or 39 hours now and worked straight through for about 22 well, really about 29 or 30, of those, so yeah – ‘scuse me if I’m a little loopy right now.

That is all. But seriously, if I don’t at least show up for a minute on Twitter by tonight? Food poisoning. Ugh, a nasty, dirty, filthy shoe sole would have no doubt tasted better. Yuck.

9. (Yes, Lesley and Brittney, I know I shouldn’t eat meat anyway.)

10. (But still – it’s a Krystal! How can anyone screw up a Krystal??)

11. Zzzzzz…

It’s Tornado Time in Tennessee

So did Super Tuesday actually happen yesterday? Because there was no talk of anything on the news here yesterday except this tornado, that tornado, the next tornado, and the one after that, and etc., etc., etc. Starting about 4:30 pm and well after midnight, on at least one local station that was virtually it.

Living in the center of the city, I’m usually protected ‘cos the main danger zones in the Metro Memphis area tend to be out in the ‘burbs. Still, I didn’t sleep last night because nowadays, when the sirens start going off, my adrenalin rush just gets out of this world (and if you’ve never been here before or have forgotten, this is why).

There was some damage not too far away though, out in the airport area; lots of damage out in the eastern suburbs and across the state line in DeSoto County, Mississippi; and probably the most stunning, for here, was the 50-foot chunk of wall taken out of Hickory Ridge Mall down in Southeast Memphis. Kid sister and her hubby lived not too far from there, just south of Germantown, until they moved a couple of years ago, so for once, I was actually happy they are now living in Nebraska. Otherwise last night would have been even more horrifying and frightening.

Though there was plenty going on here last night to freak out about, I found myself much more affected by the news of the tornado that blitzed the north part of Jackson, Tennessee, about an hour northeast. The damage was huge in many spots up there, most notably the demolition of a/some dormitory building(s) at Union University.

Why would that affect me so much more than what was happening right here in my own back yard? Because when I got caught on the road in my car during the 2003 tornado that hit Jackson, I was pretty much right there by Union University. No matter that I was basically safe at home an hour away, last night in my little house in front of the computer, listening to and watching the live stream of the continuing weather update on one of the local stations. When they said a tornado had touched down in Jackson and said where, I knew exactly what it looked like up there at that moment, ‘cos I’d been there, right there in it.

I guess I’m always gonna be a little more freaked out by bad storms and the sirens, but for a moment or two, that really, really bothered me last night. Glad I wasn’t out in it all, here nor there, but just hearing about them now in places I know – and especially that one twister in particular, striking right there where I was that night in 2003 – it’s just kinda bone-chilling.

On another note, thanks to everyone who stopped by and left such kind words about Rocky yesterday, including some I haven’t heard from in years and years. Very much appreciated, all of you. I left out one little part yesterday I meant to throw in there, so bear with me a sec and I’ll stop talking about it soon enough.

Like most of my zoo, Rocky was a foundling. My neighbor who lived here for years came home from work one day a little over ten years ago, and when he got out of the car, there was this little tiny orange kitten in the small tree right above the driveway mewing at him. So of course he immediately knocked on my door, orange ball of fur in hand.

And because there is an invisible sign on my forehead that only cats and dogs can see that says “SUCKER”, the little orange furball never left. Seems like only yesterday, and when he was so sick and old and leaving us, that’s really all I kept thinking about, that day years ago.

Well, that’s it for the moment, I’m so tired I’m about to drop dead, so I’m off for now. Tomorrow maybe I’ll write about my Christmas adventures. It’s not a pretty tale.

P.S. Again on tornadoes – does Knuck have the right idea? ‘Cos what if the tornado hits your house, but doesn’t really blow it up and just does some damage but nothing fatal to you or the house, and then you ARE wandering like that, and then you’re, like, this naked guy wandering around Nashville post-tornado, and…

It’s really still too early in the morning for me to ponder this. Smiley will have the punchline I’m too exhausted to come up with right now, I just know it.

Swooping In

So I’ve been busy on some projects I have been trying to pull together and complete forever now, thanks to my well-known Aussie rock fetish, and I guess you could say Phase 1 & 2 are up to speed now, Phase 3 is about to get done, and then onto Phase 4 one of these days when I have some free time that I never have anymore.

