This post is strictly 4 the gangstaz

Before reading any further, stop and ask yourself if your gangsta quotient is equal to or higher than that of this OG:

I don't really have any deep thoughts to share with all y'all today, so I think the best I can give you is a random jumble of things I'm digging on right:

• Friday Night Fish Fry at The Groveland Tap. One of my many weaknesses is for batter-fried sea critters - and the Tap does it just right. Ten bucks gets you a pint of Summit and endless baskets of cod. Just kill me now.
• Guided By Voices - "I am a Tree."
• Hockey. Goddamn am I loving hockey right now. I don't care if it's NHL, college, high school, men, women, or a couple of kids on a frozen pond. If it involves a puck and ice, I wanna see it.
• Husker Du - "Celebrated Summer." I saw Bob Mould play this one live on Wednesday and it was definitely one of the highlights of the show. The Husker Du albums New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig were pretty the soundtrack to my summer in 1988 - and ya know what, they both still sound pretty damn good today - which is better than I can say for Join the Army by Suicidal Tendencies. The funny thing is that Husker Du actually broke up over the '87-'88 winter, so I was in this weird position of becoming smitten with a band that had fallen apart just before I had a chance to see them. I ran into bassist Greg Norton that summer at the Wabasha Street Northern Lights (that's right folks, we actually used to have record store downtown). The conversation, to my eternal embarassment, went a little bit like this:
• Young Pirate: Hey, you're Greg Norton!
• Greg: yep.
• Young Pirate: You were in Husker Du!
• Greg: yep.
• Young Pirate: You guys broke up!
• Greg: yep.
• Young Pirate: That sucks!
• Greg: yep.
  

Sorry, Greg.

• Minnesota Kitsch. If you know me, you know I'm a huge Minnesota "statriot" (y'know, kinda being a patriot, but for a state). My recent voyage to an undisclosed location only confirmed my love for the land of sky blue waters. Lately, I've taken great satisfaction in seeing images like these:
  

• The city of Butte, Montana really doesn't have a whole lot going for it, but at least they picked an awesome name for their football team: