2006-02-10 - 10:40 a.m. I tend to avoid fiction based on actual historical characters, especially writers (with some notable exceptions), but Arthur and George (the "Arthur" of the title is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, believer in fairies) is just so good: sensitive, suspenseful, funny at times. It inspires and encourages me when artists come out with their best stuff later in their careers. And when I'm done, I look forward to reading this Icelandic novel which I predict I'm going to love based solely on this line on the first page: ...Bishop: good gracious! Well I never! In the old days all young theologians took snuff... Never a big fan of sushi or other raw fish, I had tuna tartare last night at Bao that blew the roof off my skull. It was beyond delicious--it was as if the walls of my mouth had themselves melted and turned into food. OK, that doesn't sound delicious, but what I mean is that the pleasurable taste combined with the weird, human-flesh texture of the fish made it feel like I was making out with my food, or like my mouth had turned in on itself and was kissing me. No, wait... It was just tasty, is all. After Bao I went to Nublu to hear Sir Bato the Yugo, a Serbian fella who plays "gypsy" music, although last night he was playin' some harder-edged stuff for a very receptive crowd. Stashed away behind a non-descript, security-gated storefront on Avenue C, Nublu feels very European and lounge-y. I got the distinct feeling I was the only person in the room who owns a Tom Petty album. It's a good feeling, though, sometimes. Oh, hey, it's the Olympics. OK. I forgot they still had those. A detachable turtleneck? why does this seem like a very bad idea? Got a bunch o' new CDs...field report some time this afternoon... thoughts? (6 comments so far) previous - next blog archive contact