I really, really hope Kweisi Mfume becomes Maryland's next senator, although I have to admit that I have absolutely no idea how well he'll do in an election. Does Garrett County like insanely diginified civil rights leaders with hard-to-pronounce names?

My brother went to the Run the Road record release party in New York after seeing the listing for it that day in the Village Voice. He said it felt like he'd been trapped in a block of ice for five years and then woke up and heard all the hip-hop he'd missed. I should probably be jealous, but I spent my weekend eating Mexican food and eating Indian food and watching the Rockets crush the Kings and watching Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and playing with my dog, so I'm good.

Apparently, I am now an important music critic. I just got my first rap promo that has been rendered unlistenable by a mechanized voice saying my name every thirty seconds. Or at least I think it's saying my name. "Blurr blurrblurr" could be "Tom Breihan", right? Like I would really bootleg the C-Rayz Walz album. Please.