Under The Milky Way

Some unfinished business from last week. This was my original selection for entry 1.2. However, after trying to tie “True Faith” and “Under the Milky Way” together, I thought it better to tackle the songs separately, in chronological order. You should thank me. I think I was on page 48 of my comparison when I finally stopped myself and changed focus. Hopefully this isn’t too disjointed. I’m attempting to write about one song while I watch I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, the great documentary about the making of Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album.

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D's Notes

A few D’s notes to wrap the week up. Poor Reggie Miller. He signed his two year contract with the Pacers yesterday, and boldly proclaimed that even when he was injured last year, he was better than 2/3 of the shooting guards in the league. There are 29 teams in the NBA. I’m feeling charitable today (And Reggie is old) so I’ll round up and say that means he needs to be in the top ten of shooting guards to back that up.

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True Faith

If someone asked me what kind of music I listen to, I would struggle to give an answer. I’m not sure if there are any hard and fast definitions for music today. I listen to some pop music, but nothing that’s in the league of Britney and Justina. Is there really such a thing as alternative anymore? And when does something cross from alternative and become mainstream? Is it defined by sales?

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Dome

As I mentioned Friday, I’ve never been in a domed stadium. Nor have I ever been to an NFL preseason game. In fact, I haven’t been to an NFL game period in nine years. Courtesy of a friend who fell into some free tickets, I was able to attend the Colts-Seahawks game at the RCA Dome Friday night. Since I was paying exactly $0 of the $55 face value of the tickets, I was more than happy to tag along.

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Royals-Yankees

I hate the Yankees. I hate their uniforms, their dirty stadium, their pompous owner, their arrogant players, their boorish bandwagoning fans, their money, their tradition. I hate the Yankees. Beating the Yankees is good. What memories! Royals-Yankees, full house, mid-season series. Was this 1980 all over? Flip the venue, and last night’s result reminded me of when the R’s went to Yankee Stadium in June 1980 and scored NFL-like numbers of runs.

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D's Notes

Any writer worth his or her salt (and most who are worthless too) knows the power of the random musings column. It’s a way to crank out some work without having to fully develop each idea. The thoughts may grow into a lengthier piece down the road, but the tidbits format allows us to cross things out of our notebook, clear our heads, and move on to bigger, better things (like hog semen, for example).

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Big Pig

Warning: some slightly graphic, suggestive language below. All meant in fun, of course. The final wedding of Summer Matrimony Fest 2003 is finally out of the way. Another grand occasion highlighted by impressing the locals with consuming large quantities of fine scotch (Glen Fiddich, 18 year old model). However, I did have to miss the Indiana State Fair to attend the wedding. Normally, I’m not much of a state fair guy.

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Songbook

I read a great book by one of my favorite authors recently, Songbook by Nick Hornby. Hornby is the author of High Fidelity, About a Boy, and Fever Pitch among others. At times, I think Hornby is writing about my life. If you took Fever Pitch, set it in Kansas City, and adjusted KU basketball for Arsenal soccer, the book is about me. Anyway, Songbook is a quick little number that Hornby wrote as both a tribute to his love for music and to raise money for charities including the school that helps his autistic son lead a somewhat normal life.

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Kobe

Like there hasn’t been enough talk about Kobe Bryant already, and now I’m going to jump in and say some words. I’m commenting more on the media attention than the alleged act or Kobe himself. It’s utterly ridiculous. MSNBC pretty much stopped all programming yesterday to spend a couple hours covering Kobe’s appearance in Eagle, CO yesterday. They continually showed a 20 second clip of Kobe walking from his Suburban to the courtroom while waiting for the session to start.

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Royals

(Finally) Watching the Royals from Indianapolis. Despite being the best story in baseball, this is the first chance I’ve had to watch them on national TV this year. They’ve just made their second comeback against the second place White Sox and now lead 7-6. (The home plate umpire is a complete idiot. He warns both teams after two batters are hit by wild, not purpose pitches, then proceeds to toss a White Sox pitcher and their manager when the ball got away and plunked Carlos Beltran.

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Random

One quick note, before I unload some pile-up that’s in my head. If any of you use AOL’s Instant Messenger, I now have a screen name: DDBinIndy. Shoot me a message sometime if you’re online. Things on my mind: In addition to being all whacked out about time here, I think there’s some kind of suspension of normal physics laws in Indiana. I’m only exaggerating in the slightest when I say that everyday a large truck flips over on one of the local highways, snarling rush hour traffic for hours.

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Honeymoon

I’ve finally had a chance to sit down and compile the details of our honeymoon last week. My reward for spending a week in St. Lucia was hopping on a plane to Phoenix followed by a 2 ½ hour drive to Prescott, Arizona on Monday. A quick meeting with a client Tuesday morning, followed by the return trip which had me home at about 11:30 PM. All this after we arrived home from the airport at 9:30 Sunday night.

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Da Mayor

The whole point of Weblogs (for those new to the concept) is to give people forums for instantly commenting on events. There are political blogs, where professional and amateur writers comment on events as they happen, often updating throughout the day. There are blogs that are used as diaries by regular people. If I see a really cool sunset, I’m supposed to run inside and let you know all about it.

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Local Color

I’ve got some good local color to share, but it will have to wait for now (One story so rich, so perfect, so needing being told, that I’m frankly disturbed that I have yet to publish my thoughts on it). Allow me to slip on my sports writing hat and talk about the Williams sisters for a while. I watched probably 2/3 of today’s Wimbledon (there’s no T in there, Stuart Scott) Ladies Final match between Venus and Serena Williams.

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Living In Indy

Some early things I’ve noticed while living in spacious Carmel, IN. People are crazy friendly here. I’m sure there are rude people somewhere, but I’ve yet to run across one. Of course, after the a-holes at the moving and cable companies we had to deal with in our first week of residence, pretty much anyone who does their job seems agreeable to you. The time is completely screwed up. You know the old joke: Indiana: a time zone for every life style.

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Draft Diary

With apologies to the Sports Guy… We are coming to you live from the palatial basement of DDB in beautiful Carmel, IN. I have a bowl of Margarita’s salsa with a bag of Tostitos Hint of Lime chips in front of me, and an ice cold Boulevard Pale Ale to my right. We’re ready to watch the lottery picks of the 2003 NBA Draft. Why just the lottery picks? Well, I realized too late that I didn’t have much around for dinner so I only think I can go about 12-13 picks before the real hunger kicks in.

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