D's Notebook

Month: November 2024 (Page 2 of 2)

Reaching For The Stars, Vol. 105

November 12, 2024 /

Chart Week: November 4, 1978
Song: “Alive Again” – Chicago
Chart Position: #21, 3rd week on the chart. Peaked at #14 for two weeks in December.

In the Seventies and Eighties the band Chicago was like air: they were always around. In over 21 years of hitting the pop chart, they had 34 Top 40 singles, 20 Top 10s, and three number ones.[1]

Hits on top of hits on top of hits.

While their music was generally right down the middlest portion of the middle of the road, especially in the Eighties, they did have a unique sound thanks to their horn section. Chicago’s blend of rock and pop, R&B and soul, and even jazz was unlike any other band, save maybe Earth, Wind, & Fire. I would argue the bands were quite different, but since they were the only two that had great success with horns on pretty much every song, they have to be mentioned together.[2]

The second part of Chicago’s career, which covered their Eighties peak, came with a pronounced move away from some of the quirky eccentricity of their Seventies music into mostly soft rock/Adult Contemporary. That second act almost didn’t happen.

In January 1978, founding member and guitar player Terry Kath was partying with a band roadie. While joking around with a gun, Kath put it to his head and pulled the trigger, not realizing there was a round in the chamber. He died instantly.

The band was devastated. Kath was a huge part of Chicago’s sound and one of the most respected guitar players of the era. For several months the surviving members debated whether they should continue making music together or not.

Eventually they regrouped and hit the studio to record their tenth studio album, Hot Streets. “Alive Again” was the first single released after Kath’s death. While ostensibly about a romantic partner bringing happiness back to the narrator’s life, it is clearly also about picking up the pieces and moving on after a personal tragedy.

Yesterday I would not have believed
That tomorrow the sun would shine

Later, songwriter James Pankow said it was indeed about the band coming together and renewing their partnership as Kath looked down on them and smiled. Chicago was alive again.

I think I knew this story pretty soon after “Alive Again” came out. A couple of my uncles were into Chicago, and I must have overheard them talking about the band’s comeback. Or maybe I just heard Casey Kasem tell the story as my mom played AT40 in the kitchen.

Even back then I was struck by how joyous this track sounded. Peter Cetera’s vocals are filled an almost defiant cheer. The horns have the classic sharp, powerful Chicago sound. For a band that was on the verge of breaking up following a tragedy, they were remarkably locked in and energized.

In fact, given what they had been through, the brightness of this song could be a little off-putting if you think about it enough. But Chicago got famous making buoyant pop songs about the simple pleasures in life, not by making profound statements of life and death. So perhaps it would have been more out-of-character to have made a song that more directly addressed their grief.

“Alive Again” stands in stark contrast to how The Pretenders dealt with the loss of their guitar player a few years later. I’ve always said there is no right or wrong way to grieve, we all find our own path. These songs are good examples of that.

I liked a lot of Chicago’s music when I was younger. I can still admire their craft on a few songs. However, their catalog very much strikes me as mellow, old people music now. While I may be trending in that direction, it’s not what I would choose to listen to.

This song, though, has an energy that separates it from many of their other big hits. A little more rock-y than usual, with even a hint of toughness. A tease of disco, likely picked up when the horn section worked with the Bee Gee’s on “Tragedy” earlier in the year. It has an energy that was rare in Chicago’s biggest hits. “Alive Again” is the one Chicago track I’m excited to hear a few times every year. 7/10

For the video portion, you get some bonus Dick Clark action.

  1. “If You Leave Me Now,” “Hard To Say I’m Sorry,” and “Look Away.” Peter Cetera also had two number ones after he left the band to go solo.  ↩

  2. That said, David Foster co-wrote both E, W, & F’s 1979 #2 single “After the Love Has Gone,” and Chicago’s 1982 #1 hit “Hard To Say I’m Sorry.”  ↩

Weekend Notes

November 11, 2024 /

A busy weekend with more driving than normal, some big events I was not able to watch live, and the standard wide range of topics to discuss.

