More thoughts on last nights party as memory slowly reasserts itself. We're slowly but surely convincing Allen of the need for an online catologue for his store. This reminded him that he needed to call our old friend Dave Blumberg in Seattle, as Allen had forgotten that Dave had pictures ready, but was waiting for Allen to send him descriptions. Dave volunteered me to write the descriptions, but I don't have Excel on my home computer. Maybe I can just borrow Allen's next time I'm at his store. I've been on the sidelines through this whole process and need to contribute somehow. Anyway, we were interrupting Dave's plans to meet with his girlfriend later, so we couldn't talk very long. It was about 6:30 his time, 9:30 our time and we already pretty drunk. I did get to ask about his friend, Sean, a former (but very briefly), KAOS roomate. He was Dave's friend at FSU, supposedly a very bright guy at one time, but now a pot burnout. He followed Dave up to Seattle and joined the Army last year. I was concerned about whether he could hack it, but remembered he had already been in the Navy. He has not been in touch with Dave, however, and all that we know now is that he has not been reported as a casualty.

Two of the Blue Moon members, Danny and Kelly, were married a couple years ago and are now expecting their first baby. They were discussing baby names, and Danny had us cracking up with the suggestion that the name should just be 5 v's, theory being that you could not yell at a kid with 5 v's in its name. "Vvvvv . . .! Vvvvv . . .!"

I took some time to explain to Kelly my mother's plan to get their band some Texas exposure. I'm taking two more copies of their CD home with me for Christmas. Mom wants to give one to the guy who organizes talent for the Late Week Lazy Boy Supper Club, which used to feature only Texas songwriters but is now expanding its invites out of state. The other is supposed to go to Lloyd Maines, who is the father of one of the Dixie Chicks and produced their last album. I tried to explain I don't know how much influence my mother has with the Texas music industry, or thinks she has, but we all agree its worth a shot. For more information about Blue Moon, check out http://www.barelybluegrass.com

Rich had finally arrived around 11, and I knew he was there because I could hear him raving about some shenanigans in the county commission from across the yard. I walked up and said "My god, are you always on?" to which he replied with the obligatory "Fuck you!" Rich has good reason to celebrate, as he has finally begun the process of wrapping up his doctoral thesis, which he left sitting for four years. More good news on the Progressive Center, I think two of the owners are willing to take it off the market if we can get $25,000 before June. The building has been empty for some years, and it seems that if anyone really wanted it, they would have made an offer by now. We are taking nothing for granted, though, and are looking into grant writing possibilities. As soon as Rob puts it together, we will have a Pay-Pal system on the web site to take advantage of drunken web-surfers. Susan suggested this, but Rob claims he had already thought about it. At any rate, at least Susan has prompted Rob to post an acknowledment that Pay-Pal is coming on the site. I think he still needs to make clear who can accept funds in the meantime. Rob keeps saying the contact information is all in there, but I think people need more precise information if they are going to send a check. Information on the Center is at

http://www.tallprogcen.com/

A horrible site name which will soon be changing. Make no mistake, this is a shameless plea for donations, so send them money. Stacks and stacks of money!