The Old Lady and I took a brief vacation over the weekend to the charming tourist trap town of Seaside, Oregon. A relaxing six hour drive, a walk on a windy beach, a room at a bed & breakfast run by a man in a neck brace, a fancy dinner at the kind of joint where all the food is piled up in the center of the plate, but for me the highlight was a candy store called The Buzz, where we bought half a pound of gummi fangs (pictured), a handful of Zotz, some European chocolate bars made with sugar and not high fructose corn syrup, a plus-sized candy necklace to commemorate a certain young lady's birthday, and a chocolate-covered Twinkie (which was, surprisingly, underwhelming -- they may have used a non-Hostess brand knock-off). There were also bubble gum cigarettes, bacon-flavored jelly beans and huge tubs of cotton candy, but I kept it cool. Seaside is like a small-scale Wisconsin Dells with an ocean shore instead of waterparks ... there are bumper cars, a carousel, an Olde Tyme Photo Shoppe and all the restaurants have infantile names (Yummys, Doogers, Pudgys, Pig & Pancake). We'll be returning as soon as possible.

The End Times snared another show, returning again to The Back Room @ Piecora's thanks to Jill C., this time playing with Llama (featuring Rusty Willoughby, who some may remember from grunge-era Seattle band Flop). It's Easter Eve, April 11th, so if you don't already have big big plans for the Resurrection, come watch us while you eat, like a TV.