High School Hoops

L’s sophomore season kicked off Friday with a trip 90 minutes north to play Norwell, class 3A runners up last year. We played their varsity over the summer in a close, fun game we closed with a big run to win. NHS lost several seniors from a year ago, but are traditionally a very good program with a strong youth program, so we figured this would be a tough night.

JV was a disaster. It looked like our girls had never faced a trapping defense before. We trailed 17–8 after one quarter and that was as close as the game got. We scored one in the second quarter, four in the third, and three in the fourth to lose 58–16. L played most of the first three quarters, scoring just two on 1–4 from the field. As a bonus she had to run off the court and throw up in the second quarter. We’re hoping it was just something she ate before the game and not her body still trying to get the mono out of her system. We let a freshman score 22 on us. She was good, but she was not 22 points in a JV game good.

The dad I was sitting with and I guessed we had between 20–25 turnovers in the first half. L later confirmed that they turned it over 23 times in those 14 minutes, 50 for the entire game. That’s what happens when JV just serves as a scout team in practice.

Varsity was a little better. Our girls had an early lead then gave up a 30–10 run, but trailed by just 10 at halftime. Then they gave up nine-straight to open the second half and were in trouble. They made a great rally in the fourth quarter and cut it to four a couple times, but never got closer and lost by eight. We sat by some very nice Norwell people, which was a bonus.

L was officially on the varsity roster, but did not suit up for that game. She definitely had a lot of work to do to climb into that rotation. Two games this week.

HS Football

While L and her teammates were in action up near Ft. Wayne, CHS was playing #1 Lawrence North for the sectional football championship. None of us could not get a good signal in the gym, so could only get updates when someone ran outside for a few seconds. CHS threw a pick six early and trailed 7–0 at halftime. The CHS defense had three interceptions of their own in the first half but the offense could not turn them into points. The game got away from the Irish in the second half and they lost 24–7, ending their season at 6–4. It was their first loss in a sectional game in the five years they’ve played in 6A. If they lose in sectionals again next year I believe they’ll move down to 5A for L’s senior year. Unless the IHSAA changes the rules again to keep CHS from dropping a class.

KU Hoops

Also at the same time as L’s game was the big North Carolina – Kansas game in Lawrence.

College basketball on Friday nights is dumb. I know, I know, Saturdays and Sundays are for football this time of year. Doesn’t make this scheduling any dumber. Move this to December when weekend slots are a little easier to find. Still, you can’t criticize the schools too much since they agreed to play a home-and-home series rather than drop this in an NBA arena or attach it to some kind of special event on a neutral court. KU just finished with IU. They start a series this year with Duke that has two neutral court games and two on campus. Bill Self continues to check boxes on places he wants to take the Jayhawks in the final act of his career.

Try as I might, I could not get any score updates on my phone, although the occasional text from a friend came through. The other KU dad on the team got a running score update from Google, so we saw that KU jumped out to a big lead then blew it all after halftime. Just as the varsity game ended his wife was somehow able to get ESPN to stream on her phone, so we watched the last 90 seconds of KU’s win. We both felt a little bad about being pumped about the win while our girls were hanging their heads about their losses.

I watched the recording of the game Sunday and was pretty pleased. A great start from a super-balanced team. Obviously taking the foot off the gas in the second half was not good. It was like they just stopped playing defense. Zeke Mayo belongs at this level. Hunter Dickinson needs to get his stamina back. If Flory sticks around a few years he might be the best rebounder of the Self era. I like all the options this team has, and they should get better playing together as they get more comfortable.

I have a few broader thoughts about the team, but seems better to save those until I’ve seen them in a real game a few more times.

Hey, guess when KU plays next? Tuesday night at 6:30 Eastern. Guess what high school team will be playing at the same time again? I’m not enthused about how the schedules are lining up this season. At least we can get a signal in the CHS game so I can keep one eye on the Jayhawks vs Irish grad Xavier Booker.

Dude’s Day

L and I got home around 11:00 Friday night. I stayed up a little bit to have a snack, talk to S a little, then make sure my car was charging before setting my alarm for 7:00 AM and going to bed. Saturday was M’s sorority’s “Dude’s Day” and I needed to be back on the road around 8:00.

