Chart Week: June 20, 1987 Song: “I Want Your Sex” - George Michael Chart Position: #36, 3rd week on the chart. Peaked at #2 the week of August 8. Hey, a countdown that landed on my birthday! How did I celebrate turning 16? Well, we lived in San Leandro, CA at the time, and had dinner the night before at a seafood restaurant I loved in San Francisco. Being the Bay Area, it was like 50 and dreary.
We had a very boring weekend. S worked both days, filling in for a hospitalist who is on maternity leave. The girls all spent time with friends. I read, watched some shows, swam. It was our first weekend in quite awhile where there weren’t multiple things on the calendar that we had to rush around to. It was a nice change-of-pace, as next weekend and the holiday week following will both be very busy.
We are almost halfway through the calendar year and something weird has happened: I have zero albums on my running list of new music slated for release. Usually I have at least five entries in thre, stretching out months in advance. I’m sure I’ve missed a few albums, and there are ones I have no idea about at the moment I will be excited about when they drop. Right now, though?
Time to knock out some sports notes while I avoid going outside and facing Heat Dome ’24. Say Hey The incomparable Willie Mays died Tuesday night. I never saw him play live as the tail end of his career just barely overlapped with my life. I did hear the stories and saw the grainy highlight reels. And I remember how those fat, softcover, sports trivia books popular in the late Seventies and early Eighties were always filled with amazing facts about his career.
The Charm School - Nelson DeMille I had never heard of this 1988 book before. I was pleasantly surprised that despite its age, it held up pretty well. In fact, its age was one of the best things about it. The book is split into two halves. In the first, an American student traveling through the Soviet Union in the late ‘80s stumbles upon a secret that could take the Cold War to a new, more intense level: a secret camp holds hundreds of American POWs from the Vietnam war, and they are being forced to teach Russians how to “act American” before deployment to the US.
Father’s Day came at the right moment. After three very busy days preceding it, Sunday was a nice day to relax and not have to be anywhere. S got us donuts for breakfast. We had my in-laws over for dinner, eating some carry-out barbecue. I received a Solo fire pit as a combo Father’s Day/birthday gift. Based on the forecast, I might get to use it sometime in 2025. L and I played two rounds of Cornhole; we started a summer-long competition last week and I currently lead 3–0.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Summer Breeze” - Seals & Croft Yes, yes, yes. “Disconnect” - Fanning Dempsey National Park I doubt many of you know the names Paul Dempsey and Bernard Fanning. Dempsey was the lead singer for the band Something For Kate, while Fanning led Powderfinger, both of which have appeared in these playlists over the years. The two Aussie veterans joined forces and this is the first product of their work. I quite like it.
Let’s talk basketball for a few minutes. Kid Hoops L has been busy with her high school teammates. They have activities on the calendar four days a week for most of June. Three weight training sessions, one two-hour open gym, then two different nights with two games. She’s also volunteering at the boys camp this week and will work the girls camp in two weeks. And she has three lessons scheduled with a private trainer with four of her travel teammates.
Chart Week: June 4, 1983 Song: “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” - Michael Jackson Chart Position: #22, 2nd week on the chart. Peaked at #5 for two weeks in July. High Fidelity was one of my favorite movies of the early 2000s. I loved the record store culture it celebrated. Hanging around with fellow music geeks, arguing about insanely obscure bits of trivia, opening each other’s minds to new sounds, and mocking people who did not listen to the right kind of music (according to us) seemed like a great way to earn a living.
A busy weekend back in the Motherland. KC Trip Lots of fun on my first Kansas City visit in two years, first solo one in five. As always, it was too brief but I packed plenty in. I flew in Friday morning and got to experience the new KCI for the first time. Soooo much better than the old airport. I enjoyed how the old terminals are still standing, so if you were ever in them you have a reminder of how weird they were.
Posting this a little early as I have a busy Friday morning. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Sabotage” - Beastie Boys Thirty years and one week ago the Beasties released Ill Communication. I’ve always been a Paul’s Boutique guy, but there are plenty of people who think IC was their best album. And, of course, this song was the basis for one of the greatest videos ever made. “No Surrender” - Bruce Springsteen I know I just shared the video for “Dancing in the Dark” two weeks ago, but we needed an official acknowledgement of the 40th anniversary of the release of Born in the USA.
With 100 Reaching for the Stars entries under my belt, it is time to break down where we’ve been, AT40 style. It should be no shock that there have been more entries from 1984 than any other year, a healthy 18 posts from the greatest year in pop music history. I was mildly surprised that 1982 was second with 16. Not sure if that’s a function of more 1982 countdowns being rebroadcast than other years, or more 1982 songs grabbing my attention.
My goal for May was to adjust away from so much YouTube back towards more traditional shows and movies. I didn’t do a great job of that. I have started a summer viewing project, so while the hours may adjust in June, I don’t know if the number of entries in each section will change much for awhile. Movies, Shows, etc The Gentlemen Highly entertaining. You can’t go wrong with a collection of fun British accents.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Bored In The Summer” - Bad Bad Hats Too soon? “Dotted Line” - Why Bonnie Blair Howerton wrote this in a moment when she “felt the weight of capitalism” pressing down upon her. I love shit like that. Also a nice warning to prospective artists about being aware of what they are giving up when they sign that record deal. “Strawberry Moon” - Fancy Gap with Sharon Van Etten I read a description of this song that described it as sounding like Fleetwood Mac.
A few more random notes that didn’t fit into the weekend wrap-up. Number Three Behind The Wheel L finally got her learner’s permit today. She had been gung-ho about driving since she was 13, and dove into the driver’s ed self-teaching program when we signed her up back in December. We’ve been taking her across the street to drive around the high school parking lot since last fall. Then a couple friends, who are smart cookies like her, failed their learner’s permit written test on their first tries.
A long holiday weekend filled with guests, rain, and fun. L had a group of girl friends over Friday night. Storms curtailed their pool time but otherwise they kicked off their summer well. Since she spends so much time with basketball girls, it’s always good to get a confirmation that she hangs out with other freshman girls sometimes. Sorry, sophomore girls! She took me to the gym Monday morning for a shooting workout.
It’s summer time, bitches! open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Summertime” - DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince DRUMS PLEASE! “Dancing In The Streets” - Van Halen This song has always meant summer to me. It seemed like I heard it constantly Memorial Day weekend 1982, but it hadn’t cracked the Top 40 yet so I’m not sure how accurate that memory is. “Summertime Tiger” - Rui Gabriel, Stef Chura This song is about working to improve yourself during the slower months of summer.
High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape - Marc Masters A single-book focus for this entry, less because of the book’s quality than what it got me thinking about. The book itself wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be. Masters begins by laying out the history of the cassette tape and tape players. Then he dives into areas of music that were most affected by the popularity of the cassette: underground genres that found traction thanks the the easy production and distribution of tapes; copying and sharing licensed music; recording and collecting live performances; international music; and, of course, the mixtape.
I spent much of the afternoon working through a long read that is probably best shared on its own. I’m not sure when I first came across Maciej Cegłowski’s work. I know I used his Pinboard bookmarking service a several times, although never as a primary collection tool. At some point I discovered his writing, which is often amazing. I kicked in a few bucks for his Antarctic adventure, too.
Lots of notes from the past several days. Travel Hoops Pretty good weekend of hoops in Louisville. For the first time ever, we went 3–0 in pool play at a national event. We won our first game Friday by 11. It was a very tough, defensive contest that we controlled pretty much from the opening tip. However we only scored 28 points for the game, so it wasn’t the smoothest of performances.