I got an interesting e-mail from a friend of mine this morning. He asked me if I thought the Dali Lama looked like Hunter S. Thompson.

Thoughts?

Cheers Elephant played last night and again I couldn't go. I'm waiting to hear comments and the such. If anyone has video or photo we can get that up too.

The rain's finally gone. Anyone else pleased?

I've been quiet here for a couple of days. I've been busy working on some stories. Recently I learned quite a bit about bamboo. It's apparently a very versatile plant or grass. You can build with it, make art out of it, grow it in your garden and even eat it if you want. Think Chinese takeout.

But I wanted to take a second to comment on the amount of feedback we're generating for Cheers Elephant here. I'm impressed and pleased by it. Supporting local music is a great thing. And with the way the music business is at the moment, it might loop back around from crap pop music to good rock that started out small. So, cheers to those trying.

A friend of mine was at the CMJ Showcases last week on business and it seems that bands other than Radiohead will be soon releasing music digitally only. I know it's been done before, but with a band as successful as Radiohead doing it ... How will this affect everyone is the question. It's been written and said over and over that it will greatly benefit the consumer -- great for us. Who cares about the major labels anyway?

My buddy managed to grab me a bunch of compilation albums and stickers. The stickers were great -- on a lot of them were Web site addresses with download codes. Musicians releasing music and relying on their live shows. I love it. I just wish I could find the time to catch more.

A few months ago, I did my top 5 driving albums at the moment. One of them was The Sky Drops, a great band from Wilmington Del., that I caught at the Fire a couple of months ago.

They've recently released a video on youtube, and it's actually for my favorite song on their EP "Clouds of People." Be sure to end your year right check them out at the Khyber -- 2nd & Chestnut St., Old City, Philadelphia on Sunday December 16.

Here's to happy listening and watching.

I did a story on Chester County Libraries trying different programs to get kids to come into libraries a couple of weeks ago. I didn't really think much of it. It was a fun and easy story to write and the pictures were good.

But last week I started thinking, hmm, when was the last time you stepped foot in a library. I know in college I was supposed to, but I didn't venture much beyond the computer lab. I may have gone into the stacks a handful of times in four years but not writing a lot of research papers, it never really came up.

What makes it even odder in my mind is that I went to college in and live in Philadelphia -- home to the country's first public library. And it's 4 blocks from my apartment. How convenient -- all those books so close.

So I went to the library on Sunday. I strolled down around 1 p.m. and there was a line. It doesn't open until 1 p.m. I was surprised but waited. I thought I would just ask for a card, but it's not quite that easy. I'm not really a Philadelphia resident -- I'm subletting at the moment. But it turns out you only need a utility bill. There it was -- access to all those books.

The first thing I checked out: Will Self's "How the Dead Live." If you have any suggestions, let me know.

I love how Radiohead recently released their new album as basically a free download. For a band that is as innovative as they are, and outspoken towards record companies, it was an easy, and great way to get music. The whole process took me about 4 minutes, from typing in www.radiohead.com to dragging the songs into iTunes. And, like the rest of music consumers, and people in the music business, I wonder what this will do to the business. Record label? Who needs one? Distribute yourself through the Internet. Radio play? Who needs radio when there are podcasts? A couple of years ago, it's how the Arctic Monkey's found success. They were selling out shows all over England without a label. Maybe it's a good time to be a musician, and technologically savvy.

But back to Radiohead. One of the reasons I've always loved them was, on top of being great musicians and song writers (I started looking at the guitar differently thanks to Johnny Greenwood), was that they were always changing. But I've finally listened to In Rainbows a bunch of times now. And for a band that's so innovative, I can hear their old guitar lines, tricks, I can even hear the likeness of DJ Shadow beats (with whom Thom Yorke collaborated before) like this was a melting pot of things passed trying to be worked into new, and I feel a bit disappointed. I understand why it happens. I see it in my writing both for the paper and with songs. But what I always loved about Radiohead was that it was always different. Even with Kid A and Amnesiac when it was a completely different path. But at the same time, it's completely different than anything else out there. And I like that.

On Saturday night I was supposed to go see Cheers Elephant. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it. I work Saturday's for the paper and there was a murder south of Oxford. I didn't wrap that up until late and well, news happens. I'm keeping an eye on their myspace page with show dates. To anyone else that made it, hope it was good.


Moving on, to the tomatoes. I turned 25 six months ago and someone told me that I'd notice that I would start to eat more foods, be less picky. I thought they were full of something ...

Turns out that person was right. I noticed that I began enjoying more foods. I always liked to cook, but there were foods I would avoid -- mainly tomatoes. But on Monday evening I was grilling in my backyard with my neighbors who happened to bring over a salad. I wanted to be polite, even though it was my house, and eat what they brought. To my surprise, I actually liked the little red fruits.

So, Cheers Elephant & Tomatoes.

Yesterday I really wanted tacos. But, again, where is the taco truck? No one knows -- or at least no one is telling me.

Today, I wanted buffalo shrimp and set out to find them. It really wasn't that hard. A quick google search brought up most of the places in West Chester that I would have guessed had them anyway.

So, a coworker, we'll call her Leslie, and I decided to try a new place just up the street from where we work -- The Bistro. It's just off of Bradford Ave. It was worth the trip. And I managed to fulfill one of my food cravings.

On another note, my coworker that we're calling Leslie found a way to insert images with the names of our blogs. I went with a map of the Philadelphia region. If anyone has ideas or photos they think are better -- send 'em in.