Why “Dude’s Day?” Because kids these days want to be inclusive and make the event open for any relatives who aren’t biological dads who join in the fun. That said, I think I only met actual dads.

Anyway, I got to campus around 10:00. M introduced me to a bunch of sisters and their dads, we ate some food, then she asked me if I wanted to go to a frat party. It would be dumb not to, right? She also told me the young man she’s been spending time with would be there and he was “excited to meet you!” Oh boy.

I’m not drinking much these days, for a few reasons. So I wasn’t looking to get smashed with my daughter or anything. Fortunately for me M admitted on the way to the party that she was hungover from the night before and didn’t feel like drinking. Made the day cheaper/easier for me!

Anyway, we got to this party and hung around for an hour or so. Her best buddy from St P’s/CHS found us. Unlike M she was drinking and was very excited to see me, which was funny. And I got to meet M’s young man friend. He was nervous and goofy. As long as he treats M well it’s all good.

We did not have tickets to the football game (UC was playing West Virginia) so we went to a restaurant/bar to watch and eat. I have one friend who lives in Cincinnati, O-Dog that some of you know. Guess whose daughter gave us the table as she and her friends headed to the game? Small world.

We spent an hour or so there before the group split up. It seemed like a lot of girls were hung over and some of them needed naps. M and I moved outside where we hung with some more of her sisters and dads for another hour or so. The apartment she will live in the next two years is a couple blocks away, so we cruised by it when we left. We ended up going downtown to walk around a bit and enjoy the nice day.

We met up with one of her roommates and her dad for dinner at this fun sushi place right off campus. For some reason the sushi is always half price. It even says that on the menu, “All sushi is always half off.” I’m not sure what the angle there is, but I like it. I spent just $25 on a sushi dinner for two! And the sushi wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either.

I walked M back to her house and hopped into the car for the ride home, pulling into the garage at about 9:00. It was fun seeing M in her environment. I know she was excited to introduce me to her friends and the other dads. A couple of the dads were pretty cool so that was a bonus.

KU Football

Guess what I (mostly) missed while hanging with my daughter? The Jayhawks rolling over Iowa State in the game I had been dreading all year. I’ve only seen highlights so don’t know how much of Arrowhead was filled with ISU fans – the pics I saw showed the stadium was not very full of any fans, Clones or Jayhawks – but the important part was KU played extremely well on offense, made a couple big defensive plays, and finally got a few breaks. It was fun to get the updates as KU ran up the big lead early, then nervously watch as they bungled things a bit on the fourth quarter before Mello Dotson effectively ended things with a pick six as I walked to my car. Clearly the concerns about Jalen Daniels’ health early in the year were correct, as he has seemed more comfortable and like the old JD for the last month. If only he had been able to play like this in September and October…

Alas, we’ll have to settle for being the best 3–6 team in the country, with a visit to #9 BYU and #20 Colorado in KC the next two weeks.

Colts

Man, the Colts are a true disaster. Joe Flacco throws a pick six on his first pass of the game, before I could get the TV on after dropping L at practice. He throws another interception in the first quarter, and was lucky not to have thrown a third in the opening 15 minutes. Later he lost a fumble. The Colts dropped an easy touchdown pass. The defense made some nice plays then fell apart late. There’s just no consistency in this team. Shane Steichen seems committed to Flacco going forward, even with him looking terrible the past two weeks. There were boos aimed towards Flacco throughout the game Sunday. It makes no sense to stick with him, even if you have no faith that Anthony Richardson is the answer. At this point you play AR and allow him to try to figure things out while aiming for a high draft position next year to get some kind of impact player for a team that has very few of them.

Pacers

I also missed a Pacers loss to Charlotte Friday, but was able to watch them beat the Knicks Sunday despite being short five players. Tyrese Haliburton bounced back from his zero point, five assist performance against the Knicks two weeks ago with 35 points and 14 assists. Bennedict Mathurin scored a career-high 38. My man Johnny Furphy even got some first quarter minutes, although he did not score.

