A much better weekend of football compared to a week ago. Added bonuses of fun stuff involving two of the kids, and maybe the last summery weekend of the year. Let’s get into it.
Friday Friday was L’s 17th birthday. To celebrate we took her and some of her friends to our local hibachi place, which is always fun, more-so with six goofy high schoolers. Our dinner overlapped with the start of the big Cathedral-Center Grove game, but none of us cared, as we expected it to not be much of a game.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“Summer Soft” - Stevie Wonder You find It’s October, and she’s gone…
“Dipped” - HighSchool Earlier this year Aussie band CIVIC released a song called “Chrome Dipped.” Now we have another Aussie band, which does not sound very Aussie at all, with a similarly named track.
“Light Sleeper” - Home Front One of my top 5–10 post-punk bands making music right now.
“DCWDTTY” - Bartees Strange Strange takes some post-punk, mixes it with some Tunde Adebimpe-sounding vocals, and turns it into an ode to his hometown of Washington, DC.
In the Weeds: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain - Tom Vitale A book that has been out three years but I managed not to hear about until just now. Written by one of Anthony Bourdain’s closest associates, it is definitely a warts and all accounting of what it was like to work with the late chef/TV personality. It should not be a surprise that Bourdain was, at times, prickly, quarrelsome, thin-skinned, impatient.
September seemed like a long month. Yet here we are and I only watched one TV series and zero movies? The first holiday baking show of the season is already stacking up in my YouTube TV library, so next month should be better.
Also, over the past week or so I’ve been dialing back my YouTube usage for various reasons. So that part of these posts may get leaner beginning next month.
As promised, a few more sports takes.
NFL A month into the NFL season, so time for a quick look at where we are at. Is there a dominant team, or any clear Super Bowl favorites? I don’t think so.
Buffalo is undefeated, but only thanks to an epic comeback in week one against Baltimore. Their defense has been shaky as hell. The Ravens are a complete mess at the moment.
Two weeks ago my theme for the football weekend was special teams. This weekend it was the teams I follow having meltdowns in the fourth quarter. Only one of those teams survived, sadly the team I care least about.
High School Football Cathedral played Trotwood, a team from Ohio, for homecoming. The Irish jumped out to a 18–0 lead and led 18–6 at halftime. After an early fourth quarter touchdown they led by 19.
A busy week that’s been a bit out-of-sorts, so this week’s playlist includes more old music than I’ve been doing recently. Still good songs!
[open.spotify.com/playlist/...](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3rn7OBbgqmgz5Hghf0hcuy?si=578974db27b440e9)
“Light Night Mountains All That” - Ratboys Last week I shared a recent cover by Ratboys. Right after that they dropped a new single of their own, although no word on a new album date. This one rips.
“Another Second Chance” - Rocket The fifth track I’ve shared from Rocket this year, which seems a little excessive.
I’m off to the eye doctor shortly, which means he’ll dilate my eyes, which means I’m going to be worthless all afternoon. So rather than finish another post I was working on, I’ll share some links instead.
I offer this one without comment, lest any of you report me to my boss and get me fired.
How to Tell the Difference Between a Lone Wolf and a Coordinated Effort by the Radical Left
We are planning for a project that would involve finishing a portion of our currently unfinished side of the basement. To prepare, I’ve been going through some of the crap stored down there to free up space. Part of that is digging through the massive box of sports cards I’ve been lugging around for decades.
I knew these were largely worthless at this point. My generation grew up hearing about the cards bought for pennies in the Fifties and Sixties turning into items that could finance a family vacation, home addition, or even college tuition fund.
A slightly different weekend than usual around here. Plenty of sitting on my ass watching football, which is normal. But a couple car trips, a gathering, and two visitors mixed things up a bit.
High School Football Cathedral had their one easy game of the year Friday, against winless Southport. In fact SHS had not scored a point this year. You knew it was going to be a rough night when the radio announcers said one of the keys to the game for CHS would be to get to a running clock situation as quickly as possible.
