Month: May 2024 (Page 2 of 2)

Reader’s Notebook, 5/14/24


Reckless – Chrissie Hynde
While doing my research for the recent RFTS post about The Pretenders, I came across several references to Hynde’s memoir. As soon as I completed that post, I checked and, LO!, the ebook was available at the library. I got it onto my Kindle and knocked it out over the next 36 hours.

It is a great, if limited where it really counts, rock memoir. Hynde shares pretty much everything she experienced in life, good and bad. From her traditional childhood in Ohio to her discovery of music and the alternative lifestyles available on college campuses in the early Seventies. I’m not sure I knew she was a student at Kent State and one of her friends was among those killed when Ohio National Guard troops fired on students during Vietnam protests. She shares her discovery of drugs and sex, and how there wasn’t much in those realms that she didn’t dabble in. She never asks for the reader’s forgiveness or expresses much regret about her actions, even those that seem pretty harrowing in retrospect. It was just the journey she was on and those experiences are what turned her into the woman and artist she became.

I say the book is limited because it takes her a long time to get to her actual career as a musician. There are lots of starts and stops in that aspect of her life, especially when she moves to England and works with a number of artists who go onto create legendary bands of the punk area right after they stop working with her. The Clash. The Sex Pistols. The Damned. The Slits. Chrissie Hynde worked with members of each group before they became the bands who became famous.

Finally, in the last quarter of the book, she finds three musical partners in crime and forms The Pretenders. Their success is quick but the lifespan of the core four is brief. She basically ends the book after the band fires Pete Farndon and James Honeyman-Scott dies. The Pretenders had most of their biggest hits after the summer of 1982, but she glosses over everything that came after those terrible days in July.

Hynde has been through a lot. There is a Keith Richards quality to her life. After learning the details, you wonder how the hell she is still alive to tell her story and continue singing her songs. Her frankness and acceptance of all that she has been through make this a compelling read.



Crooked Seeds – Karen Jennings
My latest “Critically Acclaimed Book I Didn’t Quite Get.” There might be a reason I’ve never been in a book club…

This book centers on a disabled woman in modern South Africa struggling to get through her daily life. Police show up and begin asking questions about her past and force her to confront some ugly truths about her family’s history at the end of the Apartheid era. Along the way we learn how she became disabled, and how that is tied to an extremely problematic episode in that family timeline.

I know Jennings was making some broad statements about the ugliness of both the Apartheid era and how the promise of the New South Africa got trampled upon pretty quickly. I just didn’t find any of the characters to be interesting. I kept searching for ways to be sympathetic, especially to the main character, but never could connect with her.



The Bitter Past – Bruce Borgos
As with Crooked Seeds, this tells a story from two different time perspectives. The first is a modern investigation into a brutal murder of a retired FBI agent in rural Nevada. It soon becomes apparent that the murder was done by a Russian agent searching for a turned Soviet spy from the 1950s. The local sheriff, who had served as an Army intelligence officer and did a tour in Russia, with assistance from an FBI agent, is tasked with finding the modern Russian before they can kill again.

In parallel we are told the story of the 1950s Soviet agent, who infiltrates the US nuclear testing program in Nevada with the goal of creating an accident that kills thousands of civilians and turns the American public against the nuclear weapons program. This may surprise you, but he has misgivings. And, obviously, he is still alive in 21st Century Nevada so something happened to keep him in the States.

A few of Borgos’ plot elements are pretty clumsy. Their clumsiness makes the twists in the final quarter of the book apparent from a long way away. Yet it’s still an interesting story, and I read most of it near the pool over the weekend, so I didn’t mind that clumsiness. It was just fine for sitting in the sun and turning virtual pages without having to remember too many details.

Weekend Notes

A nice weekend here in Indy. I know eventually it will come back to bite us in the ass, but this is like the fifth or sixth straight season here that has been terrific. It got warm early but didn’t turn into summer in April. We’ve had a few cooldowns but none of those surprise weeks when you go from shorts and tees to coats and hats again. All that after a mild winter, a normal fall, a terrific summer, another nice spring, and I believe a relatively warm winter a year ago. Mother Nature is loading up for something big.

The pool has been open since Monday and by Friday the water was both warm and filtered enough to get in. L had friends over Friday night, and after spending the night they hung around to swim Saturday. We hosted S’s dad and stepmom for dinner Saturday night. Sunday we hung out around the pool, with two of the local nephews coming over to get their first swims of the year in.


Kid Props

I mentioned Friday that I had to attend a function Friday morning. I went into school early with L to attend the Blessed Basil Moreau awards ceremony. We knew she would receive an award. We were not told what it was for or who had nominated her when we got the invitation.

When we arrived her religion teacher, Mrs. K, strolled over and sat with us. She had both M and C in her classes, so we chatted a bit about them.

The ceremony began and Mrs. K went to the podium and asked L to join her. She said a series of nice things about L’s attitude, leadership, and dedication. She said L was the kind of kid you wished you had 24 more of in class. She then shared a specific example of L’s behavior.

