So this rant was supposed to be the main topic of the last blog. But I forgot. But it's never too late to rant, so here goes. Please fasten your seat belt:

I went to Target the other day and noticed a handsomely bound new paperpack edition of one of my favorite books, John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" (sometimes it IS my favorite book, but right now it's edged out by "The Grapes of Wrath."). I go up to take a closer look when I notice that the copy that caught my eye was missing a little beauty-queen sash that the rest of the copies had. I glance at the sash, and to my utter and complete horror, the sash proclaimed that "East of Eden" was "The Book That Brought Back Oprah's Book Club." After popping several neurons and turning all shades of purple, then green, then sort of yellowy-gray, then back to purple but this time with a dash of magenta, I came out of my horror coma and continued my shopping in a total rage.

But my rage, once I got home and had some beers and time to think, got all tangled up and confused because I realized I wasn't sure to whom -- or what -- it should be directed. Oprah is the knee-jerk choice, and I still maintain that she is worthy of my hate. I hate her book club for its narrow selection and payola implications, I hate Dr. Phil because he's Dr. Phil, and I hate her self-righteous "I'm a lifestyle guru" bullshit that tries to make us forget the fact that she serves up slurpy puff and not so long ago was no different than Jerry Springer, who at least has the grace to recognize what he does for what it is and doesn't try to glorify it. So Oprah got the first wave of my rage, mostly on book club grounds. But then I realized that it's not entirely Oprah's fault that her book club, old and new, has become what it has become. It's not her fault that the sheep who follow her can't think on their own and therefore buy only the books she tells them to buy. Her book club selections totally control what books become best-sellers, a list one would hope would be based on merit, not Oprah's grace, but that's the buyers' fault, not really Oprah's. Oprah's book club promotes reading (albeit in only one medium -- books -- and in seemingly only a few archetypes -- woman overcoming adversity, historical fiction featuring strong woman breaking stereotype, repressed woman finding metaphorical freedom, to name a few), and that can't be a bad thing, so maybe my rage is in part misdirected. These sheep would never have read "East of Eden" without her express written permission. But something in me screams this is not a good thing, not something Steinbeck would have dug. So I squirm as the Oprah logo stares at me from the new cover of my favorite book. Can't really offer a solution here, just ranting aimlessly. Dammit, I just don't like it.

One more show to report: Rhett Miller and Nickel Creek, this time for free at the Kennedy Center. Unfortunately, the chatty Cathys turned out in full force again, at times making it so I literally could not hear Rhett Miller at all. They shut up for Nickel Creek, though. So it goes at a free show, though I still wonder why you'd make the effort to come to a music show when you can just as easily talk about stupid stuff at home or, say, in one of the city's fine gathering places, such as bars, restaurants, parks, etc. Good show, though. Nickel Creek mandolinist's Chris Thile, my boyfriend, as everyone knows, had some serious bad hair. Kinda like a deliberate attempt at permanent hat hair, some retro '80s trucker kind of thing. NOT good. Rhett Miller's hair, on the other hand, remains beautiful and amazingly resilient. Big up to Rhett Miller.

I seem to be obsessed with musicians' hair lately. Hmmm.

July 4th was good times. Very mellow celebration. My day went like this: Wake up, eat, sit around reading the paper, shower, eat, take a nap, eat (and drink) some more, watch fireworks from top of apartment building, eat, go to bed. Jodi and my former across the street neighbor from waaaaaay back, Jennifer, came over and shared in the eating and the fireworks watching. Geoffrey and I considered going to the National Mall to see the big concert and the fireworks, but we were too lazy, and it's just too much an ordeal, from what everyone tells us. Metro gets seriously scary, and driving isn't an option. And it's hot. And there are too many families in matching Old Navy American flag T-shirts. So we had a very nice lazy day at home.

LISTENING TO: Jayhawks, still, yes. Learning a bunch of their stuff on guitar, which is making me practice every day, which is making me improve a lot. Very exciting.