I find myself doing stupid things for food.

Lately it’s been a habit of mine, when in a new city, to waste a good two hours or more in search of a late night meal. Maybe Omaha and Lincoln are just ridiculously predictable, but I’ve grown accustomed to the idea of finding places to eat at either 1) interstate exits or 2) major intersections.

A few weeks ago when I was in Minneapolis, I drove around for two hours searching in vain for absolutely any fast food restaurant. Maybe I just have the most insane bad luck, but the only thing I could find was a really scary Burger King in a neighborhood I really wished I hadn’t found at 11:30pm. I took all sorts of combinations of interstates, state highways, major streets – nothing. And I am not exaggerating. I just wanted a place to get food. I had some preferences, so in the event I found the type of clumping of restaurants I typically expect at interstate exits or major intersections, I could eliminate some options, but it wasn’t just a case of me being picky. I couldn’t find ANYTHING.

I eventually retreated back to the hotel to ask for specific directions. I need to back up for a minute – my 2 hour odyssey began when the desk clerk told me there were no fast food restaurants nearby (which was absolutely insane to me, because it was fairly near the airport). So I set out beyond the realm of “nearby” with no luck. Now I wanted specific directions to anything I could purchase through my car window. She gave me directions to a Taco Bell, which was going to end up being about 10 minutes away.

Last night, I needed to grab some dinner. My schedule was way off, because I didn’t eat lunch until after I was settled in my hotel room at 3:30 or so. I just went across the street to the McDonald’s. It just so happened to be the most disgusting McDonald’s ever, and not only could I not finish my double cheeseburger or my McChicken – I couldn’t finish my Diet Coke. It all tasted gross.

So it was 10pm and I wanted dinner. I was really craving Steak n Shake, because we don’t have them in Nebraska, and I remembered that Sara and I drove through there late at night last year when we were in town. It has been brought to my attention in the past 24 hours that Steak n Shake is not nearly as exclusive as I thought last night – but the important thing at the moment was that I wasn’t going to Florida and eating every meal at a place we have in Lincoln.

I asked at the front desk if there was any place nearby other than the McDonald’s and Wendy’s across the street. No. Not only “no,” but there was such a vast expanse between our hotel and the nearest restaurant that wasn’t the diner down the street that they flat out wouldn’t tell me anything. Even when I specifically asked for Steak n Shake, they would just echo, “You don’t want to go there, it’s just too far away. It’s just too far.”

I didn’t need them, I decided, so I did by best to follow my memory from 15 months before. I knew we were staying somewhere out near I-595, so I took that west. I recognized University, so I took that exit. I recognized Sunrise, so I drove around that area. I was wasting about 30-40 minutes at this point, so it became time to ask.

The clerk at the Shell station told me that it wouldn’t be open at this hour, so he wouldn’t tell me how to get there. The guy behind me in line knew it was open 24 hours, so he would give me directions. I followed his directions, and they were nuts. Wasted another hour or so. Returned to the Shell station.

“Yeah, his directions were way off,” the clerk tells me. “I knew you weren’t going to find it.” But Mr. Know-it-all Shell Clerk wouldn’t tell me the right way because he knew it was closed. Finally I got him to tell me how he would have told me to get there if it were open.

Eventually, at 12:45am, I pulled into the Steak n Shake drive through. It’s not quite fast fast food, so I didn’t leave until 1:00. I wasn’t sure if Flamingo went through to 595, so instead of taking the risk that I eventually learned would have paid off, I backtracked Sunrise to University, wasting more time, making my way back to 595.

To further outsmart myself, I knew that State Road 84 – the road on which my hotel stands – intersected I-95 north of I-595, so I decided to ignore all other signs and instead seek out the I-95N sign. Well, one of the signs I missed was the SR84 sign, and I discovered after getting on I-95 that you can get on 95 from 84 but not vice versa. Ten more minutes getting turned around.

Eventually I returned to my room, an hour after entering the Steak n Shake drive through, two hours and 45 minutes after leaving, to sit down and eat. It was still delicious. I was so frazzled and frustrated – I wanted to shove my food in the faces of the desk clerks when I returned, but I’d wasted enough time at that point.

Today, though, I was about to make a completely different stupid move in the name of a craving. I had a break before Mr 1776 was going to debut, so I headed down the Hollywood beach broadwalk (they actually call it a broadwalk – I’m not misspelling boardwalk) looking for something to eat. At this point, I had been killing time on the beach, doing some actual swimming in the ocean and just reading out in the sun. So I was really thirsty.

