A lot of sports and stuff to get through from the past weekend.
HS Football Weirdest game of the season for Cathedral, against rival Bishop Chatard. It was CYO Night + Homecoming + Chatard, so the stadium was packed. We got there an hour early and still had to park in the overflow section a couple blocks away. The Irish started hot, jumping out to a 21–0 lead in the first quarter, and it looked like it would be a repeat of the past three years, all blowout CHS wins.
It’s a big weekend for me: Sunday evening I’m seeing Pearl Jam for the first time since 2000. I’m pretty excited about it.
I re-added the SiriusXM Pearl Jam channel as a favorite a couple weeks ago and have been listening to it a lot in preparation. I’ve also been spinning their songs on Spotify in between all the other stuff I regularly listen to. I’ve been tracking their current set lists, although with PJ that tells you nothing about what they will play at your show.
A special playlist to come later today.
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“Love is Alive” - Gary Wright Mr. Wright died this week. Contrary to popular belief, he was not a one-hit-wonder: he had three songs that cracked the top 20. By every measure except for one, this was his biggest hit. Like “Dream Weaver,” it peaked at #2 on the Hot 100. It remained on the chart seven weeks longer than “Dream Weaver,” and finished #9 in the 1976 year-end countdown to #37 for “Dream Weaver.
As I skimmed the site’s archives over the summer, I realized I’ve gotten away from the half-assed NFL predictions that used to be a staple this time of year. That is mostly because I was busy with kid sports and the beginning of the NFL season often snuck up on me. And because I loathe how the NFL offseason dominates sports media and largely tune it out, not checking back in until the games begin.
It wasn’t that long ago when Labor Day weekends were big, involved deals for us. When we were lake house owners, that would always be the last blowout of the year. Lots of friends or family down for two final days of floating, swimming, boating and fun.
We’ve backed off that pace quite a bit and these weekends are much more laid back. We did have some friends over Sunday evening.
Movies, Shows, etc Step Brothers I had the joy of introducing this to S, who had never seen it before. Not sure she totally got it. Then again, I don’t know if I did, either, the first time I saw it. A delight for me, though. It also made me look up and re-read this piece. Unadulterated Joy: An Oral History of ‘Step Brothers’ A-
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy Perhaps the height of Will Ferrell silliness.
A rare Friday post about something other than music promoted by the beginning of college football and an interesting night at a high school game earlier this week.
KU Football I was thinking last night that there have been very few falls in my life when KU fans were genuinely excited about the coming football season. I’m talking about the excitement that comes with the chance for a really good season, not just “Hey, if everything breaks right, we might win six games this year!
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“Labor Day” - The Dead Milkmen How old do you have to be to get this song? Happy holiday!
“Truck” - illuminati hotties This song is about mortality and whether or not heaven exists. Which is great. To me it hits as a late summer song for days when lounging in the pool has become routine but you’re not quite ready for fall to arrive.
“Alone Again” - Split System These dudes sound like a punkier version of Jet.
Rememberings - Sinéad O’Connor After O’Connor’s death, there were many references to her autobiography, most of which came with the comment that it was a fantastic read. Those recommendations were right on.
This is one of the best musician autobiographies I’ve ever read. It’s frank, funny, and frightening although also incomplete. O’Connor admits that a long stretch of her life after that tumultuous period in 1990–91 is lost to her. Which is a shame, because she is often shockingly honest about other parts of her life, and it would have been fascinating to read how she dealt with the years when much of the western world thought she was the embodiment of evil.
This is kind of a weird piece. I would put passing on Breaking Bad or Arrested Development’s disastrous fourth season in the same category as the networks calling Florida for Al Gore in 2000. And I’m not sure the numbers next to some of these match their significance. It is a pop culture list, though, and you all know how I love those.
The 50 Worst Decisions in TV History
Not the most exciting weekend of the year. I feel obligated to share the minor doings anyway, since that’s kind of our thing here.
HS Football Number two Cathedral went west of town to Brownsburg, where they went 1–1 last year, to face the #5 Bulldogs. Last August CHS fell behind 21–0 before making a furious comeback that fell short, losing 42–35. This year they started better - although they gave up an 80 yard TD pass on the first defensive possession of the game - and led 17–14 late in the second quarter.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“Make It Work” - Swiss Banks Holy Smiths tribute! Or is it an Interpol tribute? The vocals are straight out of the Morrissey school. But musically, this song is way closer to Interpol than The Smiths. Interesting combination. I think it works.
“Different Now” - Courtney Barnett covering Chastity Belt It’s been awhile since I’ve enjoyed one of Barnett’s new songs. It took a cover to get me back on board.
Time for another entry in the (very) occasional Ranking Shit series. This time I’m going to rank a few of my Old Man Tendencies that have popped up, or grown stronger, in recent years.
5 - Fussy About the Dishwasher I’ve set some very clear standards on how our dishwasher should be loaded. But the other three (sometimes four) people who live with me just refuse to follow those guidelines. To be clear, if you are a guest at our house and you are kind enough to load the dishwasher after a meal, I do not care how you do it.
Chart Week: August 29, 1981 Song: “For Your Eyes Only” - Sheena Easton Chart Position: #29, 6th week on the chart. Peaked at #4 for for weeks in October and November.
I’ve heard a glut of 1981 countdowns recently. To be honest, it’s a little much. The quirkiness of that era grates rather quickly upon repeated exposure.
However, I did learn something new and amazing in the process.
On a countdown from earlier in the summer of ’81, a bonus track outside the Top 40 added to the new recording was Sheena Easton’s “For Your Eyes Only.
