Quadron in Atlanta

I've been shouting about Quadron for awhile now. In this age of throw-away, digital music, it's rare and exciting to find a whole album of songs that I -- if I can borrow a phrase from Sir Anthony Michael Hall -- just glom on to.

Quadron's debut definitely got in my brain like that, and continues to do so six months later. So, when I heard they were coming to play in Atlanta, it was deemed a babysitter-worthy excursion.

The night was memorable for several reasons:

1) It was nice to go on a date with my wife without worrying about booster seats.

2) I ate two squishy white things before realizing they were sauteed garlic cloves. (I'm sure the people who stood within smell-shot of me later that night will remember this as well.)

3) The fashionable, young Atlanta hipsters in attendance. It was like a casting call for Theo Huxtable's post-Gordon Gartrelle posse. Or maybe a scene out of She's Gotta Have It.

4) The black rock group Jimi Cravity opening the show with a cover of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida."

5) The front woman of the other opening act ego-tripping on stage, talking 'bout how she's "in a cocoon" phase right now in her "artistry" and what a great opportunity it was for us, the audience, to be there to witness it. Her on stage banter ruined what could have been something interesting.

6) Meeting Coco and Robin from Quadron and finding that in addition to being talented artists, they're good people who deserve to have their music purchased, not stolen.

7) Learning I can still stay up until 4:00 a.m., if I want to.

Here's a couple of videos from the night:

What happens if I wear this?

OK, I'll be brief. Ca-ching!

It's called "The Active Leisure Brief." I'm not sure that's even physically or metaphysically possible, but Puma claims it "allows you to move around freely all day long during your athletic activities."

That's a lot of pressure. My athletic activity rarely goes plural, let alone "all day long."

$28 at Zappos.

The kid was in rare form tonight

Three Sofia moments to remember from dinnertime tonight:

1) Dora the Explorer is on in the background and blabbering, "How many giraffes are there?" Sofia, sitting on the toilet but within earshot of the TV, yells back, "I'm in the bathroom, Dora!"

2) "I want to listen to Alicia-kira!"

3) "Do you think Prince likes purple?"

Father's Day stuff to remember

Sofia: (touching her ribs) These are my longs.
Me: Your longs?
Sofia: Yeah. They make you breathe.
Me: Who taught you that?
Sofia: Some kind of lady with a pink shirt on.

Today, we were walking home from the neighborhood pool and Sofia spotted a dead, dried up worm on the sidewalk. "Ah! That worm's broken," she said. "It's not moving."

Please believe me: Quadron is where it's at

Good gawd, y'all. When are you going to believe me about the Danish duo Quadron? Coco's voice is like hot butter drizzled on cinnamon Viagra! Yes, exclamation point!

She destroys all contenders.

I'm going to ask her to move in with me and my family.

Here they are performing live on KCRW. Watch it only if you want to fall in love.

Happy birthday, Prince

Don't tell any of his Jehovah's Witness friends, but Prince Rogers Nelson turns 52 glorious years old today. As always, I'll be celebrating in various nerdly ways. Right now that involves a quick listen to the "Gett Off" maxi-single (whatever the hell a maxi-single is), including the ridiculous "Flutestramental" version.

Despite some difficult artistic and business decisions as of late, this is actually a great time to be a Prince fan. After years of stomping on and suing anyone who posted anything on the internet featuring his work (his internet cops even asked YouTube to take down a video of my toddler daughter swaying to his music), he's either fallen asleep or seen the light because there's a treasure trove of unreleased concert videos and songs being posted and watched right now. It's crazy, amazing, genius stuff I never even knew existed.

If you have a minute or two, check out the Minnesota Dance Theater Benefit show from August 1983, where he and the Revolution debuted the songs that would become "Purple Rain." Prince even used some of the tracks recorded live that night as the foundation for the album. But besides its historical significance, the show is also just totally amazing to watch. This is Prince before he became all manicured. He's raw, sweaty and sleazy. Watch it while you can.