YOU'RE MY SHINING BOY

photo by Mrs. Des Noise

Asklandaganza IV can only be described as a huge success. It would be hard for me to say much more about the fourth annual birthday party of Vaudeville Mews booker Ladd Askland-- particularly anything analytical or rock critic-like-- because I was just having too much fun. Nick Lambert was named Man of the Year, a move that surprised him because he had thought he was helping Ladd choose the Poison Control Center's Patrick Tape Fleming (a mere ruse!). Wolves in the Attic and the Land of Blood & Sunshine and the Seed of Something and Canyons and Derek Lambert & the Prairie Fires (in their debut performance!) and of course PCC played awesome sets. John Huffman distributed Ladd's traditional everybody-in-the-place Black Velvet shots. Bob Nastanovich, back in Des Moines after touring the world with beloved group Pavement, was upstairs spinning records-- I asked him the name of one particularly danceable song three times, hoping to write it down, before he sort of jollily ("jollily"?) told me he had even better ones coming up so I should get back downstairs and keep dancing. It was Mrs. Des Noise's birthday, too, so we were back and forth from a little gathering with some friends at our place-- thanks a ton to everybody who came, glad our cat didn't kill anyone and our dog only peed on one person (at the same time the cat was vomiting) (sorry, Andrew). PCC played some new songs that I remember being a blast but couldn't tell you much more about. I don't think they played new plastic plate 7" "Porcelain Brain." (Wait, now I'm suddenly remembering singing along with it...) When we left I was pretty sure we had lost both Ladd and Chet Boom. But they were both found. Like I said, a huge success. You shoulda been there.

They once was lost but now am found.