Anyway, I’ve been busy here and here, and finally got the only existing video footage of The Monarchs up on both MySpace and YouTube, and those of you who pop over here occasionally from the Pen and that general sector who haven’t already heard about the videos will certainly want to check those out.

Otherwise, I am so exhausted right now, and have had so little sleep in the past week and a half (not because of this stuff tho), that I have absolutely nothing else to blog about unless you wanna hear me yawn, so ’til later, folks…

Z is for Zzz…

It occurs to me I haven’t changed my iMood from “awake” in I dunno how long, but the thing is, it’s usually right anyway.  I am awake most of the time lately.  And if I’ve fallen asleep, I don’t know it ‘cos I’ve done it accidentally… so I can’t change it, since I don’t know I’m asleep.  Right?

Makes sense to me.

The good thing, I guess, about feeling stressed and under pressure more than usual is that when I’m like that – when there’s a LOT of stress and pressure – I don’t wanna do anything BUT sleep.   I predict a lot of sleeping this week.  That may be of the good.

Thinking of Aunt B. and ‘Coma today, and everyone and anyone else who needs some extra good thoughts.

Short & Sneezy

Seems like most everyone I know is in kind of this collective mood, in varying degrees of difference ranging from contemplative and introspective, apprehensive and despondent, restless and expectant, and about fifty million other adjectives I could come up with right now.  There’s positives and negatives and plenty of neutrals and just all sorts of stuff going on, but it seems like most are just in sort of this collective funk of some sort; or if not a funk, some very potential life-altering kind of stuff right now.

Whatever’s going on with me is not nearly so literary.  I’m just plain in a mood.

I’m also sneezing again, which is making me mad because I still really have yet to 100% get over that last bout of crud that befell me right before the car wreck.  I’m hoping this sneezy business is just a temporary thing.

More later, because when I start typing and then deleting a sentence that includes Philadelphia, Atlanta, and NYC all in the same sentence, then I know I’m going in the wrong direction with my train of thought and I need to regroup.  None of those three cities nor anyone in them have anything to do with what I’m on about right now.  And I need a little sleep.

I really do not like Sundays, not at all.

Home, Home Again – But Not For Long

So I am home, but not for long. I am exhausted to the max, but in a good way. I should have just gone straight on to bed early last night, but didn’t. Now I’m up again, but that’s OK, I think (think) today is going to be a fairly easy day.

All and all, great trip. I met in person some wonderful folks I have “known” for a while and a few more, and we just had a great, great time. Other than the fact that I lost my MP3 player and some other stuff I can’t quite remember what was in the bag at O’Hare, and the fact that my foot is about to fall off, it’s all good. I almost broke my foot a few years ago but didn’t quite break it, and it has given me a ton of trouble ever since, and nowadays the other foot and ankle gives me a little trouble too because I don’t walk quite right anymore because of the bad one. Consequently, the bad foot and ankle have a habit of swelling up to Supersize with things like lots of walking in airports and stuff. I didn’t notice it until I was waiting in the St. Louis airport yesterday for my connecting flight, and then it was like, whoa! The other one was swollen too but the difference was between looking at an almost normal foot and ankle compared to a gargantuan deformed one. It really hasn’t bothered me that much (and has gone down a little), probably because when I am really tired, my feet always hurt anyway. I’ve felt better, but I’ll live.

The show, again, was fantastic and The Abbey is a pretty great place to see live music in Chicago. Other than that little idiot who made us leave the venue entirely too early and before everyone in the band had come out after the show.

I kinda hate now that I understand I could have met up with Tatiana for dinner or something Saturday night, dang it. But since it was such a last minute trip and was kind of a whirlwind one, I just wasn’t thinking much ahead of time other than all the must-do’s. Hopefully there might be a next time for Chicago later in the year, though.

