Ever feel like you're not listening to enough Mexican music? I was watching the brilliant Lone Star saturday night and it made me think of the time I went to see Calexico perform. They were pretty good, but after about I guess forty minutes they invited Los Mariachis onstage with them and the place went nuts. The leader of the mariachi band just took over and started cracking wise and turned the place into a big party. The only other Mexican band I know is Volovan, who I've been listening to a lot lately. I haven't taken a Spanish class in ten years, so I'm not sure what they're singing about, but they sound like happy people, which is nice for a change.

Who is the sexiest babe of indie rock [via Catherine]. I voted for Sahara Hotnights, because of Maria Hotnights, but I could've just as easily voted for Neko Case. I honestly didn't know the rest of them and I was surprised that Karen O, Sharin Foo, and Kathleen Edwards weren't nominated.

Is it a sign you have a drinking problem, when you wake up on your couch although you're sure you went straight to bed after you got home? We were out Friday night to see my friends in Fillip, but because of some miscommunication the only part of their show we heard was the Thank you and good night part. Thankfully, they'll be playing in a few weeks at a showcase for new talent, so I'll have to go see them there. But I got to hang out with a lot of people and after the main act, Marvel Hill, a friend said that some cover band would be playing on another stage. He said he'd heard their soundcheck and that they had a crazy guy with them, who played Hammond organ. At the soundcheck he'd played with his feet and head and had been awesome. There's only one guy like that round here and I used to be in a band with him ages ago. So I went to check them out and sure enough it was my old buddy Palle, who along with three other guys brought the soul and funk. They did a bunch of cool covers, but their rendition of Bill Withers' brilliant Ain't No Sunshine was a definite highlight. We left the club early, but I hit a bar before I got home and like I said for some reason I woke up on the couch although I'm sure I spent the night in my bed. So either I've taken up sleepwalking late in the game or for some reason I just decided I'd rather crash there instead of in my bed. Had the television been on that would've explained everything, but it wasn't so I'm a little baffled. Either way admitting there's a problem is the first step towards drinking with a clean conscience.

So I was hungover Saturday, which meant I spent most of the day listening to the radio coverage of the NFL Draft. As a Ravens fan I was very happy with the first two picks (Terrell Suggs and Kyle Boller) although I expect a lot of ridicule over the botched trade with the Vikings if Byron Leftwich turns out to be the next Brett Favre. But I think they came away from the draft with a lot more than they could've hoped for, so I think it was a very successful draft.
But as a student of media science I have to wonder about the type of ads, which were broadcast during the draft show. You'd think that the majority of the people listening are men from the mid-twenties and older, who drink beer and watch way too much football. So why would The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints buy adspace every hour advocating family values? Why were there information ads about The Poison Control Center or people with epileptic disorders? Where were the ads for beer, snacks, cars, and whatever else the listeners might actually care about? I thought that was pretty weird.

I actually checked out the Latter-day Saints' website and it turns out it's just another name for Mormons. I read the Mormon FAQ and it might be the commas messing with me, but this quote has me confused:

These prophets knew about Heavenly Father’s plan for His children and the mission of Jesus Christ. They recorded that Christ appeared, after His Resurrection, to the people in America, taught them His gospel, and formed His Church among them.

Christ reappeared? In America? I guess he reappeared to these people:

It (The Book of Mormon) contains the writings of ancient prophets. One of these, Lehi, lived in Jerusalem around 600 B.C. God commanded Lehi to lead a small group of people to the American continent. There they became a great civilization.

All this is news to me, but apparently the prophet Lehi led his family to the promised land in a boat built by his son Nephi. This I got from the Latter Day Designs Vinyl Figures website.

I did a little research and found an article, where it says that Mormons believe that Lehi's children eventually became two warring factions, which included the good, white Nephites and the bad, brown Lamanites. The Lamanites, eventually killed all the Nephites by 500 A.D. But the bad, brown Laminates continued to live on and are now called Native Americans.
I'm going to have my Dad explain all this to me at some point, because I've become quite fascinated by this part of American history I know nothing about. I honestly thought Mormons were kinda like the Amish just with more wives, so reading this introduction to Mormon beliefs was a bit of an eye opener.

Okay, it's way late now, so that's it for Sunday school. Before I got all caught up in religious research I was actually going to write about how hot the writing on Boomtown is, but I guess I'll have to rant about that some other time.

Posted by John Fogde at April 29, 2003 01:06 AM | TrackBack