• Reaching for the Stars, Vol 89

    Chart Week: August 29, 1981 Song: “For Your Eyes Only” – Sheena Easton Chart Position: #29, 6th week on the chart. Peaked at #4 for for weeks in October and November. I’ve heard a glut of 1981 countdowns recently. To be honest, it’s a little much. The quirkiness of that era grates rather quickly upon repeated exposure. However, I did…

  • Weekend Notes

    Even down a kid, it was a pretty busy week. Although some of that activity was due to the missing kid. Jinxed Myself I mentioned in last week’s post that I was off the hook for driving to/from school for awhile. Well, not so fast… C got rear-ended leaving campus by another student on Monday. No injuries, thankfully. Her car…

  • Friday Playlist

    I must begin this week’s playlist with an apology. Last week I teased that I would be doing something new and exciting this week. Unfortunately that will not happen. I was going to get back into the world of podcasting, inserting actual vocal segments between songs. I’m not sure anyone needed or wanted to hear my voice, but I was…

  • Thursday Links

    Somehow in my highly organized list of future posts,[1] my latest collection of articles to share got bumped out of sight. Which is a shame because two of these are some of the best pieces I’ve read this year and I shouldn’t be sitting on them for over a month before I recommend them. I have no interest in Robert…

  • Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 88

    I talk a lot about how the summer of 1984 was the greatest moment in pop music history, normally backing that up with examples of some of the songs that were on the chart that summer. As I was listening to a 1984 countdown a couple weeks ago, it struck me again how freaking solid those 40 songs were. There…

  • Weekend Notes

    Lots of lasts and firsts over the past seven days. Let’s see if I can get through them all without getting too wordy or emotional. First Week at CHS L had her traditions orientation last Sunday evening and then a half-day schedule walk through on Wednesday before Cathedral began the school year on Thursday. When we picked her up from…

  • Friday Playlist

    A heads up for my loyal listeners that I’ve been working on a format change for these playlists. I’m hoping to unveil the newest, latest version next week. If it works as I hope, I think you’re going to enjoy it. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5O2XhoWVu5bsl33LZny7Pb?si=1d8eb8b1f79f4c5a “Motorcade” – Peggy Sue I love it when the algorithm spits out terrific songs I haven’t heard in…

  • Reader’s Notebook, 8/9/23

    I’ve been on a decent reading run. A few blurbs about my most recent completions. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino This has been sitting in my cabinet for something like two years. I’m glad I finally got to it. This is not a straight novelization of the movie, but rather an expansion on its base. Lots…

  • Sports Notes

    After just a week it’s already time for some more sports notes. Big 12/Realignment I neglected to include a section about college realignment in last week’s post as it seemed like the next domino was close to falling. I was expecting medium-sized news, like the Big 12 adding one-to-three more PAC schools to complete its expansion. Little did I know…

  • Friday Playlist

    https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0b6JAFqRubwqLSRipIsGSm?si=c8a52d84855d4d8c “Dream Some More” – The High Water Marks A bunch of schools around us went back to class this week, which is a tragedy. There should still be a month left of days wide open for listening to music like this. “Outta Time” – Bethany Cosentino Cosentino just released her first solo album which takes her sound in a…