One day L saw one of her friends getting picked on in class. L didn’t think that was right, so she went and sat with her friend, calmed her down, got her back on track, and after class let Mrs. K know about the situation.

That all sounded pretty good.

After the ceremony I asked for the whole story.

“It was T,” she said, referring to a basketball teammate who is autistic and has been targeted by a few mean girls this year. “This little bitch was picking on her because she knows T won’t say anything back to her. So I went over and shut that shit down.”

Even prouder, especially for how she related what happened! Of course, if Mrs. K had heard that version she might not have nominated L for the award!

Now L is a part of the Holy Cross council at CHS. Not sure exactly what that entails but she acted mock put out about it. “More meetings,” she sighed.

As a parent you hope that your kids have a strong set of core values and that they will speak up when those values are violated. One of the things I am most proud of is that our girls do exactly that. When they see friends in need, they help them. They all, to a certain extent, are wiling to confront people who they think are being assholes.

It’s one thing to convey these lessons to your kids. It’s another for them to have the strength to stand up for their values when presented with an opportunity. Our girls aren’t perfect, but it gives me immense satisfaction that my primary job for the last 20 years has not been in vain.


Pacers

I was pretty pissed after the first two games of the Pacers-Knicks series. Yes, there were a lot of bad calls, most of which seemed to go against the Pacers. I mean, how do referees get kicked ball calls wrong against the same team, in clutch moments, in two straight games? And how do they claim they can’t correct an incorrect call one night, when it goes against the Pacers, then stop the game to huddle up and correct an incorrect call two nights later when it allows the Knicks to keep the ball in the final two minutes of a close game?

But, let’s be honest: bad calls or not, the Pacers lost the first two games because they couldn’t block out on the boards or stay in front of anyone on defense. They reverted to December Pacers ball, thinking they could just score 150 and win by two. That shit doesn’t work in the playoffs. At least not usually.

After two games in Indy, though?

WHOOOOO DOCTOR, WE’VE GOT A SERIES!!!!

An incredibly frustrating and tense game Friday, with the Pacers jumping out early, giving the lead up, getting another cushion just after halftime, then not only blowing that but finding themselves down nine points with nine minutes to play. Were they going to get swept? They righted the ship, made some big plays, and Andrew Nembhard threw in a prayer of a 3 with 17 seconds left to break the final tie.

The Knicks are about as banged up as you can be so there was no reason for this game to be close. Yet the Pacers’ refusal to even pretend to play defense killed them.

Sunday all that switched. The Knicks looked injured, tired, and short-handed. The Pacers defense was nearly as good as their offense. The lead was 20 points in the first quarter. It was around 40 points much of the third quarter. The fourth quarter was one of the most bizarre things I’ve seen in the NBA: both teams cleared their benches early and just let those cats roll for 12 minutes. It was not scintillating basketball. Pacers fans didn’t care.

Two-two, going back to New York.

You figure there’s going to be a huge swing after game four. The Knicks can’t play that poorly again, can they? The Pacers can’t play that good on the road, right? It feels like this series is going seven, unless either Tyrese Haliburton’s or Jalen Brunson’s bodies completely fail on them and their teams are forced to play without them.


Northern Lights

We missed them here. Friday evening it was mostly cloudy in our part of Indy. I walked outside several times between 10 and midnight but never had a clear view of the sky. Where the low level clouds had gaps, higher clouds were reflecting the ground light and preventing any glimpses of the colors. I saw great pictures that people got not too far from our home, so had I hopped in the car and driven even 20 minutes I could have seen the spectacular views on my own.

But it was late, I was fired up after the Pacers game, and had drank a beer. Bad combos for an old man. Probably best to stay at home.

Saturday our skies were crystal clear but the lights weren’t as intense in our part of the state. Again, I could have taken a drive but M and one of her friends tried that without success so I stayed home.

Bummer. I’ve never seen the Northern Lights in person and this weekend’s show seems like it was one of the best in memory. Seeing them would have been a nice companion to watching the eclipse last month.

Blog Archives

For some reason I got out of my routine of reading through my posts from 20 years ago in February. This weekend I caught up on three months of blogging from 2004. It was fun to read through a lot of pregnancy posts. I was surprised how much I wrote about American Idol and The Bachelor. That was the one spring I watched both of those shows.

Anyway, if you’re ever really bored, a reminder that I have nearly 21 years of archives you can read through. Could be good for nights you can’t sleep. Probably better than white noise for easing you into a slumber.

Friday Playlist

I had to get up early to attend a function this morning. I’ve very excited to share details next week, but that is the explanation for this getting out a little later than usual.

“22” – Hana Vu
Remember when turning 22 felt like you were getting old?

“22” – Taylor Swift
Had to do it.

“Ceasefire” – Frank Turner
Frank released a new album a week ago. It sounds like every Frank Turner album. Which means it is like 90% awesome but doesn’t really separate itself from his other music. Still plenty of good songs to choose from.

