There's something really great about sleeping in a sweat suit rather than jammies, and that great thing is getting up, putting on shoes and a coat, and going out to get my breakfast!

I mean, how fabulously weekend-y is that!

So, last night began the second weekend of my show, in a flurry of snow and rain and fears of not having an audience, but we actually had our biggest audience ever, and the show was pretty sharp for not having done it for five days.

Afterwards, I thought I'd check out the new Loews on 42nd St., but as it was completely devoid of anything even vaguely worth seeing, I headed across the street to the new HMV.

Now, HMV totally does not belong on 42nd St., it belongs in Piccadilly, (I've only just gotten used to Virgin being here!), but I was in desperate need of John Prine's In Spite Of Ourselves--I couldn't spend one more minute without hearing Iris DeMent singing, in her funny little voice:

He ain't been laid in a month of Sundays
Caught him once and he was sniffin' my undies
He ain't too sharp but he gets things done
Drinks his beer like it's oxygen
But he's my baby, I'm his honey
Never gonna let him go

And, of course, while I was there I also grabbed Beck's new Midnite Vultures, Ani DiFranco's To The Teeth, the Magnolia soundtrack, and Gene Pitney's 25 All-Time Greatest Hits. Which isn't bad for me, only five.

As soon as I got home, I put on the Prine album, and, as I was listening to it I realized that it wasn't a folk album, it was pure country, and I liked it! I've been tricked!

I mean, it's not current Nashville style, it's traditional country, hard country, aka good country, but I never expected to become a country fan at this point. But then I realized that I love Lucinda Williams' Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, and that's country as well as folk, and John Prine has always been country-ish, and I realized that what I really like are folk artists who are from the South!

The album is all duets, and it's great, but the best are the four songs that he does with Iris DeMent, whose other albums I must get immediately, and the two that he does with Melba Mongomery, whom I have never heard of, but whose voice pops like nothing I have ever heard.

The only thing I found on her at Amazon is Party Pickin' with George Jones. It says that it was released in 1994, but one look at the picture on the cover shows that that is clearly when the cd was pressed, not when the album was recorded.

But the best part is, of course, John Prine himself. He has such a friendly voice, I love to hear him. And, even though this is an album of covers (but for the title song), he is such a songwriting god. Anyone who could write a song like his classic "Sam Stone" with the refrain line "There's a hole in Daddy's arm where all the money goes" and have it be heartbreaking rather than hilarious has to be a fucking genius.

Melissa put out a call to her mailing list for book recommendations, and in this entry she mentions some of the suggestions she has gotten, which reminded me that I never sent her mine, and Lord knows, any time I can trumpet my opinion on something I take that opportunity. Weird sentence, but I can't be bothered to try to get it to be closer to actual English.

Anyway, I thought I'd share my book suggestions with the rest of you, partially because I found out a great surprise for you William Goldman fans out there!

" The Season is a great suggestion, I love that book. Any other Goldman book is good too, particularly the non-fictions, like Adventures in the Screen Trade, Hype and Glory or the new one...with a title that I can't remember. But it just came out.

I'm certain that I have recommended Time and Again by Jack Finney and Operating Instructions by Anne Lamott to you, because I recommend them to everybody. I just read the marvelous Feeding Frenzy by Stuart Stevens, I am madly in love with A Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank, London Holiday by Richard Peck and Watermelon by Marian Keyes.

And what do these books have in common? They were all recommended to me and I loved them all, so I'm passing along the favour.

Kymm

P.S. Hey, wait! In looking up the name of the Goldman book ( The Big Picture, by the way) there an Adventures of the Screen Trade sequel coming out in March! I can't wait!"