D's Notebook

Month: November 2017 (Page 2 of 2)

Friday Playlist

November 10, 2017 /

“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.

“Find the River” – R.E.M. Today is the release date for the 25th anniversary edition of Automatic For The People, so might as well include another song from it. This has to be in the pantheon of all-time great closing tracks, the perfect summation of the perfect album.

“For Nancy (‘Cos It Already Is)” – Pete Yorn. Man, this song… I had no idea who Pete Yorn was and then I heard this song in the summer of 2001 on the old Music Choice channels that were part of my cable package in Kansas City. It’s a cornerstone song for that era, when we were coming out of the grunge years but the indie rock ‘00s hadn’t really kicked off yet. The entire album, musicforthemorningafter, is an underrated classic. 

Quick Notes

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. Compare that to Indianapolis, where you have a 10-minute walk just to get to security. And then likely another 10 minutes to get to your gate. And IND is a small airport!

That said, I’m all for my hometown building a single-terminal airport. IND is really nice, and when you throw out the unique KCI, it’s comparatively very fast to get through. Hopefully Kansas City will follow Indianapolis’ lead in building something that has space for the future but keeps the middle-sized city compactness to it.

Colts

Andrew Luck’s season is over without it ever beginning. There are rumors – some substantiated, some disputed – that folks within the organization are calling out Luck for his inability to play – well practice – with pain. Let’s not forget it was the Colts who built a terrible offensive line in front of Luck that forced him to flee for his life or get pummeled on every snap. Let’s not forget it was the Colts who, likely, mismanaged several of his injuries over the past two years. I understand frustration with an injury that seems to be defying what the medical experts forecast in terms of recovery time. But there doesn’t need to be any throwing of Luck under the bus.

Oh, IF he comes back healthy next year, he’ll begin the year having just turned 29. And the offensive line will still be shit.

We thought we had the next Elway when the Colts drafted Luck, and a worthy successor to Peyton Manning. It’s looking more and more like Luck’s career will mirror Archie Manning’s that Elway, Peyton, or even Dan Marino. Moments of brilliance but ultimately disappointment at a missed opportunity.

KU Basketball

I watched their exhibition game last night. Kind of sorry I did. They did not look good at all in the first half, only mildly interested and lethargic. My first thought was they had been run really hard in practice on Monday and were suffering. The mantra the past couple years for KU hoops has been “this team has less margin for error than in the past.” That’s even more true this year. We’ll see how they look when the games count, but right now, on November 8, I think this could be the year the Big 12 title streak finally ends.

Sick Days

We had our first sick kid day of the year yesterday. C stayed home not feeling well. Ironically she had the first sick day of the year last year, also on November 7. I know that because of a Facebook post from that day. S suggested she watch A League of Their Own and said Madonna was in it. C’s response, “Who’s Madonna?” I guess I’ll go ahead and mark her down for absent on 11/7/18.

Leaves

What a weird fall. Hardly any leaves fell early. Colors changed quickly and a bunch come down last week. But we still have trees that are normally bare right around Halloween that are full of leaves. It’s made for easier gutter cleaning than normal. And we only spent an hour blowing leaves at the lake Saturday, although that may have much to do with my finally investing in a gas blower instead of S and I using two electric blowers like in the past.

Comfort Zone

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. So when I do have a lengthy encounter with someone I don’t know, it always stands out.

A week or so ago I was making my normal Monday grocery run. I went to a store I don’t normally go to, wearing a generic KC hat.[1] I was heading toward the meat cooler when I noticed a woman looking at me and making a beeline in my direction. I looked away, looked back, and she was still heading right at me. My first thought was that she had her eye on a particular package of pork chops and was worried I was going to get it first. But then she broke into a smile and I began racking my brain for if I knew her from somewhere. She was probably in her early 60s, so I’m thinking grandmother from St. P’s, parent of one of S’s friends, etc.

Anyway, she rolls up on me and kind of nervously says, “Is that for Kansas City?”

It took me a moment to realize she was asking about my hat.

“Oh, yeah, it is. Are you from there?”

“I thought so! No, but we just had some very good friends move there.”

Thus kicked off a roughly 10-minute conversation. And by conversation I mean she stood there and told me all about her friends who moved to KC, what their jobs were, how this woman and her husband used to have dinner with them, what each one of the four would make for their dinners, etc. The man who moved to KC made really good lasagna and his wife made the most wonderful salad to go along with it.

So, you know, I was totally comfortable with all of this.

Eventually she asked me what I did and what my wife did. When I told her, she mentioned that she had a friend who was in medicine. Then segued into telling me about her daughter who lives in North Carolina for about five minutes.

I kept waiting for some kind of pitch to come. The question of whether I’ve accepted Jesus. Or if I’ve heard of Amway. Or even about how she was down on her luck and could just use a few bucks to buy some groceries for the week.

None of that ever came, though. I think she was just a lonely lady looking to talk to someone, and my KC hat was just the opening she needed to corner me.

After several awkward pauses and me saying, “Well…” she finally wished me a good day and left me to finish my shopping. Which I did nervously, hoping I wouldn’t get cornered by someone else.

Needless to say I’ve not been back to that store or worn that hat while doing my shopping since.

  1. It is royal blue with gold, block KC on the front. So vaguely Royal-esque in a late 1970s way. I got it off an ad on Instagram. It’s kinda dope.  ↩

Friday Playlist

November 3, 2017 /

“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. Where Bridges mills the early 60s, Harding pulls his sound from the early 70s, when soul music was exploding and going 100 different directions. His music has a lot of the same influences in it as Cee Lo Green’s music. Which makes sense, since Harding was a backing vocalist and musician on Green’s biggest hits. The album is a really good listen.

