Chapter One: 11:56 p.m.

Eyes mark the shape of the city. Through the eyes of a high-flying night bird, we take in the scene from midair. In our broad sweep, the city looks like a single gigantic creature—or more like a single collective entity created by many intertwining organisms. Countless arteries stretch to the ends of its elusive body, circulating a continuous supply of fresh blood cells, sending out new data and collecting the old, sending out new consumables and collecting the old, sending out new contradictions and collecting the old. To the rhythm of its pulsing, all parts of the body flicker and flare up and squirm. Midnight is approaching, and while the peak of activity has passed, the basal metabolism that maintains life continues undiminished, producing the basso continuo of the city’s moan, a monotonous sound that neither rises nor falls but is pregnant with foreboding."

The above is excerpted from the new Murakami novel due out May 8th. More of the excerpt is here at the Random House site. It is shaping up to be a promising spring with the new Wilco due out May 15th and they will be appearing on David Letterman that evening. I am pretty sure Jeff Tweedy planned this to all coincide, at my request of course, with the celebration of S's birthday.

You can pre-order album with DVD extra and other goodies here. There is a free download of the new song "What Light" from their website. What else? Oh yeah, they are playing in Davenport at the Adler Theatre on June 13th. Tickets on sale now. I might even have two extra tickets if another couple is out of town that week and can't make the show.