Reykjavik!

I'm back from London, where I can definitely say I love the United States of America, except for my new love for televised women's professional indoor field hockey! One of the highlights of the trip was staring down at the world from 40,000 feet and seeing a city in the middle of the vast northern Atlantic. Who on earth would live there? Well, lots of people, apparently, including the recently deceased nutty anti-semite chess champion Bobby Fisher. It was Iceland! Then across the frozen tundra of Greenland, Baffin Bay, the Northwest Territories of Canada, which seem to be in the NorthEAST. (?) And then we headed south, miles above my friends in Edmonton, Calgary, and finally

THANK GOD IN HEAVEN

Into American airspace. No wonder so many of them hate us at the same time they want to come here. We rock. Hey, people, it's Superbowl weekend, and I'm guzzling Coca Cola, pretzels, and Lee Greenwood albums.

Kansas City!

It's impossible to have a bad meal in Kansas City because of the beef. They put slabs of Kansas City beef in everything there. Vegetarians in Kansas City have petitioned to have beef considered a sort of thick, juicy cabbage-like product. If you think about it, if you stare at a steer for long enough and they stand really still it can look as though they're growing out of the ground. Don't try to fertilize one, though. I had a wonderful time at the Majestic Theatre there, and everyone was great. The radio and T.V. interviews were plentiful and fun, and I was amazed to find out that I was the final - I mean THE FINAL guest on the historic K.C. rock station KY. They've been on the air for decades, and ... well ... right after my interview - GONE. They were turning off desk lamps and taking down Duran Duran posters as I was talking. Sorry, KY. Now it's going to be one of those disembodied computer stations called "The Boulevard," run by HAL 9000 and Lumberg. (to get the previous reference you had to have seen the movies "2001: A Space Odyssey, AND "Office Space." Sorry.)

Dome and a half

At Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park, the bald guy with binoculars just wouldn't get out of my way. He is now immortalized, forever linked to the majesty of Yosemite Valley and the High Sierra. Congratulations, Morty (real name unknown).

Happy New Year

Thanks to everyone in Chicago for a great bunch of shows, including a New Year's Eve blanketed in snow, a "de-icing" of the plane before take-off, and a sunny 75 degrees upon landing. A great '08 to everyone, at the end of twelve beautiful days of Christmas. At an office a few days ago, a woman very kindly offered me some "Holiday" cookies. She stressed "Holiday" even more than "cookies." It's getting rather absurd.

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style,
in the air there's a feeling of a secular observance of well being!