Post-Weekend Ketchup: White Boy, Beck, rich people, Little Brother, White People

First off, I apologize for not being a very good little blogger boy. I'm sorry - part work, part sloth. Seriously though, spring is here - days are longer and skirts are shorter. I can't be indoors posting on no blog when the mercury's hitting 70 on a weekend for the first time this year.

I haven't been reading enough. I haven't read a book since I finished reading Middlesex and John Seabrook's Nobrow about a month ago (each fantastic in its own way).

I was bummed about the tax return I wasn't getting (or to be more accurate, the thousands I owed federal and state), so I did the sensible thing and hit St. Mark's for some printed words.

I came out with four books:

• Angry Black White Boy by Adam Mansbach
  
• Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
  
• Charlie Wilson's War by George Crile
  
• Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things by Barry Glassner

That should last me a couple of weeks. I ended up spending the rest of the weekend at Tompkins Sq Park reading Angry Black White Boy.

Nearly as bummer-inducing as the money owed to the man was missing out on the Beck show at Hiro on Friday. Apparently, even if one did not score a ticket via Ticketweb, one only needed to show up and wait in line. The walk up admission was $20, $5 and the service charge amount less than what Ticketweb was charging. The bastards.

Meanwhile, I was across town meeting my art director over burritos. Oh well. I suppose there are bigger Beck fans than I. And sseriously, the Maritime Hotel is waaaaaay too far on the West Side. Yeah, that's it.

I might be the only OC viewer who didn't enjoy the last episode. Look, I appreciate that they finally had a party at Caleb's Xanadu-knock off mansion on the beach. And everything we've been missing from this season's OC was there - drugs, alcohol, implied teenage sex, water polo players harassing Seth.

So on paper, yeah, it's a return to the good ol' days. Trouble is, the storylines were astrocious. I realize Seth does some stupid shit around attractive women, but why does he try to keep Zach and Reed apart when it's to his benefit? And Kirsten doesn't want Sandy hanging with Carter Buckley because she has feelings for Carter, yet she objects when Sandy tries to pimp Carter off to the not-very-California-looking California chick. And Ryan's suspicions about Trey - hasn't Ryan made enough ass out of himself to maybe stop assuming once in a while. Isn't Trey, a parolee (?), not at all worried about possibly violating parole by drinking, getting into a fight and having sex with a minor? (okay, maybe he's not on parole, but I'm preeeetttty sure that sex with a minor is still a crime, unless California's age of consent's lower than 18)

I know, I know, hard core absurdity is part of The OC's charms but I can only suspend so much disbelief before my brain starts to hurt.

North Carolina's own Little Brother's second between-LPs release, The Chitlin' Circuit (Version 1.5) is coming in June. So I guess this means the second LP isn't coming any time soon, but I'm not complaining. The first Chitlin Circuit mix tape was some quality stuff, as solid as b-side tracks get.

This week: Handsome Boy Modeling School at Irving on Wednesday. This is probably the only show I'll catch at the Plaza this year. Looking forward to it.

Screw the conclaves, the cardinals and the white smoke. This is my Pope.

Anyway, great, completely unproductive weekend for me. Nice to finally get my ass out of the house and onto my bike saddle.