“LEECHES (PLAY DEAD!)” Suzie True
This band describes their sound as “If the Powerpuff Girls started a Blink-182 cover band.” Not sure about that, but this song sure is fun.

“May Ninth” – Khruangbin
Missed it by one day.

“Where Is My Mind” – The Pixies
Steve Albini, a giant in the alt/indie rock community, died suddenly earlier this week. He’s most famous for being the engineer for Nirvana’s In Utero album. However, the record label did not like his work and had another producer remix all the singles from that album. Thus, the songs you likely know best from it did not feature his sound. Several of the articles about his career mentioned this song as one of the best representations of the Albini Sound. He could be prickly and opinionated, but it seems like most people who worked with him loved him, and many of them shared wonderful stories of their interactions with him. RIP.

“Head Rolls Off” – Frightened Rabbit
Speaking of RIP, it was six years ago this week we lost Scott. As tends to happen, I watched several live versions of this song, too. The difference between the band’s AV Club performance, recorded sometime in the spring of 2018 and released just five days before his death, and this charming video is always so striking. You could tell he was in a bad way in the ’18 performance. It also amazes me each year when I watch this that the original video is such poor quality. I guess the source tapes are lost and the record company had to rely on some poor digital copy?

Keep making tiny changes.

“Run Runaway” – Slade
I never really got Slade. That’s true of most Americans, though. They were a massive band in the UK but this was their biggest US hit, making it to #20. This week in ’84 it was at #34.

Car Notes

I could write about the Pacers-Knicks series today. But given how the first two games have left me royally pissed off, I think you all would rather read more car content rather than me bitching about the referees or the Nova Knicks or how the Pacers refuse to play defense or block out guys four inches shorter than them.


Another Addition

For roughly 60 hours we were a five-car family.

Saturday S and I were browsing through the options for M and we found a Mazda CX-5 that checked almost every box at the CarMax in Cincinnati. That made us laugh. It was listed as a free shipping option so after double-checking its inspection and vehicle history reports, I put in for it to be shipped to Indy.

It left Cincy at 9:00 Monday morning. I test drove it at 3:30 that afternoon. M drove it home around 5:30.

It is a year newer than the CX–5 she drive for two years and that C drives now. It is listed as the same trim level but is missing a few features that C’s has. It seems like it is in great shape. You wouldn’t guess it was a rental for nearly 30,000 miles from its exterior or interior appearance.

I tried to surprise M. She was doing some work for an aunt and when she got home I told her I needed her help with an errand. I tried to hide my checkbook but she saw it, and when I told her to bring her purse she said, “Are we getting a car?”

So she wasn’t surprised but she is happy. Now she needs to get a job that is more regular and pays better than occasionally helping family and friends do things around the house.


Adios, Audi

We took my Q5 back to the dealer this morning, putting us back at four cars. My favorite car I’ve ever had, and it treated me pretty well over the past three years.

I drove it a lot this week, because M accidentally filled it almost all the way up when she put gas in it last week and I wanted to use as much of the fuel I paid for as possible. Still fun to drive, but after driving a Tesla for three weeks, the transmission lags are even more noticeable and frustrating.

While we were waiting on the dealer to check the odometer and finish the paperwork I looked at a nice Q8 that was in the showroom. It will only set you back $90,000!

When I pulled into a parking spot there was a white Q5 in the next spot that had the exact same KU license plate holder. I think it was in for service, because I didn’t see anyone lingering around so couldn’t talk Jayhawk hoops or realignment rumors with its owner.


Tesla Updates

More notes from the new car.

Charging has been super easy. I used the Supercharger around the corner once, before my home charger arrived. Then I used them each time I’ve been to Cincinnati. That could not be simpler. At home I’m keeping the battery charged between 20–80%, which is supposed to be ideal for normal use. So far that’s meant plugging in about once a week, a little more often when L has basketball games over the weekend. My app tells me that at roughly 1400 miles, I’ve saved about $150 compared to gas.

I dig being able to control the climate system from my phone. At basketball last week I got warnings that the interior temperature had surpassed 100 and the fans had kicked on. When L’s games ended, I turned on the AC from inside the gym. In the five minutes it took to walk to the car, the climate system had cooled it to a pleasant 71 degrees inside.

One big annoyance is Tesla’s reliance on Google Maps. Remember when Google Maps were so much better than Apple’s? But years of a bazillion people using iPhones has shifted that. The traffic conditions color coding on Google Maps never seems right. Sunday we pulled into a lengthy slowdown on the interstate. Google gave no warning and showed traffic speeds as normal. Other times I’ll approach an area that shows lots of reds and oranges, indicating slowdowns only to find normal traffic when I pass through. Not sure where they get their info from, but it always seems to be wrong.

I used to laugh when Apple Maps would show heavy traffic in the neighborhood around St. P’s before pickup. It was just dozens of parents parked on the side streets, waiting for the lot to open, scrolling through Twitter on their iPhones that created those “traffic jams.”

