This Note's for You

First off, a happy birthday to my beautiful wife, Deb. She takes solace in the fact that she'll always be younger than me. Dammit. But seriously, folks, she rules and I hope she knows that.

Okay, enough with the sappy stuff. On with the blogination:

• It's May 18. The weather still feels like November most of the time, chilly and crappy and depressing. We finally got our first softball games of the year in last Sunday after having practices and games rained out the previous three weekends. And we still ended up freezing our butts off on Sunday.
• The latest radio format foisted on the world by nitwit programmers is called "Mike." Or "Jack." Essentially, it's radio's response to the popularity of the iPod Shuffle; the concept is "we play everything," just like your iPod. In Boston, disco station Star 93.7 was replaced by MIKE-FM, which according to its web site does the following: "Mike is everything you would download if you had time to download. Mike plays EVERYTHING...from Donna Summer to the Doobies, Abba to Aerosmith, Journey to Janet, Beatles to Bananarama." Sounds like they've combined the station' s past two formats, disco and classic rock. I'll stick with my iPod, thanks.
• The rock reunions roll on. Gang of Four just played Boston Monday night and I was thinking of going but ultimately decided not to. But judging from OJ's review, I definitely missed out. Looks like it's still a no-go for a Husker Du reunion, according to Grant Hart, who was a key cog in that classic trio but who apparently still doesn't get along with Bob Mould, who's readying a solo album. The two played a few songs together last fall at a benefit, getting everyone's hopes up, but it ends there. For now. But another classic band from the late '70s/early '80s that's touring this year is Devo. They've actually been playing together occasionally over the years, including a handful of shows last year, but they've announced more tour dates this summer, although none in Boston as of yet. Break out your flower pot hat and your yellow jumpsuit!
• Speaking of great bands, the MP3 of the week (the way I've been posting lately, maybe it should be the MP3 of Every Other Week. Sheesh!) is from a great Australian band, the Hoodoo Gurus. Formed in 1981, the Hoodoos combined elements of rock, pop and surf into an appealing sound that propelled albums like Mars Needs Guitars, Blow Your Cool, Magnum Cum Louder and Kinky. They had a number of minor radio hits stateside, including 1989's Come Anytime off Magnum Cum Louder. The band kept plugging away until 1998, when they split up, but reunited last year to record a new album, Mach Schau, and start touring again. I guess it's all about getting the band back together these days.