04.01.01 - 1:12 a.m.

Oh lordy. Being a rock fan can be downright exhausting. All my friends were punkasses and punked out of the Howie/Pat McGee concert tonight, except the boy, who has a 103 degree fever so he's a punkass with an excuse, so I went to the show completely alone by myself and it was SO MUCH FUN. Even though Howie only got to play 6 songs and I didn't want to leave my nice front spot to go talk with him after his set, the middle band (Monte Montgomery, from Texas so you should not mess with them) wasn't too awful as most middle bands are. And then...PAT. Oh, Fratty McGee. How I adore you. It was a lovely set chock full of old favorites - case in point, starting off with "Girl From Athens," then "Who Stole Her From Heaven" two songs later. And, AND, the encore was "Southern Cross" and "Fine" - Southern Cross! (insert metal rock n' roll hand gesture here)

But...I miss Al. It was just not the same without him. They changed the whole band configuration on the stage so maybe it wouldn't look like he was missing, but I knew he was. The new guy, who looks like some ugly aging greasy hippie they picked up off the street, is all about the electric guitar. And inserts power ballad flourishes into such tender classics as "Haven't Seen for A While." It's just too much. Paging Al Walsh, stat.

It was nice, though. I'm so glad I grew balls and went. And the drive home was creepy cool - Lake Shore was nearly deserted, so I had the whole drive to myself as a huge half moon hung over the darkened buildings and "Lover, You Should've Come Over" played.

Must take off ten pounds of black eyeshadow now. Like I said, being a rock fan is hard.

Hey, Edy's Whole Fruit bars come on really small popsicle sticks, did you know that?