It's interesting to compare the media coverage between different parts of the country. Dallas and surrounding areas are pretty damn conservative/ mainstream and maybe even downright stodgy in their political and artistic points of view. The one lib daily in the area, The Times Herald, folded years ago, leaving us with the bland predictability of The Morning News as our only print news constant. The most exciting things that happen around here (aside from fake drug scandals), are renegade gorilla attacks at the zoo and the occasional racial accusation.

D.C. is a world onto itself though, with world-shaking consequences. It's probably most comparable to Hollywood, with a sinewy network of double-dealings, secret agreements, old Frankensteins, endless rows of columns and complex city design (which actually makes sense), a shitload of Bush derision, and commentators at every turn. Bob Woodward's latest book, Plan of Attack, is sure to add more rocky waves to an already grim situation for the incumbent, though it doesn't look like it drops any real bombshells as much as just explains in detail what we already knew - Dick and George wanted some Saddam steak long before 911 and were doing their best to heat up the grill "behind closed doors". I still wonder though about these off-the-record remarks and whether Woody has more to offer than what mostly comes down to top level political tabloid journalism. Given this is in-detail historical speculating on some seriously fucked events that we're still trudging our way through, it's probably essential reading, whether you hate Bush or not.

While in DC, I:
--partook in a ceremony to honor my uncle at the Vietnam Memorial,
--saw George Stephanopoulos, said "hi, George,"
--was accosted by an unstable transvestite outside the Lincoln Memorial who declared "what? I don't want to turn into a rainbow right now - you turn into a rainbow!"
--saw the brilliant Espers live (s/t LP just issued on Time-Lag, CD on Locust), opening for the post Bardo Pond sludge mongrels, Long Live Death (young, sexy, Orange amps) at The Warehouse Next Door,
--tumbled down the Exorcist Stairs,
--bought a copy of the new Einsturzende Neubauten CD, Perpetuum Mobile,
--witnessed a man choking (and thusly Heimliched) one table over at a grill on M Street - he survived,
--saw the sights,
--got lost too many times,
--had a good time.

np: Sonic Youth "Karen Revisited"