Their drummer had left to pursue his career. The guitarist, meanwhile, was sacked ...

Look up the world 'cool' in the dictionary and you will see this picture.

Ladies and gentlemen, here's another blog exclusive! You see, Death Cab For Cutie have sacked their guitarist and drummer and replaced them with The Truth and yours truly following the interview, which followed Murfuoso's story last week. We have the facts and we're voting yes. I also have the picture, which I will put in the photo album. Nice use of the lingo.

But don't worry, Death Cab (right) are far from dead and Chris Walla and Jason McGerr are still in the band, hopefully for many years (and albums) to come. Even though we named our non-existent band - The Hacks - the other day, Murfuoso told me he can't play an instrument and my 15 years playing guitar belies the fact that I'm really nothing more than a three-chord wonder. Despite my job as a journalist, my songwriting ability is more John Elliott than Elliott Smith.

Seriously though it's exactly one week on, I'm still buzzing. This is cool.

Where to start? Well, the truth would be good ...

Another extended weekend of JB is almost in the books and this one would rate pretty highly in the history of all-time good weekends. Sounds a bit far-fetched? So, what happened? Well, below is the (edited) transcript.

Thursday: After work, I catch up with the now not-so anonymous Starbate for a couple of drinks at Cookie. It turns out she's from Adelaide and we have some mutual friends. Knowing that she's been known to check out the blog on a few occasions, I'll just say that apart from her avid support of the Port Adelaide Football Club, she's a great person, having a great taste in beer (we each had a Cooper's Pale Ale) and music. On that topic, we picked up one of her friends from the airport after Cookie and then went to the Northcote Social Club to see Angie Hart, formerly of Frente, and D. Rogers. Yes, D. Rogers of The Life And Times Of JB "The song of the moment" fame! Even though we arrived a tad late, he played said song of the moment "Pulling Up Stumps" (which has since been replaced) and his own rendition of Jay-Z's "99 Problems". I love it when singer/songwriters go gangsta. Think of when Ben Folds met Dr Dre in Portland last year. We meet D.Rogers afterwards and it turns out he's a Geelong lad who follows the Cats and is playing in Sleepy Hollow next month. Can it get any better? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it can. Read on.

Friday: Nutritionists probably don't recommend it, but I started the day with a mixed kebab on Turkish bread as I made my way via tram to meet The Truth for The Interview. We converged on an inner-city hotel to meet two members of one of my favourite bands of all-time, Death Cab For Cutie. I'm not going to tell the story again about how I got into them, you can just read about it here. So we spoke with lead singer/guitarist Ben Gibbard and bassist Nick Harmer for almost 45 minutes about a variety of things, including blogging, for an interview to go on the esteemed broadsheet's website this week. Still on a massive high, I killed the time between 3pm and 7pm, drinking coffee, reading and buying four CDs for $15 from Missing Link. Turned out that Death Cab's guitarist, Chris, produced two of them (Travis Morrison's "Travistan" and "The PEEFs" by The Revolutionary Hydra). I informed him of this at an inner-city bar after an awesome concert (even though we missed the first six songs) and after The Truth and I went backstage. Backstage! There, we chatted with Chris as he drank tequila from a paper cup, not to be confused with "Champagne From A Paper Cup", one of the band's early songs. I asked him what it's like living in Portland, what he's listening to at the moment and when his solo album is coming out, all the time trying very hard not to blur the line between fan and stalker.

Saturday: It might have been that Seattle's finest were in town, because Melbourne's weather was similar to that of the Pacific Northwest as I made my way back to Geelong, getting on the train with two minutes to spare. I enjoyed a quiet day in, watching various football codes (Manly won) whilst partaking in pumpkin soup and other homemade treats. I can't recharge a drained wallet but I do my best to rest up.

Sunday: Geelong disconnect the Power of Port Adelaide at Kardinia Park. Just as well Starbate and company didn't make their way down the highway. Poppa Blog comes through again with the tomato soup and the Cats scratch and claw their way to a hard-earned victory in front of 19,149 interested onlookers. I think I see The Captain and Mrs Watson in the crowd, but I can't be sure and I don't want to embarrass myself. Later, I catch up with Cousin Davis for pizza at Armando's and then we watch a DVD. Cousin Slugg calls home from London and as always, he's excited.

Now: I'm here at home in my pyjamas, getting ready to go to the gym. It's 1.23pm. Where are you? More importantly, are you still reading?

Ray Warren asked you, nicely, to shut the gate ...

Apparently it was Milton Berle who said: "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." Well, young Milton didn't play rugby league, did he? Put simply, I'd like to tell Milton to build a bridge and get over it because had he built a door, it's quite likely that a second rower like Big Willie Mason would have barged straight through. These two guys, however, wouldn't hurt a fly.The pinnacle of this rough and rugged sport, known as State Of Origin, was decided in an unlikely place last night at Melbourne's largest phone booth, Telstra Dome. We suffered nosebleeds.

For more than a quarter of a century, Origin has pitted Australia's two northern states - New South Wales and Queensland - on a football field and literally let them kick the absolute bejesus out of each other, much to the amusement of the paying public. As discussed in the pre-game post, Paraletic Paramedic, Trouble and myself each forked out $35 for the ultimate of grudge matches. You could tell there was no love lost between the sides or this terrible twosome! I sat on the fence.

Paraletic Paramedic would later lament that the game was not of a high quality, but that could be due to him wearing a Blues jumper. NSW lost the unloseable. It was an awesome finish to a great game and series and you can read about it here. Girls, even if you hate league, or sport for that matter, you will find the accompanying picture quite hilarious, if not a tad mystifying and perhaps even quite disturbing.

Here's something else that girls won't like: photographs of other girls, scantily clad in tight black hot pants, gyrating to the sound of music - look hard enough and you might see Mary Poppins or the District Attorney.

One joked that these girls were hired from the men's clubs a short stroll up the road that we sadly didn't visit. It was one of many highlights, capped off by the jeers for The disHonourable Prime Minister, John Howard. All in all, a good night was had. Even Ray Warren said so.

The Internet, bringing people together ...

Call me Nelson, as this is my 111th post.

A bloke who goes by the name of The Captain posted on this here blog this morning. He commented on matters close to the heart. Not booze and beauties but ball sports. I'm still amazed at how The Life And Times Of JB is growing at an exponential rate and is being beamed to the far reaches. To places like Geelong. Who knows how or why.

That wasn't a question, by the way, just merely an observance but it posed some serious issues: Is The Captain really a captain? Is he Captain Morgan in disguise? If so, ladies and gentlemen, we have royalty in our midst. I told The Captain that Captain Morgan's spiced rum is the best alcoholic drink this side of Jamaica. While on this topic, this beautiful beverage is now available at Dan Murphy's. I have bought four bottles in the last month.

One of my anonymous bloggers "outed" herself the other day. Turns out she actually knows Cousin JC and a work colleague of JB. The world is much smaller than you think. And we both like Death Cab For Cutie. How cool! Only eight days to go until the concert!

I went to the State Of Origin deciding match at Telstra Dome last night with the Paraletic Paramedic and his brother. I was discussing a possible moniker for the latter when PP replied: "He's trouble." Stay tuned for some pictures, including some of Trouble, hopefully later today.

I'm flying on a jet plane ...

Well, this time last year I was anyway - probably in or around Singapore for my layover (wanting to go to the bathroom but not having enough guts to squat) before getting ready to go to London. My for the start of five months of fun, which was actually the catalyst for the birth of this here blog.

Ahhh, the memories!