Month: October 2019 (Page 2 of 2)

Friday Playlist

“Cusp” – Youth Group. After a decade away from recording, the great Australian jangle-pop band Youth Group returns with a brand new album today. I’ve not listened to it yet, but I’m loving the sound of the first single.

“Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You)” – Bombay Bicycle Club. BBC hasn’t been on hiatus as long as Youth Group, but when their new album comes out in January, it will be their first in nearly four years. This is a promising first listen at what’s to come. BBC will almost certainly be making an appearance on my Favorite Songs of the Decade list, which is only about two months away from release.

“Forgotten Eyes” – Big Thief. Their second album of the year is out today, and I’m looking forward to taking a listen in a bit. I doubt they’ve sold that many albums or cracked terrestrial airwaves very well, but Big Thief is still having one of the biggest years in indie rock.

“Scare Easy” – T. Hardy Morris covering Mudcrutch. I don’t know much about Morris – he was the lead singer of Dead Confederate – and I never listened to much original Mudcrutch – Tom Petty’s first band. I do know I really dig the sludgy, mellow ‘70s vibe on this track.

“Cars” – Gary Numan. Two things I’ve learned recently about this Mt. Rushmore of New Wave song: 1) Prince was obsessed with it, and Numan’s sound overall. Numan’s use of synthesizers had a huge influence on the music Prince made in his prime. 2) This song was based on a real event in Numan’s life, when he hid in his car to avoid a group of thugs that were chasing him after a gig. “Here in my car, I feel safest of all…” has a whole different meaning in that context.

A Few Baseball Notes

Each year as we pass through October I enjoy the memories that pop up in my Facebook feed from Octobers past. Specifically the Octobers of 2014 and 2015, when the Royals were keeping me up late so many nights as they won two-straight American League pennants.

Then there were the memories from years after the R’s run, when I joked about not thinking I would still stay up late to watch baseball when, in fact, I was staying up until 1:00 watching more crazy, extra-inning games.

Not this year, though. I have been casually watching games over the past week. But I generally check out around 11:00/11:30 regardless of the state of the game. I don’t have enough invested in any team this year plus I’m a few years older and have a harder time justifying being miserable the next day for a game that I don’t really care about.

The bitch of that is the meds that the good doc put me on to fight my poison ivy rash keep me from sleeping for more than two hours at a time at night. So I’ve been waking up around 1:30 or so, coming downstairs to read for awhile as my body resets, and checking the scores.

When I did that Thursday morning I was shocked to see that the Dodgers blew their lead and the Washington Nationals had advanced to the NLCS with a dramatic, extra inning win. I was not shocked to see that Clayton Kershaw was responsible for the Dodgers giving up their lead.

Although he’s had a few amazing post season performances, there is no doubt that he is now the biggest postseason…I’m struggling for the right word here…failure/frustration/goat/disappointment of his generation. One of the three or four best pitchers of his era and he consistently comes up short in the biggest moments of October. Of course, playing for the Dodgers he may still have four or five more chances to finally win a World Series even as his skills are slowly fading. That leaves him with, at best, a chance to have a John Elway-like career in terms of postseason success. It’s going to be hard to wipe away all those failures, though.

Good for Howie Kendrick for hitting the 10th inning grand slam that sent the Nats through. Seems like he’s been a very solid, but never great, player forever. I like that he has such a big moment to cap his career.

I also missed yesterday’s other game 5, the one in Atlanta between the Cardinals and Braves. L wanted me to pitch to her so we spent half an hour in the front yard hitting before I remembered that the game had started. I checked the score between pitches, saw the Cards were up 10–0, and knew I didn’t even have to turn it on.

I was pleased that this was finally the year that the Twins-Yankees matchup turned out differently. Oh, wait, it didn’t.

My World Series champ pick has been Houston. So I’m a little surprised they are facing a game five against Tampa today. Which also bums me out because that series going long means their rotation won’t be aligned ideally to face the Yankees should they advance. If things open up for the Yankees, I’ll probably dive back into the Netflix queue for the rest of the month.

Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 32

A bit of a change-of-pace for this entry. The focus will not be on one song, or a couple songs, but rather an entire chart.

This countdown was from Memorial Day weekend, 1988. In it, Casey counted down the top new artists of the 1980s. Which seems a little strange since there was a year-and-a-half left in the decade. But in the spring of 1988, Casey’s reign as host of AT40 was about to come to an end. I don’t think it would be announced until later in the summer, but by May Casey knew that he would be leaving as host of the show he created in 1971 because of a contract dispute. So I’m wondering if he chose to do this countdown as a way of beginning his good bye process.

Regardless of it’s origin, it was a fun countdown to listen to. Partially because I can’t remember ever hearing a countdown like it that went away from the weekly top 40 format, other than in the end-of-year countdowns.

But it also struck me as compelling because I tuned in just after it began and something jumped out as me as odd and kept me listening for the next couple hours, even as I ran errands and picked up kids from school.

Before we jump into the list, a note on methodology. Well, Casey never really explained the methodology but I gathered that this list of artists was made based on their performance on the Billboard singles chart. And it was limited to artists that charted for the first time in the 1980s. So, as Casey pointed out in the final half hour, no Bryan Adams, who charted in 1976 (!), and no Prince, the Police, John Cougar Mellencamp, or Pat Benatar, who all charted in 1979.

I turned the countdown on in the mid–30s. I believe the first artist I heard was The Jets at #36. Then came #35. Casey said this Irish band, after years of building a loyal fanbase on “college and alternative radio,” had blown up the previous year to become the biggest band in the world.

Obviously this was U2. And I thought it funny that the “biggest band in the world” was checking in at #35. In a way that makes sense, as they had only cracked the Top 40 once before 1987, and that was “Pride (In The Name of Love)” which peaked at 33. But as you will see, the two #1’s and #13 single they had in ’87 challenges what some bands that would come later in the countdown would have.

I knew some of the bands that charted higher would make me laugh, or in some cases react with outrage. So here are the rest of the artists from that countdown, with some commentary.

(By the way, worth noting that about an hour of the time I was listening to this countdown was while I was pulling the poison ivy or whatever vines off our trees. Although the steroids the Mrs. put me on have helped some, I’m still itchy as hell. Thanks for asking.)


34 Night Ranger.

Right away we have a “Really?” Night Ranger had a few hits, but were they really bigger than U2 in 1987? They did have six top 20 hits, but none that got past #5. For each act Casey had a little blurb about their success before playing one of their songs. The blurb for Night Ranger was Jack Blades saying that they had reached the point where they could put out an album and know it would sell a million copies and they would tour it for a year. Simpler times.

33 Belinda Carlisle

OK, she was pretty big. One of two artists who will appear both as a solo artists and as part of a group.

32 Lisa Lisa

I loved LL, but bigger than U2? Suspect.

31 Debarge

Come on, man…

30 Howard Jones

I liked HoJo, but mercy.

29 Corey Hart

Not a one-hit wonder.

28 Go-Go’s

Belinda appears again. This seems low for one of the most influential bands of the decade.

27 Bon Jovi

New Jersey came out in the fall of 1988. They would be much higher had this list been done at the proper end of the decade. Speaking of, I’ve been dabbling with my Best of the Decade list for months. It’s time to get serious about it.

26 Pet Shop Boys

I forget that they weren’t just an arty band, but had four top 10 hits after their #1 smash “West End Girls,” the only one I really liked.

25 Loverboy

The kid is hot tonight!

24 Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

When you have one of the biggest songs of the decade, you can ride it a long way. Had only two other top ten songs with a handful that barely dented the back half of the chart.

23 Exposé

Say what now? I think I owned their debut album but I only remember two songs. But, goddamn, they had a great run. The four singles off their debut charted 5–5–7–1. Then the singles off their second album, which was released in 1989 after this list, went 8–10–9–17. I had no idea. Respect.

