Friday, November 21, 2025
Between wrapping up the first pass through my Apple Music library, doing some work on my Favorite Songs of the Year list, and other random stuff, I didn’t spend as much time listening to newer music as I normally do this week. So a blend of the new and old. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Hinge” - VILLANELLE Is this a Nirvana tribute band? The band is led by Gene Gallagher, son of Liam. And he was obviously influenced more by Kurt Cobain than his dad.
Thursday, November 20, 2025
A quick (hopefully!), navel-gazey post today to share that my initial run through my entire library on Apple Music is finally complete! After transitioning over from Spotify in April, I spent several weeks attempting to recreate how I organized iTunes over 10 years ago to balance both new and old music in a daily playlist. This makes heavy use of Smart Playlists, which select music based on date added, rating, play count, and other rather granular details.
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Let’s run through some quick hoops thoughts. Jayhawk Talk As expected Darryn Peterson did not play last night against Duke. As expected, Duke won comfortably. Not as expected was KU showing a lot of fight and progress from last week’s games. There was still, obviously, a big hole on offense due to Peterson’s absence. But the Jayhawks controlled the first 15 minutes of the game and were in terrific shape until first Flory Bidunga and then Tre White went to the bench with three fouls before halftime.
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
Somehow I haven’t read a spy book since July. It was time to revert to the mean, so this entry features one proper spy story, one that brushes up against the genre, and a proper mystery. Sheepdog - Elliot Ackerman When I added this to my reading list, I noted that it was described as being for people who liked Mick Herron’s Slow Horses series, either the books or show.
Monday, November 17, 2025
Another pretty laid-back weekend in our house, made even chiller without football games for either KU or the Colts. Trust me, I still sat on my ass and watched a lot of football. Strangely I watched more on Saturday when it was in the low 70s than Sunday when it was still nice but significantly cooler. With the holidays sneaking up on us and a busy weekend ahead, S and I did begin to prep for hosting Thanksgiving.
Friday, November 14, 2025
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Dopamine” - Robyn Our Swedish Queen has returned! Her first new music in over seven years. “WAITING FOR THE PHONE CALL” - The Twilight Sad Speaking of artists that have been away for a bit, this song is the first new music from The Twilight Sad in six years. They have a very special guest on this track; The Cure’s Robert Smith, a long-time fan of the band, joins to play guitar.
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
Last night CHS finally played their first game of the year. I say finally because their opponent, and many other schools in the state, had already played two games. I know our coaches were trying to find a game to fill last week, but that fell through and we got off to a late start to the new season. Maybe it was that difference, one team having been on the court - and losing - twice versus the other getting real action for the first time.
Monday, November 10, 2025
Well, a real bummer of a sports weekend that was partially saved by Jonathan Taylor. Let’s get into it. Friday Shades of late August/early September as I was both listening to the Cathedral game and watching sports on the TV. My attentions were less divided than back then, though, as most of my attention was on the KU-North Carolina game. Which was a lot of fun for the first 20 minutes as KU took an 8-point lead into halftime, then kind of a pisser for the second 20 as UNC ran the Jayhawks off the floor.
Friday, November 7, 2025
open.spotify.com/playlist/… ‘’Over Our Heads” - Snocaps Last week’s big music surprise was the new album from Katie and Allison Crutchfield. Rather than resurrect one of their previous bands, they brought in pal MJ Lenderman and longtime Waxahatchee producer Brad Cook to do something completely new. It is a nice blend of what each sister does well. Believe it or not, I think I might prefer the Allison songs a little more.
Thursday, November 6, 2025
The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins One of the great parenting gifts I’ve received recently is L re-discovering her love of reading over the past year. She started reading more in the spring while she was rehabbing. When summer rolled around she kept up with it. After she got a Kindle she really took off. She is connected to my Amazon account, so I could see how quickly she was blowing through books, sometimes one per day.
