I’m not going to get much sleep for the next seven nights because Tunesmith will be visiting for a few days beginning next Wednesday! This will be his first visit since he left for the Sunshine State back in July. Therefore, blogging will be either scarce or incoherent towards the second half of next week. I’m looking forward to a few days of drunkenness and debauchery with the man, the myth, Tunesmith.

I want to make Tunesmith’s return special. I want it to be a city-wide celebration—an event—and I’m asking you, the vast T&A readership, to help make Tunesmith’s visit memorable. To help welcome Tunesmith back and to let him know how much we miss him, I am asking that you do any or all of the following beginning on Wednesday of next week to show your support and affection for our very own Tunesmith:

1. Drive with your headlights on during the day on Wednesday.

2. Since he will be coming in from the airport, line the inbound deck of the Fort Pitt Bridge with posters or paper mache creations welcoming Tunesmith back to town.

3. Call local radio stations and request that the Police’s “The Bed’s Too Big Without You” be dedicated to Tunesmith. If they won’t play that, something by Bruce Hornsby or Van Morrison would be nice.

4. Tie green ribbons on the parking meters that line Liberty Avenue in Bloomfield.

5. Email photos of your body parts with “Tunesmith” written on them and email them to me. I’ll place them in a lovely photo album for him to take home with him.

6. Make a donation to a local food bank in Tunesmith’s name.

7. Spread the word about his return and the above signs of support.

If any of you, the vast T&A readership think of any other ways to celebrate the return of Pittsburgh’s favorite son, leave them in the comments section below. Thank you.

While it's very easy to get caught up in the controversy stemming from the Great Pittsburgh Blog War of 2007 between John McIntire and Councilmen Jim Motznik and Bill Peduto, I want to make sure no one loses sight of something very important:

Councilwoman Darlene Harris has beautiful, wispy bangs.

Former county commissioner Mike Dawida announced today that he is going to run for the post of Pittsburgh City Controller.

I once saw Mike Dawida at a rather large event lean over a chafing dish chock full of Swedish meatballs and eat said Swedish meatballs directly out of said chafing dish with a toothpick. He was plucking them out of the chafing dish into his mouth with the urgency of a man going to the electric chair. I haven’t been able to get within ten feet of a Swedish meatball ever since, as the mere thought of those tiny meatballs smothered in savory gravy gives me Vietnam War-like flashbacks. I can barely walk into an IKEA.

I will not be voting for him.

I was first tipped off here, but WPXI’s new chief meteorologist Mike LaPoint sounds very much like Norm MacDonald.

Listen for yourself. It’s uncanny. I wonder if he does a Burt Reynolds impression.