Monday, November 13, 2017
A couple cool things M has accomplished recently. Earlier in the year, a big group of girls in her grade attended the induction ceremony for National Junior Honor Society. M had never mentioned a thing about it, and when I asked her, she just shrugged. I dug into the student handbook and saw her GPA last spring was 0.3 points too low to get admitted. M worked really hard in the first quarter of this year, raised her GPA up over 3.
Saturday, November 11, 2017
Damnit. I’ve reached the point in my life where if I want to remember things, I have to somehow set a reminder. The girls tell me they need more school supplies? Set a reminder. There’s something I’d like to remember in three months? Put it in the calendar. I know this isn’t some kind of radical new system, but up until a couple years ago, I could always count on my brain to recall things when needed.
Friday, November 10, 2017
open.spotify.com/user/224a… “Intrepid” - Pinegrove. A fine new single and the exciting “More News Coming Soon” entry on Pinegrove’s website is promising for 2018. “Boy Crazy” - Lydia Loveless. Likely the first single I ever heard from Loveless, who in now in that group of 20 or so artists that I love the most right now. Originally released in 2013, it’s the title track of a collection of B-sides and older stuff she just released.
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
A few assorted notes for the middle of the week. Election Night A little less traumatic than a year ago, for sure. The result I was most interested in was the vote on the new airport in Kansas City, which passed overwhelmingly. There’s no doubt that KCI needed a facelift, but I’m among those who still love it. It’s the most convenient mid-sized airport I’ve ever been to. You can literally get dropped off at the curb and be through security, at your gate, in less than 10 minutes if conditions are right.
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
I’m not the most outgoing person in the world. Particularly when it comes to strangers. I just don’t have that gene that makes it easy for me to talk to people I don’t know in non-social settings. I’m not the dude striking up a conversation with the guy next to me while we wait in line at the deli, or the mom sitting by me at a first sports practice for one of our kids.
Friday, November 3, 2017
open.spotify.com/user/224a… “Walkaway” - Weaves. I heard this song for the first time yesterday and immediately fell in love with it. I think I hear a little bit of Martha Davis, of The Motels, in the vocals. “On And On” - Curtis Harding. This song has been bouncing around for a bit, but Harding just released the album it is the lead single for last week. Similar to Leon Bridges, Harding takes us back to a classic era in soul music.
Thursday, November 2, 2017
What a letdown. After all the craziness and joy of the first six games of the World Series, game seven was an absolute dud. It held some early promise. After the Astros scored two in the top of the first, the Dodgers seemed poised for their own first-inning rally, loading the bases before Lance McCullers Jr. wiggled out of the mess he made. Then Houston added three more runs in the second, chasing Yu Darvish, and the Dodgers again tried to rally, putting two on.
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Well lookee there, it’s November, bitches. The baseball season ends tonight. SiriusXM will begin playing Christmas music at some point today. The slow trickle of holiday commercials will turn into a flood over the next few nights. All kicked off last night by Halloween, of course. It was a very different Halloween night for us compared to anytime in the past 13 years. The girls all went in different directions, and all without either S or I.
Monday, October 30, 2017
No where does recency bias rear its ugly head more than in sports. Whatever game we just watched always drowns out the games of the past. That acknowledged, last night’s/this morning’s game five of the World Series is surely one of the most entertaining games in the history of the game. I did not watch every pitch. I didn’t turn the game on until the girls went to bed, when the game had just entered the bottom of the second.
Friday, October 27, 2017
open.spotify.com/user/224a… “Wolf Lie Down” - The Fresh & Onlys. Man, I hate bands that hold their music back from streaming services. This song was released as a single back in June but F&O didn’t allow it to stream until recently. This kicks ass and is a perfect summer song. Oh well, at least we get to enjoy it now. “Emotion” - Curls. Christopher Owens once had a band named Curls. Then they broke up and he started a new band called Girls.
