Rock Chalking to NOLA
What a god damn game! (Excuse the blasphemy.) KU never makes it easy in the Elite 8. It’s a hard-ass game in a killer tournament where one bad performance can wreck a season of excellence. For every Kansas-Duke in 2018 and KU-UNC in 2012 – wide-open, flowing games where the teams exchange big shot after big shot until one finally…
Friday Playlist
A slightly larger playlist this week, as my pool of songs to share has grown and there will likely be no list next week as I enjoy my spring break. Bad weather in Siesta Key could always change that. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4CYo6KNA1sx5zyPkjFedlM?si=883bdd8e66b447c3 “Heavy Heart” – Bartees Strange Strange’s debut album was terrific and showed great promise. This first peek at what most…
Sweetness
Ahhhh, Sweet 16 week. I’ve always said this is the best week of the tournament for the real hoops fan. Provided your team is in it, of course. The frenzy of the first weekend has been thinned out and we can get down to some real, serious hoops. There’s always an interesting story or three for the national media to…
Freak of the Week
It’s been awhile since I’ve had a run-in with a local freak, for lack of a better term. You know them: the random, semi-crazy appearing/acting people who engage you in conversation without an invitation. My favorite such encounter was sometime in the mid–90s at a Dillons in Lawrence, KS with one of that city’s most notable weirdos. I was attempting…
Reader’s Notebook, 3/22/22
Damascus Station – David McCloskey I believe this is my third espionage novel written by a former CIA employee in recent months. And it was, by far, the best of that bunch. Set in, wait for it, Damascus, Syria, it is the story of an American CIA officer who recruits a member of the Syrian intelligence service and gets pulled…
So Much Hoops
Jayhawk Talk It happened! It finally happened! A highly seeded KU team played a less talented team in the round of 32, saw that team go nuts from behind the 3-point line, and still managed to gut out a win and advance to the Sweet 16. The Creighton game was not a lot of fun to watch, at least as…
Friday Playlist
A playlist filled with, mostly, heavier tracks this week. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/20H1Qm5v0ajlRaH8RFh5NH?si=ed9fb74dce5a4c1d “Angelica” – Wet Leg A little change in sound on this latest track from Buzz Band Wet Leg. There’s some Missing Persons in the DNA of this song. And some grungy guitars that aren’t quite Shoegaze but certainly owe something to that movement. “Rockstar” – Momma Speaking of crunchy, ’90s…
EN-CEE-TWO-AY Picks
It’s finally here: the first normal NCAA tournament in three years! It’s also supposed to be well into the 70s here in Indy today, so it might be the most perfect day ever. I did not do a ton of research in preparation for making NCAA picks. I listened to a couple podcasts that had sections on picks, and I…
Weekend Hoops Notes: Tourney Time
I watched a ton of hoops this weekend. The most in ages. Especially on Saturday, when I barely left the couch. Two of our nephews stopped by and one of them, the nearly six-year-old, asked C, “Why is Uncle D always watching basketballsports?” Basketballsports. One word. Made me laugh. You picked the wrong weekend to get any attention from Uncle…
Friday Playlist
Haven’t been as deep into the new music the last couple weeks, so this didn’t come together as quickly or smoothly as usual. I’ll adjust my listening habits for next week. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6VPfmPBW8VLs7inGXc69TB?si=e22bde67951e418a “Something” – Hater Some solid, noir-ish indie rock from Sweden. I keep wanting to say this has a mid-90s feeling to it, but I’m not sure that’s right…