With expectations set on low, we caught the Losers Lounge tribute to Elvis Costello this weekend, and the result was surprsingly good: a minimum of tired covers (a dreadful "Radio Sweetheart," an uninspired "(What's so funny 'bout) Peace, Love and Understanding") and a remarkable tally of sit-up-and-take-notice interpretations, particularly from EC records I previously didn't favor. David Driver's take on "All This Useless Beauty" was particularly exceptional, as was the rendition of "I Want You," sung by an Englishman with a doom-deep voice whose name I've forgotten. Also right on: Robin Goldwasser's version of "Riot Act." Tell me again why I don't have a copy of Get Happy!?

With almost no expectations at all I picked up Aleksandar Hemon's Nowhere Man. I haven't finished, so can't render any final verdict, but it's been awhile since I've come across such fluency with the art of sentences married to the ability to keep a story going. A nugget picked out at random: "The faucet was sternly counting out droplets." The story zig-zags, rushes ahead, slows down, pauses and tells a joke, abruptly says goodnight, and then calls the next morning right after breakfast; like life, like an interesting fellow met at a party to whom one takes a quick liking before really knowing or trusting. I'm looking forward to getting to know Hemon's work better.