Fargo Rock City

As I mentioned before, I loved Chuck Klosterman's book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. I checked his list of previous titles and it turns out a few years ago he wrote a book completely about 80s hair bands called Fargo Rock City. The title is terrible, because the Fargo reference is basically meaningless, despite the fact that he grew up outside of there, while the "Rock City" part only makes people think of Kiss, who are hardly a focal point of the book. Klosterman agrees, as he writes that he would have preferred it be called Appetite for Deconstruction. And if you don't get the pun, then the book isn't for you. But if you agree that Poison were wildly underrated and that Appetite for Destruction is one of the greatest albums ever recorded, run to the store and pick it up. It's a series of anecodtes and essays told in semi-chroological order, starting when Chuck listened to his first Motely Crue album in '83. One of my favorite chapters entails him explaining a principle called "the jack factor," an analysis of an album's value based on how much money someone would have to pay him to willingly never listen to it again. Great stuff.

I checked out the premiere of Prison Break on Fox last night and it looks like it has potential. You have to immediately shrug off the laughable premise and just try to get into the show. I'm not sure how long this concept will have legs but the first two hours were pretty interesting and well done. They say that they already have story lines for subsequent seasons but I could see it wearing thin pretty quickly. One good year would be nice. Kind of like Murder One had in 1995-1996...

I'm almost done with that season of Murder One on DVD and I can say I was more than a little surprised that they reached a verdict in episode 21...of 23. Hmm. Anyway, the show is really good, better than about 98% of anything that's on TV now, and it's too bad it never got a real shot at success when it aired.

I'm really happy we don't live in New Orleans any more. Our old street is completely underwater, as is about 80% of the city from what I can tell. I hear that the Saints are considering temporarily relocating to San Antonio. Yes, I know, that's the least of what anyone should be worrying about but with the start of football looming I can't help thinking about it. Plus the San Antonio Saints is a pretty cool sounding name. I wonder how they would draw there--probably pretty well. And I guarantee the Alamo Dome is a nicer facility than the airplane hangar they are accustomed to playing in.