I am glad the Pacers only play the Knicks three times in the regular season. A truly maddening team to play against. I’ve said this before but it amazed me what those Villanova dudes got away with in college, between the constant bumps and shoves and not-so-subtle elbows the refs somehow always missed and then the constant bitching after every play as if they were the ones being pushed around. That they all still get away with it in the NBA is exponentially more maddening.

Other Shit

The weather is still unreasonably nice here. I probably wore shorts for the final time until spring break last week, although I’ve thought that a couple times and had to bust them out a few days later. Our lawn service is still coming, which is kind of crazy. Usually by now they have finished and I borrow my sister-in-law’s mower to do my one mow of the year to chop up any remaining leaves.

I’m obviously avoiding the biggest story of the past week. I don’t have the energy to get into it. I will just share that I took C to vote when she got home from school on Tuesday. S had voted the week before and waited nearly an hour. It took C and I longer to actually go through the ballot than to wait and get checked in. The lady running the door asked C if she was a first-time voter and everyone cheered for her when she said yes. Shame the day was all downhill from there.

Friday Playlist

November 8, 2024 /

My routines have been a little out of whack this week, so an abbreviated playlist for today.

“Cult of Personality” – Living Colour

Sigh…

“Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” – Michael Jackson

RIP to Quincy Jones, the greatest, most influential producer of all time. There are about a million songs of his that could fill this spot. Also props to Q for getting out before the world fell apart.

“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” – Gordon Lightfoot

Forty nine years ago this weekend.

“Champaign Supernova” – Middle Kids covering Oasis

Properly somber.

“We Belong” – Pat Benatar

We’ve reached the weird part of the Billboard calendar year where songs that became big hits would be bigger on the 1985 year-end list than the ’84 one. Here is an example, PB’s best song? Biggest song? Certainly one of each if not the pinnacle. Debuting in the Top 40 this week at #31 in its third week on the chart, it would peak at #5 in the first two charts of 1985 and land at #39 for all of ’85. It tied “Love Is A Battlefield” for her highest charting single.

Jayhawk Talk: Season Opener

November 5, 2024 /

It is finally here, the day we’ve all been waiting for.

That’s right, it’s time to start talking KU hoops again!

After another wild offseason filled with recruiting twists and turns,[1] the Jayhawks crushed poor Howard University by 30 Monday night. Howard is a good program and is picked to win their conference, although they have a roster full of grad-transfers and looked like a group of players who don’t know each other well yet. Last year KU would have slogged through this game, likely winning by 20 but not looking all that good in the process. Last night KU jumped all over the Bison early and while the defense faltered in the second half, never had those moments of “They’re not going to blow this, are they?” the team had last year.

The Jayhawks looked terrific. Especially given that they are without a defensive stud (Shakeel Moore), Hunter Dickinson is obviously playing his way back into form after missing a couple weeks with a sprained foot, the lineups are fluid, and the team is still trying to carve out an identity. They definitely look faster than they were a year ago. The ball was moving. It was so refreshing having multiple players on the court who were both willing to take a 3 and had the ability to hit them. Crazy how offense gets easier when the defense has to worry about guarding the 3-point line. My man Flory Bidunga might have set a record for most dunks in first game as a Jayhawk.

Surprisingly the defense was the highlight of the night. DaJuan Harris, knowing he doesn’t have to play 40 minutes a game, seemed to rediscover the intensity he played with his first two seasons on that end of the court. David Coit is probably going to get bullied in some games, but against Howard he used his quickness and tenacity to make life miserable for whoever he was guarding.

At first glance, this would appear to be Bill Self’s best ever transfer class. Zeke Mayo led the team in scoring last night. Rylan Griffen hit a couple shots, made some nice passes, played decent D. Coit might be the steal of the class. Moore should play significant minutes when he gets healthy. And AJ Storr, considered the gem of the class, looked more comfortable than he did in the exhibition games. I bet his performance is going to be up-and-down all season. If he figures it out, he could be the player that turns KU into an unstoppable force.

