Good Morning geniuses, philosopher kings and queens, working class heroes, progressive utopians with no sense of humor, lurking conservatives….

So, it’s finally here – the day we’ve all been waiting for since, well, I guess since December 16, 2005 (has it only been 10 weeks or so – it feels like forever). Tonight (or tomorrow, depending on what part of the world you’re in) is the beginning of the new Maron Era. In honor of this occasion, I’d like offer my recipe for Marinara sauce. Unfortunately, I don’t have one (maybe Gypsy can help us out), so instead, I’ll offer what I do have, and that’s my private, bootleg recording of the last live Morning Sedition from O’Neal’s on Thursday, November 3rd, 2005. Hopefully, it’ll help you pass the next 20 or so hours until Marc hits the airwaves once again.

Yes, listen to the clatter of the crowd, the clack of the coffee cups, and the congested coughs of the couples with colds. Listen to Brendan “PW” McDonald incite us to raucous applause after every commercial break. Hear Marc and Mark banter between segments, even if you can’t always understand what the hell they’re saying. Hear my wife say, “Didn’t you get me one?” Hear me say, “Sorry.” Hear her say something I couldn’t understand. Hear me say, “Yeah” (this’ll give you a pretty good idea of how things sound here at home most of the time). Anyhow, this isn’t a professional recording by any means, and there’s lots of noise. As it says in my Woodstock Album liner notes (now there’s a thing of the past), think of this “as being like the cracks in fine leather.”

Now, I don’t know what’ll happen to Morning Seditionists from here on out. Many people have e-mailed me privately to ask, so let me just say that this place will be around for as long as anybody wants to come here and hang out. I hope y’all keep coming, because, frankly, I’d really miss it. It’s been fun to be a part of this little family, with its moms and dads, crazy uncles, and goofy kid brothers (hah, you can all figure out who you are), not to mention you lurkers from around the world who stop by every day.

So, if you want to keep on coming back, cool; we’ll be here. And if everybody migrates over to whatever AAR gets going (last I looked, it wasn’t actually working yet, but maybe they have it together by now), and this place fades away in the coming months, I’m really glad that this was at least a bridge to help us get from Morning Sedition to wherever Marc, Jim, and the gang are taking us next. It’s been fun.

Hey, is somebody choppin’ onions?