Jonah’s Blog

To everyone who did not attend last night’s performance by the South Slope String Band: you really missed out on a great time. The band was on top of its game, and the groove was tight. To those who made it to Sunset Park for some St. Patrick’s Day bluegrass: sweet.

Bluegrass ruled last night at the Bar BQ bar, and I don’t think any of the people yelling and screaming were begging us to stop. In fact, one nut actually asked us to make it louder.

There was even a surprise appearance by my good friends, the Lonesome Trio, fresh off one of their periodic lapses. But their harmonies were smooth as the Scotch I spent most of the night drinking, and they were kind enough to invite me to sit in.

South Slope String Band members Jordan, Jake, and John ripped, rocked, and kicked ass, respectively.

I sincerely hope to see all of you there next time.

Now, I try not to get too political on this blog, and I realize that poking fun at George W. Bush is easier than hitting the ground with a rock, but I recently noticed a problem in the one idea of his that I actually liked.

Sunday we all pushed our clocks up an hour to advance daylight savings time by a couple weeks. It really is great. We have more daylight earlier in the season, and the weather in New York has been beautiful lately. So it’s really paid off.

But the idea wasn’t to pull us out of the winter doldrums and into sunny springtime earlier. It was to conserve energy, by giving us more wakeful daylight hours and reducing our dependence on the thermostat to heat our homes.

Here’s the rub: If we have longer days now, won’t the days be even longer than usual in June and July, thus requiring us to run our air conditioners more? I’m not a climate scientist - or any scientist, or at all good at math - but wouldn’t it make sense that lengthening the days now would also lengthen them later?

I mean, can this guy get anything right? The only positive thing to come out of this Bush administration, and it’s fucked up.

On a different topic, I’m looking forward to baseball season. As long as Alex Rodriguez is in pinstripes, I think I’ll have plenty to bitch about this summer.