But here’s the REAL scoop… remember I said I’m home, but not for long? Guess where I am going Wednesday? L.A.! Yep, I’m going to see the Hoodoo Gurus AGAIN on Wednesday night. It was another opportunity that turned up that I just couldn’t pass on, things with work are working out where I can go (and Thursday’s my day off anyway), so here I go again! It just so happens I have an old friend who is from Sydney but has been living in L.A. for several years now who also was going to the show, so hopefully things will work out there (‘cos lord knows I don’t have enough $$ left for cab fare at this point, but we’ll see).

This is going to be an even more whirlwind trip ‘cos I am actually going to be there barely 12 hours, but when the opportunity presented itself, I just couldn’t pass it up. And I never get to do stuff like this or go much of anywhere anyway, so this is cool. About ten years ago, the band was playing what was then intended to be one of their last dates in Australia, and almost all the American fans went down there for the show, the band and their manager threw a big barbecue for everyone who had come in from all over the world, and all this great stuff. I wasn’t able to go and was miserable. So all of this this week almost makes up for that. I’m thrilled, really; too tired to maybe show it right now, but I am.

So this week’s going to be a super hectic one (especially because I am going BACK out of town again for a very short trip on Saturday), and I’m probably going to just collapse next week when it’s all over with, but it’s all good. For a whole bunch of last minute stuff, it’s not turned out so bad (yet – knock on wood nothing happens like my plane is severely delayed Wednesday, god, that would be awful).

If you wanna see some pictures taken of the Chicago outing, click here. Someone needs to stop me from waving every time a camera’s out, I look like a big dork. And to shut my mouth. And I seriously was not drunk until the very end of the evening, heh.

On Passing Up Music Downloads, Lack of a Nap, & Elvis

So, I didn’t seem to be able to find my way to bed nor couch for a nap Saturday afternoon, seeing as how I kind of accidentally got stuck in the Seventies and spent two or three hours downloading a crapload of Aerosmith, Nazareth, The Runaways, Alice Cooper, Ace Frehley, and KISS. Must have been the Plaid Stallions influence.

Not that I don’t already own most of that stuff I just downloaded anyway, but it seems I have gotten too lazy to pore through the CD rack, and you know, it’s just so much more convenient when it’s already on the hard drive. Plus there’s the fact my CD-ROM drive only works when it wants to lately anyway.

One of these days I’m going to write a great big scathing post about some of the artists and bands whom I’ve discovered are still charging per track via the various services, as well as some of the ones whose stuff you can’t get at all. Some of those charging per track, it’s been really disappointing to see – not disappointed because I can’t download some stuff, but disappointed in them for being that way. I know that’s a hot button issue in the music world, but I have always believed – and still believe – that those that make their stuff available as a regular download are going to make more money on those tracks than if they slap a 99 cent per on it (yep, I’m looking at you, Red Hot Chili Peppers, among others).

‘Cos you know what? 99 times out of 100, I’m gonna pass right by those. Put your 99 cent price tag on ‘em all you want. Most of the time, I’ve already got your CD sitting in the rack that I paid full price for anyway. I don’t need your MP3 so bad I’m gonna pay for it individually again. No. Sorry.

Then there’s the ones whose stuff’s not available at all. Yeah, I’m looking at you now, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.

Come to think of it, though, I can think of several reasons why Zeppelin’s stuff might be a little more difficult to deal with regarding licensing and royalty issues and such, now that I’ve thought about it for a minute.

There’s plenty of others out there, though, that really just have no real good excuse and, like I said, my opinion is that many are shooting themselves in the foot as I said above. I bet more of those 99 centers on Napster, et al, get passed over than get purchased. Anyway…

Speaking of music, one of my oldest friends is subscribed to my Last.fm feed that spits out whatever I’m playing at any given time. Seriously. Subscribed. Even checks it on whatever handheld Web-capable whatever he carries around with him. Because I know this, sometimes I make a point of playing about a dozen really goofy insane tracks just to mess with him.

I have to talk to you about something Elvis-related, too, but that’s going to have to wait ’til I’m a little more awake ’til I have my very late dinner and get my head back on straight again. I should go finally did nap. For a little while far too long and way too late, which means I’ll probably be up all night but that’s okay. (Obviously, I initially penned this post before said nap occurred hit me like a ton of bricks and rendered me unconscious for most of Saturday evening.)