22 Tears for Fears

A vote for good music, this. It helps to have your first three singles go 1–1–3.

21 Thompson Twins

Another that seems high. Four top 11 songs, but none higher than #3. I’d push them down the list.

20 George Michael

The other artist to chart twice. Faith was in the midst of its run, having already produced two #1’s, with three more to come. Do this list later in the year and George is probably #2 on the whole damn thing.

19 Human League

Again, one massive hit and a few minor ones add up.

18 Billy Idol

You will all be pleased to hear that Casey played the live version of “Mony Mony” to represent Billy’s work.

17 Bangles

Two huge hits, including the biggest song of 1987, and you push up against the top 15. Still seems a little high given their overall output.

16 Miami Sound Machine

This one kind of amazed me. Casey pointed out they were one of the biggest selling acts in the world before they began singing in English and charting. I don’t think that had anything to do with this placement, though. Looking at their output, this ranking makes no sense. They had a steady run of 10–8–5–25–5–36–6 before this countdown. But that really doesn’t seem to merit #16 on the list.

15 Laura Brannigan

“Glory-Gloriaaaaaaaaa!” But, again, this kind of makes no sense. Three top ten hits and two other top 20’s. I’m starting to think Casey’s staff was just making these up as they went.
“What about Laura Branigan, we haven’t included her yet?”
“Shit, I don’t want to have to re-do the whole thing. Just put her in the next spot.”

14 Irene Cara

The female Kenny Loggins. Two massive, timeless, title tracks from two different movies. Four other top 40 hits were the icing on the pie.

13 Eurythmics

Funny how a group that got laughed at by many for their first video became one of the biggest acts of the decade. A vote for good music here.

12 Janet Jackson

Five top-five hits off one album is epic. Another artist who jumps higher if we go to the end of the decade and include the first two singles from Rhythm Nation.

11 Men at Work

Had two #1 singles – including one of the iconic songs of the decade – along with #3 and #6 hits. Two other minor hits. Then they disappeared. Perhaps the ultimate ‘80s band.

10 Wham!

I only liked two Wham! songs (“Everything She Wants” and “Freedom”), so this seems high to me. Then I looked and saw they had three #1’s and two #3’s in their brief run. Since this was a singles-driven countdown, #10 makes sense.

9 Christopher Cross

Here’s the “Holy shit!” entry of the list. Dude was huge for about three years then completely disappeared.

8 Survivor

It keeps happening, but here is the clearest case of how one blockbuster song followed by a series of singles that peppered the top ten can elevate a band. “Eye of the Tiger” is one of the biggest songs of the decade. The rest of their songs, most with second lead singer Jimi Jamison, were big in the moment if largely forgettable. But “Tiger” was so big it really drags those five other top 20 hits a long way.

7 Cyndi Lauper

The breakout star of the summer of 1984 had a really good run through the late 80s. Eight top ten hits in under seven years is great work.

6 Culture Club

This seems high to me, too. But a #1, two #2’s, their first five singles all hit the top ten, followed by three that hit the top 20. I suppose that’s more impressive than Men at Work’s accomplishments.

5 Whitney Houston

For several artists Casey played little audio clips from interviews. Whitney in 1988 did not sound like the Whitney who would be a reality TV famous/infamous a decade-and-a-half later.

4 Duran Duran

For awhile they were bigger than the Beatles. At least in terms of sales; never in terms of influence or quality. Nine top tens and some of the most unforgettable videos of the decade made them iconic.

3 Air Supply

These wankers had a shitload of terrible songs that people bought the fuck out of. If I ever do my breakdown of the best weekly Top 10’s of the decade, they will always be the element that drags a week down.

2 Huey Lewis & the News

God damn, Huey! 1982–1989: #7, #36, #41, #8, #6, #6, #6, #18, #1, #1, #3, #1, #9, #6, #3, #25.

1 Madonna

Was there any doubt?

