Brett and Jimbo were already at the Mexican-restaurant-I-don’t-like when Joe and I arrived unexpectedly and made them share their table with us.

Joe told us about his fun-fun trip to Minneapolis, where his band opened for Dinosaur Jr. in a club that had them all out of there by ten.

Yes, you heard me right. The Reaction schlepped their asses all the way to another state to play a gig that started at 5:45 PM. The other opener and the headliner were done by ten.

I raised an eyebrow at Joe over chips and salsa and said, “Dude, that totally qualifies as a Hell Gig. No one’s even out at five forty five!”

But I guess it all worked out in the end, though, because that guy from Sebadoh gave Joe a hug after The Reaction’s set, and what could be better than getting hugged by a musician you dig?

Seriously.

After lunch, in the parking lot of La Hacienda, I said, “Wanna hear my favorite Brit pop song of the week?” and queued up Hard To Beat. As Joe was getting out of the jeep in the 1-Stop parking lot, he said, “You know this song totally sucks.”

“Oh yeah, I know!” I said cheerfully.

“Oh well. You’ll get over it,” he said.

Snob. He knows he loves cheesy pop as much as the rest of us.