“Atlas Drowned” – Gang of Youths. Another one from my current music obsession. A week-plus into listening to their album constantly, this song is emerging as one of my absolute favorites. And the album itself is creeping up my best of the year list. Which has only 5-6 weeks left before I have to lock it in and share it with the world.

“Maria También” – Khruangbin. I don’t usually include instrumental tracks, but this one is delightful and demanded a spot on the playlist. These kids are from Texas but are obsessed with Thai funk, thus their name which translates to “Engine Fly” in Thai. OK then. 

“Town Called Malice” – The Jam. This song doesn’t get enough respect in the States. I’m a huge Clash fan, but I can also make a pretty reasonable argument that this is the best song to come out of the first wave of British punk bands in the late 70s. The organs and Motown bass disguise a pretty stark look at life in England in the dreary 70s, and Paul Weller’s hope to change things just a little bit.

Game Seven

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. Those runners were wasted, though, and the game settled into a slow slog toward the inevitable. For the first hour or so it seemed like we were on pace for another barnburner like game four. Sadly it was not to be.

Major props to Houston for solving their biggest problem of the post season – an ineffective bullpen – at the perfect moment. Brad Peacock, Francisco Liriano, Chris Devenski, and Charlie Morton were nearly flawless in locking down the Dodgers for seven-plus innings. I kept waiting for the Dodgers to string together a 3–4 hits to make it interesting, but they just could not figure out the Astros’ arms.

Which is a shame, because this series, between these teams, deserved some nervy moments late in the game.

There’s something especially cruel about the baseball season ending this way, at least for the losing team. The Dodgers flirted with the best record of all time for a good stretch of the summer. They won the division that produced both NL Wild Card teams by a ridiculous margin. They got through the playoffs relatively easily and then to the final game of the World Series. Then they were basically hopeless after the second inning. But baseball is a funny sport, and even the best teams have awful nights throughout the season. Sometimes those nights come in an elimination game, which sucks.

Let us not forget that Houston had just as impressive of a regular season. They battled from behind to beat the Yankees in the ALCS and provided some incredible moments during the World Series. They are a very likable team and are a lot of fun to watch. They’re probably going to be really good for awhile. This was not an upset.

I like to say that players, franchises, and cities never “deserve” championships simply because they’ve played for a long time, had a long era of poor records, or have been through devastation of one kind or another. But I think Justin Verlander and Carlos Beltran are both very worthy of grabbing the late career title. The Astros burned their organization down and built it back up, losing over 100 games three straight years in the process. They were remarkably lucky with so many of their top picks not just making the big leagues, but turning into stars. And the Houston area, after Hurricane Harvey, is a sentimental favorite to get the city’s first World Series title. I was pulling for the Dodgers because L was, but I had no problem with the Astros winning.

Now time for some college hoops…

Halloween 2017

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. M went with a neighborhood friend one way. C went with another neighborhood friend another way. And L took off with her aunts and uncles and trio of one-year-old cousins to make a different loop. Meanwhile I hung out with our neighbors in the driveway next to a fire while eating and drinking. S, who had a crazy day at work, stayed inside and worked on her charting most of the evening. So no more wandering around the ‘hood with the girls while they filled their buckets and bags with goodies.

Oh, costumes. M had hemmed and hawed for a couple weeks and ended up wearing a llama onesie we found at Target.[1] M LOVES llamas so was pretty excited. It was also a much warmer choice than her other options, which was important. The friend she went around with had a matching giraffe costume, which was perfect and random: they weren’t planning on going together but somehow ended up cruising the streets next to each other all night. M also claimed this was her last year of trick or treating since her friend next door will be in high school next year, and high schoolers don’t trick or treat. Never mind that they ended up not going together last night, and the girl M hung out with is a freshman. So maybe we’ll get her out one more year.

C went as a Starbucks barista. She also had about five different ideas over the past few months, several of which would have required crafting skills both S and I lack. The two friends she hung out with both went as crazy cat ladies, wearing robes with stuffed cats sewn onto them and curlers in their hair. I’m not sure why C didn’t want to join in with them, but she got lots of compliments on her Starbucks hat and apron, which I found on eBay and were of really high quality.[2]

L also had multiple ideas and ended up going as a sumo wrestler. Her costume had a little fan that screwed into the side to keep it inflated. It was pretty hilarious but also a little tough to get around in.

What was also weird about the night was how quiet our neighborhood was. I’m not sure if we’ve had a lot of turnover in the subdivision and now have a mix of older and younger kids, but the streets seemed deserted all night. We hardly had any kids come down our cul-de-sac and the girls said the main streets weren’t busy either. It was chilly but dry, so it’s not like the years it has rained or snowed and kept people inside. Weird. We had a ton of candy left over.

So it was a very different Halloween than all the others we’ve been through since we became parents. While it was nice to just hang out in one spot next to a warm fire, afterward I felt like I missed out on the night a little bit. Especially given how light the overall trick or treating was.

And today is the first All Saints Day we haven’t had a kid dressed up as a saint in forever as well. Man, this kids getting older thing is throwing me for a big loop.

  1. Credit to Caroline N in KC who wore the same thing to a trunk or treat last week. M saw a pic on Facebook and was inspired.  ↩
  2. We had to fix the apron string twice before she went out.  ↩
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