• Friday Playlist

    As I begin putting this playlist together Thursday evening, I’m not really sure where it is going. There are several older songs in the queue and I’m trying to figure out which newer ones to pull in. Let’s take a musical journey together and see where we land! “From The Night” – The Prize Hell yes! Some very solid power-pop-punk…

  • Moving In

    Like some of our friends a few hundred miles west, yesterday was college drop-off day for us. We picked a good one, too. The first day of IU dorm move in was Tuesday, a day that saw heat indices well over 100° with rounds of heavy rain in Bloomington. Wednesday, though? Cloudy, relatively cool, with a blessed relief from the…

  • Sports Notes

    A few sports notes before we head to Bloomington in a couple hours… Colts Welp, it’s official: the Colts are a disaster. Tuesday they named Daniel Jones as the starter for the coming season. Which means Anthony Richardson must have been really, really bad in camp, because Jones is about as mid as you can get in an NFL quarterback.…

  • Tuesday Links

    I just read Niko Stratis’ book, which is part memoir, part reflection and analysis of the music she has loved. I found this interview with her, and this passage really struck me. I strive for my posts that are about music and memory to be accurate, but I often wonder how accurate my recollections really are. Ultimately, I’m never going…

  • Weekend Notes

    A pretty chill weekend, with not a lot to share. Most activities revolved around making final preparations to move C to IU this Wednesday. A final trip to Target. A final order (or three) on Amazon. Many loads of laundry. A lot of organizing of our bonus room, which is the staging area. There are whole sections of the floor…

  • Friday Playlist

    A funny thing happened as I began putting this week’s list together. I noticed a common thread through many of the songs in my working pile of music. So that led me in a slightly different direction than I had planned. See if you can figure out what these songs all share. “Magic” – The Cars A song better suited…

  • Reaching For The Stars, Vol. 115

    Chart Week: August 14, 1982 Song: “And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going” – Jennifer Holliday Chart Position: #26, 7th week on the chart. Would peak at #22 for three weeks. One aspect of the pop chart that messed with my head when I was young was how songs that were huge hits on the genre charts would…

  • Wednesday Notes

    Fever Well, I sure jinxed the Fever! The last time I mentioned them I pointed out how they had their longest winning streak in a decade, all without Caitlin Clark. Since then they’ve lost three-of-four, the only win against hapless Chicago. Worst of all was last week’s game in Phoenix. I didn’t stay up to watch the game but in…

  • Tuesday Links

    Steven Hyden on seeing Oasis in London. Noel Gallagher is not a great or even cogent lyricist, and his melodies can sometimes seem a little samey. But when it comes to writing songs that large groups of individuals in various states of inebriation can sing in unison, perfectly, Bob Dylan and Beethoven have nothing on him. He is the absolute genius…

  • Weekend Notes

    Some notes about things, some of which happened before the weekend began. But first… A Blog Update Yes, I fucked around with how the site looks over the weekend. I believe I had used the same theme for six or seven years. That package had not been updated in ages, and while it has continued to work through WordPress updates,…