The Newfound Joy of a Native Ohioan

By 7:30 p.m. the scene at sweet new Gowanus spot the Bell House was intriguing but calamitous, an increasingly uncomfortably packed house oohing and aahing over CNN's holograms and fretting over those disquieting early Virginia results. The taco lines were prohibitively long. Though a cover band doing Weezer's "Blue Album" front to back sounded lovely (and poignant: It's certainly better than the "Red Album"!), suddenly I needed air and beer, and the Bell House could only provide the latter.

Which is how I ended up bar-hopping on Fifth Avenue, which is how I got to hear Ohio called for Obama twice: Bar Reis was turned to Fox News, which called my (now slightly more beloved) home state to a rousing chorus of drunken whoops just as my crew was fleeing one block down to Ginger's Bar, which had opted for CNN, which called Ohio for Obama 20 minutes later, triggering even drunker whoops. After 2004's debacle I think a double victory was only appropriate.

Those Hold Steady/Drive-By Truckers shows at Terminal 5 have officially gone from Most Dreaded Concerts in History to Most Eagerly Awaited Concerts in History. Now that no one needs to remind us to stay positive.