This week’s list might be a teensy bit leaner than normal. We have a couple house visitors and it’s been a busy week, so less time to stock this up over the past few days.
[open.spotify.com/playlist/...](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1sYqXGH4mDSfdLFuWle5oI?si=1cd65398d8b04d95)
“September” - Earth, Wind, & Fire It’s that time of year.
“Change My Mind” - Phantastic Ferniture Before she struck out on her own, Julia Jacklin had a band with some friends. Their last album came out in 2018.
Chart Week: September 8, 1984 Song: “Sunglasses At Night” - Corey Hart Chart Position: #9, 16th week on the chart. Peaked at #7 the week of September 1.
Every era of music has its own unique set of identifiers that some listeners use to immediately discredit and dismiss a song. Two entries ago, I discussed string sections in Seventies rock. In the Eighties, it was the synthesizer. To many music fans, often young men, the presence of a synthesizer meant a record was artificial; a soulless studio creation by people lacking musical skills.
A terrible day for America, but this is A+++ headline writing.
In win for infectious diseases, Florida to end all school vaccine requirements
I was never a full-time journalist, but this piece brought back some memories of my days at the Daily Journal. Especially the footnote about keeping a running box score of a high school football game. I’ll get to The Paper at some point.
The Local Newspaper Is Dead.
There was a theme for my football weekend: special teams.
High School Football What a game Friday night, in the big Indy Northside Catholic matchup! Class 4A #1 Chatard jumped out to a 13–0 lead early in the second quarter. The 5A #4 Cathedral defense had actually stopped them on both drives, only to be called for penalties that kept the Trojans alive. The Irish seemed to score their first TD since their opening drive of the season only to have it called back for a penalty.
A juicy list this week with a bunch of good, new tracks; a throwback; a re-imagined classic; and another by a classic artist that is new to me.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“New Distraction” - fanclubwallet Perfect, late summer song. Our three weeks of False Fall have passed and it is going to be in the 90s much of the coming week, so the song fits the moment in our part of the world.
The Magdalen Martyrs, The Dramatist, Priest - Ken Bruen
Books three, four, and five of Bruen’s Jack Taylor series. I read them in five or six days. They are that good.
Like many series there are multiple repeating themes and plot devices. Bur Bruen was a good enough writer that he made each book completely compelling and just different enough where they did not feel like three versions of the same story.
As promised, a few more thoughts from the US Open I scribbled down over the past two weeks.
In general ESPN’s coverage was quite good, as usual. They mix in enough back court matches during the afternoons to give you an idea of that environment. They also do a great job in those pre-prime time hours switching to different matches to at least make you aware there might be a different, more exciting match that you can view on ESPN+.
A very busy weekend, at least when it came to me sitting on my ass in front of the TV.
High School Football A week after being shut out by the best team in Indiana, Cathedral was barely better against one of the best teams from Ohio. The Irish managed just two field goals in a 24–6 loss to St. Xavier. Ohio rankings are weird; I’ve seen St. X ranked anywhere from #2 to #7 in the largest class.
It’s that time of year again: the moment for some extremely half-assed NFL predictions. To begin, let’s spend a few minutes discussing my local team, the Indianapolis Colts. This week The Athletic ran a feature about what franchises were the most optimistic about the upcoming season. This was based on reader input, so highly unscientific. The Colts were dead last. I could stop right there and move on to the league-wide predictions.
Not to ruin your expectations before you work your way through this week’s songs, but I’m not sure about a few of these. Feels like we’ve reached a lull in the new music where I have a lot of B songs. Don’t get me wrong, there are some decent ones in here, especially in the front half of this list. I’m just saying if you get distracted and can’t finish it, I don’t think you’ll miss anything life changing.
Chart Week: August 30, 1986 Song: “Dreamtime” - Daryl Hall Chart Position: #23, 5th week on the chart. Would peak at #5 the week of October 4.
