My duty now awaits me

It's off to Chi-town on Thursday for a concert I'm really excited about: Listen up, y'all. It's D-E-V-O!

I wrote about the Ohio mutants a couple of years ago. It was fun to read that entry and see that I wrote about a brief reunion and talk of a possible album. It was true! "Something For Everybody" came out a couple of months ago, and it's done quite well. It got very good reviews, it did pretty well on the charts, and although I don't have the numbers, I think it has sold well. I know that it has been my CD of the summer, and it's all I've played since it came out. (I tend to get stuck on a CD that way.)

I've loved Devo since Shane and I first saw them on "Saturday Night Live" in the late '70s. It was one of the most bizarre things we'd ever seen, and we were immediately captivated. Shane got to see them on July 4th in Milwaukee, and here is the set list:

• don't shoot (i'm a man)
• peek-a-boo
• what we do
• going under
• fresh
• that's good
• girl u want
• whip it
• planet earth
• satisfaction
• secret agent man
• uncontrollable urge
• mongoloid
• jocko homo
• smart patrol/mr. d.n.a.
• gates of steel
• devo corporate anthem
• freedom of choice
• beautiful world

Oh man. I'm going to be...well, I don't know. I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it. I just need to make sure I don't burn out early. You know how you get so excited about something and your adrenaline is pumping...and then you hit a wall and you're down for the count? No? Is that just me?

Anyway, it will be a celebration with my friend Doug. Not only is it his birthday, he'll be deploying to Cuba at the end of the month, so it's a chance to send him off in devoluted style! The venue is the Congress Theater in Chicago, and it's a place I haven't been before. It sounds pretty cool, an actual old theater dating from the mid-1920s. If you're in town, stop by and buy me a beer! I will return the favor. It's a fairly small place, and I'm hoping to get up by the stage. I've already confirmed that I can take pictures and video, so I hope to have both for you. I investigated nearby places to eat, and found a place called the Congress Pizzeria. The reviews say that it's got the atmosphere of a mob hangout. I am so there! Red naugahyde booths. I'm going to be in retro heaven.

This video is for Deb, who loves this song. I do, too! "She sings from somewhere you can't see, she sits in the top of the greenest tree, she sends out an aroma of undefined love, it drips on down in a mist from above...she's just the girl, just the girl, the girl u want!"