One of the many rabbit holes I fell into during my car search was watching car wash videos. I’m not sure how I landed there, but through the process I bought a foam cannon, some microfiber towels, and some good car soap. After both Cincinnati trips I washed the Tesla in the driveway. I wouldn’t say the job was perfect, but the car looked pretty damn good when I was done!

What’s funny about me turning into a Home Car Wash Guy is that a Crew Carwash opened up three blocks from our house in April. It is safe take Teslas through automatic washes; there’s even a special Car Wash Mode to make it easier. I think I’ll save that for the winter, though, and keep doing the driveway thing for now. It takes maybe 15 minutes and is kind of relaxing.

Dark Matter

We are nearly three weeks out from the release of Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter. As an OG PJ head, I should probably do a review. Especially since I’ve been listening to it daily over that entire stretch.[1]

title

That last sentence could be the entire review. For the first time since 2006’s self-titled album, a Pearl Jam disk has stuck with me for more than just the few days after its release. As much as the band has meant to me over the past 30+ years, I haven’t had much patience for their post–2006 albums. They each featured one or two songs I liked but little about the entire works made me want to play them on repeat.

That is very different with Dark Matter.

In his review, Steven Hyden made a great point. For a band that is, arguably, the best live group in the business, their recent albums have lacked the spark and sense of fun and community that characterizes their concerts. It wasn’t just that the songs weren’t as good as the ones from their Nineties heyday. It also seemed like the band was trying too hard to force too many ideas into each one, and that weight kept the albums from being very engaging.

Producer Andrew Watt fixed that, though. He produced Eddie Vedder’s 2022 solo album, a collection of songs that was shockingly good and enjoyable. While recording, Vedder realized he had tapped into something special, and invited his PJ bandmates into the studio to catch the vibe. When it came time to record their next album, they agreed to bring Watt in for assistance.

Watt kept them on a tight schedule. He wanted to capture that spirit of the live shows. Instead of taking months or even years to make the album, as has been the case over the past decade, he and the band cranked out Dark Matter in just three weeks.

Even if the songs weren’t good, you hear that kinetic force throughout the album, setting it apart from their last three disks.

That’s the thing, though. There are a lot of really good songs on Dark Matter.

I’ve already shared my love for “Wreckage” and “Waiting For Stevie” in recent Friday Playlists. Those are two of the best songs they’ve ever done, let alone in the back half of their career.

Lead single “Dark Matter” was the rare “old band trying to prove they can still rock” track that actually worked.

Opener “Scared of Fear,” while ostensibly about someone who is drifting away because of addiction or maybe just indifference, features a chorus that is a perfect statement for a band full of guys who are nearing 60 but once defined a generation:

We used to laugh, we used to sing
We used to dance, we had our own theme

We used to laugh, we used to sing
We used to dance, we used to believe

The chorus is anchored by a classic Jeff Ament pop-punk bass riff, with Stone Gossard roaring in to match him.

Matt Cameron’s drumming sounds better than it’s ever sounded.[2] Mike McCready’s solos remind you of all the great ones from the hits, without being derivative.

I’ve watched a lot of Curb Your Enthusiasm over the past few months, and I can’t help but channel Leon Black when describing the music on Dark Matter: these cats are locked the fuck in.

Eddie Vedder sounds great, too. The best he’s sounded in years. His songs are a little more universal than they used to be, which means a critical reading of his lyrics shows they may not match his best from the first few albums. But they work. And his voice and music more than make up for any lyrical flaws.

“Got To Give” and “Won’t Tell” are poppy tracks refined enough they would likely be big radio hits if rock music still had a home on radio.

The album ends with “Setting Sun,” a track that begins as a gentle, fireside ballad and grows into a soaring affirmation of life and loyalty to each other.

I love thinking about last tracks from the perspective of “If this was the band’s last album, how would this hold up?” Thinking, mostly, of the close of Abbey Road with its melody that leads up to “The End.” That was quite a way to go out.

I don’t think Pearl Jam is going anywhere any time soon. But were this to be their final album, “Setting Sun” would be a fitting way to say goodbye, especially with Eddie repeating “Let us not fade…” as the song ends.

From start-to-finish the band sounds as energized and connected as they have in years. Or, more properly, as energized and connected in the studio as they have for years. Watt got them to relax and stop worrying about Making Statements with their songs and, instead, just discover some good grooves and melodies and turn those into great songs.

