Friday night Ann and I went clubbing at Avalon. Okay, so we didn't go to gay night at 11, we caught the Vida Blue early show at 7. Despite what you may have heard from the naysayers, Vida Blue was excellent.

They aren't Phish, of course (but they did bring some of their equipment), but how can you not love seeing Page on stage? It was a special feeling, just like seeing Mike play with Trey at Great Woods this summer. Call me a sentimental idiot, but something about seeing anyone from Phish play music just makes me feel giddy.

Vida Blue really gives Page a chance to stretch out, and while some of his lyrics are a bit...unsophisticated...his keyboard playing is first-rate. Page truly has his own sound which sometimes got overshadowed in Phish - you really get a sense of what each of his 8 keyboards sound like. If you go to the show expecting Medeski you will be disappointed, but if you go in with an open mind you'll have a great time. Page's rhythm section (or is the whole band a rhythm section?) lay down a great base for his techno/funk/classic rock explorations, and Oteil sings a damn good "Manic Depression." Hearing Page sing through the voice changer on Zepplin's "No Quarter" was a dream come true.

Of course it didn't hurt that it Paul Languedoc and Chris Kuroda were along for the ride. As you can maybe see in the Kuroda Pic, Chris has a piano keyboard that he uses to control the lights. It was amazing to watch him work, because you can never get that close to him at a Phish concert. He even brought the high beams!

All in all it was a great night, and well worth the price of admission. If only they could have had a better beer selection!

Ann and I had a great weekend in NYC - we sat in the front row for two Sox-Yankees games (thanks to Ann's parents). Friday night we saw a rain-delayed game in which Pedro beat the dreaded (or in Ann's case beloved) Yanks. On Saturday we saw the Sox lose in the 11th inning thanks to the craptacular Doug Mirabelli's inability to get a hit with the bases loaded - twice. It was still an extremely exciting game, and Ann's mom sweet-talked the ball boy into giving us two game balls!

Sorry that we don't have any digital pictures of the games- we lent our camera to our friend Kate who was apartment hunting in Atlanta. Aren't we great?

This shouldn't surprise anyone, but now we have proof - Mac users are smarter!

Are Mac users smarter? - Tech News - CNET.com "With above-average household income and education levels, the Mac population presents a very attractive target for marketers, both online and offline," the research group said.

Here I am, joining the blog revolution so I don't get left behind by my friend Jake Morrill. Of course, I'm way to lazy to make my own template, so you'll have to suffer through this generic one from blogger.com.

Ann and I just moved on Tuesday to a new apartment in Arlington. We loved Jamaica Plain, (especially JP Licks!) but we couldn't afford to rent a two bedroom there. Now we live in a duplex with half a garage and half a basement! Those of you living in the Boston area know what a luxury this is. Probably the coolest thing about our new place is its proximity to two of Arlington's biggest attractions: the Minuteman Bikeway and Blue Ribbon Barbeque.

Anyway, our new address is:
Ann Sharfstein and Dan Mielcarz
40 Coleman Rd.
Arlington, MA 02476-6241

And our new phone number is: (781) 646-2838.
Our email addresses remain the same: Dan.Mielcarz@alum.dartmouth.org and Ann.Sharfstein@alum.dartmouth.org.