Enter the greek place. All these restaurants are your typical boardwalk setup – three walls, open front, patio seating. A gyro sounded good, but a gyro plate was $10. I was standing in the boundary between inside and outside reading the menu when one of the waitresses walked up to me and said “Eating here or to go?”

“I’m still checking out the menu,” I said, when she pointed out the special – buy a large pizza for $14, get a free pitcher of beer or pop.

I imagined having a whole pitcher of cold Diet Coke sitting in front of me. I imagined drinking the whole pitcher of cold Diet Coke. She took me to a table.

I read the fine print on the sign. $14 for a large cheese pizza. Toppings were extra. So I thought, okay, it’ll be $15 or $16 for a beef pizza, not so bad. But then I thought, am I going to be able to eat a whole large pizza by myself? I can eat a large Domino’s or Papa John’s pizza, but those are a lot smaller than these. It’s not like I’m going to put leftovers in the rental car for 5 hours while I’m following Mr 1776.

That’s when I realized that I was basically going to end up paying about $20 with tip for a pitcher of pop. That’s all I really wanted out of this deal – a $20 pitcher of pop.

So in my first wise move in the realm of food on this trip, I got up and walked out and went to a place down the broadwalk. I got a huge, delicious burger and a plate of fries for $6.25 and the jumbo Diet Coke – almost pitcher sized – for $1.88.

First off, Saturday is the wedding of Derek J. Lippincott.

Then I fly to Florida early Sunday morning to interview Mr. 1776, the superhero formerly known as Burgh Man, for my documentary. He’s making his debut on Hollywood Beach on the 4th of July, so it will be exciting to actually be able to capture a moment like that.

With the interviews and other work, hopefully I’ll be able to grab a minute to actually enjoy Ft. Lauderdale before I fly back Tuesday afternoon.

For some reason, this post reads like I’m just beginning to get a grasp on English.

Inspired by one of jxz’s recent posts, and because I can’t get to sleep, here are my Top 25 Most Played songs, according to iTunes:

1. “Only You” by Yaz
I love everything Vince Clarke, and while Erasure spends more time overall in my various music players, my cel phone rings “Situation” and “Only You” is apparently my most-listened-to song. I’m a little surprised, but not too much. It’s a beautiful song, unhindered by its very-80s synth sountrack.

2. “Space Age Love Song” by A Flock of Seagulls
Another very-80s song by a very-80s band, but a soaring tune that couldn’t be more literally named. It always reminds me of driving to Florida, ending up in Illinois on the east side of St. Louis at about 2am, hearing this song come on the radio.

3. “My My My (Cagedbaby Klubheads Radio Mix)” by Armand Van Helden
I discovered this song when scouring for new tunes for the Robot Dance Party, and my inability to resist a fantastic house-pop song held up. I’m a big fan of the 12″ version, but apparently my short attention span has led to this radio edit getting played more.

4. “Got to Wake Up” by Baxter
These guys were signed to Madonna’s Maverick label for their first album, but ended up getting dropped. Their second album, “About This,” was released on an indie label and a promo was serviced to KRNU. The promo had the album version of this song and a beautiful live acoustic version, which I haven’t been able to find anywhere else. The EP was added largely for the live acoustic version, but as a result of its inclusion in the library, this up-tempo euro-house number ended up getting played a lot more than anyone probably thought it should.

5. “Yawn, Yawn, Yawn” by Les Savy Fav
I heard this song for the first time when Nate Young and I were hosting the 90.3 KRNU Top 100 of 2004. It came in at some lowly 90-something position, but upon hearing it, I wished I would have voted for it about 8,000 times. Somehow a song in 7/4 time manages to be an amazingly catchy pop song without sounding pretentious and gimmicky like those lame A Perfect Circle experiments in time signatures. Like me, many KRNU listeners were late catching onto this song, and it remains one of the top requests a year after the “Inches” album was released.

6. “One Day At A Time” by Client
Client is a duo on Mute Records, and they fittingly owe a lot of their sound to Mute-mates Depeche Mode and Erasure. Martin Gore even provides guest vocals on their album “City” (the song is “Overdrive,” for the record). This song is probably the most overtly poppy, but it has an amazing hook.

7. “Call on Me (Radio Edit)” by Eric Prydz
See #3 when it comes to being unable to resist poppy house music. I should clarify, there’s a lot of it lately that’s just uninspired, but folks like Eric Prydz and Armand Van Helden are putting the magic into something that seems so simple on the surface.

