"we only come out at night"

Big Brown Bag, Saks, BCBG, Lassen & Hennings, Whole Foods, K-Mart, Macys plastered on plastic with handles, riding the subway, wandering the streets. Century 21 Bags are especially popular, and particularly revealing with their clear plastic sides. Paper, plastic, canvas, in addition to a purse or briefcase New York subway riders always seem to have shopping bags in hand.

Normal enough, buying something entails carrying it in a bag. But there's no Saks in Brooklyn. Bloomies doesn't open before the morning rushhour. And that woman certainly doesn't seem to have any way of incorporating BCBG apparel into her wardrobe. Some bags are clearly years old and just two days ago I saw a man sitting on the subway trying to pull a off a bag from a Vermont restaurant, address included on the bag. Clearly, subway riders aren't doing this much shopping or eating. And the clear bags reveal the juice bottles and old magazines that definitely cannot be purchased at the bag's namesake department store. Some women seem to hold on to bags from high-end stores as long as possible, reusing a rumpled Gucci Bag that's probably so last season. But really, why are they trying to pass off their lunches and scarves for high end apparel ? Image driven consumerism.

I found myself on the subway with shopping bags today, too. But I was a true consumer - and I didn't buy the image thing - mine were crappy K-mart bags. Amazing that New York has a K-Mart (you can enter above ground and exit 4 stories lower inside Penn Station right near your subway stop - Bizzaro world). My K-mart bags were also actually filled with the merch I bought at K-mart -- 6 bags of Halloween candy. Ahh Halloween, like all holidays, evil, I mean consumption focused. I actually decided I like Halloween as I watched men in business suits and other New Yorkers stock up on hordes of what candy remained (the Halloween-themed stuff was all sold out). Here we were, spending out time and money to buy candy to give out to kids we don't even know. People will knock on our doors, and we'll actually give them something for it, and not just anything - overpriced candy. Kids will end up with shopping bags full of it, and the adults ? Well, at least we get empty shopping bags in which to carry our Monday lunches.

Band of the Week: Matt Pond, PA

Song of the Day: We Only Come Out At Night, Smashing Pumpkins