A few of my favorite things from the week that was:

Rodney King on "VH1's Celebrity Rehab" (Nov. 6, VH1). Out of the crap-shooter that is reality television, barely heard and spat out with almost no context, came this very salient quote for these very peaceful-turbulent times:

"I like the gays," said King, laughing to a couple of fellow rehabbers. "I'll always like the gays, because when [the L.A. police were acquitted of beating him in 1991], there was a gay-rights march and when they heard the [verdict], they flipped their signs around for me and were on my side: 'No Justice, No Peace.' "

John Strohm, "Waiting for the World." My week was sated with slabs of disco, blues, and jazz, all of which fit the new-world post-election scenario nicely. I also tried to come up with a possible theme song for the New Good Ol' Hard Times: The Faint's "The Geeks Were Right," Paul Westerberg's "Let The Bad Times Roll," Prince's "Let's Go Crazy," Leonard Cohen's "Democracy," and Diana Ross's "Love Hangover" (as heard on LOVE 105, which fit the post-election buzz sweetly). But this one, from the former member of the Blake Babies and Antenna (and writer of the timeless love song "For Now") is sublime for the times.

Bing Crosby, "Nice Work If You Can Get It" (Nov. 8, KBEM-FM). Heard this the other night while driving down the middle of jazzy Hennepin Avenue on my way to the jazzy 400 Bar, and damned if it didn't feel like I'd been transported to our parents' and grandparents' Minneapolis, when Murray's was king and fedoras were bling.

Bruce Springsteen, "The Promised Land" (Nov. 8, KQRS-FM). Heard this the other night while sitting in traffic on N. 1st Ave and enjoying the best people-watching this side of the American Graffiti strip on my way to swingin' First Avenue, and damned if it didn't feel like I'd been transported to the next generations' America.

Laurie Lindeen, "Petal Pusher paperback Release Party" (Nov. 8, 400 Bar). A couple days before the gig, Ms. Lindeen went on the air with her friends Lori and Julia, and the result was the sound of three wise-ass Minnesota girls tipping the peppermint schnapps on an ice-fishing bender. Then at the bar, with her friends Retrofit on stage and myriad others off, she rocked the 400 like Anne Sexton with a whip. Someone get this hot mama a drive-time radio shift, already.

Little Man and The Strange Lights  (Nov. 8, 7th St. Entry). Pretty sure the guys in Semisonic, Husker Du, and Arcwelder would agree that nothing beats a titanic power trio. These are two of the best new threesomes in town; Strange Lights suggest the Only Ones as run through the Amphetamine Reptile mill; Little Man is a groove merchant deluxe whose sonic mysticism is only now starting to bloom. Drill baby drill.

Molly Maher and Her Disbelievers (Nov. 5, Nye's Polonaise Room). The night after the election, the gobsmacked locals were ready to get out and check their own heartbeats and the collective pulse.  Roll call: Adam Levy, Janey Winterbauer, Martin Devaney, George Scott McKelvey, Emma and Eileen and Cieran from the Idle Hands, and a cast of dozens in the front bar singing standards and drinking martinis like it was the Roaring 2000s. The phenomenon of  election night orgies has been well-documented, but this night proved that it wasn't a one-night stand, that the sex is just starting to ramp up, that the nation is loosening its eight-year chastity belt even as it tightens its budgets, and, well, what we have looming before us is a new age of Aquarius.

Or maybe that's just me.

A.O. Scott on John Leonard (Nov. 7, New York Times). Scott and Leonard exemplify the writer's adage "write about what you love," never more so in this beautiful celebration of writing and cultural criticism. 

The Painter's Keys and Arts and Letters Daily. Been meaning to pass these along for a while now; two of my favorite sites to chew on.

Patches and Gretchen, poster gallery (Darin Black Photography). The latest from Minneapolis's Nico-Mapplethorpe-Miss Comfy Couch, who obviously lives by the whole "all the world is a stage/your canvas" thing. Someone get this woman a product-placement deal already.  

Election Day (Nov. 4, 2008). For the time capsule: My brother shot this video from Northrop Auditorium after the Dylan concert, and posted it on Facebook, which is only fitting: To be sure, if John F. Kennedy was the first television president, then history will have it that Barack Obama is the first Facebook president. In the weeks leading up to the election, the Facebook faithful were out in force – getting out the vote, comparing notes, sharing insecurities and then, when it happened, near silence. Probably because everything was instantly recontextualized. That is, you read something like this, and it has new meaning. You gaze at something like this and you realize, yet again, the history that we're living – and that we're about to live – through.  Amazing.

Quote of the week:
"Have you had it with the okey-doke?" – Barack Obama (St. Louis Park high-school gymnasium, June, 2006).