Hello, strangers

In addition to my job at Top 10 Media I've been working on a pretty neat feature for tomorrow's Globe North section, about Newburyport painter Alan Bull. I'll get links up in the morning; there's also going to be a narrated slide show on Boston.com if everything comes together. ... Today's must-read? Geoff's interview with XTC-er Andy Partridge, in which he has this to say about the Cars: "I always thought the Cars were frighteningly bland. I thought they were like the food that people serve in old people's retirement homes, the stuff where there's somebody behind the screen chewing up the food before they serve it."