Dark Matter won’t have the cultural impact of Pearl Jam’s first three albums, nor will it sell as many copies. But it is their most accessible and satisfying album of the 2000s. It is an album made to satisfy both the long time fans who followed them through the many twists and turns of their career and also those who stopped paying attention around Vitalogy and have longed for good songs that rock and hit you in the heart since 1994.[3]


  1. According to Last.fm, I’m approaching 200 Pearl Jam tracks listened to over that span. Some of those are legacy tracks Spotify is spitting at me, but most are from Dark Matter.  ↩
  2. Not a drumming expert, but I’ve always found his style to be a little clinical and sterile. This is the first time since he joined Pearl Jam that he feels massive and on the verge of being unhinged. Which is a very good thing.  ↩
  3. I have a buddy who is far more into heavier rock that I ever have been. He loved the first two PJ albums but never had time for their politics or their various artistic diversions over the years. Out of the blue he texted me over the weekend with this: “New Pearl Jam is pretty good.”  ↩

Weekend Notes

Kid Hoops

Teenagers are funny. One day they are on top of the world, the next everything is shit.

That might be a little dramatic but it kind of sums up the weekend for L’s travel team. Saturday they played great, winning their two games by a combined 22 points. They should have one the first by 20+ – they got to a running clock midway through the second half – but turned sloppy and let the lead slip to single digits before stretching it out in the end. We had a girl score 22 points in this game.

In the second game was the third against this team this season. Game one was a one-point win. Game two was a two-point loss. Saturday our gurls controlled most of the game. They had a 10-point lead midway through the second half. Again, they got sloppy and let the other team come all the way back to tie. But then we controlled the last 3–4 minutes of the game to win comfortably by eight.

Things were clicking Saturday. L wasn’t great scoring – 0 in the first game, 4 in the second – but had four rebounds and three assists in game one despite battling some light headedness that caused her to miss much of the second half. In game two she played great defense, was getting to the rim, and was a little unlucky to miss two makable layups while making two tough ones.

Then, Sunday, in the game to make bracket play, our girls just looked lost. We played another slow-ish, patient, tough defensive team. And we shrunk from the challenge. They let the other team get soooo many rebounds and loose balls. We got a tough whistle in the first half and it seemed to make about half the team afraid to dig in on defense.

We trailed by ten about five minutes into the second half. Each time we tried to mount a comeback it was undone by a missed blockout, a failure to get back on the break, or a missed layup. We strung a few shots together and finally got a real rally together, getting it to four with the ball with about 5:00 left. Then we fell apart, losing by 14. In the closing minutes we gave up at four completely uncontested layups when they broke our pressure and the girls who were playing the back line didn’t stop the ball.

On the ride home L was pissed. I saw her yelling at people after one of those unguarded layups. She said she was mad because only four or five girls play hard on every play. She was mad because we have two or three girls who are almost guaranteed to turn the ball over if they end up with it. And she was mad that our tall girls don’t rebound. “That’s the only reason they are on the team and they just stand there and watch.”

It was kind of awesome. She had a decent game, scoring six but not doing anything else in the boxscore. She played really good defense, again, and was solid when she was running the offense. I think she was also frustrated because she knows if she scored 10–15 points, she could really lay into people.

Weird that they were so good Saturday, and so bad Sunday. I know the other team had something to do with it but our girls just did not seem engaged or willing to fight. Again, teenagers.


Kid Tennis

C got to play her three matches of the high school tennis season over the past 10 days. They went about as well as you would expect for a kid who never practices.

They lost match one a week ago, 6–1, and I have no idea how they won that single game. The other team must have felt bad and given them a game on the scorecard because I don’t remember them dropping one. Then she played two matches last Wednesday at the school across the street from us. These were eight game, single set matches and she and her teammate lost 8–3 and 8–6. They should have won that second match but C’s partner seemed checked out, totally ignoring balls that were hit right at her. I was ready to yell at her but since it is JV tennis just quietly fumed and asked C, “What was up her ass?” when we got home.

Oh well. Not sure C enjoys it as much as M, but I’m glad her back condition has improved enough where she can get out and move around without complaining about pain.


Pacers

Hey, they did it! After dropping a massive turd in game five – getting crushed by the Bucks who were playing without Dame and Giannis – the Pacers controlled almost all of game six, blowing out the Bucks in the last 14 minutes or so of the game, to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals for the first time in six years.

Kind of crazy how consistently good the Pacers were the first 10–12 years I lived here, brawl years excepted, and then how mediocre they’ve been since that. Nice to have them winning playoff series again. The Knicks aren’t in the best of health, which makes them a decent matchup if the Pacers remember to play defense.

I missed almost all of game six, although I was about a mile from Gainbridge Fieldhouse. We went to a fundraiser for a program a friend of ours is on the board for, hosted at Victory Field during an Indianapolis Indians game. We were up in a terrace, so spent more time socializing and eating than watching baseball. That was a bummer because it was a nearly perfect night for baseball. We also missed the top pitching prospect in the minors by two nights.

I did try to keep my eye on the big TV out in the lobby that showed the Pacers game. It got a little awkward when they brought all the attendees into the lobby to hear the spiel for the program, which supports a trio of Catholic schools that serve kids from some of the worst economic parts of the city, and the muted TV was directly behind all the speakers. You could tell who the hoops fans were by how we shifted our bodies to follow the action.


