I chose Ted Leo over Hilary Duff last night, and while there's a twinge of regret inside me, I can't say I made the wrong choice. Hearing the new songs at the Black Cat was a lot better than hearing them in some suburban shopping mall canyon in Silver Spring, bouncing off the Potbelly Sandwich Company and being swallowed up by the gigantic Pier One. Radio 4 was a lot better than the last time I saw them, but still, I'm not sold. It just gets relentless after a while, all the New York punk-dance beats, becoming indistinguishable by the end. Enough with the timbales and bongos! Their next single, "Party Crashers," was pretty sweet though.

So Ted Leo was great. "Hearts of Oak" is one of the only songs that can get me to swing my sad, formless hips. That song is the straw that stirs my drink. I wasn't sure how good the band would sound now that it's a three piece, including Ted, but it seems to make the songs rawer, angrier, more agitated. And it actually sounded good; the mix was just right. So hats off to you, Black Cat sound guy. The only thing that could have made the show better is all the scenesters and dumbasses shutting the fuck up. But for them to do that, we'd have to turn back time and give them more attention as infants. And when I do invent my time machine, I've got more pressing matters to attend to (number one: not letting Fregosi allow Mitch Williams to pitch to Joe Carter in the '93 World Series).

Anyway, looking forward to the new Ted album in October. Should be good.