Holy Moses, I've been obsessing over this Silver Jews song "Smith & Jones" for the past few days. It's one of those songs that you hear a million times but then on that one million and oneth (or is that onthe?) time you finally listen to it.

Give this Dylan-esque masterpiece from the late but never forgotten David Berman a deep listen. It’s like so much of his work: tonally simple and catchy as hell on the surface, but it gets increasingly steep, beautiful and haunting the more you circle in.

One thing I can't yet resolve about this melodic riddle is whether or not it's about the prison of personality. In the classic sci-fi TV show "Lost In Space" Dr. Jeremiah Smith was portrayed by the actor Henry Jones. And I'm certain, if you spoke to Henry Jones after his run as the diabolical and dented Dr. Smith, at some point your conversation would turn to him belly-aching about how he's going to be locked into that character for the rest of his career.

"Yeah, sure, it made my career," he'd say in that impish way only Henry Jones could summon. He'd probably take a long melodramatic pull on his cigarette at this point, staring off into that Space where he appears to still be Lost. "But the same thing that made my career ended it immediately as well."

I can't listen to this song without wondering what personalities that I've inhabited have kept me in a prison longer than my sentence demanded. Smith & Jones, forever. Indeed. Bon appetite.

But my exceptional taste in music is not why we're here. I'm here to tell you that TONIGHT at America's #1 hot spot for non-sequitur pickle ball we've got a lovely human being that calls herself Emerald Acorn doing walk-up ZOMBIE TAROT readings. Here's what she says about this new spread style:

"I will share with you that I am terrified of zombies! That slow pursuit of hungry, emotionless humans freaks me out. But we can learn and grow by dissecting our discomforts. The 5-card zombie spread asks the hard and poignant question:How you survive what you fear?"

For MURDER BINGO tonight we'll be showing the summer camp classic "The Burning"! Here's the synopsis:

At summer camp, some teenagers pull a prank on the camp's caretaker, Cropsy (Lou David). But the joke goes terribly wrong, and the teens leave Cropsy for dead after setting him on fire. But no one keeps Cropsy down. A few years later, the burned and disfigured caretaker returns to camp equipped with his trusty shears, ready to unleash his particular brand of vengeance on a whole new group of teens. The murderous Cropsy stalks the campers in the woods, one by one.

I mean, sure, it sounds a leeeetle bit like another film that dropped about a year previous, but I'm sure that's just a coincidence. But, honestly, I dig The Burning more than that other unmentioned movie. Plus, this one also features the special effects wizardry of Tom Savini who designed, deployed and, uh, executed that iconic scene with the hedge clippers and... oh, you'll just have to come see it.

MURDER BINGO starts at 9pm and is always strictly 21+

We packaged a fresh batch of Watermelon Gun yesterday. I love this beer and this batch is particularly splendid. We never use anything but hand-processed and fresh, real watermelons for Watermelon Gun. We do this, well, because real watermelon is just transcendental. There is no replacement for that cold, crunchy deliciousness of the watermelon rind in this world, so there is no way to achieve that other than putting real watermelon in the beer. This year's batch has a lovely balance of the fruit sweetness with the green cucumber yumminess of the rind as well. I hope you dig it. It's available at the Lodge in 4-packs and will go on draft this weekend. J is dropping these at accounts as I write this.

Oh, hey, all you Phishy people out there. We're streaming the tour again this Friday at 6:30p and then again on Sunday August 11th. On Sunday we'll start with Saturday night's show at 4pm and then do the Sunday night show live when it starts.

I might make some burgers or something on Sunday so come by early and let's make a day of it!

If you're one of those strange people that likes to wake up early on a Saturday so you can run and then drink beer, then we've got you this Saturday, August 10th. Come by the shop and run a 5k and receive a pint of IBW beer on the house and a chance to win some other raffle prizes. You can still sign up for this by following this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/5k-beer-run-x-illuminated-brew-works-2024-illinois-brewery-running-series-tickets-760660374657?aff=oddtdtcreator

And, of course, this Saturday night we've got another installment of WAX DISASTERS our no-genre, all vinyl dance party:

And, hey, if you're going to the Great Taste of the Midwest (which you 100% should be) then come by and say hi to J and Rick out there.

"IBW: We're here for you as long as you have cash."

You can see all of our events on our event calendar at https://www.ibw-chicago.com/events

You can see what's currently on tap at IBW LODGE #1 at https://www.ibw-chicago.com/whats-on-tap