A Trip to Miami

M and two of her high school friends jumped in a car and traveled to Oxford, OH to visit two of their buddies who attend Miami. Miami still has another week of school, so it was the perfect chance for people to visit. M said she saw several friends from high and middle school who were also visiting Miami pals.

She had fun. She still thinks Oxford is too small. But she was impressed with how it has more bars than the area of Cincinnati around UC. Glad she’s focused on the important things.


Pool

Our pool is scheduled to be opened today. Probably two weeks too late given how the weather has been. We’ll see if the heavy rain holds off long enough for our guys to show up and get it cranking.

I did the second power wash of the season to get all the pollen and crap off of the cover yesterday. The water didn’t seem super cold, so I’ll be interested to see what the temperature starts at when they turn the heater on. Last year it was 57. As warm as it’s been lately, it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s in the mid–60s. Which means the heater might get the water to a swimmable temperature before the filter cleans out all the crap that has settled into the water over the winter.

Friday Playlist

It’s a two-video week!

“Prep-School Gangsters” – Vampire Weekend
There have been times when I’ve loved Vampire Weekend, others when I would be happy to never hear another song from them. Thus it took me awhile to get to their new album. Which I ended up liking a lot. I could have picked any of four or five tracks to represent it. So maybe you’ll hear from them again here soon.

“Kiss Me (Kill Me)” – RINSE, Hatchie
Husband and wife combining to make something that splits the difference between their styles and sounds very good. Real G’s will get the joke that the B-side of this should be called “Hold Me (Thrill Me).”

“Jesse” – Hazel English, Day Wave
These acts have done a few covers together before. This might be their first original together, although I could be wrong. Like the song above, it combines their slightly different sounds into a pleasant common one.

“Jessie” – Paw
OK, different spellings and all, but hearing “Jesse” kind of means I have to play this next.

“Shipwreck” – Mount Kimbie
I don’t know much about this band, but I’ve been enjoying this song. I looked them up and their Wikipedia page describes their music as “Electronic, post-dubstep, future garage.” I like future garage.

“Sweet” – Been Stellar
Get it? Been Stellar??? This band claims their new album was inspired by Mazzy Starr. Not by Hope Sandoval’s vocals but by David Roebuck’s guitar sounds. I don’t hear that at all here, but I’m no guitar player.

“Rock You Like A Hurricane” – The Scorpions
I was never much of a metalhead, but 1984 probably had the highest ratio of metal/hard rock in my high rotation as any year ever. This is one of the songs that fueled that shift. West German guys playing hard rock with a video that featured women in cages? This was catnip to a nearly 13-year-old suburban white kid who was obsessed by the Cold War! Love At First Sting got a lot of play that summer right next to the Footloose soundtrack. Any Scorpions reference demands a reminder that the Wind of Change podcast is one of the best pod series ever made. “Rock You Like A Hurricane” was #37 this week in 1984.

“Portland, Oregon” – Loretta Lynn
Adding an extra video this week since this song is no longer available on Spotify, and the 20th anniversary of one of the most surprising collaborations/albums ever just passed. Was it more surprising that Jack White was going to work with Loretta Lynn, or that the result was amazing? This was, by far, the highlight of the Van Lear Rose album, making multiple generations of listeners reconsider Lynn as more than some old country singer they only knew from when their parents/grandparents made them watch Hee Haw. My #5 favorite song of 2004, and #7 song of the 2000s. Get it back on Spotify, whoever is responsible for it not being there!

Reader’s Notebook, 5/2/24


The Bullet Swallower – Elizabeth Gonzalez James
This book has gotten crazy praise in literary circles, landing on numerous Best Of lists already. With good reason. It is a very well-told, fictional story of three generations of Mexicans and their family history. One is a bandit in the late 19th century border territory, who is forced to bargain for his life after a raid on an American train goes off the rails (so to speak). The other two are his son and grandson, living in 1960s Mexico City, with the third generation uncovering the secret family history the middle generation tried to hide.

The bulk of the book is solid, but it builds and builds to a truly glorious final chapter. It was one of those endings that grabs you in an unexpected way, takes your breath away a little, and makes you want to go back and read it again.

I actually read the author notes in the back and James said she had wanted to write a Magic Realism novel, and do so while pulling in some of her family history. I’m not really sure what Magic Realism is, and nothing about her story seemed all that magically real. So I can’t really comment on that part of it. It was just a damn good story, regardless of genre.



The Helsinki Affair – Anna Pitoniak
Hey, another book about generations discovering family secrets!

In this case a young CIA officer becomes one of the youngest station chiefs in the service when she correctly predicts a US Senator will be assassinated and her superior officer ignores her warnings. With her new position, she is tasked with tracking down connections between the killing and Russia. She learns that the senator was working with a Russian businessman to expose efforts by the Russian government to manipulate the US stock market while blackmailing US companies. And, in turn, she finds her dad, who was once a CIA agent and now works in the agency’s PR division, listed among people involved in the blackmail.

Uh oh.

