Asylum Street Spankers--Farewell Review

Tonight at the Ann Arbor chapter of the farewell tour, there were seven people and about 75 instruments on stage. Half of the people, and perhaps more of the instruments, were sick or getting sick. And they'd been up since some ungodly hour in the morning.

Mistakes were unavoidable. But not just unavoidable; they were celebrated, joyfully embraced as a part of the process, as one of the sweet fruits of being alive. Things were spirited, a bit uncouth, and pretty much like I'd expect a Spankers concert to be. (Jake: They did Tom Waits's "Make It Rain". Christina leaned out to the audience at one point and asked "Do you want to hear a Tom Waits song?" When we expressed our interest, she leaned back and looked over her shoulder at the band and asked "Do we know any Tom Waits songs?")

I don't think I'm exaggerating much about the 75 instruments. We even got a jug and a saw tonight. (I love the saw. When played right, it can be the most eerie, most soothing instrument I know.) And we got an encore three songs long, including an extensive monologue by Charlie King. If the Wikipedia entry is correct, I'm sorry to hear about the breakup. But I'm glad I got to see them tonight.

And many happy returns

Today, despite my repeated protestations that he would never live to see eight, my little brother commemorates many more years than that (because now he's *old*). I congratulate him on his pluck and determination!

So their minds are soft and lazy

It's Friday, campers. It's Friday and I'm bored. I'm starting to once again get good at speaking corporatese, and that leaves me feeling vaguely unsettled. So today's IFIAYAQD! question is:

Given an unlimited budget but only eight hours of 'on stage' time, how would you keep me entertained?