8. “Castles in the Sky” by Ian van Dahl
Sara is entirely to blame for this one. She loves this song. It’s a little fast for me, but still pretty good.

9. “Daydreaming” by Massive Attack
This song won me over the first time I heard it. I just love how this song is like some 4 minute relay, with the vocals getting handed off seamlessly from one member to another (and to Tricky, who I think was still just officially a hanger-on at this point). Dark and lovely and funky, even quoting The Beatles (among many others).

10. “Nite and Day” by Al B. Sure
I’m a little embarrassed that I have this song on my computer – and that I’ve apparently listened to it so much. I came home one night from the bars with my gyro in hand, sitting down to watch Spike TV (the only channel I get). There was some infomercial on pushing some multi-disc soul / R&B / love music compilation, and I became convinced that these were the greatest hits of all time. I began downloading songs off this commercial as quickly as I could, and Al B. Sure was most assuredly one of my favorites. Other acquisitions that night included “Always” by Atlantic Starr and “Baby Come to Me” by James Ingram.

11. “Superstar 2004 (Nikko Superstar Extended House Mix)” by Boot Legg Vs Jamelia
I’m not really sure how this one got so high. Not that I don’t like it, but I just didn’t realize I played it that much. Jamelia’s “Superstar” is one of my favorite songs from the amazing Queer Eye for the Straight Guy soundtrack, and this song does get played a lot on You are So Beautiful, Beautiful Robot. I’m sure that second bit of trivia contributes to its ranking.

12. “You Think You Know Her” by Cause & Effect
I searched in vain for this song for years. Even back to when I first heard it in my youth, I mistakenly believed it was by the Information Society (and if you know this song, you’ve got to see how I could make that mistake). I actually accidentally became an Information Society fan because of this song – I was so convinced it was an InfoSoc song that I gobbled up everything I could find from them. I eventually discovered I was completely wrong, but hanks to the internet and a google search of the lyrics I remember, this song and I were finally reunited.

13. “The SuperStar Of War” by DannyMan
Jamelia actually places twice on this countdown. This is an amazing mashup mix by the DJ known as DannyMan including Jamelia’s “Superstar,” Edwin Starr’s “War” and some George W. Bush quotes. You can download it here. It’s seamless, poignant, catchy and highly recommended.

14. “Shake the Disease” by Depeche Mode
There’s not much to say about this one other than it’s just one of my favorite Depeche Mode songs. My favorites tend to be ones that have prominent vocals by both Dave Gahan and Martin Gore, so this fits the criteria.

15. “Chorus” by Erasure
While it’s hard to pick a favorite Erasure song (Chains of Love, Oh L’Amour, Blue Savannah, Always), this one is more often than not the one I go to first. Sara even has a car dance for it.

16. “Dirty Harry” by Gorillaz
This one kind of baffles me too. It’s okay, but definitely not one of my 25 favorite songs. It probably benefits from being the first new Gorillaz track I could get ahold of, so I listened to it more.

17. “Going Underground” by The Jam
I’m not sure if any song really pumps me up in the same way as this. I don’t mean that in the way that jocks listen to Offspring or Danzig to get pumped up before the big game or whatever, but this song just has so much ferocity and energy it almost makes me sweat just listening to it.

18. “Back To Basics” by Shapeshifters
“Back to Basics” and “Lola’s Theme” by Shapeshifters are absolutely two of my top 5 favorite songs to come out in the past year (along with “Second Story Man” by Heaven is a Hotel, “Yawn, Yawn, Yawn” by Les Savy Fav and “The Weekend” by Michael Gray). They’re thumping pop-house anthems, but they’re musically clever with intertwined melodies and samples that don’t try to cash in on their recognizeability, and the vocals are just belted out in a way that is perfect for driving singalongs.

19. “Losing Their Heads” by Turbotito
I was introduced to this song by the wonderful folks at music.for-robots.com while I was searching for robot music. It’s catchy, it’s simple, it’s funny, it’s beautiful and I love it. I really can’t express it any better. I play it all the time, and if you go here you can too.

20. “Be There (feat Ian Brown)” by U.N.K.L.E.
It’s the single version of “Unreal” from U.N.K.L.E.’s first album, made exponentially better with vocals by Ian Brown. One kind of weird thing I’ve always really liked about the vocals on this song is how pronounced Brown’s Mancunian accent is.

21. “You” by Axodry
Well, I didn’t realize that I played this song so much, but it’s pretty cool, so I don’t mind. I don’t even remember, though, if it’s actually an 80s song or just another modern artist trying to sound really 80s. If it’s the latter, it’s a dead-on tribute. Kind of a cross between Information Society and the Human League.