As she unravels the Russian conspiracy and protects her source in Moscow, she learns a hidden secret about her father’s career, the truth of why her parents’ marriage ended, and we get a nice setup for a sequel.



The Family Chao – Lan Samantha Chang
You know, I read so many books that they seem to fall into certain patterns of general themes. This one slots into the “immigrant family coming to terms with generational changes, troubles assimilating, and the younger generation feeling disconnected to both worlds” camp. Doesn’t roll off the tongue, does it?

Here James, the son of Chinese immigrants, is returning to his small hometown in Wisconsin for his college winter break. He steps into a fraught situation between his parents, who have split up, and his father and oldest brother, who has been pushing to take over the family restaurant. The first half of the book tracks all the various tensions in James’ and his family’s lives. Then, smack in the middle, his dad dies when he is locked into the faulty freezer in their restaurant and the book turns into a pretty compelling mystery. Finally, it spools out an unexpected plot line where a family secret is revealed as the likely cause of the father’s death.

Again with the family secrets!

Chang also throws in elements of teenage sexual awakenings, parent-child dynamics, issues unique to small towns, economic disparities and the anxieties that come with them, and religious barriers. There is also a part of the eventual trial for the accused killer of James’ dad that contains an element that is highly ridiculous, but is used to show how arguments against immigrants are often nonsensical and based on fear and stereotypes rather than facts.

There’s a lot going into the story, and Chang makes it all work.



Bottoms Up And The Devil Laughs – Kerry Howley
Howley dives into the “Deep State,” that semi-mythical, mysterious part of our government that allegedly pulls all the strings, protects child sex traffickers and baby eaters, and torpedoed our last president’s efforts to reform our country in his image.

However, she does not look at it either from the MAGA perspective or as a “Well, actually…” explainer. Rather, she hones in on how, in the post 9/11 world, so much of society has bent over backwards to give the NSA and its various offshoots and related agencies almost unchecked access to information about our lives. The general public often participates willingly in allowing the details of our daily lives to be weaponized, if needed, against us. The spread of that data has severe consequences.

Eventually Howley settles on Reality Winner, an NSA translator, to show the real power of the Deep State. When Winner comes across documentation that shows that the Russians actively sought to undermine the 2016 election, she is disturbed that no one is talking about the evidence in the public sphere. Not the media, not the government, not countless other watchdogs. There are general claims that something went wrong, but the evidence she has seen is never used to justify those claims.

So she leaks it. And is eventually caught. Then she enters a Kafkaesque investigation and trial where her defense attorneys are not allowed to see the evidence against her because they are not cleared, even though the same evidence has been published on public websites. And then they can’t access those websites because it would endanger both their efforts to earn clearance and violate court orders against accessed leaked, classified data. And on and on.

The danger of the “Deep State,” Howley argues, is not that this shadow government is working to undo the acts of elected officials. Rather it is that these massive, largely uncoordinated elements of our system can be leveraged to investigate the personal lives of regular citizens, finding data that, freed from context, can make anyone look like a terrorist, terrorist sympathizer, or enemy of the state. And unless you want to totally unplug and live off the grid, there’s not much we can do about it.

April Media

Back in February I vowed to get my YouTube algorithm re-calibrated so it was sending me more good videos. Jumping into the car-buying process kick-started that process. It might be time to swing back the other way, as I only watched a few “normal” shows in April and my YT feed is overrun with car vids.


Movies, Shows, etc

Curb Your Enthusiasm, season 11
Five foot fence!

B+

Curb Your Enthusiasm, season 12
LD pretty much stuck the landing. I wasn’t sure where the season was going early on, but it slipped into gear in the middle and finished up pretty strong.

I did not like how the finale began. We’re supposed to believe that someone who has harped on societal niceties for 35 years isn’t going to turn his phone off or fasten his seatbelt when a plane takes off? That fit into the broader point of the finale, though: Larry is a terrible person. It was great bringing Jerry Seinfeld back. Any time I see David and Seinfeld interact I think of what it would have been like to see these two bounce ideas off each other back in their writing primes. The final image was just about perfect.

A-

Conan O’Brien Must Go
As you’ll see below, a lot of Conan content this month, mostly because of this new travel show. Every episode is great, but the segment where he learns about common Irish phrases is one of the best moments of the series.

A

Duran Duran: There’s Something You Should Know
My brother-in-music E$ recommended this. It was indeed pretty good. In fact, it might be the perfect, modern rock doc. It was brisk, checking in at exactly an hour. It ripped through the band’s history. Four of the five original members participated. There wasn’t too much attention to the band’s most recent albums. I would have liked to have seen more details of their prime years, when I’m guessing these dudes lived AMAZING lives. I’d rather a flick like this leave me wanting more than dragging on too long, though.

B+

NBA Playoffs
I only watched the Pacers closely, but had them on almost every night there was a game.

B+


Shorts, YouTubes, etc

Tyrese Haliburton, Robbie Avila, and the Heart of Indiana Basketball
A fun piece that covers a lot of the state of basketball in Indiana these days. Notably they miss Purdue, but the Boilers were in Ohio the weekend these guys visited.

