Earth running out of viable dirt & new review(s)

Apparently climate change (or climate chaos, as I prefer to call it), has other facets than those people most frequently talk about. This podcast from Scientific American suggests that "intensive farming" strips necessary carbon from soil, letting it loose into the atmosphere.

The commentator lists a few strategies to control this problem, including eating less meat.

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Recently reviewed by me in e!:

• Madder Mortem - Eight Ways

For some odd reason, exclaim! never posted my Paganfest review. Look for it here soon (if it's not too irrelevantly out of date).

GREEN DAY: Last week I went to see Green Day. I wouldn't have gone on my own, but my niece is a major fan so it became kind of a family & friends outing. The "forced will call" ticket thing seemed a bit ominous at first, but the long line reaching into the bowels of Copps Coliseum moved quickly, and the quality of our seats (thanks to me) was a more than adequate pay-off for the wait.

Openers The Bravery were poppy and catchy, rather amusing actually, and I was surprised to recognize some of their songs from the radio. (I didn't realized I listened to that much alt rock radio...) The niece found them a little repetitive but the youngest member of our crew enjoyed their set immensely.

Of course, the night was all about Green Day. Copps looked pretty empty until just before Green Day hit the stage but then the place just swarmed with responsive fans. GD started full on and stayed full on for about two and a half hours. I was exhausted watching Billie Joe Armstrong jump and run around, with his voice somehow surviving nearly flawless for the entire show.

The three core members of the band provided a visual and sonic focal point, but additional musicians sang back-up, and played guitar, keys, sax, accordion... Several fans, most of them small boys, got a chance to jump on stage as well - performing, interacting with the band and the crowd. And it all ended with a 'calm us down' cadence - a solo/acoustic guitar performance of "Time of Your Life" (or whatever the title is). I wasn't sure if that one would be too cheesy to play, but it brought the night to a close without completely reducing things to Friends-ish nostal-cheez (I was surprised).

Our whole party felt we'd got our money's worth (yup, I paid for this one) and emerged with a greater appreciation for the band. When I first heard that annoying song off Dookie back in '94 ("Longview," maybe?) I had no idea Green Day would become a rock phenomenon or that I would see it in action.