In short succession last year I discovered for myself the Avett Brothers, and just after that I discovered Langhorne Slim. By discovered I mean I heard some of their songs. Since then I have been kind of at a loss to find another band that puts out music that fits into my wheelhouse. I liked finding AA Bondy, but it doesn't quite fit right. I liked finding Joshua James, but it just wasn't the same. Then this week I found Mumford & Sons, and I think I may have found it. These guys only have two EP's out, and they are unsigned, but when they get a record out, I am sure I will be in heaven. Give them a listen.

I have been a cynic for as long as I can remember. I have never been a head in the clouds optimist oblivious to people's often times evil nature. But even I have been dissapointed in society lately, even with my lowered standards. I remember listening to Malcolm Gladwell's "Tipping Point" a few months ago, listening to him talk about the drop in crime in the 1990's in New York City. His conclusion was that it wasn't the NYPD that caused the crime rate to plummet, it was the economy. I remember while listening to Gladwell's summary that if crime dropped drastically with an economy improvement, would the inverse not be true? And since that, news stories of bank robberies, purse snatchings and other crime have been all over the Portland Press Herald lately, in a city that is typically much calmer and safer. I guess it was only a matter of time that my faith in human kind reached bottom almost simultaneously with the S&P 500 index.

After a great hike this weekend back up Mt. Crawford, with amazing views of the Presidentials and out over the White Mountains and temps that didn't require gloves and hats, we returned to our car in the parking lot of Davis Path in Crawford Notch to find Tom's window smashed and Katie's purse stolen. It's not that I had my "innocence lost", or any such drivel by this malicious act. It's that the act is particularly jarring when you get back from a peaceful hike, not seeing people for hours, you emerge from the woods and get rudely torn back into the world of people. The world where it makes sense to prey on those who are seeking solitude by hiking and enjoying nature. To prey on such a group certainly makes sense from a thief's point of view I guess, they knew we would be away from the car for awhile, and on average I would imagine the average median income on someone who hikes for pleasure is probably above average. But all that aside, from my perspective it is particularly troubling that those who are seeking a little peace from the often maddening digital world cannot do so without worrying about being violated.

So I'm in a bad mood, and a piece of my liberal humanist worldview takes a hit. It makes me understand the "crime & punishment" Conservatives just a little bit more, and that bothers me alot. So Katie goes about replacing all of her cards, and driver's license and cell phone and so on, and I change the locks in our house, and the whole affair drives me to retreat a little more, to become a little more insular, to want to interact with humanity a little less. A succession of these events, I can understand more, could drive one to lock themselves inside their house, to watch procedural cop shows, and join the NRA. Above all I am dissapointed, I am saddened and pissed off.