It's hip to be [a few steps ahead of] square.

I'm not hip. I'm usually a few steps behind all the hipsters when it comes to music, movies, art, books, technology... you name it, I'll be there approximately six months behind you. And when I arrive, all the hipsters will shun what I've excitedly discovered, and I'll be behind again.

For example. I stumbed upon Dave Eggers accidentally several years ago. I was going to Belize and needed some beach reading, so a coworker lent me AHWOSG. I read it over two days. I was hooked. I thought I found the next best thing. When I got back home, I learned about McSweeny's, and 826 Valencia, and speaking tours with They Might Be Giants and Sarah Vowell, and, and... And suddenly Dave Eggers isn't hip anymore. But still I buy his books, and enjoy his books for the most part, so who cares.

Such seems to be the case with Jonathan Safran Foer as well. His first novel was fascinating and intricate and complex and confusing and beautiful (although the film adaptation stunk). I'm mostly through his second novel and although it's less so than the first, it's a far better second novel than most can claim. And then I read this, and well... Dang. Late again.

So this Friday a little indie band called The Helio Sequence is playing in the city, and my hipster friend played them for me while I was in Seattle, and I was all set to go, and be one of the first*, but then something came up for Friday early evening and something else came up for Saturday morning, and, and... And I'm just too damn old for all that nonsense.

But YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST.

Their MySpace friends Menomena are also supposed to rock. Doot do, do do do.

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* It's not so much about being one of the first, as it is the thrill of seeing an awesome band in a teeny venue before they inevitably hit it big and tickets go from $10 to $35 and suddenly you're sitting on the lawn of the Shoreline breathing in secondhand smoke for 4 hours watching this awesome band on a screen from 500 feet away.

Wading through all the teeny venue crap is another thing I'm just too damn old for. I need it to be POINTED OUT TO ME. Or within walking distance.