Conan O’Brien Needs a Doctor While Eating Spicy Wings | Hot Ones
This is outstanding in every way. I laughed so hard I cried multiple times.

Andy Richter Coming Up Clutch Pt. III
Andy Richter’s Best Zingers & Quips Pt. II
Hilarious.

Dave responded to Jay’s “Don’t Blame Conan”
This “commentary” by David Letterman about the Tonight Show mess was terrific.

Can Our Merino Wool T-Shirt Handle Tasmania’s Most Rugged Challenges? 72 Hours: Tasmania, Australia
I’m ok with commercials like this that are just as much travel videos as product pushers.

How the UN is Holding Back the Sahara Desert
This is both awesome and, likely, a relatively cheap project. So I’m sure there are a lot of folks in the political world who want to stop funding projects like it.

Exploring Japanese Street Food and Local Surfing Spots | DIRT Japan Part 1: Kyushu
Incredible scenes and food.

DIRT Host Josh Rosen Unpacks His Essential Gear From His Alaska Adventure
Of course he has cool gear.

Cycling Iceland – 18 Days Bikepacking Iceland’s Ring Road
This journey, and Iceland, look incredible. But I think it would be even more incredible done in a car or SUV. But I’m also almost 53 years old.

STEP BROTHERS – Bloopers
Will Ferrell, Exotic Animal Expert
Don’t Ask Will Ferrell About Professor Feathers
Will Ferrell’s SNL Audition
Will Ferrell rabbit hole.

‘Something had to change’: Larry David gets candid on Morning Joe
The Moment Curb Your Enthusiasm Went From Pretty Good To Great
Larry David Stand-Up Comedy
How Larry David ALMOST Broke Seinfeld
LD rabbit hole.

HOW the HELL Is This Apocalyptic 1979 Anthem MORE Relevant TODAY than it was THEN?-Professor of Rock
TOBTM.

Community 38 Greatest Quotes
I’m not sure about 38 greatest, but these are pretty good. The comments might be even better.
Community having world class writing for 13 minutes straight
Algorithm gonna algorithm.

Dave Franco and Alison Brie Read Thirst Tweets
Dave Franco & Alison Brie Take a Couples Quiz
They are just precious.

Steve Carell making the whole cast break: The Office Bloopers
Has to be some Office content if I’m diving into other classic, TV comedy vids.

Is the iPhone “Illegal?”
I’m no attorney, but I find the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Apple to be quite weird. There are some parts that make sense, while others seem completely illogical. MKBHD’s views largely mirror mine.

Middle Kids Live at WNXP’s Sonic Cathedral
Good stuff.

Walking 90km to work changed my life
Beau Miles bullshit.

Emperor penguin chicks jump off a 50-foot cliff in Antarctica
I love penguins. I hate heights. So I’m conflicted here.

Norm Macdonald Constant Shitting on OJ Simpson
Norm Macdonald Constant Shitting on OJ Simpson Part 2
35 minutes of Norm McDonald destroying OJ.


Car Content

Lucid Air vs BMW i5 | Battle of Electric RWD Sedans
When my buddy drove me around in his Lucid, sadly he didn’t drive like this.

How the 2025 Lucid Gravity Rethinks the SUV for an EV Age
Not in my budget now or probably ever, but still cool to see where the high end of the market is headed.

How Chinese EV Giant BYD Is Taking On Tesla
There are some advantages to the Chinese market the US can’t compete with. But a decade of roughly half of our nation running away from EVs, in terms of political/economic policy and buying choice, has put us woefully behind and now we’re resorting to threatening to ban Chinese cars. Ain’t that America?

18-Month Timeline of the Hyundai/Kia/Genesis EV ICCU Recall Revealed
Maybe they’ve figured out their electrical issues?

I Drive The Taycan Turbo GT For The First Time! Porsche Dials Up Their EV Performance To 11
Sweet Jesus!

I Drive The Porsche Macan EV For The First Time!
If you want a slightly more refined Porsche drive in an electric platform.

How To Ruin Your Electric Car’s Battery – 3 Common Mistakes
A typical YouTube title that overstates things, but some good guidelines for EV owners. I won’t follow these as strictly since I am leasing and am not trying to get the battery to last 10 years.


Podcasts

The Vergecast: The TikTok ban and the iPhone monopoly
This is in my normal podcast rotation, although I don’t always get to it. This episode was terrific for explaining what’s going on with Apple and the Department of Justice, and TikTok and the US government as a whole.

What Kind of a Superpower Is India Becoming?
We think of Russia, China, and the mess in the Middle East as the most important geo-political challenges of the moment. India is fixin’ to buck its head, though, and I found this look at where they are and where they are headed super informative.

How One Small Company Saves Retro Tech
I loved this look at Retrospekt, a company that refurbs and resells old technology products. What a great journey for the owners. Also I listened to this in podcast form, but this link is to the YouTube video.

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