Friday Playlist
By the time you read this post and begin listening to this week’s tracks, S and I will be on the road, headed west towards Kansas City and a weekend wedding. To honor that occasion, these songs are inspired by the collection of music the bride-to-be gave her DJ. Plus one song required any time I go to KC. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3iRzQbi6alNQgPWjqVV3L8?si=c547663919dc4c64
Oh Crap: College Sports Realignment Talk
I believe it was right as the Olympics were beginning that the first rumors surfaced that Oklahoma and Texas might leave the Big 12 for the SEC. My immediate reaction was, “No way. Texas isn’t leaving all the Longhorn Network money on the table so they can lose to Alabama every year.” Within three days we knew that not only…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 61
Chart Week: August 1, 1981 Song: “Don’t Want to Wait Anymore” – The Tubes Chart Position: #37, 7th week on the chart. Peaked at #35 for two weeks. The Tubes will collect residual checks until they die for one song: “She’s a Beauty,” their #10 smash from the summer of 1983. It is an absolute classic of its era; any…
Blog and Weekend Notes
First day of the new school year with all three girls in class, which I guess makes this the first day of “fall” for me. Seems like I should get into a better groove about posting here than I did most of the summer. I have a few works in progress, but I think I need to do a better…
Friday Links
Time to share some more things I’ve been reading on screens of various sizes. The Vaccine Cards Are the Wrong Size In the grand scheme of things, this is not a big deal, as author Amanda Mull admits. But it sure is annoying. And signs of a bigger issue. The inconvenient paper vestige that vaccinated Americans now carry of that…
Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3XDii8Z8hNhmozxJ8AbntW?si=27c7fddf96e547e7 “Surrender” – Gold Star A lot of influences bubbling up in this track. I hear some Springsteen, but as if filtered through others who have used The Boss’ music as a guide over the years. There’s also a stark, story-telling feel that reminds me of some early The War on Drugs stuff. I most definitely dig. “Day I Did…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 60
Chart Week: August 8, 1987 Song: “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” – Whitney Houston Chart Position: #17, 13th week on the chart. Peaked at #1 for two weeks in June and July. I tend to shy away from songs that hit number one since they will get the Tom Breihan treatment over at Stereogum. I squeezed in…
Olympics Wrap Up
Another Summer Olympic Games have passed. These were…fine, I guess. OK, that’s harsh. They certainly weren’t terrible. But they also do not measure up to other recent games. And the constant reminders of how the Covid pandemic is getting worse rather than better was a huge bummer. I remain worried that over the next few weeks we will see spikes…
Weekend Notes
Moving a little slow this Monday morning. We had several of S’s high school friends and their families over yesterday and the gathering ran rather late for a Sunday. Then I woke up at about 1:15 with one of those terrible, mid-summer “The AC is running but I’m still too hot to sleep” things that kept me restless for the…
Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6my5Sd2DSHCoSABikBitNa?si=6141a83e266647b8 “Hard On Everyone” – Kathleen Edwards I hadn’t heard anything from Edwards in several years. Turns out she chucked her music career in 2014 to open a coffee shop in suburban Ottawa, Canada. Maren Morris asked her to cowrite some music two years ago and that recharged Edwards. Somehow I didn’t hear this track until a few weeks ago,…