Thursday, October 26, 2017
It’s been a pretty good World Series through two games. Rather than offering up random notes, I thought I’d share the four most interesting things about the series so far. Game one checking in at 2:28 was perhaps the greatest thing in sports this year. Seriously, I watched an entire World Series game - complete with game one extended introductions - and was in bed before 11:00 Eastern! Clayton Kershaw and Dallas Keuchel deserve a Nobel Prize for their efforts.
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
In an unreal upset, it appears that fall is finally here. Over the weekend the afternoon highs were still bumping up against 80, the sun was shining, and there was a lovely southern breeze. It felt more like the first week of September than mid-October. Which I was cool with. As much as I like fall, I much prefer summer. I’m down with wearing shorts and t-shirts up until Thanksgiving. Hell, S just went through the girls’ closets and rotated in all the fall clothes last Monday.
Monday, October 23, 2017
For the first time since way back in August we had no kid sports this weekend. That meant I got to fully immerse myself in televised sports. There was plenty of baseball, soccer, basketball, and football on our TV, along with a bonus dose of college basketball on my Twitter and email feeds. Some words about all that… Baseball Man, what an excellent ALCS. I only say that because the Houston Astros won.
Friday, October 20, 2017
A slightly different format this week. All because I took the girls to the library yesterday, as I always try to do on the first day of a school break. I want them loaded up with books and videos for even just a long weekend so that there’s no complaining about not having anything to do and being bored. I checked for some books on my list and saw that [Runnin’ With the Devil: A Backstage Pass to the Wild Times, Loud Rock, and the Down and Dirty Truth Behind the Making of Van Halen] was available, so I grabbed it.
Thursday, October 19, 2017
The Outlaw Album - Daniel Woodrell It had been awhile since I read a Woodrell book, so I glanced at the library’s offerings and grabbed this. I didn’t know it was a short story collection and may have skipped it had I known. In fact, calling it a short story collection might be giving it too much credit. It feels more like Woodrell unloading his notebook of half-fleshed out ideas and packaging them for the benefit of his publisher.
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
A quick (and late) rundown on our weekend. Which had a little cray-cray in it. Saturday was a freaking perfect day. Low 80s, breezy. One of those mid-October days that you wish you could hang onto for the next five months. So of course we spent it blowing leaves at the lake house and then hauling the boat out for the winter. There was a wrinkle to our winter boat plans this year.
Friday, October 13, 2017
Men are idiots. I say that with shame as a man, and with fear as a father. I’m honestly not sure why people are shocked and surprised about the Harvey Weinstein news. We should be disgusted and horrified, but surprised? Hell naw. His years of sexual harassment and abuse of women going public is kind of like Louisville getting hammered for paying high school basketball players: you damn well know this isn’t some isolated case.
Friday, October 13, 2017
open.spotify.com/user/224a… “Dark On Us” - Lucas Oswald. A Shearwater member’s solo effort. Not too shabby. “Offa My Hands” - Jessica Lea Mayfield. Mayfield’s new album, Sorry Is Gone, is focused on an abusive relationship she recently escaped. She left the relationship with a broken shoulder following a physical encounter. Heavy stuff. And while the lyrics of this song are heavy as well, I do enjoy the little bit of whimsy she sings them with and the confident sway of the music behind her.
Thursday, October 12, 2017
Some night Tuesday night. L was attending her first ever Pacers game - a preseason game against a team from Israel - with a buddy from school. Their family gets tickets from a family friend, so several times a year they get to sit on the floor, right next to the basket on the visitor’s end of the court. She was super excited. So that she was attired properly, I ran out to find her a Pacers shirt.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
The photo of Carlton Fisk waving his home run fair in game six of the 1975 World Series is iconic. I had no idea there was such a deep story behind it and the man who captured those frames. Harry Cabluck not only caught Fisk dancing down the first base line. He also shot Franco Harris’ Immaculate Reception in 1972. And he was just behind John F. Kennedy’s car in Dallas on November 22, 1963.
