Friday Vid
youtu.be/ASFSjjbD_… “Ride On” - Rocky Nti Good grief this song is catchy!
Holiday Weekend Wrap
Many errands and household chores got crammed into Tuesday, so a belated look back at the final weekend of the summer. It was very good, but also kind of crappy. The good parts were: The girls getting a four-day weekend. It was nice to sleep in a bit Friday before all our other activities for the weekend. Our KC friends the B’s were in town, staying with local pals the H’s.
Friday Vid(s)
Music for the last weekend of summer. youtu.be/qh4nVj8g4… “The Boys Of Summer” - Don Henley Say what you want about Henley, and there’s plenty of negative things to say about the guy, but this is a great song. Even if he’s not really singing about the end of summer, its place in pop culture is as an end of summer song. “Don’t look back, you can never look back…” youtu.be/n9ENhIyV4…
Reader's Notebook
A bit of a slower, more relaxed reading month in August. Part of that is simply because I’m roughly halfway through a fairly massive novel that locked down the last couple weeks of the month. But still on book-a-week pace for the year overall. 100 Things Royals Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die - Matt Fulks My step-dad brought me this book, which was a fun little thing to flip through between innings while watching games.
Not Quite Like A Fine Wine
As I mentioned in last week’s Friday Links, I watched Real Genius a week ago. Then, this past Sunday, I watched Fletch. As with Real Genius, it had been a long, long time since I had watched Fletch, a movie which has to be in my top five most-watched non-Christmas movies of all time list.[1] So A), yes I’m on a bit of a classic 80s movie run. Sunday nights seem to be the most convenient to watch them right now, since the Royals generally play during the afternoon on Sundays.
Reporter's Notebook
Two weeks of the Indiana high school football season are in the books. Throw in a few previews I’ve written, and it’s been a busy couple of weeks. The previews were largely uneventful. I’ve been doing those long enough where I have a pretty solid formula in place. Every now and then I run into a coach who is difficult to reach on the phone, which is frustrating and causes delays.
⦿ Friday Links
Another music-heavy list this week. Including the promised articles about the 40th anniversary of Born To Run. Rolling Stone shared the full transcript of an interview they did with Springsteen 10 years ago for the 30th anniversary of BTR. Of course, the mythology of the album is that his career may have been over had it not been a success. I think my biggest admiration for the album is how rather than playing it safe while operating under that kind of pressure, he completely went for it, making the biggest, boldest album he could imagine.
Friday Vid
youtu.be/-OZV5i_6R… “She’s The One” - Bruce Springsteen and the E. Street Band Born To Run turned 40 this week. You may have read something about that somewhere.[1] The song “Born To Run” is one I remember from way back in, likely, it’s earliest days. It wasn’t a song for me, or about my life. But it was one that got heavy play on the stations my parents listened to. So it was already in my rock ’n roll DNA before I rediscovered it many years later and learned to love it on my own.
A Bit Of A Photog
Without those pesky kids around during the day, I can finally knock out a few longer posts that I’ve been sitting on for months. First, a post I know Billy is looking forward to: a summary of my adventures with my new camera. To reset, I purchased an Olympus OM-D EM–10 back in May. It is the first “real” camera I have ever owned, with “real” meaning one that offers full manual control and interchangeable lenses.
A Periodic Site Housekeeping Update
Perhaps you’ve noticed, if you’ve dipped into the site’s archives in recent weeks, but I’ve been working on another clean-up project around here. I wrapped it all up this morning. A couple years back I stopped putting pictures of the girls on the site. Well, at least ones where you can clearly identify them. The idea being I wanted to reduce the chances for people to connect their names with a picture online.
⦿ Friday Links
Well, the first full week of school is wrapping up. There was some more grumpiness in the mornings as the week progressed. But mostly things have gone well. We’re already super busy in the evenings. And I’ve had a nice, lazy week around the house, thus the dearth of posts. But I’ve still saved some articles worth sharing. This week’s list is music-heavy. Let’s dive into the links, shall we?
