Not much has been going on the past few days. M turned 17 over the weekend. I read a terrific book in a single day. We went out on a boat with some friends. Ted Lasso returned. The Big 12 may be kaput.
Oh, and the Olympics started.
Thus it is time to bring back a time-honored recurring feature here on the blog: the Olympics Notebook!
Before we get to my observations and thoughts, a confession: I did not begin these games with my traditional strong interest.
This week’s round up of some cool shit I’ve read and think you might also enjoy.
‘You’ve never seen The Beatles like this before’: Peter Jackson on his epic Get Back docuseries
This feature/interview sure makes the upcoming Peter Jackson Beatles series sound phenomenal. I found this line interesting:
For any self-respecting Beatles nut, this must surely count as one of the final mop-top Holy Grails… I suppose Paul and Ringo could still write exhaustive tell-alls of the 1960s.
Another jam-packed playlist to please your ears and your hearts this week.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“Living Proof” - The War on Drugs Here it is, the first new TWOD song in four years! It does not hit with the same impact that the early songs from A Deeper Understanding hit with in the spring/summer of 2017. But as a side one, track one, this is a beautiful teaser for what’s to come. Music writer Steven Hyden said his advance copy of I Don’t Live Here Anymore is already his most-listened to album of the year and that is is “laden with bangers.
Chart Week: July 12, 1986 Song: “If She Knew What She Wants” - The Bangles Chart Position: #29, 10th week on the chart. This was the song’s peak; it fell out of the Top 40 the next week.
I recall being in love with a lot of unattainable women in the summer of 1986. There was Heather Thomas, whose poster I had on my wall. There was Tamlyn Tomita, who played Ralph Maccio’s Okinawan love interest in The Karate Kid Part II.
The Alice Network - Kate Quinn A friend gave me this book awhile back, but I left it in my bookshelf for months before finally cracking it open. When I did, S told me she had read it on one of our vacations and loved it. We don’t read a lot of the same books, so I was both excited and nervous about taking it on. What if I hated it?
Another relaxing and laid-back weekend.
Friday we wrapped up the rainiest week of a rainy summer by, yep, having more rain. By the time the storms stopped Saturday morning we were at six inches of rain through the first 15 days of the month. Which seems like a lot. The good news is I haven’t had to water the yard once so far this summer.
Friday evening S and I went to a party one of her old high school chums hosted.
I’m going to resurrect an old feature of the blog: sharing some of my favorite things I’ve read over the past week on Fridays. This will be an occasion feature, so don’t count on entry every week. And some weeks it might be loaded with cool stuff and others, like this week, only have one or two items in it.
Don’t Piss Off Bradley, the Parts Seller Keeping Atari Machines Alive For most folks my age, this will tickle a special part of your memory banks.
This week a focus on new songs by (mostly) long-established artists.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“Galacticana” - Strand of Oaks Oh hell yes, new music from Timothy Showalter! And it sounds great! And one critic has said the album this comes from is the finest of his career! It comes out October 1 for those of you who track such things.
“Living in the USA” - Son Volt Jay Farrar says this song follows in the tradition of others like “Born in the USA” and “Rockin' in the Free World,” asking questions about the failures of the American Experiment.
Ahhh, the All-Star Game! The mid-summer moment when we set aside our differences and come together as Americans to celebrate our once-and-always National Pastime.
Well, except for this year, which was ruined by the forces that want to keep us apart, that want us to continue arguing about manufactured wedge issues to distract us from the true damage being done to our sacred, national institutions.
Yes, I’m talking about those fucking terrible, straight ass uniforms.
I realized yesterday that this has been, and should continue to be, a pretty boring summer. Sure, we’ve had a few gatherings to take advantage of the pool and the new pool house. We’re trying to schedule a few more but as kids get older, it gets harder and harder to pin a group of families down to a single night when they are all available to join us. C’s summer school meant no traveling in June, and limited what we were able to do on those days close to home.
The new music has been, thankfully, piling up again. So let’s go deep this week with an extra-packed playlist.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“House Burn Down” - King Princess Being pessimistic about your life shouldn’t sound this good.
“Lockdown” - The Wind Ups Maybe it’s just me, but I hear a lot of the Ramones in this track.
“Why Don’t You Touch Me” - Leon Bridges Another A+ track from Mr. Bridges. His new album comes out in two weeks.
KU Hoops It would be nice to say a dizzying three months of roster flux at Kansas came to an end Tuesday when Ochai Agbaji and Remy Martin both announced they were pulling their names from the NBA draft list and would be playing as Jayhawks in the coming season. But given how crazy college hoops is at the moment, can we be sure anything is locked in? For the sake of discussion, let’s assume there will be no more roster changes between now and when KU plays Michigan State in November’s Champions Classic.
A busy family and holiday week is in the books.
We had visitors. My brother-in-law, his wife, and their three kids who live in Boston spent a week with us. Their kids are 6, 3, and 2. When I think of our kids being those ages and trying to spend a week as guests in someone else’s home, the word “disaster” immediately pops into my head.
But the week passed quicker than I expected and was more-or-less incident-free.
