youtu.be/ri97Sk8Gw… “We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions” - Queen at Live Aid A pretty good way to wrap up a pretty good week and month. I’ve posted Queen’s full Live Aid performance before. I will repeat what I said then: this may be the greatest live performance ever. Huge moment that the entire world was watching and the band was absolutely locked in.
Another October down the drain. In all this baseball madness I was not in the mood to write about much else. So some catching up is in order. Let’s begin with wrapping up the younger two girls’ fall sports experiences. When we last discussed sports, C. was building up for her final race of the year, the City Championship meet. This was going to be the biggest meet St. P’s ran in, with something like 27 schools taking part.
I used to keep a large composition notebook with me while I watched TV. When something would amuse, enrage, or otherwise interest me, I would jot down a few lines about it. Especially in the earliest days of this site, back when it was hosted on Blogger, those notebooks provided the basis for an awful lot of posts. I find myself wishing I had not gotten out of that habit. Because I know I had a million thoughts worth sharing over the past week as the World Series ran its five-game course that are lost forever between their sheer number, the lack of sleep, the alcohol, and my mid–40s brain just not retaining information as well as it once did.
Words will come. And trust me, long-time readers, there will be many of them. But I’m operating on less than three hours of sleep, may still be a little buzzed, and am operating at a level of giddiness that makes it tough to put thoughts together. Oh, and I have to write a basketball preview article for the paper in the next couple hours. That should be a good one.
youtu.be/cIy2wyEV0… “The Weekend” - Modern Baseball I was conflicted about what to share this week. Should I throw a scary song out at you? It’s somewhat traditional that I post “Thriller” the week of Halloween. Or at least I’ve done that three times. On the other hand, should I go back to last year’s October theme and share something from 1985? But since I haven’t done that yet this month, would that be bad luck to suddenly harken back to the last time the Royals won the World Series?
Once again, I’m left wondering what to write about a baseball game. How about this, for starters: Game Six of the ALCS was the craziest, most dramatic, and best baseball game I’ve ever watched my team play in. Keep in mind, I did not watch last year’s Wild Card game but rather listened to it. While we all know that game is the pinnacle in the history of the Kansas City Royals, Friday night’s pennant clinching win is right up there with it.
youtu.be/7MDWtSf_A… “In My Eyes” - Best Coast Normally in October, I’m starting the think about my Best Of lists for the current year. Reviewing albums from early in the year I may have forgotten about, digging out singles that I only listened to a few times and demand more consideration, and then shuffling all my favorites around in various orders so that, in about six weeks, I can publish my definitive lists for the year.
Over the weekend we had a conversation with the girls about pet peeves. We took turns sharing what some of our biggest ones were, which ended up being pretty funny. S. and I made most of ours about things the girls do that make us crazy. And the girls each chose ones that had to do with their sisters. The clip below from John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight would have been perfect had I decided to share a few of my real pet peeves with the girls.
The Royals host the Blue Jays in game one of the ALCS tonight. Just like we expected, right? Well, maybe for most of the past two months. But last weekend, when the Royals trailed Houston 2–1 and Toronto trailed Texas 2–0 in their respective division series, an all-Texas AL final looked much more likely. But the two best teams in the AL righted their ships, made big comebacks, and now we’ve got the series that has had a slow fuse burning on it since the teams last met in early August.
youtu.be/mPsXHrwcU… “What Is Life” - George Harrison When I opened Apple Music today to scan the new releases, I noticed that George Harrison’s music is now available to stream. Which is weird because within just the last week or so I heard one of his songs on SiriusXM and wondered if his solo work had ever been cleared for streaming. As I recalled, only a song or two that appeared on soundtracks or compilations had been available in the past.
Warning: you might want to put some space between you and whatever screen you’re reading these on. For they are extremely hot sports takes![1] I must be getting old. I actually kind of enjoyed the Chicago Cubs clinching their NLDS against St. Louis yesterday. In fact, I found it pretty damn cool. I say that’s a sign of age because I’ve long hated the Cubs. I didn’t hate them for their “Lovable Loser” fans, or because there are tons of Cubs fans around Indy, or even because they broke my heart when I was little.
This time I got to watch. Fifty-four weeks ago, when the Royals made their insane comeback against Oakland in the Wild Card game, we were in the final hours of our Time Without Cable.[1] Thus I was huddled up with my computer and a bluetooth speaker, listening to the Royals radio broadcast deep into the night. Yesterday, I got to watch most of the Fox TV broadcast. I did have to listen to a couple innings as I picked the girls up from school.
youtu.be/4Eo84jDIM… “Leave A Trace” - CHVRCHES One of the big music surprises of 2013, on multiple levels, were CHVRCHES. Their opening single, “The Mother We Share,” came out of nowhere and was an utter delight. Still, it felt like a bit of a novelty, unlikely to be followed by anything else as engaging. The second surprise came with the release of their first full-length album, The Bones Of What You Believe.
What a difference a year makes. This time last year, the Royals had just come off their epic - no EPIC - win over Oakland in the Wild Card series and were headed to Anaheim to take on the Angels, who had the best record in the American League. Would there be an emotional hangover from the Wild Card win? Could the Royals pitching staff silence the Angels bats? Could the Royals get on base enough to make their speed a factor?
I believe I’ve mentioned a time or two (or three) that I spent nearly a month wading through a beast of a book. Now I have to write about said beast. Cripes. The good news (for me at least) is that despite the time spent on that book, I remain at book-a-week pace for the year. The Woman Who Lost Her Soul - Bob Shacochis Well, what to write about this book?
Last weekend, for the first time since mid-August, we had no cross country meets, no soccer games, no out-of-town guests, no trips to the lake planned. It was nice to have an easy, early fall weekend to sit around and decompress a bit. Well, we did have one big thing on the calendar: L. turned seven on Saturday! Thanks to the way the calendar fell, she had an extended birthday. Friday she got to take cupcakes in to school.
youtu.be/NyDIOlkp_… “Laced” - DMA’s A rather goofy video, that really isn’t worth watching, for a pretty spectacular song. In fact, just hide this window while the song is playing and enjoy the sounds. DMA’s take a little Arctic Monkeys, some Oasis, and a heavy dose of classic Australian jangle-pop, and end up with some often gorgeous, if derivative, music.
I’ve kicked this around for nearly two weeks, so I suppose it’s time to finally convert the thoughts into text. I would not call this an album review proper, but rather a few musings about Ryan Adams’ cover of Taylor Swift’s 1989. Ryan Adams is no stranger to covering other people’s music. His set lists are peppered with songs from other artists. He recorded one of the greatest covers of all time, a song so good even the man who wrote it affirmed that it now belongs to Adams.
(As I prefer to focus on the many positives, I’ll save my thoughts on the Royals’ September and prospects for October until next week.) I had a bit of a rough weekend. Some stomach issues. A couple late nights and early mornings. Mid-day naps to counter those. Everything felt a bit off. And I guess it all started Thursday night, when the Royals clinched their first division title since 1985.
In reverse order of age this time, your periodic Kid Sports Update. L., and her whole soccer team, rebounded nicely from their rough first week. Playing against teams that have not been full of second graders like their first opponent, they’ve won two-straight games in shutouts. She scored three goals last week and two yesterday. Most impressively, her team is playing pretty, team soccer. Most of the kids are learning how to pass out of traffic and then run to space.