So Iran is seizing British soldiers now, huh? Well, maybe this next war will prove more satisfying than our last one. And maybe once we occupy Iran we can use it, possibly in conjuntion with Iraq, to separate the Sunnis and the Shiites, giving each of them their own hidey hole. After all, that kind of ethnic separation worked wonderfully when Israel was formed and the Palestinians were encouraged to relocate to a different area.

What else? Last night I joined Ryan and Jamie for a trip to Artz Rib House where we ate some tasty barbecue and listened to the magical folk/country sound of The Flyin' A's. The Flyin' A's are fronted by Hilary and Stuart Adamson, and Hilary is an old friend of my brother's from way back in high school. Hilary has a really great voice (Stuart was feeling a little under the weather and mostly stuck to playing guitar last night), and they have a sound which is deeply rooted in traditional Texas country, folk, and a little blues. The band is rounded out by a guy named Eastside Flash on dobro (for those who don't know, that means he plays a slide on one of those acoustic guitars that has a metal resonator) and Charlie Irwin on bass. The web site also shows a drummer, but he wasn't there last night.
Anyway, it was fun to go to Artz. The food was pretty good, the band was fun to listen to, and the crowd was awfully friendly (Hilary seemed to know more than half of the people in the place, so it's clear that there are a lot of regulars). I'm sure we'll see them again sometime soon.

By the way, there have been allegations that SXSW organizers and volunteers have been reporting unofficial music events during SXSW to the fire marshall in an attempt to have these events shut down. As a musician who has played at these unofficial events for several years, I sure hope this isn't happening. I hope that all of the official venues are being held to the same standards as the unofficial venues, and I would hope that SXSW organizers would be trying to foster an atmosphere of festivity and celebration during SXSW rather than just taking over our town for their own use and trying to inisist that no one else "compete" with their official events. SXSW is already huge, and I can't see how unofficial events would in any way detract from the overall festival itself.

Not too much else to report. Roundball and McSteans are headed to Houston this weekend to attend Erica "Bug" Foster's wedding (old friend), so I think I'll end up dogsitting for Lucy and/or Mel. Should be ok. Maybe a visit to the dog park is in order.

Okay. I guess that's it for now. Hope you guys are hanging in there.