Even down a kid, it was a pretty busy week. Although some of that activity was due to the missing kid.
Jinxed Myself I mentioned in last week’s post that I was off the hook for driving to/from school for awhile. Well, not so fast… C got rear-ended leaving campus by another student on Monday. No injuries, thankfully. Her car is still drivable, fortunately. But at some point it will go to the shop and stay there for a bit as it gets repaired, putting me back on the daily driving grind.
I must begin this week’s playlist with an apology. Last week I teased that I would be doing something new and exciting this week. Unfortunately that will not happen.
I was going to get back into the world of podcasting, inserting actual vocal segments between songs. I’m not sure anyone needed or wanted to hear my voice, but I was eager to scratch that radio DJ itch I haven’t been able to service since I stopped my “secret” podcast years ago.
Somehow in my highly organized list of future posts,[1] my latest collection of articles to share got bumped out of sight. Which is a shame because two of these are some of the best pieces I’ve read this year and I shouldn’t be sitting on them for over a month before I recommend them.
I have no interest in Robert Kennedy Jr. I think many of his views are abhorrent.
I talk a lot about how the summer of 1984 was the greatest moment in pop music history, normally backing that up with examples of some of the songs that were on the chart that summer.
As I was listening to a 1984 countdown a couple weeks ago, it struck me again how freaking solid those 40 songs were. There were a few duds, as there are in any countdown. But there were also a ton of timeless tracks that still get heavy airplay on Eighties stations today.
Lots of lasts and firsts over the past seven days. Let’s see if I can get through them all without getting too wordy or emotional.
First Week at CHS L had her traditions orientation last Sunday evening and then a half-day schedule walk through on Wednesday before Cathedral began the school year on Thursday. When we picked her up from the traditions orientation and asked how it went, her response was, “Fine.
A heads up for my loyal listeners that I’ve been working on a format change for these playlists. I’m hoping to unveil the newest, latest version next week. If it works as I hope, I think you’re going to enjoy it.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“Motorcade” - Peggy Sue I love it when the algorithm spits out terrific songs I haven’t heard in a while. I would imagine I played this for you sometime in 2019/20 when it was first released.
I’ve been on a decent reading run. A few blurbs about my most recent completions.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - Quentin Tarantino This has been sitting in my cabinet for something like two years. I’m glad I finally got to it. This is not a straight novelization of the movie, but rather an expansion on its base. Lots of weird tangents about the history of Hollywood. Lots of backstory about the characters in the movie.
After just a week it’s already time for some more sports notes.
Big 12/Realignment I neglected to include a section about college realignment in last week’s post as it seemed like the next domino was close to falling. I was expecting medium-sized news, like the Big 12 adding one-to-three more PAC schools to complete its expansion. Little did I know the general landscape was so tenuous that it would quickly feel like 2011 again.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“Dream Some More” - The High Water Marks A bunch of schools around us went back to class this week, which is a tragedy. There should still be a month left of days wide open for listening to music like this.
“Outta Time” - Bethany Cosentino Cosentino just released her first solo album which takes her sound in a very different direction from where it was in Best Coast, which is on indefinite hiatus.
Periodic losses of power, some pool gatherings, and three weeks of travel basketball cut my list a little short last month.
Movies, Shows, etc They Shall Not Grow Old I’ve been waiting for this to hit a streaming service for a couple years. Peter Jackson took footage from World War I, colorized it, and overlaid it with interviews given by British veterans of that war to offer a limited view of what that conflict was like.
I’ve stacked up a lot of sports thoughts over the past several weeks. Let’s dive in and see how long it takes to get through them.
Tour de France After watching the Netflix show Tour de France: Unchained in June, I was all-in for this year’s tour, even ponying up for Peacock for the month to watch.[1] It was like the good (bad) old days watching Lance Armstrong as I turned the race on first thing every morning and tracked the day’s progress.
No major events from the weekend to share. We were busy, though. The weekend was all about preparing to be social then actually being social around the pool.
Saturday night we had L’s basketball team over for a final get together to celebrate the season. Eight of the nine girls came and most of the parents hung out. The girls had a good time and enjoyed their final night together as a single team.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave” - Martha Reeves & The Vandellas We have been very lucky and this has been one of the best spring/summers I can recall, other than the Canadian smoke. Until this week. The heat that has been plaguing the rest of the country finally hit us, although its worst has held off until today and will clear out Saturday night when some storms pass through.
When Irish women with distinctive voices who were successful in the 90s die, I’m required to write about them.
The terrible news came Wednesday of Sinéad O’Connor’s death. It’s an understatement to suggest she did not have an easy life, so while a shock, this is also one of those deaths that can seem like a relief from all the pain she dealt with in her 56 years. Tom Breihan wrote a nice obituary on Stereogum.
Three-fifths of our family spent the weekend in Ohio. You want details? I got details!
Kid Hoops L and I went to Cincinnati for the final travel tournament of the year. We’ve never done well in these events but were looking forward to one last shot to prove ourselves on the national stage. We had six games, so I’ll keep the breakdowns brief. We played Friday and Saturday at the event’s main gym, a building in Hamilton, OH that had 30-ish courts.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“Midnight Sunburn” - Dog Ears Big, crunchy, power pop for mid-summer.
“I Need Ya” - Somebody’s Child If the Strokes were from Ireland, they would probably sound like this.
“Forgiving Ties” - Deer Tick I had to triple check this wasn’t a lost Tom Petty demo that someone else had finished.
“The Spiral” - Body Maintenance This is some proper-ass post punk from Down Under. Like all great post punk, it could be from 1983 or 2003 just as easily as be the brand new song it actually is.