Nobody Likes a Bragger

I feel like I’m not much of a bragger. I’ll toot my own horn on occasion, but I like to think I pick my spots and am not annoying about it. I also know that bragging inevitably comes back to bite you in the ass, so in addition to making you look bad, it’s just tempting fate.

Example: just a week ago I was bragging a little about how I’m not allergic to poison ivy. We had done some yard work the previous week and, like clockwork, S had a few blotchy rashes from making contact with poison ivy. As long as we’ve been married, when we do yard work, she ends up with a rash, I come out clean. I might get a couple bumps on my arm, but never the bad rash that she gets. We had some friends over, they were commenting on S’s rash, and I made it clear how poison ivy doesn’t bother me.

Then, last Monday, the back of my left hand started itching. And then that arm. And then my right arm. Over the next couple days the itching spread to both legs and all along both wrists. The bumps grew into angry rashes that I did my best not to scratch.

By Saturday morning the rashes were much worse and I was lathering myself in creams and lotions to try to control the itching. I was glad the weather turned cooler so I could wear long sleeves and try to hide the rash when I was out in public.

Both Saturday and Sunday nights I would wake every few hours to find myself scratching one appendage or another and would shuffle into the bathroom to coat the rashes with another layer of ointment. I tried taking Benadryl to help me sleep through the itching but that was no help.

The worst part is it doesn’t seem to be getting better but rather new hot spots keep popping up. My right eye is swelling because there are bumps both on my eyelid and below my eye. Somehow I got the rash inside my belly button (I assure you was wearing a shirt while doing yard work). This morning I awoke to find several new spots. The itching seemed to be better until about 10:00 when I was suddenly a hot mess again.

I realized I did not pick this up the same night S and I were pulling landscape netting out of the yard. Rather, almost two weeks ago, I decided to cut a bunch of vines off a tree. In retrospect all or most of them were poison ivy/oak/sumac. I know I came in and took a shower immediately after finishing, but now I’m trying to remember what I touched afterward, what shoes I was wearing, etc and then doing my best to wipe all those surfaces so that any oils I brought in are gone. I trashed my shower loofah in case there was oil on it and that’s why the rash has spread to some weird locations that weren’t exposed.

What a mess!

I want to take this moment to sincerely apologize for ever bragging about not being allergic to poison ivy and let those of you who have suffered through this before know that I feel your pain. I’ll do my best to keep my mouth shut the next time I have the opportunity to brag about something.

Friday Vid

The Hood Internet presents 1979.
OK, a video after all. And this is right up my alley. The Hood Internet has taken 50-odd songs from 1979 and put them together into this wonderful mix. Even better, the next four weeks will feature videos from 1980–1983. Yes, I’ll be sure to share them as well.

Happy weekend!

Friday Playlist

A few songs for your Friday.

“Shining Down” – Jesse Malin. Malin is an artist who has been on the periphery of what I like for a few years now. He’s worked with Ryan Adams, and that influence comes through rather clearly on this song.

“Get Lost” – Queen of Jeans. Love the vibe of this track that is about moving on. Feels perfect for the day that fall finally arrived in Indiana.

“All This Music Must Fade” – The Who. I’m generally out on bands that have been around forever releasing new music. I haven’t liked a new U2 song in 15 years or more. New Pearl Jam tracks don’t move me. Everything Foo Fighters put out sounds the same to me. At first glance, this song sounds just like everything The Who have put out in the back half of their career. But there’s something about it that is comfortable and makes it work. They aren’t trying to crank it up to 11 anymore, but there’s also enough of an edge just below the surface to remind you they were once the biggest and best band in the world. And I love the cheekiness of the lyrics. Not a great song, but certainly a fun one that I’ll listen to for a week or two.

“See A Little Light” – Bob Mould. I was listening to some Bob yesterday, specifically taking another listen to the album he released earlier this year. When it was done, Spotify jumped right into their Top Tracks for him and this old classic was first on the list.

Golf Update

It’s been a couple weeks, time for a quick-ish golf update.

