HBO's Big Love is the family show for adults. A great irony of traditional "family" programs is that they omit the thing that makes families possible: sex. Naturally, any show about a polygamist would be hard-pressed to avoid it. And this has every kind: steamy sex, jealous sex, I'm-tired-but-I'll-take-Viagra sex. The main character even "cheats" by having furtive motel sex with one of his wives outside of the regular "schedule." This is an adult show not because of its candor about sex, but politics: using a"red-stater" to discuss "blue-state" issues: church-state separation, and consenting adults deciding what's an appropriate sexual relationship.

Stephen Berg. He's what the Japanese call a living treasure. And he lives right here in Fairmount. Twenty-two books of poetry by my count. Extraordinary body of work: poems of access, tenderness and vision. Read them all. But let me direct you to his new one, Rimbaud Versions & Inventions: ... Still Unilluminated I ... Versions? Actually, translations: cool, loose, invented. He's adept and done it before with Eskimo and Aztec poems. "Blindly composed experiment," he calls it. If these are blindly composed, then I write with my hands tied behind my back. You've been meaning to reread Rimbaud, right? This is better. This is fresh. I'm not recommending, I'm warning: You don't want to be unilluminated, do you?

Music is a big part of my life. Some of my influences derive from country music, and over the past few months I've really gotten into two-step dancing. If I don't have a show on Friday, I'll head over to Woody's Bar and meet up with the boys for some country two-step. A cowboy hat is not required, though the regulars sometimes wear them. The patter of steps is simple: quick quick, slow slow. The night is relaxed and mostly about the dancing. A substantial, alternative scene from the tired gay norm.

I love rockabilly and Sunday night at the Blue Comet in Glenside with the Razorbacks. Just thinking about going to see this band energizes me. One can't help but get a lift watching them perform their rockabilly arrangements. If you don't dance, at the very least you'll smile. Rockabilly style incorporates country, surf, swing, blues and of course rock 'n' roll; its fast pace keeps your head bobbing and toes tapping. Though the Razorbacks are not there every week, Sunday night at the Blue Comet is rockabilly night and of itself a great time every week. Great live music, friendly and quirky crowd, and actually a relatively early night for a Sunday, as the music starts around 6 and goes until about 10.

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