ALL WILLIAMS FINAL! Hot damn! The Williams have made the US Open their event and done something that hasn't occured since the very first US Open final over 100 years ago. Furthermore, they did so in a manner that shows exactly how lethal they would be if their tennis schedules matched those of the other players. (It's already impressive that they're ranked #4 and #10 yet play half as many tournaments as everyone else.) Venus really has Jennifer Capriati's number right now and Serena remembered where she hid Martina Hingis's. Now, it's a question of whose nerves are going to break first. Smart money saays Serena will psyche herself out, but I always like rooting for the younger sibling (since I am one, you know).

CD frenzy: Someone take away my credit cards. I went out at lunch to get some comic books and ended up with FOUR CDs. Oops.

The irresistable morsels I picked up were:

Björk - Vespertine I'd heard MP3s of this a while ago and wasn't particularly impressed one way or the other. What a difference track order makes! I'm only four songs into it but it's already fantastic. Brittle, sweeping songs that float across the imagination like breezes off the steppe. Amazingly, she uses a children's choir without being HIDEOUSLY ANNOYING. I am in awe.

Orbital - The Altogether I wasn't sure I was going to buy this after my ardor for the MP3s cooled. It was a nice enough album, but lacked the substance of some of their other efforts. Sensing this, someone in the marketing department decided to throw in a second CD of remixes and B-sides. I love this album again and I haven't even played it yet.

Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! I never owned this, despite "Jocko Homo" being my second-favorite Devo song (favorite is "Snowball"; how can you deny that one?). The combination of nostalgia, a creeping desire to pay homage to my roots (I was born in Akron, you know), and the album featuring in a prominent display as I got to the cash register made me grab it. Plus, it was cheap.

Skinny Puppy - Back And Forth Vol 5: Live In Dresden How on Earth could I let a CD with live versions of "Worlock", "TinOmen", "The Choke", "Deep Down Trauma Hounds", and "Inquisition" pass me by? This is special to me, particularly since I never got to see Skinny Puppy live (unlike my BASTARD FRIENDS, you know who you are, GRR). If it sucks, I may just cry.

Okay, I just got to "Aurora". This album is the soundtrack to my imagination. I'm obviously in a much happier place than I was when the soundtrack to my imagination was Confessions Of A Knife...

Time time time, see what's become of me: Okay, so this goes beyond neglect into to plain old ridiculousness. I turn my back to prepare for a world tour and suddenly my blog doesn't get updated for a month. THIS WILL NOT DO.

Anyway, I'm back from Europe. It was tons and tons of fun, with highlights being some stellar concerts in Germany and meeting some UK folks I've only previously known online for a mad karaoke evening (click here for the madcap results; Emma and Sarah remain to this day eternal heroes of mine).

What's happened while I've been gone? Aaliyah died (GRR.) in a manner that was unexpected and shocking. My wife and I have celebrated our second wedding anniversary. (She got a watch, I got a money clip. Aren't we fancy?) I've come to know some members of the Tanglewood festival Chorus much better than I ever thought possible. (I also managed to piss some people off, but there are no surprises there.) I finally got the Stanton Warriors mix CD, which is about 8 million times better than I thought it was going to be. I've order DSL and will soon have hyper-speedy connectivity at home along with a potentially new home for this site, which would allow a redesign that incorporated GIFs and MP3s of songs I've written. I still love my car. I may audition for another chamber group. Serena Williams beat Lindsey Davenport to get past the quartefinals in a Grand Slam event for the first time this year. Things are a whirl of possibilities and I coldn't be happier (or more nervous).

In other shocking news, the new P. Diddy single doesn't suck. Okay, he still can't rhyme his way out of a paper bag, but the beat is tight.