Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 76
Chart Week: July 22, 1978 Song: “Baker Street” – Gerry Rafferty Chart Position: #2, 14th week on the chart. Peaked at #2 for six weeks. I’ve been wanting to write about this song for ages, and everything finally lined up thanks to an AT40 I caught last week. “Baker Street” is one of the greatest songs of its time. Or…
Family Notes
It has been a lazy few days around our house. M spent last week in Michigan with one of her best friend’s families. She seemed to have a great time. Boy was the house quiet without the most talkative sister around. Kind of a preview of what awaits us next fall. I had big plans to do something fun with…
Friday Playlist
I continue to clean out the holding pen of music that is overflowing with both new tracks and classics I rediscovered while trolling the archives of my old music podcast. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7FY3DOvNCgtuXnd5SUzPxE?si=a2041e6372ef40fb “Alright” – Sam Fender The life cycle of albums can be strange. These days many bands will drop multiple singles well before releasing the full album. Streaming messes up…
Weekend Sports Notes
Some sports happenings over the past few days. Royals As if being shitty wasn’t bad enough, ten Royals players “did their own research” and decided not to get vaccinated against Covid, preventing them from traveling to Canada for the series with the Blue Jays over the weekend. Just an exhausting moment. As I am barely interested in the team or…
Friday Playlist
Normally my Spotify playlist where I stash songs for the Friday Playists has anywhere from three to eight songs in it. This week is different, though. First off, this has been a very good year for music already and it feels like a ton of solid tunes get released every week. So I have plenty of new tracks to share.…
Reader’s Notebook, 7/14/22
The Committed – Viet Thanh Nguyen I read, and loved, Nguyen’s The Sympathizer in 2015. His sequel did not quite meet the original’s standard. The Committed picks up a few years after The Sympathizer, with the main character living in Paris in the early 1980s, and attempting to start a new life in the Vietnamese ex-pat community. Once again he…
Tuesday Links
A few links I’ve come across in the past few days that are worth sharing. First, the New York Times wrote about one of M’s classmates. That’s right, THE NEW YORK TIMES! I never guessed Booker would rise as high in the national rankings as he has (#2 in one list, #4 in another) when I stood next to him…
Weekend Notes: School Visits and Tennis
A pretty boring weekend around our house. I wrapped up Stranger Things. M went to a concert. But other than that the weekend proper was pretty low key for our family. We had great weather so we spent a lot of time just hanging out around the pool or on the back porch. College Visits Thursday M and I took…
Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7FJgfElWvetUQUwMzeL88t?si=c3d2d74714364bd3 “These Are The Days” – Inhaler I had not heard of this band until this week despite them having a #1 album in Ireland and the UK last year. They are a four-piece from Dublin that sound a little like the most famous band to ever come out of Dublin. That’s no coincidence: lead singer and guitarist Eli Hewson…
June Media
Movies, Series, Shows Tokyo Vice I heard mixed things about this, but when I realized Michael Mann was involved, I decided to give it a try. It’s classic Mann: visually stunning with some high highs and low lows. My favorite part about the show was Ansel Elgort, the actor who plays main character Jake Adelstein. The real Adelstein is from…