A chap I went to college with, James O'Brien - is an altern folk singer now and has an interesting web site, http:www.jamesobrien.cc where he keeps an entertaining "Dispatch". Here is a sample:
01.03.04 - Java Hut
Worcester MA 
I visit my first IKEA today, in Long Island. What a warehouse of bland. Everything looks like it'd break the first time you sneezed or made love or got drunk on/around/near it. I sleep for some of the ride to Worcester MA, then we stop and eat piles of TexMex at a place called Tortilla Sams. I get too full. The show is two sets, tonight. I feel nothing too special about the first, but I really feel good about the second. We drive home listening to Laura Ingrem (sp?) and I realize that she's too stupid to get mad about.