‘Tis the season for my annual Independence Day playlist. One new addition this year but otherwise the same collection of fine songs that can, at least tangentially, relate to American Independence Day. Everyone have a safe and happy Fourth of July weekend!
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
Movies and Shows Big Shot Coach Korn and his band of merry basketball warriors triumphed. In that, there was no surprise. It was the trials and travails along the way that made their journey compelling. Will Coach Holly be on their arch rival’s bench next year? L and I hope there is a season two so we find out. Jessalyn Gilsig could coach my team anytime. B+
Spring Baking Championship Finally finished this.
We have a house full of guests this week. My brother-in-law and his family from Boston are staying with us. So far that has meant lots of pool and play time as we’ve dodged the daily thunderstorms.
It’s also C’s first real week of summer after wrapping summer school up last week.
In a few hours I’m going to go do the final walk-through at my in-law’s new home, which they will move into in about a week.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“Nashville Girls” - Janet Simpson This was about to drop off my current music playlist when I realized I had not shared it with you. Which is a huge error on my part, because it is a hell of a song, filled with swagger.
“Inside My Head” - Lost Ships I love songs like this that have a variety of influences that are both readily apparent and blend together to make something that isn’t quite like anything you’ve heard before.
Chart Week: June 12, 1982 Song: “Fantasy” - Aldo Nova Chart Position: #32, 12th week on the chart. Peaked at #23 for two weeks in May/June.
I only caught a few songs of this countdown, but I tuned in at the perfect time. I’m guessing I had not heard this jam in a long, long time. Which is a damn shame because kicks all kinds of ass. I guarantee it was on a Johnny Lawrence mix tape.
Decent weekend in our house.
I watched a lot of golf, thanks to the US Open being played on the West Coast. Which is always the best. The girls were even moderately interested since we stayed right off the course during our visit to San Diego two years ago.
I watched some Euro championship soccer. I watched some F1. L and I watched almost all of the crazy ass game seven between Brooklyn and Milwaukee (she bailed to go to bed late in the fourth quarter).
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“Solar Power” - Lorde Oh good Lord(e)! Our New Zealand queen has returned in a major way. An almost instant Song of the Summer, one that arrives with a rather controversial album cover. Her album art makes me feel uncomfortable, so I’m just avoiding it as much as possible. YMMV.
“the angel of 8th ave.” - Gang of Youths Hopping across the Tasman Sea for another long-awaited track. Gang of Youths seem poised to become the standard bearers for big, anthemic, emotional rock.
Mid-to-late June is my favorite time of summer. It’s usually not too hot yet, or if it roasts for a day or two the heat will eventually break and you’ll have a stretch of pleasant days mixed in. The rhythms of the summer are still developing and the season holds seeming endless promise.
At least that’s what it felt like to me as a kid, and I’ve never really lost that sensation.
It’s been a few weeks since we’ve had a proper playlist. The new music has dried up just a hair and I haven’t had much time to devote to what is available over the past couple weeks. I’ve hacked together something to keep you occupied for a half hour or so, including two amazing videos.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“Evergreen” - Bendigo Fletcher There is a lot going on in this song, veering through several different sources of inspiration.
Chart Week: May 12, 1979
Song: “In the Navy” - The Village People
Chart Position: #5, 9th week on the chart. Peaked at #3 for two weeks.
I wasn’t old enough to “get” the Village People when they were at the height of their powers. I was 6–7 years old during their brief moment at the top of the pop culture pyramid. All I knew was that they were goofy and funny and sang catchy disco songs.
Before I get to our next Reaching for the Stars entry, I realized that I first need to share some disturbing news in the AT40 world that has radically changed my life.
The local station that played American Top 40 on Sundays for at least 12 years has stopped airing the show. A week after we returned from spring break I turned on the radio and heard some random song from the ‘90s.
My reading pace slacked off significantly over the past month. I only finished three books in May, and none of them should have taken more than a couple of days. Because of that, the first two books in this entry don’t get very good recaps as it has been too long since I finished them to write anything terribly coherent about them.
I also had my first abandoned book of the year.
Movies and Shows Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Hard to believe this movie came out in 2002. And that I’ve managed to not see it in those 19 years! Based on the “autobiography” of game show creator and host Chuck Barris, it details both his efforts to make it in the TV biz and his - likely - fictional life as a CIA hitman. Reading things written about the movie upon its release, there were real questions about how much of the movie was true.
One of our more laid back Memorial Day holiday weekends is now in the books. Unlike most of the past decade, when we would either go to the lake or host a pool party, we had no major plans this year. We did have some friends over for dinner Friday, but it was cold and rainy that night so the adults stayed inside while the girls got into the pool for just a bit after I cranked the heater up.
A special music post for this Memorial Day. It has nothing to do with the holiday, but this seemed like a good day to squeeze it in.
Music writer Sean Ross tracks what he calls Lost Hits. Based on his self-created Lost Factor, he looks at old songs and sees how often they get played today. Songs that were popular years ago but rarely, if ever, get played these days become his Lost Hits.
Drums please…
youtu.be/Kr0tTbTbm… Summer is here! So why is the high only going to be 60 tomorrow? Remind me of this when the heat index is 115 in two months.
youtu.be/F8V8_sIFL… Happy race weekend to my Indy peeps.