• Reaching For The Stars, Vol. 112

    Chart Week: June 5, 1976 Song: “Love Really Hurts Without You” – Billy Ocean Chart Position: #36, 10th week on the chart. Peaked at #22 for two weeks in May. It’s always fun to be surprised when listening to old American Top 40’s. As I worked my way through this countdown, and glanced ahead at the list of songs on…

  • Friday Playlist

    After a slight lull, the music has really started to pile up again, so we are back to the thick and juicy playlists. “Celebrated Summer” – Hüsker Dü (Nods head.) Yeah, this is the good shit. “Did I Say Too Much” – The Beaches Serious Song Of The Summer vibes here. “Inland Ocean” – Matt Berninger With the NBA Finals…

  • Friday Playlist

    This came together surprisingly well for it being a short, busy week. It helps that we are in Summer Music season. “Constructive Summer” – The Hold Steady Always good advice to build something in the summer. “Andromeda” – Preoccupations Not a bad song on the latest Preoccupations album. “One Million” – Rocket Other than “Cherub Rock,” I was never a…

  • Friday Playlist

    It’s the Friday before Memorial Day. That means it’s both time to break out the summer music and to play a song I always play this weekend. Two songs, actually. “Jack & Diane” – John Mellencamp Years ago, when we were still lake people, one of my better Facebook posts was something along the lines of “It’s not Memorial Day…

  • Friday Playlist

    We’ve reached what may be the busiest 10–12 days of the year for our family. Thus I’m putting this together Thursday evening, which could lead us in some surprising directions. “Friday On My Mind” – Brògeal This seems like a good way to start. When writing about this band, Tom Breihan said, “They look and sound like the most Scottish…

  • Weekend Notes

    Well that was a fantastic weekend! Belated Happy Mothers Days to all the moms out there. I hope you had as good of weekends as we did. Visitors Our good friends Dave and Maureen visited from KC over the weekend. The reason for their trip, other than hanging out at blog headquarters, was so Dave and I could watch Bob…

  • Friday Playlist

    I feel like I’m settling into my new groove after the switch to Apple Music, finding a better balance between the old and new music. I think you’re going to like this week’s choices, which includes a couple special tracks. “Black Confetti” – Bob Mould Hey, I’m seeing Bob Mould tomorrow night! And my brother-in-music Dave V. is coming to…

  • Friday Playlist

    As I shared many words about earlier this week, my switch to Apple Music means I’m pulling more songs from the past up into my daily soundtrack. Which means these playlists are going to start including more classics. Which was my intention back when I started them however many years ago. There will still be plenty of new music if…

  • A New (Old) Musical Home

    As I wait out some morning storms before I head over the gym, it seems like the ideal moment to share (or at least start the post that shares) my latest music project. For months I’ve been thinking about writing a lengthy post about how I don’t upend my digital life as often as I used to. People close to…

  • Friday Playlist

    A slight change-of-pace this week. I’ve been working on a new music project this week that has slowed down my processing of the new songs considerably. (I’ll share more about that project next week.) Plus a couple of these songs/bands are tough to Google, so I wasn’t able to find out much about them. As a result, a slightly more…