This morning, for just about the first time in ten years, I got my hair cut by someone who's not my regular guy in Tokyo. He made me feel right at home by putting gunk in my hair despite my telling him that I didn't need any. He also had this idea that he was going to convince me to style it--there was this whole thing about using more gel on the sides than on the top and pushing it foward and down. I think there was a blow-dryer involved somewhere. Since he was recommended by a friend of mine down here (and had given me a good cut), I thought, but did not say, "Honey, I know we're Family, but you have to understand something: I use the best degreasing shampoo I can get my hands on. Then I towel my hair dry. Then, if anything looks out of place, I finger comb it, kind of. Once. Anything more complicated than that, including applications of goo, is not happening."

Speaking of high-maintenance hair, can you believe Dusty's been dead for almost a full decade? Shelby Lynne has an album out now of covers of her songs. (Songs Dusty sang, of course, since she wasn't known for her songwriting.) I'm trying to decide whether to buy it. I like Lynne's voice, and though I tend to run headlong in the opposite direction from anything peddled as "alt-something," I recognize that it's probably not her fault that she gets icky marketing. She also had the good taste to pick two of the best songs from Dusty in Memphis to cover, along with a third, without going for the obvious attention-getting gambit of making a beeline for "Son of a Preacher Man."

Oh, why not? I have one more long-ish commute to work tomorrow before Chinese New Year, and if it sucks, I can always recover my spirits by listening to the real thing.