**Note: I failed to finish writing Monday’s intended blog entry so I am publishing it Thursday. Funny funny!!

Alas, Pride weekend is over. I did manage to catch the last 45 minutes of the Pride parade downtown along 4th Avenue. Afterwards, I started venturing into Seattle Center, along with what seemed to be everyone in the Seattle GLBT community. I ended up changing course and headed over to a more comfortable location, Easy Street Records in Queen Anne.

My original intent was to see if they had the new issue of The Wire, which featured Throbbing Gristle on the cover. They did! Yippee! Of course, I grabbed a copy instantly and ventured through the cd racks. Here’s a brief summary of my shopping experience:

* First stop: New Releases. Lord, Ellen Allien’s new Fabric mix was there. I decided against getting it this time since I have the download.

* Then, I went through the Rock section to see if they had Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation deluxe edition. They didn’t have it. I thought it was officially out so they must be out of stock.

* The Electronica section couldn’t be avoided. Normally, that’s where I get into the most trouble. Yesterday was no exception. First, it was the new Michael Mayer mix, Speicher 3, on sale. Of course, I had to get it. Next, Anthony Rother. Fuck yeah, the new We Are Punks compilation. Let’s add that one. Finally, I also discovered the new Black Strobe for 9.99. Fuck! Let’s add that one, too.

* Finally, I looked over at the used bins. The experimental section was the first on my radar. When I arrived, I nearly shit my pants when I saw a used copy of All Men Are Pigs, a collaboration between Fe-Mail and noise guru Lasse Marhaug, both mainstays in the Norweigan experimental music scene. It’s out of print, so that was a no-brainer.

After some more looking around, I figured that everything added to around the $40 range so I thought I better check out. The $40 guestimate turned into a more accurate $63 and some change. Puzzled for a minute, I mentally added up the prices. Yes, fortunately for my musical taste buds and unfortunately for my wallet, $63 is the final total. Yikes!

After my shopping excursion, I headed back through Seattle Center to take a look around the post-parade Pride festivities. Despite some cloudiness and random sprinkles here and there, the sun peaked out sporadically throughout the afternoon. Crowds of people were cooling themselves down in front of the water fountain, while the headache-inducing blasts of crappy Hi-NRG dance music blared by the “mainstage,” if you will. After a very short while, my head and ears couldn’t take anymore of the Taylor Dayne (or “insert your favorite, yet annoying pop diva here“) dance remixes, so I left.

Then, I went home and washed two loads of laundry. Ah, there’s nothing like the extremely non-glamorous life that I pathetically lead. I can’t wait until next weekend. At least, next week is the 4th of July, which will provide mid-week relief.