Is it really peanut butter jelly time? Already?

Nope, that time stamp ain't lyin'. Blame it on an early AM trip to the bathroom that was interrupted by a wickedly stubbed toe. You can credit said toe's incessant throbbing with my early start on this particular day.

As always, I know, fascinating.

SooooOOoooo ... it is a Tueday, so that must mean I'm DJing at The Pontiac tonight, right? Right! And since its Tuesday and I am DJing, I must have a guest DJ joining me tonight, right? Right! And since it's Tuesday ... yadda yadda yadda ...¹ my DJ must be a charming rock and/or roller who is, nonetheless, a tad inexperienced at the whole actual practice of the DJ-thing, right? Ri - WRONG! Well, half right.

Today's guest is a fellow writer whose work I have admired for quite a while. His well-rounded taste and Saharan wit has provided me with plenty an entertaining read. So we already know that he knows his music. However this cat also DJs at The Bad Dog Tavern almost every Friday, so we also know he's got experience at working the crowd!

Or, at least, the nineteen people that make up our -- combined -- fan club.²

Anyway, who is this mystery man? This tower from the Northside? The man who, during his tribal rite into manhood, had a beer stein permanently attached to his right hand? It is none other than the mythical (to those of us South of Belmont) DJBV! We know you've fallen in love with his musical acumen through his Theft Liable To Prosecution site, but now here is your chance to see the man in action.

This is sure to be a match-up of epic proportions, couched within epic consumption of various fermented beverages.

Be there.

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More marketing yadda yadda.

The Pontiac now has it's own lovely little place on MySpace. Feel free to add it as a friend, if you are so inclined.

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Some genuine musically related content.

I don't really want to blow my whole review here, since I'm writing something more substantial for Chicagoist, but I can't bottle up what a pleasant surprise I have found the new Veruca Salt album to be. I can honestly say that I never thought I would be writing that last sentence, but Louise seems to have really pulled herself together and written a pretty fantastic collection of new songs. Sure there is a clunker or two, but the batting average on this disc is better than just about every previous Veruca Salt album. Sure, I'll always be nostalgic for American Thighs, but if one is to be honest, the new disc actually has a stronger collection (and by that, I mean "as a whole") of songs. Anyway, like I said, I've expanded on these views and that should go live either later today or early tomorrow.

In other music news, Photogal pulled out her little "hope chest" of ticket stubs from days gone by and she actually made me a little jealous of her 1985 / 1986 concert run. In just a few months she say prime-period Depeche Mode, Replacements, Naked Raygun, Tears For Fears, Siouxie and the Banshees, The Cure, The Jesus and Mary Chain ... and I've blocked out all the rest because it just makes me too upset! I mean, it's cool she was at all those shows, but where was I? Oh yeah, stuck out on the East Coast amidst a bunch of kids wearing Docksiders with no socks while preparing to suck from the teat of the trust funds their daddies set up for them.

We also had fun seeing how many shows we were both at a couple years later, and did that whole, "Wow, who knows? Maybe we walked right past each other way back then and never even knew it!" thing.

Because, you know, we probably did. Too bad we didn't have craigslist³ back then, huh?

TODAY'S NOTES:
¹That one was for both of you, Sarah and Debbie.
²Yes, I lifted that gag directly from DJBV's repertoire.
³Actually, remember when The Reader's personals section was the closest thing to the Craigslist Missed Connections Chicago had? And you had to mail in your entries to see them published, lickety-split, in three to four weeks? Remember those days? Yeah, I know, barely, but you do still remember, right?