22. “New Resolution” by Azure Ray
I think Azure Ray makes pretty songs, but I couldn’t deny my joy when I first heard this song – I was excited that they had created something other than an acoustic sleep-inducer. The orgasmic vocal stylings work really well in this setting, whereas they can become a bit tiresome and gimmicky in the traditional Azure Ray context.

23. “Let Your Love Flow” by The Bellamy Brothers
One of the greatest songs of all time.

24. “Gorillas in Virginia” by Binuhman
I’m a little embarrassed by this one too, because this is one of my own songs. I wasn’t quite aware of my own level of self-devotion, but I guess it says something for the idea of making music to please yourself.

25. “You’re So Vain” by The Black Neon
This is absolutely a novelty, and should not really be viewed as anything but, but I just can’t get enough of a robot voice doing a bouncy electronic cover of this song. I really do like it more than the original, and that’s not just me being an ironic robot show host.

Honorable mentions that were actually tied for 26th place:
“Somebody” by Depeche Mode
“Something for the Weekend” by the Divine Comedy
“Attention” by Commander Tom
“Second Story Man” by Heaven is a Hotel
“Up Above the Sea” by John Vanderslice
“The Weekend” by Michael Gray
“Sing it Back” by Moloko
“Messages” and “Enola Gay” by OMD
“Love Zero” by The Prids
“Lola’s Theme” by Shapeshifters
and “Uncertain Smile” and “This is the Day” by The The

If you’re looking for something to do Sunday, the one and only Jeremy Buckley, aka The Guy Who Invented Lincoln Calling, put together a show of bands that come highly recommended.

Thunderbirds are Now!, a band out of Detroit, Michigan, will be playing at the 9th Street Basement with Lincoln bands Thunderstandable and Eagle*Seagull.

From their website, “Thunderbirds are Now! deliver catchy, smart, melodic, fast, direct and danceable rock with a nod to late ’70s and early ’80s post-punk. Keyboards are used not as a novelty, but as a necessity, functioning as an instrument that provides everything from atmosphere to a song’s main melody. Guitars are wiry and manic but still direct and not afraid of the occasional delayed part or barre chord. The bass rides an undercurrent, but also jumps out of the foray, delivering alternate melodies and power. Drums are never overcomplicated or flashy, but are instead used to generate a rhythmic pulse that carries throughout the song. Vocals dart in and out of the mix, sung with a sassy intensity. In other words, they f—ing rule.”

I’ve only heard their new album, which we have at KRNU, and it was pretty good (you can listen to a song from it here. But Jeremy’s taste can be trusted, so if you’re looking for a good show with low expense, check it out.

Attention ladies and gentlemen, please visit the You are So Beautiful, Beautiful Robot website at dancerobotdance.com!

Not only will you find episode playlists, it’s also going to be a bit of a music blog as I – and several other contributors – will be posting legal mp3 downloads of some of the music you can hear on the show.

Every once in a while, a song comes along that totally defines its era on KRNU. Based on a combination of what the DJs like, what the listeners request, and just the dumb luck of what comes up in the rotation and where the song falls in the tracklisting, a song ends up representing its 3 or 4 month space in time in KRNU history.

“Second Story Man” by Heaven is a Hotel is just such a song. Their 4-song EP was added to the KRNU rotation in early 2005. Thanks to a scarcity of DJs at that time, we had to rely on a lot more automation than usual. In the case of really new music, that means the new songs are going to get played more regularly, because DJs tend to stick with what’s familiar when they’re choosing the music they’re playing.

The good people in Heaven is a Hotel have made two tracks from the EP available on their site, heavenisahotel.com, but to speed up your love of this band, here is a link to the song that inspired this post:

Heaven is a Hotel – Second Story Man.mp3

“Tell Me What You Want” by Human Television is another song that represents the same KRNU period in my mind, and while I don’t have a link for an mp3, MTV.com has a video for the song here (which is sadly PC-only).

Just like most of my musical projects, this one is probably going to be too ambitious, but here we go…

I’ve been discouraged at how, for the past few years, I haven’t really been all that inspired to make music. But I was pretty confident that I still had it in me – I was just waiting for the right motivation.

Well I’ve always had a soft spot for cheesy house music. I don’t care how poppy and sugary it is, I love it. “You are So Beautiful, Beautiful Robot” is slowly getting taken over by my fascination. I actually bought a Ministry of Sound CD the other day.