Wednesday, November 5, 2025
It is time for our monthly overview of the NFL. As with the month one check-in, teams seem committed to confounding and keeping us from making any broad assessments about which are the best. Before I get to my breakdown, some thoughts about the Colts making, for the first time in years, a move at the trade deadline. And a huge one at that, sending two first round picks and Adonai Mitchell to the Jets for Sauce Gardner.
Tuesday, November 4, 2025
I just found this fantastic profile of American Treasure Katie Crutchfield that came out last spring. I knew she had a twin sister - more on that later this week - but did not know there was a third sister in the family. Turns out that sister’s story is a huge, emotional part of the music Katie has made in recent years. Their relationship made for a powerful section of this profile.
Monday, November 3, 2025
Not the most exciting weekend we’ve ever had, although there was one, massive event that sucked up a lot of my attention and messed with my sleep schedule. Halloween As usual a low-key night at our house. We had maybe 40 total trick or treaters. It’s always weird because we can see tons of kids just a block away, but few of them come to our door because they would have to scamper across a very busy street to get here.
Sunday, November 2, 2025
Another month in which, both by choice and by chance, I didn’t watch a ton of TV. Also remember I’m stripping out a lot of the trivial stuff I glance at on YouTube (although I’ve cut a lot of that, too) and just sharing the substantial or impactful things I have watched/listened to. Harvesting Tequila, Surfing Secret Coves & Tasting Legendary Mexican Flavors | DIRT Guadalajara Typically terrific stuff from the DIRT crew.
Friday, October 31, 2025
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Halloweenhead” - Ryan Adams When Halloween falls on a Friday, I kind of have to play this. “Anywhere” - Ratboys Second pre-release banger from the next Ratboys album, which has officially been given a February release date. “Paint Me A Picture” - Magdalena Bay MB just released two pretty good singles, I slightly prefer this sultry one. “Doldrum Days” - Miki Berenyi Trio Berenyi still makes music that has strong ties to her days in Lush, this one a perfect match of title and tone.
Thursday, October 30, 2025
A week into the NBA season and I’ve already listened to two podcasts and read one article that tries to decide if early developments are legit or not. Based on 2–4 games. Because that’s the world we live in. I thought I would take that concept a different direction and work through several subjects to determine if they are dumb or not. Darryn Peterson Not Playing Because Of “Cramps and Soreness” Oh boy.
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Chart Week: November 2, 1985 Song: “Lovin’ Every Minute Of It” - Loverboy Chart Position: #9, 11th week on the chart. This was its peak. First off, shout out to my brother-in-music E$ for messaging me when he heard this song on an old AT40 while driving through Iowa recently. Astute listeners may recall that I heard my first throw-back countdown show on a drive through Iowa many years ago.
Monday, October 27, 2025
What a weekend. S and I were actually social three days in a row! That’s a record or something. Thus I’ll break it down a little differently than normal. Getting Out Of The House Friday we went to a fund raiser some friends were hosting for a lady who is running for secretary of state here in Indiana next year. On our way over we were wondering if we would know anyone else there.
Friday, October 24, 2025
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Stay In You Lane” - Courtney Barnett Our Aussie queen is back! “Talk To You” - Sam Fender featuring Elton John Last week Fender won the Mercury Prize for best album from the UK or Ireland. The next day he announced a deluxe version of People Watching that will come out in December. Good timing! This song features Elton John on piano. On the credits I can find, the rest of the backing band is listed as Sam’s usual crew, but it sure sounds a lot like The War on Drugs.
Thursday, October 23, 2025
Just one book in this entry, as I’ve begun a trilogy that might take a week or so and don’t want to forget about this one in the interim. The House Across The Lake - Riley Sager I read a couple of Sager’s thrillers last October, and they had a nice dose of spookiness that butted up against the supernatural without being too weird. Most of his books were already claimed at the library and this was the one that remained, so download it I did.
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
The wonderful piece I’m linking to below reminds me that I missed a golden opportunity this time last year when I failed to post a retrospective on my 30th anniversary of first getting online. Sadly, for some reason, it whizzed by without me realizing the significance of the moment. Which is a damn shame because you know I would have cooked up something really good to honor it. So let’s do it for year 31!
