When I went to the 'Shoe (the model for the Dogstar) last night for...reference sketches, yeah, that was it...there was a guy with a big mohawk in there.

I don't know how old he was. Old enough to be in a bar (I presume), but he didn't seem old enough to have seen much of the mohawk thing the first time around. I pondered this. Where is the new mohawk equivilent? I wondered. Is it true that young punks these days have no angry music to call their own? I heard my first Iraq war protest song a few weeks ago and it was by Willie Nelson. Willie Nelson! Sheesh!

Two Seattle radio stations (107.7 and 96.5) recently revamped their playlists in a similar fashion to target, as far as I can tell, me. I don't know why they would do this. I don't have any money. But their new "classic alternative" format of 80s and 90s alternapop hits, plus the occasional new band that people who like 80s and 90s alternapop will like, can be summed up as : Music Julie likes. And Jane's Addiction.

Late one night a DJ on Bellingham's formerly cool, now lame-oid "classic rock" station (92.9 KISM), mentioned that a song ("Maggie May" by Rod Stewart) was from (I think) 1971. Then he said "Whoops, I'm not supposed to tell you what year songs are from. It might make people feel old."

I can't tell you how old that made me feel. Old, and depressed.

Maybe the guy with the mohawk was older than he looked.

The sign for the Dogstar is based on the sign for the "Hollywood Downtowner" motel which is right near where my brother lives. Yes, in Hollywood.

The bar itself is an amalgam of the Horseshoe Cafe Ranch Room in Bellingham, and The Doghouse in Seattle -- both 24-hour restaurants with active bars that attract an intriguing mix of young hipsters and grizzled old guys who've been drinking there since 1953. The Doghouse is now The Hurricane, and it's still a 24-hour place, but it's missing that 50s vibe -- the "All Roads Lead to the Doghouse" cartoon on the wall, the singalong piano bar on weekends. The Shoe is still the Shoe. They have cleaned it recently, and now serve local beers on tap, but it's still Bellingham's diviest dive.

It is also the site of our annual wake for democracy/celebration of victory (the first one was in late 2000). These traditionally follow the "election returns drinking game." Take a drink when your favored candidate or initiative is ahead. Take a bigger drink when he/she/it is behind.

Nothing goes together quite like booze and politics.