I�m going through a big Beatles phase today, and yesterday. This happens whenever, well�today I watched Magical Mystery Tour on DVD, and realized just how awesome of a band they are. The songwriting just makes me not want to ever pick up my guitar and try again. I got a little depressed realizing that I�ve pretty much heard all you can hear by them. I wonder sometimes if it�s enough though. I have all of the albums, and two of those anthology thingys. Aside from some alternate versions, I don�t think there�s much. I don�t have any desire to hear live stuff really. Half of the Beatles was how the records were recorded, and arranged. This may be a big thing to announce right now, so I should not even do it�forget it�no wait, okay. As of December 26, 2000, the Beatles, not the Stones are now my favorite band of all time. I guess they will always alternate between the number one and two spots, with Black Sabbath always hovering at number three. Not to take anything away from Black Sabbath, but they don�t have as much material, and they were only real good for half of their life. Same can be said of the Stones, although I�ll say they have been good for most of their life. They put out a halfway decent live record a few years ago, and they are all still alive (save for Brian Jones, and Ian Stewart if you want to get technical). The Beatles just made a bunch of good records, and ended before they got bad. They didn�t come close, and I doubt they would have gotten as bad as say something like The Stones travesty �Harlem Shuffle�, or the whole Emotional Rescue record (excluding the title cut for a silly �ironic� listen now and again, and because Phish busted it out on November 21, 1997 in Hampton Virginia, and played it three more times ) . So yeah, the Beatles are now at number one again. The last time this happened was when Tara and I got back together in 1997; come to think about it, we broke up a week or so before Thanksgiving that year, maybe even on November 21st, the same night Phish broke out Emotional Rescue. Perhaps this was some sort of sign Phish was sending me, saying �hey remember the Stones man?� Also funny is the importance the Stones played in our relationship. So the weekend was good. Angela was here with me for Christmas Eve, and we had a very nice time. Even though I made her watch that disturbing film �Happiness� (how romantic). Tonight she came by again after family obligations were all met. Everything is well there, and that�s all I have to say about that.

Tomorrow night, the music is reborn. Yikes.

before & after