The girls did just fine. There was some grumpiness, but nothing unusual. The kitchen did seem quiet, as I was pouring bowls of cereal and warming toaster waffles for the first time without Christmas music since November. I need to find some good morning music. I think the quiet kitchen puts everyone on edge. The morning was a little tougher for me. Not because I was sad that the holiday was over, or because I was dreading my eye doc visit.
I wouldn’t be half-assing it correctly if I failed to offer up some half-assed NFL playoff predictions. But, first, a few words about the Colts. WTF?!?! How on earth do you bring back the GM and head coach who have produced an uninspired, incomplete team that misses the playoffs in the weakest division in football and is somehow ruining what should be the next great NFL superstar in the process?
My collection of new music dwindled over the past six weeks, as I both devoted most of my time to either holiday tunes or reviewing my favorite songs of 2016, and as the music industry dialed the spigot back a bit on new releases. I’m looking forward to the flow increasing again soon. For our first playlist of the new year, a mix of old and new. open.spotify.com/user/224a… “Drive That Fast” - Kitchens of Distinction.
“Lord, honey, it’s gonna be excitin’!” Our family is pretty addicted to the various Food Network baking and cooking competition shows. We are especially fond of the Holiday Baking Championship. The quote above came from this year’s winner, Jason Smith, a folksy, down-home baker from Kentucky who was full of oddball yet hilarious comments. That one was used, over-and-over, in promos for the show’s six-week run. It’s become a common saying in our house.
The holiday portion of our Christmas vacation is over and the new year is off to a decent start. Things ramped up another notch last week. Our family from Denver flew in late Wednesday night for a brief visit. We picked them up at the airport after 11:00 pm. By the time the luggage was collected, we got home, and gave all the kids a snack, it was 1:00 am. And the kids all whined about having to go to bed.
Time for my monthly/annual recounting of what I’ve been listening to. The December numbers are always an aberration, as I go all-in with the holiday music. I think the 2016 totals are rather interesting, though. I don’t believe I’ve ever had my #1 artist so far out in front of my #2 artist. Remember, these only reflect what I’ve listened to on Spotify. Throw in the months that one Frightened Rabbit disk or another was in my vehicle’s CD player, and I think they’re pushing a thousand virtual and physical spins.
For my final entry of 2016, I’ll make my first attempt at my promised adjustment in how I share the books I’ve been reading. No more monthly entries, where I can barely remember the details of the book I read five weeks ago. Back to individual posts for each book. Or occasionally a small group of books. I began 2016 reading Richard Price’s The White’s, which he wrote under his pen name of Harry Brandt.
Yesterday was one of those weird afternoons where you take a brief nap and, after waking, nothing seems quite right for an hour or so. The cobwebs seem too thick to push through and you’re left feeling like you’ve taken a bunch of cold medicine. As I was sitting there, trying to find solid ground again, I picked up my phone and began scrolling through Twitter, soon finding the news that Carrie Fisher had died.
A very busy and fun first quarter of our Christmas break is in the books. As is required of anyone who still runs a personal blog, here is a rundown of the past few days. The girls were not released from their academic responsibilities until 1:00 Thursday. By comparison, the neighborhood kids all finished the previous Friday, so our girls felt like they got a late start. They do go back a week later than the neighbors, so it all evens out.
I didn’t read, or really pay any attention to, the Harry Potter books or watch movies when they were first coming out. Sure, I was aware of the phenomenon. I knew what Hogwarts was. I knew that adults seemed to enjoy the stories as much as young adults. But they came along at a point in my life where I really had no interest in digesting them. However, I loved how Joe Posnanski wrote about reading the stories with his daughters.
Over the past year or so, Drew Magary has become one of my favorite writers. Whether in his novels and collections of anecdotes about being a parent, his writings for GQ and Deadspin, or just on Twitter, he never fails to amuse me. I might have first discovered him through his holiday-themed posts on Deadspin. You might recall when he shared his daughter’s ridiculous Christmas list and broke it all down for us.
I usually offer some State of the Music Union thoughts when I share my favorite songs of the year lists. 2016 got off to a great start and then kind of cruised to the finish. Most of my favorite albums of the year came out during its first six months. There were some albums I was greatly looking forward to that I never connected with. To me, 2016 was a better year for singles than albums.
A special playlist this week. I think I finally got my Favorite Songs of the Year list hammered out yesterday. I’ll finish my write up over the weekend and share it early next week. When I used to do a semi-private podcast, each year before I shared my favorite songs, I would do a review show counting down the #1 songs of all the previous years. Seems like a good way for me to share some good tunes with you.
My counting may be off - I did make a chart to double-check my numbers - but I’m pretty sure that last night was the 15th, and next-to-last, Christmas program of our girls’ school lives. Every year since 2007 we’ve had at least one school program. 2013 was the sweetest spot in that stretch, with M performing in the St. P’s 3rd grade play, C in the first grade living nativity, and L in her St.
We had a nice weekend up in Chicago, the Mrs. and me. The occasion was for her to attend a conference for work, something we did for the first time a year ago when we went to Arizona. Amazingly, this was the first time I’ve been to Chicago in 15 years, since I ran the marathon in 2001. We’re three hours away! What’s wrong with us? This time around we road-tripped it, dropping the girls off at school right at 7:30 Friday then getting on I–65 for the trip north.
open.spotify.com/user/224a… A few weeks back, we got a new Japandroids single plus a 2017 release date for their next album. Over the past week, two more artists I’ve spent a lot of time listening to in recent years did the same thing. “Radio Kids” - Strand of Oaks. Someone said this sounded like Ryan Adams doing a Dinosaur Jr. song. I approve of that assessment. SoO’s last album, Heal, was a brutally honest account of both his and his wife’s failures in their marriage.
A few notes as I wrap up a short week in our home. Wade Davis Trade Wow, it was almost exactly four years ago that the Royals traded Wil Myers and others to Tampa for James Shields and Wade Davis, a trade I HATED. I guess everything worked out ok, didn’t it? It hurt a little when the Royals couldn’t re-sign Ben Zobrist or Johnny Cueto last year. But those were expected losses.
It seems like every day there is another piece of evidence that the Internet is a terrible place, and that far too many humans are loathsome people. And then there are things like this, which reaffirm my faith that the Internet is ultimately a good thing. I discovered it just after last Christmas, so I’ve been sitting on it for a while year. I’m glad I’m finally able to share Greg Maletic’s look back at the 1977 Sears Wish Book!
A couple NBA links this morning. First, another excellent link to a piece on The Ringer, who is NBA-heavy in content. In this one, Shea Serrano breaks down the five most disrespectful dunks of the young NBA season. Even if you don’t like the NBA, this is a fine article to read through. I hope he continues to do these through the year. The Disrespectful Dunk Index Next, and I only have a Twitter link here, the official NBA Twitter account offered up Shawn Kemp’s 47 best dunks in honor of the Reign Man’s 47th birthday last week.
youtu.be/WQylnGUCA… “Feel Right” - Esmé Patterson. This time of year can be frustrating for me, music-wise. I have the holiday tunes in high rotation. At the same time, I’m paring down the list of my favorite songs I’ve been building all year into its final form. And I’m reading other Best Of lists to make sure there’s nothing I’ve missed, which there always is. Yesterday I read through Frank Turner’s list of favorite albums of the year and gave most of the entries a brief listen.