The most fascinating thing about this team to me is how Self put it together. Normally he recruits transfers as being the missing piece. That’s certainly how he sold Kevin McCullar on the program two years ago, and Dickinson last year. But this year the math is different. He wanted to get deeper, faster, and to bring in more shooters. I don’t think he told any of the transfers that they were the savior. Rather, he challenged them to come to KU, to improve their games while also integrating themselves into the deepest roster in the country, all with the goal of becoming the best team in the country in March rather than chasing stats to impress scouts. Each of those transfers will likely play fewer minutes and score fewer points than they did last year. Yes, the KU NIL money is nice. But so is having a chance to win the national championship, something only Griffen came close to when he helped Alabama get to the Final Four.

As a part of that, Self clearly has to change the way he manages the team. He’s always been a coach who tightened the roster as the season progressed. Unless a bunch of these guys start sucking, he can’t remove three of them from the rotation. I think we will see a lot of different lineups this year, with minutes varying game-to-game depending on how guys are playing and who the opponent is. Harris, Dickinson, and KJ Adams won’t be asked to stay on the court for 38 minutes because there is no one behind them.

I don’t think we will get to the point in February where, unless the team is in foul trouble, only eight guys are playing. Self asked the players to change to be a part of something bigger. I think/hope he made that same commitment.

It was one game against an over-matched opponent. We can’t read too much into it. Things get a lot realer Friday against North Carolina. And next week against Michigan State. And in three weeks against Duke. And then against Creighton. I’m guessing KU looks incredible in one of those games, totally out-of-sorts in one, and a mixture of those extremes in the others. The goal is to lessen that variance and have this team locked in when we get to March, when all that depth and experience will pay off.

  1. See the Riley Kugel saga, for example.  ↩

Weekend Notes

November 4, 2024 /

This was a fairly quiet weekend thanks to a KU bye week and the girls being busy on their own.

Halloween

Our Halloween was relaxed. We decided to go hang with our old neighbors. It sure brought back memories to sit in their driveway and watch kids scamper through the cul-de-sac. That was where our girls did almost all of their trick-or-treating. As we at chili we reminisced about the various holidays we shared with our friends, including the one when it was sleeting sideways and our girls insisted on going out. We might have been the only people dumb enough to hit the streets that night, and folks were literally dumping their entire candy collections into our girls’ bags. They thought the misery was worth it.

We’ve left a bowl at our house a few times with a sign telling folks to help themselves. And we always come back to an almost-full bowl. It helps that we get very few trick-or-treaters. We did that again this year. C and L were home and said they didn’t hear a lot of kids come to our house. Yet when we got home the bowl was completely empty, robbing us of our post-Halloween candy to share as a family. I didn’t bother to check our front-door cam to see which little a-holes helped themselves to the entire bowl.

HS Football Playoffs

CHS won their opening playoff game against now 0–10 North Central 36–0. It was pretty sloppy with lots of penalties and wasted opportunities. L walked across the street to watch but I didn’t think it would be worth even that meager effort. I believe this is the first year since M was in seventh grade that I didn’t go to a single CHS game, although I still listened to each one and did walk over when our friends from Carmel played NC.

The Irish advance to play #1 Lawrence North, who after a slow first half looked really good beating their arch rivals Lawrence Central. I had that game on TV until the Pacers started. CHS has knocked LN out of the playoffs each of the last two years but this is a very different LN team. I will be watching basketball 80 miles north so likely won’t be able to follow the sectional championship game very well.

College Football

A KU bye week meant no heart-breaking, come-from-ahead loss. Which was a nice change from how this fall has gone.

I watched most of Ohio State – Penn State. I see Andy Kotelnicki’s kryptonite is still first and goal inside the 10. His offense always bogged down in those situations at KU. Even with better talent he still struggles when faced with a short field. It’s like all his creativity disappears and he just runs dives up the middle.

Clearly having either just played KU or having the Jayhawks next on your schedule takes a lot out of a team, with both Kansas State and Iowa State losing Saturday.

