I have been procrastinating on… well, everything, really. I could start a list, which would prove dull to you and depressing to me, so I’ll take a different tack.

It felt like summer today for the first time all year. To celebrate, and prolong my procrastination in other areas, I started a mix CD of seasonal songs that starts with The Swimming Song by Loudon Wainwright III.

It’s truly more of a beginning-of-autumn song, a wistful look back on the swimming he did over the summer. Picture a kid riding in the back of a family sedan, gazing out the window as the car drives away from the beach, back to town and the real world and the start of school. In a sense, I could congratulate myself on getting an early start to my Labor Day Weekend Mix ’07. Do you see how this simple mental game allows me to recast my failures as successes? Take note, beautiful friends, and follow my lead.

I ran into Loudon Wainwright III a few days ago, almost literally. He was coming around a corner I approached from the opposite direction. He is not someone I know, but I recognized him. It was a magical encounter, which I will now recount for you in the form of a play, which you may feel free to act out using finger puppets or civil servants as cast members:

Loudon and Me: A Love for All Time

Two figures approach a corner from opposite directions. Loudon Wainwright III, a man, is wearing sunglasses, a floppy hat and casual clothes. Violet, a lithe and sinuous brunette of startling intensity overlaid with elegance and hottness, is dressed in a white bikini and gold Pucci platforms, carrying a caipirinha and a hardbound copy of Ashley’s Book of Knots.

The two figures nearly collide at the corner.

Violet: (smiling) Hello!

Loudon Wainwright III: (smiling back) Hello.

Each continues on his way.

End Scene

Give it a couple of tries, see how it plays. I will tell you that, having been there, this re-creation reads VERY real. The dialogue is dead-on.

I don’t want to give too much away, but a couple of producers have expressed interest in it, so I’m exploring my options.

Or, I will explore them, at some point.

No sense rushing things.

Star of the day. . .Alan Lomax