It took me an entire summer to figure out what this city needs to make it livable. It really is quite simple. All we need is a jazz club and everything would be solved. There obviously are many problems with this solution, including the liquor license. Utah really isn't doing themselves a favor by limited the sale of alcohol so strictly. People who are going to drink will find a way anyway. Those who aren't drinking won't be harmed by easier liquor sales. The state it self would gain many benefits including increased revenue from sales tax.
All it would take is a jazz club.

Sunday I went to see a concert. This has several good connotations. The first being that I got the hell out of Cedar City. It has been a long time since I last left this town. The concert was in Las Vegas which is a sizable distance from here but still conceivable to drive. This was my first time in Vegas because being at the airport doesn't really count. The real reason I went to this concert was the headliner Reel Big Fish. The other headliner was Less Than Jake. I love RBF and always have. LTJ has not really been in my play lists and this concert confirmed why. Both bands have a great stage presence and both equally artistic, I just happen to like Big Fish's music better. There were two warm-ups and one was fantastic the other will not be mentioned. Street Light Manifesto took the stage second after the out of rhythm trash that had just asaulted my ears. Street Light was amazingly good. They had a bass and tenor sax along with a trumpet and trombone. They clearly had a following in the mob of people. They played very well and quite melodically I might add. Overall the concert was very enjoyable, I just wish that concerts didn't have to be so loud. It doesn't need to be turned down much, just below the threshold of pain would be nice. I understand the need for systems to be powerful to fully communicate the intricate sounds of the music but it gets lost in distortion when the ear receives the sound. I really would like to go to a concert and not have to ask people to repeat what they said four time for the next couple days.
Vegas it self is an amazing city. The architecture alone is phenomenal. In our wonderings, I suddenly found myself inside the Luxor. I could not believe that I was standing inside of a giant triangle. My tour was brief as we needed to wait in line to get a good place on the concert floor. After the concert, I got a fleeting glimpse of  the city lights as we left and was quite impressed. This city really is a Mecca of Americans.

This morning as I stepped out of my room and proceeded down the three flights of stairs, I came across a peculiar scene. Here about me lay the ruins of a Coke 12 pack. Now I am sure that there are many rational stories as to how this scattering of cans happened but I chose to rationalize it in a different way. My friends, I clearly had just stepped through a sort of war zone. These cans were hobo traps. They may serve as an unfortunate distraction as you line up your sniper scope for the kill or they them selves could have been self igniting napalm. I personally wasn't curious to find out and kept on moving. There is the question of why use coke as the bait. Normally a beer of the finest selection such as Rocket Fuel or Milwaukee’s Best would be first choice. However, the likelihood of our fellow hobo being Mormon would negate any effect of beer as bait.

You may find the idea of a hobo trap a bit irrational but it is a long known fact that our nation has been ravaged by a long standing war between two hobo factions. These factions clearly are the Hobo Ninja Legion and the Pirate Hobo Armada. The increased rate of graffiti and car vandalism in the city is a clear sign of a pirate presence. The history of the wars has long since been covered up or simply removed from our history text books. It is well known that when the Hobo Ninja Legion declared allies with the Union it was a major turning point in the civil war. Without these brave hobo's contributions American would be different from what we now know. The British pirates that sided with the confederates suffered a disgraceful defeat that has only deepened the bitter wounds between the factions.

Legion activities have influenced several other events in our history. The red scare was truly fueled by the hobo ninja legion. The legion created the event to turn the public eyes away from dangerously revealing investigations. This effectively concealed the activities that led up to the 22-foot crater in Los Angeles after an explosion at the O'Connor Electro-Plating Co.

I may have said too much already. They will be watching and listening. There isn't a city they haven't infiltrated and they have a communications network unlike any other known.