We went over to Jim's Steaks, as that's supposed to be the premier cheesesteak establishment in town. The line was out the door, despite the rain, so we decided to go elsewhere. But in line I ran into Hank and Mary, who were in town because Mary was playing with a band opening for the Melvins down the street! No shit!

I would have really liked to have seen that show, but the tickets were $18 and we had too much other stuff to do. We hit Ishkabbible's for cheesesteaks, which were huge but damn good. While we were there, King Buzzo from the Melvins showed up to get one himself. Kate asked him if he was registered to vote and he said, "Ummmm, I think so."

Then it was off to Girard College for an art opening featuring a lot of weird inflatable art. The college, a school for orphans and children of single parents, was an immense structure with columns all over the place, with an atmosphere that seemed a little too highbrow for the likes of us. I said I felt like a hobo who had wandered in off the street.

The sun came out just long enough to taunt us

One of the guys from Bardo Pond opened the musical portion of the night with a large array of effects pedals running into a sitar, which he eventually traded for a guitar. Then Sammy's band, Hirple, performed their Sun-Ra styled space jazz.

Matt had a bunch of weird sound-producing devices to complement his Moog

Bob the Bassist, is formerly from The Strapping Fieldhands

Bob's son John was actually a pretty tasteful percussionist

After the show, we piled into the car and headed to a bar on the South side. On our way we past the Philadelphia Marriott. Gen's uncle was up for a Mid-Atlantic Emmy for a documentary he had produced, and the ceremony was being held at the Marriott. So after trying to break up a couple of lesbians fighting in front of a strip club(!), we went to the hotel to try to track him down.

Talk about feeling like a bum who walked in off the street! We couldn't find him, but we checked with somebody and found out he didn't win, so we took off.

Sanghee (sp?) is giving Mr Bones a run for his money

Sunday we had big plans for strolling around since the weather had become quite pleasant. But an elaborate breakfast and the waning hour meant we'd have to leave.

Around 3pm we hit the road and reluctantly headed home.

But not before stopping at one of the discount liquor stores on the edge of town and stocking up on more Powers. I should have bought a case.

Word to the wise: when returning to New York on a Sunday afternoon, don't take the Holland Tunnel. Fully half of our travel time was spent crawling in traffic to get to the tunnel. Thank god I didn't have to drive, I probably would have driven the car off the overpass.

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