Through the history of pop music, there has been a natural career progression for lead singers of successful bands: once your group peaks, hit the eject button and record a solo album. Sometimes this split is a result of the climb to the top had been long and arduous and everyone needing a break from each other.
Short week. I’m sure none of you working stiffs want to do anything productive. Here are some links to help get you a little closer to the coming weekend.
Here is the oral history that led to my re-watching The 40 Year Old Virgin a couple weeks ago. I loved this tidbit.
Apatow: Steve talked about chest waxing like he had never done it, but after we made the movie, I realized that Steve had clearly been waxing himself for years and knew exactly what was coming.
A laid-back, restful holiday weekend is in the books. Friday was the highlight in terms of number of things going on, so that will be the focus of my notes this week.
Friday As happens this time of year, my attentions were pulled multiple directions Friday evening. The Cathedral game started at 7:00 on the radio. They were taking on 6A #1 and defending state champs Brownsburg, now ranked #35 in the country.
Movies, Shows, etc Dept. Q Lots of chatter about this in July, all saying it was basically Slow Horses but in Scotland and with cops. Which was very accurate. But this was much, much darker than any of the Slow Horses seasons I’ve watched. And broader. In some ways funnier. And definitely more moving. Episode eight was a little flat, which had me leaning towards a B. But episode 9, the season finale, was nearly perfect, one of the better season enders I can recall watching.
Yes, it has arrived: the end of summer. Good thing we’re about to hit the best three months of the year, or I’d be more sad that another summer is in the books.
[open.spotify.com/playlist/...](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0RltQooc7msHF5HaXBOgUn?si=f1a6ae48484d4911)
“Summer’s Over” - Jordana & TV Girl Obvious starting point.
“Chateau Blues” - Spoon Spoon are in the early stages of recording their next album. They also started a new tour opening for the Pixies this week.
Chart Week: August 20, 1977 Song: “Telephone Line” - Electric Light Orchestra Chart Position: #16, 11th week on the chart. Peaked at #7 for two weeks in September and October.
When I dove into this countdown last Saturday I was interested to see what it had to offer. Would a particular song jump out and lead to my next RFTS post? Or would Casey share some fun, new-to-me story that got my music trivia juices flowing?
I’ve been on a hot streak this month. In addition to the books below, I have three more I need to share. As they are related, I’m saving those for next week.
King of Ashes - S.A. Cosby The latest addition to Cosby’s growing collection of terrific thrillers. Here Roman, a rising Atlanta financial advisor to athletes and other celebrities, returns to his childhood home in Virginia when his father goes into a coma following a car accident.
A relatively laid-back weekend that saw the return of football at multiple levels and a glorious change in the weather.
High School Football The high school season began in Indiana Friday. 5A #2 CHS took on Ben Davis, a traditional 6A power that won state two years ago but is in rebuilding mode.[1] I figured CHS would win fairly easily. I guess that happened. The Irish were never really challenged, but could only score once themselves for an 8–0 win.
As I begin putting this playlist together Thursday evening, I’m not really sure where it is going. There are several older songs in the queue and I’m trying to figure out which newer ones to pull in. Let’s take a musical journey together and see where we land!
[open.spotify.com/playlist/...](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1OZsjP4UnbQ27b9D2h9ubz?si=b8317359f1f1482d)
“From The Night” - The Prize Hell yes! Some very solid power-pop-punk from Australia.
“Simply Obsessed” - Field Medic If you combined Trace Mountains and Wild Pink, but turned them into jangle pop, the result would probably sound like this.
Like some of our friends a few hundred miles west, yesterday was college drop-off day for us. We picked a good one, too. The first day of IU dorm move in was Tuesday, a day that saw heat indices well over 100° with rounds of heavy rain in Bloomington. Wednesday, though? Cloudy, relatively cool, with a blessed relief from the humidity that has plagued us all summer. That part of the day was a big win.