I was actually looking forward to watching IU play this week. I knew the game was on Peacock. We are Xfinity customers and I thought we got Peacock for free. Turns out we just get a limited part of Peacock free, and that tier does not include live sports. I was not going to pay $10 to see one game of a team I don’t really care about. But cool that IU is 9–0 for the first time in their history.

Colts

So much for Joe Flacco making a difference. I didn’t watch much of the Colts-Vikings game Sunday night but when I did, I saw an offense that was absolutely putrid. Yep, Chris Ballard and Shane Steichen are going to be looking for new jobs this winter.

Pacers

After beating the Celtics in overtime Wednesday to get their first win of the year, the Pacers blew multiple leads in New Orleans to lose another one Friday.

Worse, for the second time in a week they lost a backup center to a non-contact, achilles injury, this time second stringer Isaiah Jackson. For the moment Myles Turner is the Pacers only true big. I hope they are triple taping his calves and ankles, while also finding a way to move some of their wing depth to find another big body.

College Hoops Recruiting

It’s been a quiet recruiting season, so far, for KU. That was because Bill Self put all his recruiting eggs into one basket, and was waiting on a decision from Darryn Peterson, the #3 overall player in this year’s senior class. Peterson finally made his decision Friday night, picking KU. That’s been the assumption for months, mostly because he’s already signed a multi-year deal with Adidas and all the other schools recruiting him were Nike programs. Still, there were rumors that both Ohio State and USC were making big runs at him.

The Jayhawks got their man and can now, hopefully, start filling around him. KU will lose at least six players after this season, so there are opportunities for any young men who want to play in the greatest building in the game. DP, the highest rated recruit KU has signed since Josh Jackson, is a pretty good start.

Misc

I swear, October is the fastest month of the year. It just flies by no matter how old you or your kids are.

The sun setting at 5:40 is stupid.

Late summer keeps hanging on. We had two days around 80 last week. We are supposed to have a couple days in the 70s this week. It will flip eventually, but zero complaints about the weather at the moment.

The girls both went to parties Saturday. The cops showed up at the one L was at. But, she was quick to tell me, not because of the the actual party. One of her travel teammates had a bunch of people over. Naturally word got out, a hoarde of kids from other schools showed up and they were not allowed inside the house, so they first destroyed L’s friend’s basketball hoops (one of those movable ones) then started fighting in the street. The cops showed up to clear them out but never even knocked on the door where the actual party was. Glad we’ve trained our girls to understand they can have friends over, but can never, ever host a party. We’re not dealing with that shit.

Remember being in high school and hearing rumors that there was a party at so-and-so’s house, or in such-and-such neighborhood, and driving around hoping to find it and then talk your way in? I did plenty of that. But I never destroyed anyone’s basketball hoop. Or fought in the street.

October Media

November 1, 2024 /

Kind of an odd media month. There was some baseball early, but not much after the Royals were eliminated. A lot of reading The Lord of the Rings. A fall break vacation. But not much long-form stuff. That should shift in November. And there was a changing of the hobbies, a switch that is reflected below with a new section.

Movies, Shows, etc

Halloween Baking Championship
The winner was a bit of a surprise, as Manny rallied in the final three episodes to take the competition. Poor Aaron has now reached the finals of two different holiday shows without getting a win.

A-

Anchorman
As noted before, we watched this as a family with our hosts in Denver. Apparently the kids and moms did not like it as much as the dads. Not sure what is wrong with them.

A

Shorts, YouTubes, etc

Bill Self UNFILTERED on the portal, navigating NIL, Kansas as Preseason No. 1 | Goodman & Hummel
Unfiltered is a little strong. I guess he does say “shit” once. But otherwise your standard, solid interview.

Running Australia’s hardest 100km while needing a hip replacement
I got nervous when I saw the title for Beau Miles’ latest bullshit. Turns out it is his buddy who needed the replacement, not him. A touching short, with a sequel to come.

I built a chicken coop for zero dollars
This is some good, and wholesome, Beau Miles bullshit.

Beau Miles takes Cody Simpson on an epic adventure
Hey, Beau now has sponsored bullshit! I had no idea Cody Simpson, who was big on Disney Radio when our girls were in that phase, was a competitive swimmer now.

