Oh, Junior. Months since we'd been back to Earth, maybe three, maybe more. Or maybe it just seemed like that long away. But after a week visiting ma mere in Florida, it was time to play at Junior's house again.

We walked in around ten-thirty Sunday morn. A long patdown by a sweet papi -- thanks to my bag of minerals (such as ebony, garnet, amethyst, etc.) and his wanting to share his bag (containing animal fur and teeth, and thanks, but that's all I need to see).

The second floor was closed, as has been the case, apparently, when not a big weekend. And the floor was nicely crowded, and Junior was up in his Moorish, Moroccan-themed opium den with nitrogen blasts -- and actually, it was all very Wizard. Kinda.

Everyone on the floor seemed to be having fun. Ran into people who had been to Roxy, and who said that Chad Jack was good, or great, but that he ended early, or something, at least that's what I thought I heard. So then everyone came to Junior's house.

It was good to be back. And here's what I was noticing about being at Junior's house: the diversity of the crowd. And that's what I was remembering from his years at Arena/Palladium, and also at Twilo, and how sometimes it's easy to forget that Junior attracts such a disparate group of worshippers -- and that's a trip. I mean, I love going to the weeklong circuit events as much as everyone else on this list, but sometimes it's actually interesting to see people in outrageous, or courageous attire, and to realize again all the body types (that clothing sometimes hides) and to dance with women who dress to show off their assets and to see people of all ages, from 18 to 50-something.

As I said to my mother when she asked about our plans for Easter, I said, "Mom, these days, music is our only religion."

And so it was nice to celebrate Easter with Junior, and his fans. To see him dancing around his Wiz/Oz/Moroccan booth and to watch him air-violin, and to know that he was heading to Montreal in about three hours to play their Bal en Blanc.

There was this one long orgasm of music which he dragged out of all of us, by stopping and starting and whipping and snapping, and the nitrogen was blowing and blasting and people were screaming and he wasn't just going to let us have it all at once, not until he was certain we were absolutely ready.

And it was then that I thought about what people had said about Junior's playing at the Mayan in LA back in January, and it struck me then that I could understand why some people would be confused or bothered by the way he plays. It's the kind of thing that I think you have to experience with him in his own space with his own family -- as has been pointed out here before. Just that the truth of that remark struck me again. You know how it is that some things are funny with your family -- but not so with others. Or vice versa, with friends, but not your family. And so it seems to me, that Junior is so right when he's with us, those who love him, and maybe not so right when he's not so certain about what's coming up at him from the floor.

Oh, yeah, and the new sky deck at Earth/Exit was open yesterday -- and it didn't dawn on us until nearly two p.m. that the reason for the deck was the new non-smoking policy in this town. And it was lovely to catch the rays between songs and also, I must say, it was nice to leave Junior's house and not reek of stale smoke.

Always nice to come home again. Always good to celebrate Easter in a way which brings you joy. Bring on the spring...