A big trend as of late has been to take a sample from an 80s pop song and loop it with a thumping beat. It’s gotten out of hand to the point where it’s not even amusing anymore (I blame “Call On Me” by Eric Prydz), but it got me thinking – these poor folks, getting huge hits without a penny of publishing royalties.

Well I’ve been wanting to put my midi keyboard and Reason to use and start playing around with some cheesy house music of my own, so those two thoughts combined – I’m going to work on two separate albums: an album of just songs, whatever types of songs I want to make, unrestricted by genre, that will serve as source material to be sampled for an album of house music. I’ve also got Sara on board with her voice and piano skills, so there should be a good palette to work from.

If the source material is similar enough, I can always just call it a new kazookazoo or Binuhman album. If it’s too varied, I’ll just make it a soundtrack to a made up movie featuring a lineup of made up artists.

I’m not sure what name the cheesehouse will be under. I’ve been thinking about making it by Spacepants, the electronic component of European Bread Machine. I also thought about reviving Ruben Theiss, the technical wizard behind kazookazoo who operated under the name DJ Ruby.

But whatever it’s named, I think this is the inspiration I was looking for.

My youngest sister, Erica, graduated high school today, which seems absolutely unreal to me. I still clearly remember coming home from school the first day she was home from the hospital. I was in third grade, and she was in her first week of being alive.

When she was a baby, I got a kick out of watching G.I. Joe with her. She’d sit in her little baby seat and I’d lie on the floor beside her, watching her jump at the explosions. When I’d feed her with her bottle, I’d put my mouth on the other end like I was drinking it too, and she’d either giggle or get mad that I appeared to be stealing her milk.

She used to sit on the kitchen table on cool whip containers, and I don’t remember why. I just remember coming into the kitchen and she was sitting up there, just giggling to herself.

Even as I write this, I just keep thinking of more and more great moments from her childhood. But anyway, she graduated today, and my dad got to give her her diploma (and a hug), which drew some “awwwww”s. We convinced her that even though Monica and I were too stupid in our youth to want dad to give us our diplomas, it’s something that she’d wish later on she’d let happen. I know that dad wanted to do it, so I’m glad that finally the third kid was smart enough to let it happen.

Erica’s party was yesterday at my parents’ newly remodeled house, which was met with rave reviews. Since I can’t really cook or decorate a table, I was in charge of taking pictures. I took over 150, but a lot of them were of Miqaela and Melany, Monica and Nolan’s daughters. Those two stole the show, especially Melany.

While Miqaela spent a good part of the afternoon playing in the sandbox, Melany colored in coloring books, wandered around staring at strangers in the kitchen, and played with and fed graduation cake to the cats on the deck.

Maybe it’s a short attention span, but Melany is just super inquisitive and always roaming around looking at things. She can be a handful in that way sometimes, but it’s hard to really get upset when she’s just so innocently curious about everything. She also really loves Casey (the yellow lab) and all the farm kittens. She gets really excited when she gets to play with them.

Miqaela knows when she’s being upstaged, though, and the two of them spent the end of the party showing off in the rocking chair in the living room. Miqaela has known from an early age that everyone thinks it’s cute when she hugs Melany. Depending on her mood, Melany will usually either hug back, or grab a handful of Miqaela’s hair and investigate it.

Here are a few more pictures from Erica’s graduation weekend.

This picture is from after the ceremony, when everyone pours down from the stands to say greet the graduates. Here’s Erica with mom and dad, who’ve now seen all three of their babies graduate.

Here are Melany and Miqaela during Erica’s recpetion in one of their peaceful moments on the chair…apparently flashing their gang signs.

Cheeburger Cheeburger is this – believe it or not – burger restaurant that has 20 oz cheeseburgers. I first experienced it last year on spring break, when Matthew, Nate, Sara and I went to Ft. Lauderdale. Nate and I both finished the 20 oz. burger, while Matthew and Sara both had some 8-10 oz. little things.

If you finish a 20 oz burger, they take your picture with the big cheeseburger model and post one on their wall of fame. Here’s my picture, and notice the “I might be sick” expression on Nate’s face:

Then a few weeks ago, when Sara was moving into her new apartment, she took Tim and Eric (who helped her move) and I out to the Cheeburger Cheeburger in Omaha. All four of us had 20 oz cheeseburgers this time, so here’s our group shot:

The person in the background trying to hide from the camera is Sara’s sister Laura, who gave Tim, Eric and I a ride and then suffered through dinner with us.