I have played three times since I last checked in; two nine-hole rounds and my first 18 of the year. On the 9’s, I shot 52 and 48. On the 48 I actually played the entire nine without losing a ball, which may never have happened. I should note that on one hole I blasted my drive way right and figured it was gone. Two holes later I found it sitting near my tee shot on that green. Neither time did I hit the ball as well as in my first round a few weeks back. But both times my short game and putting was outstanding.

That’s the lure of golf. One day you hit it well off the tee but suck everywhere else. The next you can’t keep it in the fairway but once you’re inside 100 yards, you’re money. Next thing you know you’re thinking, “If I could just put those two halves together!” and you get obsessed.

For my 18, I went to a new course. Another fairly open, pretty generic public track. I went out last Thursday and there was almost no one else out. There was a single in front of me, who let me play through on the second tee because he was walking and playing two balls, and a twosome in front of me who I passed at the turn. With that space, I spent a lot of the day hitting two balls per hole. I needed to do that, as I was all over the place again. There weren’t a ton of trees, but I kept finding them. It was a bit distressing how often I found myself either in the trees or lining a shot off a limb.

Playing the two balls was key. I’m not turning my scores in for a handicap, so I had no problem counting only the best ball from each hole. With that in mind, I finished with a 97. I’m not officially counting it as my first ever sub–100 round, but I think it shows my improvement. Again, I putted pretty well and I chipped well on about two-thirds of the holes. Tee game was garbage. Fairway game came-and-went. But, still, progress. Somewhere I read that high handicappers should add a stroke to par on each hole and focus on playing to that number. Doing that I actually had eight pars and two birdies. Only one really bad hole, where I lost two balls and carded a nine.

A Scummy 97
A Scummy 97

I reminded myself that not only have I never broken 100, I generally shot in the 110+ range back in the day. And that was with a lot of lie improvement, not counting every penalty stroke, etc. I’m certainly not adhering to the official scoring rules 100% yet, but I’m playing closer to those rules than I used to.

I also had to remind myself that according to pretty much every source I can find, the average amateur golfer in the US shoots 100. It’s easy to get lost in the scores of friends who are single handicaps and break 80 routinely. It’s a good reminder that the majority of people out there are in the same fight I am. And that if I keep working and improving, getting down into the 90s is a big deal, not only compared to what I used to shoot, but compared to the average golfer.

I had my second lesson today. At my first lesson back in July, I felt like I could barely hit the ball. Today I was hitting it well from the start, getting lots of compliments from my coach. Just as he had me hit driver for the first time, the owners of the range came over to say hello to him. They are old friends and hadn’t seen each other in a while. I was taking a three-quarter swings with the driver and on one just murdered the ball, hitting a low, straight rocket that didn’t carry all that far, but did roll forever. “Not sure why you’re taking a lesson from him with a swing like that,” one of the owners said. That was about the only driver I hit well in the session, but it was obviously well-timed!

We honed in on a few areas I had been struggling with. I have no idea how to hit a hybrid, so we worked on that a bit until I was generally hitting decent ones. When I’ve played for some reason I struggle hitting irons off the tee on par 3’s, so we spent awhile working on that as well. I never got that locked in, and as tends to happen when I hit a series of bad shots, that get me out of my groove and the final few balls of the session with driver were all violent slices.

Despite that poor finish, both my coach and I were pleased with my progress. I hit a lot of good shots today, where back in July you would think I had never swung a club before. He said a lot of my swing is good, it is mostly about focusing on a few small areas to bring it all together and make it more consistent.

So, again, progress. I’m going to try to get out and play on Friday (tomorrow is parent-teacher conference day at St. P’s) at one course or the other, hopefully a full 18 again. In addition to locking in the swing areas that are deficient, I need to learn how to make good swings over 18 holes. I have a tendency to lose it then fight for a stretch of 3–4–5 holes trying to get it back.

Stats

September 2019

  • Prince – 85
  • Sam Fender – 80
  • The War on Drugs – 25
  • Beastie Boys – 23
  • Hiss Golden Messenger – 19

Complete stats available at my Last.fm page

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