Monday, October 9, 2017
The last big, kid sports weekend of the fall is in our rearview mirror. C ran at the City championships on Saturday. That’s where she ran the best race of her life a year ago to finish 6th in the 3rd/4th grade race. This year it was much warmer and very windy, so not ideal running conditions. But coming off the 5th/6th grade girls winning the biggest meet of the regular season three weeks ago, we were hoping they could add a City title.
Friday, October 6, 2017
So I kind of missed out on Tom Petty. I always loved “Refugee,” “You Got Lucky,” and his epic duet with Stevie Nicks, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” But when he really hit his stride, both artistically and commercially, in the mid/late 80s, I was off listening to other stuff. Hip hop and R&B. When I got to college I shifted to alt rock. All genres that stood in stark contrast to what Petty was doing.
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Our contractor put the last touches on our guest bathroom renovation project last night. After eight weeks, we finally kicked the girls down the hall and have a bathroom to ourselves. Two toothbrushes! A clear countertop! No piles of ponytail holders scattered all over the place! Now if we can just keep them from ruining the new bathroom… We had hoped to be done several weeks back. But we had a big snafu with one custom-ordered piece that set us back three weeks.
Thursday, October 5, 2017
The Force - Don Winslow. Winslow writes excellent epics anchored in the world of organized crime. In the past he’s focused on the drug trade, specifically the cartels of Mexico. Here he shifts much farther to the north to look at the life of Denny Malone, Manhattan’s toughest, best, and most powerful detective. Malone’s crew runs North Manhattan. Nothing happens in that part of the city without either his permission or his punishment.
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Yesterday L marched into her classroom and immediately proclaimed that it was the last day she would be attending school as an eight-year-old. Girl is not afraid of attention. Yep, nine years ago today we became parents for the third time. And, as I say every year, L is the ultimate third child. She can size up a room quickly and know how to entertain everyone in it. She can sense when her sisters are fucking up, do the exact opposite thing, and make sure we are aware that her behavior is different.
Friday, September 29, 2017
A mix of old and new this week. open.spotify.com/user/224a… “The Others” - The Jezabels. The proverbial “Between Albums" single from this very fine Aussie group. The song is very fine, too. “Continental Breakfast” - Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile. There are plenty of one-off duets. Not so common are two artists coming together to make an album together. Barnett and Vile are so perfectly matched with their easy, mellow, guitar-based vibes, that this seemed inevitable.
Thursday, September 28, 2017
It’s over. Sure, there are five games left in the 2017 season, but the run for the championship core of the Royals is officially finished. Although the standings kept showing them just out of the Wild Card spots, they’ve effectively been done for about a month. But it became official Tuesday when Minnesota beat Cleveland leaving the Royals too far behind with too few games remaining. What a frustrating season. The death of Yordano Ventura in the off-season was by far the worst thing that happened to this organization over the past year.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Duuuuuuuuude! What a freaking couple of days for college basketball! And we haven’t even started fall practice yet, let alone any games that matter. A couple hours ago one of the 20 greatest coaches in the history of the game got fired. (Correction: he’s officially been placed on leave, although apparently his contract calls for a 10-day grace period before he can be fired for cause.) Yesterday assistants at four other schools were arrested.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Steven Hyden has to be one of the three or four writers I’ve linked to most over the years. I think he’s the best music writer going these days, and have followed him across Pitchfork, the AV Club, Grantland, and now Uproxx. I appreciate both his musical sensibilities and his writing style. I’d say eight times out of ten when he is enthusiastic about an artist, I end up loving them too.
Monday, September 25, 2017
Our September heatwave continues. This weekend would have been a great weekend to sneak in a weekend at the lake. Naturally we had sports both days, so had to just stand/sit and roast in the heat. It was a doubleheader weekend for L in soccer. Her team played at 4:00 Saturday, which was probably the hottest moment of the last 4–5 days: mid–90s, humid, no clouds or breeze to help out.