"When I was young
I watched the cars
When I was older
I drank in bars"

- The Pogues

may have inadvertently become pescatarian yesterday afternoon.

Y’see, yesterday mornin’ I done rolled outter bed ‘bout 9am er so an’ done took care of some things ‘round the apartment heresabouts, ‘cludin’ drinkin’ a pot of coffee as seems ter have become my habit over the past week er so.

Well, ‘bout 11:15 er so it were off ter a faraway beach town down ter the south ter meet a very attractive young lady fer coffee… which actually turned out ter be ice tea, but who’s countin’ right?  But anyhow, I done didn’t eat nuthin’ all day an’ I didn’t leave our visitin’ ‘til nigh on 4pm er so.

So, as I’m headin’ back up that there 405 ter the greater Los Angeles area I done makes a detour up the 110 ter the 101 ‘cuz I gets a hankerin’ ter eat at the Palms Thai restaurant in Hollywood.  Fer some, this place is known as the Thai Elvis due ter the existence of Kevin, the Thai Elvis Impersonator that done performs there on a regular basis.  But anyhows, this place an’ I done goes back nigh on a decade ever since that there Elianna (sometimes in the past known as Dulcie Younger) introduced me ter it,

Well, I figgered I could just tofu it at the Palms.  I mean, all that stuff is is rice noodles an’ veggies, so’s I done did some panaeng with fried tofu an’ some kee mao noodle with fried tofu, an some steamed rice.  An’ it were good.

Then last night I done started thinkin’ ‘bout the fact that I bet there wuz fish sauce in them there culinary delights.  Fish sauce is perty omnipresent in Thai cookin’, it occurred ter me, an’ I don’t often think ‘bout it cuz that there Palms don’t have the overwhelmin’ taste of it that other places have.  It’s one of the reasons I like it there.

But it were prolly there.  Doggone it.  A snafu.

In other thoughts, ‘bout 4pm er so, comin’ up the 110 ter do my dirty deed at the Palms, I done called The Omen ter find out if’n he really wanted ter try ter see The Pogues that night at that there Nokia Theater.  We had been sittin’ on the fence ‘bout it fer nigh on a week, ever since we saw the ad when we wuz at the Motorhead show last Friday.  It seemed the right thing ter do, but the ticket price wuz a lil steep.

But it were The Pogues, right?  So yeah, we done bit the bullet on that one, ‘cludin’ the 25 dollar parkin’ structure price they done rape ya for ‘cuz them ‘tarded Lakers fans at the Staples Center’ll pay anythin’ fer their basketball experience.

Them Pogues done lived up ter the expectation.  They wuz tight an’ sharp an’ done carried on fer more’n 2 hours, ‘cludin’ two encores, playin’ a lotter old material that it wuz welcome ter hear.  But I gotta say that it were a bit disconcertin’ at the same time.  That there Shane MacGowan done collapsed in a drunken stupor on stage three times, once finishin’ a tune prostrate, the mic clutched in his hand.

Now, it ain’t that it ain’t expected that MacGowan’d be drunk off his rocker an’ such things were bound ter happen, but the reaction of the crowd were right unprecedented.  Ever time that feller done went down, they cheered an’ rallied in appreciation.  Bein’ an alcoholic myself, I kin unnerstand the nervous, protective amusement contained within such alcohol related catastrophies, but this crowd were yeehawwin’ the situation as if that were what they’d paid their 50 bucks ter come see, rather than see one of the most amazin’ bands in contemporary music history give it their all.

Anyhows, enuff prosthelitizin’ on my part.  I done spent a Pogues show stone cold sober.  Somehow it feels as if I have engaged in a greater crime than is imaginable.

An’ I ate fish sauce.

I’s a failure.

I’m gonner fall off the wagon on Day Seven.  I see it comin’.  You’s folks oughtter come out ter the Bigfoot Lodge show this afternoon an’ watch it happen.  Hell, come out an’ buy me a drink.  That way I’s kin avoid takin’ responsibility fer it.  Wouldn’t wanner offend ya, now, would I?

Haw haw.

-Squeezebox Sam