Friday Playlist
Still not back in a normal music groove yet, so today you get one of my occasional, fun, “let Spotify spit some random tunes out and make a playlist from them” deals. “Spin The Bottle” – The Juliana Hatfield Three What a great blast from the early Nineties. “Needle” – Middle Kids Even their “mediocre” songs from overlooked EPs sound…
Reader’s Notebook, 1/2/25
I completed my final book of 2024 late Saturday/early Sunday as I was battling some insomnia. It was my 62nd book of the year, making 2024 one of my best reading years ever.[1] I read seven books in two different months, six books in three separate months, and never fewer than three books in a 30/31-day stretch. Pretty good work.…
December Media
Holiday Shit Elf Christmas Vacation A Christmas Story Die Hard Assorted SNL holiday sketches A’s all around. Band Aid – The Making Of The Original ’Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ Not a true documentary but rather a collection of the raw film shot on November 25, 1984, the day the vocals were recorded for this holiday classic. A remarkable view…
Stats
As usual for the first post of the New Year, here are the artists I listened to most over the past 365, errr, 366 days. As you might expect, when Pearl Jam puts out a new album that is really good and also perform in Indy, they end up dominating. Pearl Jam – 725 Middle Kids – 274 The War…
Christmas Week Notes
We had a pretty good holiday week. Lots of good times and good food with family. The weather was mostly decent, dreary but unseasonably warm all week. There was some good basketball. The only bummer was I caught cold #1 of the season last weekend and it wore me down several days. Christmas Day and the day after were when…
Favorite Songs of 2024
It’s taken a little longer than normal – I am almost certain this is the latest in the calendar year I’ve ever posted it – but at last I can reveal my 20 favorite songs of the year. This year I’ve had the the least enthusiasm I can recall about the process.[1] Usually I’ll dive into the songs in mid-fall…
Weekend Notes
Christmas week has finally arrived! The countdown that begins sometime around October 1 in my mind is just about done. Reading through old posts, I see I often updated you all on my state of holiday spirit. This has been a weird year for me. I’ve listened to less holiday music than anytime this century maybe? Don’t get me wrong,…
Friday Playlist, Part 2
For part two, the annual review of my favorite songs of the past 20 years. Remember there have been ties for #1 a few years, thus the extra tracks. Also don’t forget that these lists remain static once published. There are several songs I would replace with others if I re-evaluated their years today. Flags fly forever, and favorite songs…
Friday Playlist, Part 1
As promised, two different playlists and two videos for the last Friday before Christmas. We begin with the 11 songs that just missed making my Favorite Songs of 2024. That list isn’t completely done – I just moved a couple songs around before I started typing this – but the songs are locked in. Here are the remnants, presented in…
Reaching For The Stars, Vol. 108
Chart Week: December 13, 1980 Song: “(Just Like) Starting Over” – John Lennon Chart Position: #4, 7th week on the chart. Peaked at #1 for five weeks across December and January. This entry is less about a specific song than an extraordinary moment in American Top 40 history. And an opportunity for me to revisit a lost piece of writing…