Pointless.

It is 1:50am, and I'm supposed to be writing a paper that is due tomorrow at 10am. But, I need to take a break, so here are some things about Germany that annoy the hell out of me.

-They LOVE the song "Summer of 69" by Bryan Adams. I've heard this in nearly every bar, club and party I've been too. There are far too many dance remixes of this song for the universe to still be held together. At least I now know how to get a party started next time all my guests are German.

-Mullets are more popular here than in the American south and Canadian hinter lands combined. But, they are a bit fancier here. They are often times dyed a color contrasting the rest of the head.

-There is no such thing as spicy food. Nowhere. It doesn't matter what the sign/ menu tells you, your food will not be spicy. It might be spicy by German standards, but spicy by German standards is like being talented by Bryan Adams standards.

-The music stores here suck. I've been looking for the new Ryan Adams ep, and all I can find are Bryan Adams albums. Why do they love him so much? I also cannot find the new Sigur Rós DVD, and the new double ep costs me about $30USD.

-Stores are all closed on Sunday.

-Stores are usually closed between 6-8 every other day of the week.

-The buses stop running before the bars close (all the better to get out of there before they play "Summer of 69" one more time).

-Shampoo smells like ass.

-Beer is super cheap. No, thats a good thing, forget this.

-You cannot buy a steak anywhere, but you can get all the breaded and fried pork your heart could desire. And don't forget to put lemon juice on it!!! Lemon??

-Did I mentioned they LOOOVVVVEEEE Bryan Adams. I swear if he knew how much he was loved here, he could totally be the new Führer.

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals: Kingston NY, May 16, 2007.

Have you ever been to a concert where the performer sat in the dark for the entire performance with a hood pulled tight over his head and sunglasses o? And I quite literally mean sat in the dark. Well I did Wednesday night. I saw Ryan Adams & The Cardinals in some shit hole of a town in the Hudson valley, and while the music was less than spectacular the venue and town were even worse. I understand it that when you are a musician and you have a new album coming out that you want to perform tracks from that album. What I don’t get is refusing to tell the crowd why you are not playing guitar (sprained wrist) or informing us which songs are new, and which aren’t. That last claim might seem odd, Ryan Adams is one of my favorite musicians, I have all of his albums, and I should recognize his songs. I didn’t. Because of his sprained wrist the band could only play songs that required one guitar, which mean they played acoustic. Ryan took his saddest, slowest and most maudlin songs, and then made them sadder, slower and more maudlin. After about fifty minutes I was on the verge of falling asleep. For the first time in my life I had my eyes closed and my head bobbing at a concert. Then he played “Down in a Hole” by Alice In Chains. And for some crazy reason that perked me up. I’m in the audience for one my all time favorite musicians, and bored to death when he plays a track by a band that I don’t even like that much and it turns out to be the highlight of the show. Then he left the stage, after less than an hour. He came back to play two songs from Cold Roses, which the band stretched out to last almost 20 minutes. I’m glad the show was as short as it was. I don’t think I could have taken more of his country music. I know he is an “alt-country” musician, but I prefer it more “alt” than “country” songs. The best thing about this show was that it wasn't a normal show. When I finally get around to seeing a normal Ryan Adams show I can look back at this one as something special.