Friday Vid(s)
youtu.be/LQ82BX0hG… “Clampdown” - The Clash youtu.be/6kJ2S9Bas… “Johnny Appleseed” - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros Joe Strummer would have been 63 today. Here are two songs that sum up the second and third phases of his career about as well as any. “Clampdown” is an absolute blowtorch of a song. It is roughly four minutes of righteous fury; a warning to either jump on board or get the hell out of the way.
End Of Summer Catch Up
A very busy couple of weeks. I thought I was alone in trying to cram 857 activities into the finals days of summer break, but it sounds like that’s par for the course for the modern parent. Glad I was not alone. We hit approximately 83 different parks over the final two weeks of summer. Parks we had been to before this year, parks we had not been to in years, and parks we had never visited before.
Friday Vid
youtu.be/KSM0lLbVY… “Queen of Peace / Long and Lost” - Florence + The Machine WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS NUDITY A very artsy, very long video for one of the best tracks on Florence Welch’s latest album. Not sure I get the visuals,[1] but the opening song is fantastic. And rumor has it the segment for “Long and Lost” was shot in one take. Single-take videos/scenes are always fresh. Check the comments.
R's: Crazy Times
(Note: I wrote this last night while watching the Royals play Detroit. The R’s were up 4–2, Edinson Volquez was cruising along, and a sweep of the Tigers seemed imminent. Then an infield single, a walk, and another infield single to open the top of the 8th launched a 4-run Tigers rally that helped them salvage the final game of the series. As with K-State football two years ago, and Iowa State basketball last year, my jinx powers are strong.
First Day
This morning, the alarm went off at 6:20. I roused the girls about 10 minutes later, they shuffled down for breakfast, then back up to get dressed. We cut tags off of new pairs of shorts, found skirts that fit correctly, and laced up new shoes so they were nice and tight. Snacks and lunches were packed, book bags loaded up, and obligatory pictures snapped. The school year has begun.
Friday Vid
youtu.be/9f06QZCVU… “Summer of ’69” - Bryan Adams I heard this song yesterday and it seemed perfect for this weekend, our last one before school begins next week. A moment of nostalgia on all the fun stuff we’ve crammed into the last two months. Granted, Adams was looking back at slightly different subject matter than the girls and I will think of when we think of the summer of ’15. Man, is it a great sounding song, with that gorgeous, chiming second guitar that was a huge influence on Ryan Adams’ self-titled album of last year.
July Books
Up, Up, & Away - Jonah Keri Keri’s first book, The Extra 2%, was destined to disappoint. Its focus was the small market, small budget Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays and their rise to become perennial contenders in the American League East. That was a problem, because it was impossible not to compare it to Michael Lewis’ Moneyball, his look at a small market, small budget team’s rise to prominence. As good a writer as Keri is, he’s not in Lewis’ class, and Moneyball is one of the all-time great sports books.
R's: Some Week
Some week for Your Kansas City Royals! Let’s review. Last Sunday they acquired Johnny Cueto from Cincinnati then went out and beat Houston ace Dallas Keuchel to get a series win against a possible playoff opponent. Monday they flew to Cleveland and pounded the Indians in game one. Tuesday they made another trade, grabbing Ben Zobrist from the A’s. That night, behind a clutch homer by Eric Hosmer and perhaps the best defensive play you will ever see, edged the Indians and Trevor Bauer 2–1.
Monday Links
Finally getting the backlog cleared out. Some more tidbits about the rather excellent summer movie lineup of 1985. 14 Blockbuster Facts About the Summer Movies of 1985 I’m not sure why, but I’ve enjoyed Tiger Woods’ fall. I don’t get it because I absolutely loved him in his prime. It’s not like he was Lance Armstrong and cheating and lying about his performance constantly through that run. He was just being a dog in his personal life, something that I almost expect from professional athletes.