(no subject)

On the way to work this morning (boy, it's been a while since I've used that phrase) I was listening to KQED's call-in program Forum, an interview with Los Angeles Times editor John Carroll. The Times, he says, aspires to be "the national newspaper of the West," and we could sure use one. I don't read it that often, but I do recall that during the build-up to the Iraq invasion, while the east coast papers were trapped in the administration's echo chamber, the L.A. Times was one of the few establishment papers to do some independent foreign policy reporting.

The paper publishes an east coast edition which loses money, just to get its reporting in the hands of influential readers in Washington and New York. But Carroll admits that it's going to be hard to be a national newspaper of the West when you can't even get home delivery in San Francisco.

(There should be an archived version of today's program on the web site by tomorrow morning, if not earlier. Or you could listen RIGHT NOW on the radio or on the web.)

i feel great

Here are some things that happened the last couple of nights:

• Played a pretty good set at a newish-to-me open mike in Santa Clara.
• Booked a show there along with my friend and sometime collaborator Russell Barber. I love playing with Russell.
• Played some old songs at the Espresso Garden, my open mike home, and there were a bunch of people there who really like my music! Just like Peter Gabriel, I love to be loved.
• And I really enjoyed listening to people the whole night. There were good people there I'd never seen before, and a couple of singers I hadn't seen for a while who've really improved--both in the music itself and in stage presence. People develop gradually, and it's kind of cool to have missed that and to experience it as a sudden quantum leap.
• And hey also my friend Philip Rodriguez finally got his web site together! Go listen to his songs "Refinery Lights" and "River through the Sun", if you have RealPlayer.

Making and hearing good music makes me happy.