Monday, October 20, 2025
A very busy weekend centered on the entire family getting together to watch football. Or at least prepare to watch football. Friday M came home Friday afternoon, so we got to hang with her for the second time in two weeks. We sat around catching up while listening to Cathedral’s regular season finale against 6A #10 Warren Central. To complicate matters the Irish were again missing seven starters, including their quarterback.
Friday, October 17, 2025
[open.spotify.com/playlist/...](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/03v5PJTxT3s4rCEe6jQ1no?si=5fcdc031567746a7) “House Of Dead Memories” - Sugar OH SHIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!!! SUGAR IS BACK!!!!! Like, seriously back. This isn’t a song that was recorded 35 years ago and lost on a master tape hidden in a producer’s basement and unearthed when he died or something random like that. Bob Mould, David Barbe, and Malcolm Travis got together this summer for the first time since 1995 and recorded it. It may be something leftover from their original run that was just demoed back then, or it could be the first step in a full return of the band.
Thursday, October 16, 2025
As we are in the back half of October, that means I am officially halfway through my current auto lease. With 18 months in the books as an EV owner, and 18 months left before I need to make a decision on my next car, it seemed like a good moment to check in and see how I feel about things. It is a fraught time to be an EV owner.
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Steven Hyden with a wonderful retrospective on one of the great American bands that never really went away, at least on classic rock radio, but also never had a big revival. Listen to the Cars in 2025, and you’ll hear the accumulated history of 20th-century rock music—the elemental directness of Buddy Holly and Elvis records, the songwriting sturdiness of the Beatles and Beach Boys, the art-pop leanings of the Velvet Underground and Roxy Music, the electronic minimalism of Brian Eno and Kraftwerk, the arena-rock accessibility of Tom Petty and Cheap Trick.
Tuesday, October 14, 2025
A bit of a slog lately, as I’ve worked through a group of books that I did not love. These are the risks you take when you grab suggestions from many different sources. Swag - Elmore Leonard Last month I came across an article that was an appreciation of some of Leonard’s lesser known works. I’ve read several of his most famous novels but never really dove into his deep catalog.
Monday, October 13, 2025
Another weekend that was brightened by visits from college kids and a few more signs that we are deep into fall. Fall Break Part 1 M came home Wednesday evening. UC had a two-day fall break this year, but she had to go back Friday evening because her boyfriend’s fraternity had their annual trip to the horse races in Lexington, KY Saturday. She’s doing well. In fact, her life got even better while she was home.
Friday, October 10, 2025
[open.spotify.com/playlist/...](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4I739P1vODsreoZSExAp2f?si=1a56afaf1ac74cea) “October” - The Helio Sequence We’ve finally had a couple of cool days and chilly mornings, although temps will creep back up closer to 80 next week. Close enough for me to bust out this fall classic, at least classic to me. “Break The Girl” - Florence Road Wonderful, bouncy track by some young ladies from Wicklow, Ireland. “Automatic” - Spiritual Cramp In their write up about this song, Stereogum compared this band to early ‘00s’ bands like the Killers or TV On The Radio.
Thursday, October 9, 2025
Chart Week: September 24, 1983 Song: “It’s A Mistake” - Men At Work Chart Position: #38, 13th week on the chart. Peaked at #6 for two weeks in August. What clichés about Eighties music jump into your head the quickest? Big hair and spandex? Synthesizers? Gender ambiguous British men in suits wearing more makeup than your mom? Artists with little-to-no musical talent earning hits based on the quality of their videos and/or the prettiness of their appearance?
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
We’re a week into the fourth quarter of the year[1] and I bet a few of you are annoyed with me for not sharing my latest fitness update. My bad. Here it is. Q3 was my best of the year so far. Which makes sense as it was the warmest, least stormy stretch of 2025 so the pool was always available, even if I had to kick the heater on in the morning to get it warmed up a bit over the past month.