Entertainment tonight: graceful Louie-villian songwriter Kirsten Williams (with stand out bass player), followed by the urbane balladeering Tex-westerner John Pinamonti at the Bar on A at 9 & 10 respectively. The IPO on Monday was okay... it's been a while since we put ourselves in the position of playing a showcase with a bunch of unknown-to-us bands. I was shocked by the extremely low level of camaraderie. You know, the old I'm staring right through your smile routine. Or, the new I'll add you as a MurdochSpace "friend" but not actually respond to you when we're in the same bar ridiculousness. I'd forgotten also about that particular Power Pop segment in the music world that cares more for loud guitars than lyrics... close to what we do riff-wise, but really quite a different underlying attitude. I couldn't help using my X-ray supposition glasses to strip the interesting jackets and union jack stickers off the band before us to see Long Island metal-meat heads posing, posing, posing. I'm glad we did it, even though it was a Monday late night sacrifice set. I got to meet the IPO festival organizer who seems a true music fan in the great tradition of the know-it-all classification-ists. Gotta give props to his dedication pulling these events together internationally. And the Baggot Inn sound man was excellent! I have a pet fondness for that venue... always striving, trying to make that space a rock club, low ceilings and trencher tables be damned! Tuesday night was much better as we got back into regular Wheels rehearsing at the Pit. Great instrumental pieces appeared. We worked on a new song. The creeps are gone. And speaking of, I do rescind that part about me changing my way of thinking. Just forget, delete and cancel. File it under lost incident. I don't want to think about it anymore.