Is it over yet?

Monty the crazy dog taking a nap with my totally exhausted daughter Julie and her boyfriend Matt. Yeah, I know, I shouldn't let the pets on the furniture. But you know, it would be cruel for me to make Matt and Julie sleep on the floor.

As for me, I could sleep straight through until January 15, 2006 and just might.

Nah, I have some shows to attend! Details below.

So yeah, we got through Christmas, and I'm still able to fit into my jeans but barely, which is kind of good, because it means that as long as I wear them and don't admit defeat and switch to a jogging suit with an elastic waist band, I will make it through the holiday fairly unscathed, which means I only have to lose ten pounds instead of the usual post-cookie/chocolate twenty.

The kids are in the room with me right now, watching Spinal Tap, and it's still funny as hell and hard to believe it's been over twenty years since it was released. Holy cow.

But that being so, I'm finding it difficult to concentrate and I want to watch it, too, so here's the music news sooner rather than later:

Julie and Eric, playing bass and drums respectively with Sweatheart at The Troc sometime between 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 31, 2005 as part of the Rock School All-Star end of holiday tour blow-out.

Eric performing with The Shannon Penn Band on January 3, 2006 at 8:30 p.m. at The Grape Street Pub and February 24, 2006 at World Cafe Live.

And um, here's something I know I'll be talking about over the next few days. I scored two tickets to see Neil Gaiman in New York City January 9. I am taking a vow right now not to do anything embarrassing, i.e., if there is a question and answer period I promise to sit on my hands and stay quiet and I also promise not to camp out at the venue at 5:00 a.m. so I get a front row seat, nor will I bring a huge backpack filled with all of his books in the hopes of maybe scoring his autograph with my very own vintage Waterman 52...

Nope, I will behave.

At least that's the theory...

And by the way, Monty is an equal opportunity napper. Eric was doing a serious snooze here -- he's got his sheets and blanket!