Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 37
Chart Week: January 30, 1982 Song: “Waiting for a Girl Like You” – Foreigner Chart Position: #2, 17th week on the chart. Spent 10 weeks at #2. Chart geeks like me love the little tidbits that give the history of the charts added context. Highest debut, most hits by one artist in the top ten, biggest drop from #1, etc.…
An Eventful Week
Last week was a little out-of-the ordinary around our house. As I mentioned a couple times, we were on nephew duty all week. One of my sisters-in-law was matched with another baby boy for adoption and had to go to Florida to pick him up. It was a last-minute deal, so while she hoped to only be down there a…
Kobe
So where was I? I was enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon after joining friends for a birthday lunch for my wife. I was watching golf – the Farmer’s Insurance Open was extra interesting this year since the hotel we stayed at in San Diego last summer bordered the course – and scrolling through Twitter when the Tweets began hitting. There…
Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6CI01EFpeeP4BoBWwBTGyK?si=GIelrZt2SFSIuLxPuIBvPA “Dance of the Clairvoyants” – Pearl Jam It’s been seven years since we’ve had a new Pearl Jam album. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Their last couple albums were uneven at best, teetering toward mid-life mediocrity at worst. A new album is set for a spring release, and we got the first single this week. It’s different, which…
Reader’s Notebook, 1/23/20
I started 2020 off with two excellent reads. Midnight in Chernobyl – Adam Higginbotham This is, quite simply, one of the best works of non-fiction I’ve ever read. It is a highly detailed, yet brisk, accounting of the 1986 meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the then Soviet Union. Higginbotham provides quick summaries of just about everything that…
Stupidity
I sure picked a good night not to watch the KU game. Between having the nephew around, C having volleyball practice, and the early start time, I decided to record the KU-K-State game, follow the score, and watch it later if needed. For most of the night that seemed like a good decision. After a slow start, the Jayhawks waxed…
Weekend Notes
It’s probably a good thing today is a holiday and most of my Kansas City friends are probably just now going to bed after celebrating the Chiefs’ AFC title overnight. I say that because I didn’t see much of either game yesterday, so I don’t have a ton to say. I saw a decent chunk of the first half of…
Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5RTUCbIvPfEeb6BwAWoXw7?si=sqRYJzZgSn6IiHhDKKNMBQ “Cheap Regrets” – The Districts Looking through my Liked Songs playlist in Spotify and my iTunes library, I don’t know that I’ve ever listened to this band. Apparently this song is a departure from their usual sound. I really dig its blend of modern dance, classic disco, and indie rock. “It Helped” – Yakima When I think of Scottish…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 35
Chart Week: January 15, 1983 Song: “Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy” – Sammy Hagar Chart Position: #27, 6th week on the chart. Peaked at #13 for two weeks in February/March. One of the disappointments of the iHeart Radio Classic American Top 40 channel is that only so many of the old countdowns have been digitized and, thus, countdowns are…
CFP Championship Game Notes
I thoroughly enjoyed the CFP national championship game Monday night. Well, I enjoyed everything about it except a certain politician’s appearance before the game (I switched away just as L was yelling at me to get him off the screen) and how the game was an example of the biggest problem with college football today: four hours to play a…