Getting Close!

As I sit here sleepily shoving breakfast into my face, I realize that I leave tomorrow night!! London, rainy or not, here I come!

I’ve been up night after night late getting the house ready to leave. It’s kind of a combination of spring cleaning and being away cleaning. I’ll come back to nothing to do but take care of the new kitten and my back-at-home Bear.

Tonight, I’ve… uhm… got to pack… I’ve NEVER waited this late before. Last time, both the bag I was carrying home and the bag I was taking on the trip were packed several days before I left. I’m getting slack. I did start a “stack of things I ought to carry” two nights ago, but the bag has not ventured forth yet. And it hit me last night as I was folding laundry to put away that I really do need to pack a small bag to leave in the car to take home when I get back. It hit me that it’s shorts weather here and I’m not taking shorts to London. So unless I want to be home in 80 degree weather and confined to pants, I’ll at least toss a few shorts into a small bag tonight.

Last night, I brought the CD changer in to change out the CD’s that have been in there a month or so. There was one CD in particular that I was having a hard time prying out of the changer. I’ve listened to it over and over to the exclusion of some other discs. The name Peter Stuart won’t mean a lot to a lot of people, but his band, Dogs Eye View had a one hit wonder several years back (more than I care to think about), Everything Falls Apart. This hit near the tail end of my time in college, but I fell in love with the CD, Happy Nowhere. I’m surprised I didn’t wear it out – or the patience of passing cars hearing me singing off-key along with Peter.

The follow-up CD, Daisy, came at a bad time. I was in grad school, money was precious and I was slightly detached from new music at the time. The band faded away before I had money again, and I could flog myself as I’ve yet to go back to pick up Daisy.

But around a year ago, on a lark, I looked up Dogs Eye View and found Peter was still out there plugging away, I heard a few tracks online from Propeller, and I bought the CD locally, which was no mean feat. I’ll buy DVD’s online but for some reason, music is a very hands-on experience for me. I’m sure that will change as we drift inexorably towards digital media. The longer I’ve had the disk, the more in love with it I’ve become. When it gets in the changer, it doesn’t come out easily. I very nearly left it in last night, but I compromised and put in Happy Nowhere in it’s place and finally copied Propeller onto my Archos so that I can listen to it on the trip.

And last night, I decided to check in on Peter again, only to discover that Dogs Eye View is about to release another CD!! WOooooHoooooOOO! You can check out a couple of tracks at myspace, and I joined the mailing list so that I won’t lose track again soon! Based on just the two tracks, I’m looking forward to more from Mr. Stuart.

So, listen out for the single and support music with meaning and emotion wherever you find it!