Smile Politely. Speak Directly. A Champaign-Urbana Culture Blog

First Sniff

I never had the chance to tour in a bus when I was a musician. It’s the dream of most bands actually; your own cot, a living room in the back with video games and satellite television, a kitchen with a stove and running water. It’s a mobile home, in reality. And when your band can afford it, it’s a luxury that most are willing to dip into the band fund to purchase. After all, any one who has been in a van for tens of thousands of miles with the same stinky people understands that anything (and I mean anything) would be better than that.

You’ll forgive me if I seem more than a little wracked in the brain, please. After all, it’s officially March Madness, and if you are one of the 16–47 people who read the Big Ten Basketball Report each week, you know that I am:

     A. A die-hard Purdue fan
     B. Fairly spiteful of Illinois sports
     C. Obsessed by the NCAA Tournament

So, after screaming at a High-Def TV screen in a random sports bar last Friday while the good guys in Orange upset not one, not two, but three Big Ten teams (including Purdue) en route to almost winning a Big Ten Championship, I am more than a little parched.

So parched in fact, that I found myself craving nothing but cabbage soup, evidently.

First Sniff

I have recently tangled up with a new and freshly-minted obsession: weight loss. After years of making certain that my belt line increased annually with plenty of red meat, Jarling’s Custard Cup, and an excessive amount of mushroom sherry sauce from Original Pancake House, I have decided that this is the year to start reversing that trend. I am currently 5'7" and 200 pounds. That, according to most healthy weight-management sites, is about 40–60 pounds more than I should be, making me officially obese.

I am willing to accept this — for now.

But 2008 means more than marriage for me. It means a skinnier Sniffer.

I have to state it, for the record: I think WPGU (107.1 FM) is the best commercial radio station in Illinois. No sarcasm here. I promise.

The station's playlist engages me, every time I listen in. After all, WPGU's Music Director, Mat Brown, added “Living Through Another Cuba” by XTC this year, and for that, I am eternally impressed and grateful.

But that doesn't mean they are off the hook.

The WPGU/Buzz Local Music Awards are here again, and in my humble opinion, this charade is actually a bad thing for the music scene: the musicians, the venues, the promoters, the audience — everyone.

First sniff

Where do I begin? How about where I left off? Plenty is different from the last time I wrote, but then again, even more is probably the same. Though life is never defined by what simply refuses to morph or transform. No, my friends, life lives and dies by the idea of change and moreover the act of embracing it. I’d like to believe I am changed in more ways than one.

Seth Fein in 30 Years