‘Afternoon Plus’ documentary on the BBC World Service (1982)
Did I watch and enjoy this British doc from 1982 about the BBC’s World Service? Hell yes I did.

We Answer Your Fall Style Questions For 2024
Get your wardrobes correct, fellas.

6 Minutes of the Best Jokes in Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee
Sometimes I like these better than the actual show.

We bought a NEW CABIN ︱ Svalbard
I can’t imagine living like this.

Inside The World’s Most Secret House Built Into a Mountain
This, on the other hand, would be a wild way to spend a shit load of money for a very isolated vacation.

How This Surfer Built His Dream Home on the Nova Scotia Coast
Forget the financial side of this. I wish I had the imagination to conjure up a place like this, then the ability to put it together.

Indianapolis | Cinematic Travel Diaries Shot on Sony FX30 w/ 20mm lens
Not a lot of travel videos about Indy. Makes sense this one is less than two minutes long, although I guess that’s kind of this guy’s thing.

The unique undersea tunnels that link the Faroe Islands
Fascinating. I read an article that mentioned these a few weeks before this video popped up.

Is Colorado a Food Utopia? Exploring Farm to Table Cuisine, Epic Landscapes & UFO’s | DIRT Colorado
Perfect timing, right before our trip to CO, even if it focused on different parts of the state than we did.

First Big Trip in Our New Truck
I know I’ve said this before, but it sure would be cool to be cool enough to live like this. Or, rather, it would be cool to be cool enough that brands sponsored you to live this way.

Leon Bridges Talks New Album, Texas Roots & How He Developed His “Futuristic Retro” Style
I dig Leon’s whole vibe.

Apollo 16 lunar rover “Grand Prix” in HD
Dopeness.

Remembering Fernandomania
A wonderful piece from a couple years back about a legend we lost in October.

Car Content

Lucid Air Pure: The Real Tesla Fighter
If only they were in my price range…

Photography

Welp, I’ve picked up the camera again. Check my Instagram feed. More details later, but here is a sampling of the photo vids I watched last month.
Italy on 35mm
“Street photography is creative freedom” | A Day with Chris Harrison
How to take Great Photos with Patience / Lake Garda on #35mm Film
Journals E28- Fuji XF10 Photography in the South Of France
Spain & Italy
Three weeks of film photography across Japan
Chasing Fall Color in the Eastern Sierra | Pentax 67
One Month Two Cameras
The Photo Dept.

Friday Playlist

November 1, 2024 /

“Afterlife” – Sharon Van Etten
New SVE music! We won’t get the album until February, making it the first 2025 album on my New Music list. For the first time, she collaborated with her band on writing songs rather than bringing songs to them to join her on. None of her magic gets lost in the process, at least on this track.

“Raleigh Arena” – Jim Nothing
Nothing’s album was one of four that came out the Friday we were in Denver I was interested in. It might be the best of that bunch. Now that we are into November, I will start giving Serious Attention to my Best Songs of 2024 list. Nothing has a song that is up for consideration.

“Changed Unchained” – Nadia Reid
SVE makes a comeback. Jim Nothing is from New Zealand. Put those together and you get the first new music in five years from New Zealander Reid! This has a bigger sound than her earlier songs that I love.

“Peaceful Place” – Leon Bridges
More mellow goodness from Mr. Bridges.

“Lost” – Soccer Mommy
I had to triple check to make sure this wasn’t Phoebe Bridgers.

“In The Living Room” – Maggie Rogers
Maggie never disappoints.

“Mr. November” – The National
Not about Derek Jeter.

“Cool It Now” – New Edition
I have vivid memories of a group of cute girls at Pittman Hills Middle School singing this in the hallway between classes one day and me realizing I need to learn more about New Edition. It’s kind of crazy that this was the biggest pop hit of their career until 1996, making it all the way to #4 on the Hot 100 while topping the Hot Black Singles chart. This was actually its second week in the Top 40, moving up to #30. Who knew in the fall of 1984 what a big part of my life Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, Mike, Ralph, and Johnny would become.

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