Literature & Music; Assorted Notes

After showing up for my first day at Wired yesterday only to find that my boss was in San Francisco (I probably should have remembered that), I wandered around Midtown for a while and finally settled down in Borders to get some work done. Predictably, I got only a few pages into my architecture reading before I realized that a copy of Ann Patchett's latest book -- The Magician's Assistant -- was sitting on the table beside me. Though not as glued-to-your-seat-riveting as her earlier Bel Canto, the premise is equally unusual and just as finely executed.

Later in the evening, I met up with some friends and made my first pilgrimage to Jersey on the PATH train for a Decemberists concert in Jersey City. Tragically, I only realized at 8 p.m. that I had forgotten to put a CF card in my camera that morning (the picture to the right is actually from their October 2005 concert in New York City), but my idiocy aside the concert was brilliant. I haven't found a posted set list/mp3 list yet of the performance, but Meloy & co. started with 'Oceanside,' went through almost all of their latest album The Crane Wife, and ended the night with two of my favorite songs -- 'Eli, the Barrow Boy' and 'Sons & Daughters' as their encores. (I did find, however, that someone put up their October 2006 concert at the 9:30 Club in DC ... the set list isn't quite the same, but you get the idea.)

Also, Ani Difranco is coming to Prospect Park this summer. After managing to miss every single one of her shows for the past three years, I will be at that concert.