This week features several new songs from artists who have played a large role in my musical life. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Dark Matter” - Pearl Jam One of my all-time favorite bands returns. This isn’t too bad at all. Now sending out good vibes to keep anyone in the band from getting sick in late August when they are scheduled to return to Indy. “Oh Hi” - Crowded House One of my all-time favorite artists returns with the band that made him famous.
Things are moving quickly compared to my last car buying adventure. As I shared yesterday, in the span of about 36 hours I went from casually looking at one set of cars with a planned acquisition date in early May to suddenly test driving a totally different car with the chance of bringing it home soon. Part of that adjustment was adding electric vehicles to my list. I’ve been interested in EVs for some time.
I mentioned Monday that I fell into a rabbit hole over the weekend. If you pay close attention to all my nonsense, you probably could have made a pretty solid guess as to what that rabbit hole was. I am officially car shopping again! Just like when I did this three years ago, there’s going to be some background bullshit before we get to the good stuff. I’ll try to be brief, but y’all know how I am.
Chart Week: February 25, 1984 Song: “Nobody Told Me” - John Lennon Chart Position: #7, 6th week on the chart. Peaked at #5 the week of March 3. I’ve been thinking about songs by dead people lately. There’s no mathematical way to quantify it, yet I keep trying to isolate the effect an artist’s death has on new music released after they pass. Do songs get more popular because of our morbid fascination with death, and thus become bigger hits?
Snow! Our first significant snow of the year hit Friday afternoon. Which was perfect for A) kids who are driving home from school, B) a wife who has to commute through rush hour traffic, and C) the opening night of All Star Weekend. Perfect in this case meaning the opposite of perfect. We ended up getting between 4–5” inches of heavy, wet snow at our house. Everyone made it home safely and I was excited to get to use the snowblower for the first time in three years.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Cured” - Restorations This band enjoys taking its sweet time between new releases. It’s been six years since their last album. I think you can hear the effect of the breadth of their career in Jon Loudon’s vocals. “Distinct Star” - So Totally As much as I’ve enjoyed the recent shoegaze revival, I’ll admit it has become a little much since s many of the songs sound so much alike.
I had planned to post a new Reaching for the Stars entry today, but I can’t quite get the right flow to the piece, so I’m going to keep at it a few more days. Instead, some assorted notes to unload my brain. Health After nearly three weeks I think I’m finally beating whatever has been ailing me. S kept asking me in week two if I wanted to start taking antibiotics.
Sing Her Down - Ivy Pochoda I read this book while I was sick. Maybe the infection or virus or whatever was plaguing me combined with a lack of sleep and cold meds kept me from appreciating it. Because I did not get this book at all. It is the story of two women who are released from prison during the Covid lockdown and travel from Arizona to LA. They run into some troubles and get the attention of an LA cop who has her own issues she’s dealing with.
Super Bowl Most years I watch the Super Bowl fairly closely, tracking the game, commercials, and halftime show with an idea of being able to take an active role in whatever the post-game discourse is. Last night I sat on the couch for four-plus nearly uninterrupted hours, but was often letting my attention drift to other things. So no deep takes today. A game that was super boring turned super exciting in the fourth quarter and overtime.
An extra-stuffed playlist this week. There’s been a good run of new music, plus a lot of Other Stuff that deserves inclusion. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Blue Skies” - Finnoguns Wake The best piece of music I’ve heard so far this year is Finnoguns Wake’s four-song EP. Every song is a ripper. “Lose” - Boeckner Daniel Boeckner has been in several bands over the years, most notably Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, and Divine Fits.
I meant to post these yesterday and got sidetracked by this-and-that. Thus Wednesday links become Thursday links. As someone who dabbles in obsessive, esoteric pastimes, this article fascinated me. I know I occasionally get into weird little spaces where I am beyond consumed by a particular topic, but I’m pretty sure that has never gotten in the way of my relationships with friends and family. It seems to me that the payoff in this story was not worth the cost along the way, both monetarily and personally.
Movies, Shows, etc Fargo, season five I loved this season, it is right up there with season two as my favorites in Fargo’s TV run. There were a couple small moments that bugged me which kept it from being a straight A, although after listening to an interview with creator Noah Hawley they made a little more sense. As always, almost every performance was spectacular, but Juno Temple and Jon Hamm were the clear stars.
Last week was pretty much a lost week for me. I could never shake my cold. In fact, it kept getting worse. I thought I had turned a corner Friday before my stomach and head started hurting in the evening. I woke up Saturday feeling even worse. I ate some cereal, took some meds, and passed out on the couch for another three hours. Sunday morning I again thought I was feeling better.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Real Doll Time” - VR SEX I’m not sure exactly how to describe this song. It harkens back to the earliest days of punk with its aggression and hint of nastiness, but sounds thoroughly modern at the same time. No matter how it ends up getting categorized, it 100% rips. “Lagunita” - Lizzie No Lizzie No is primarily a folk artist, but when she decides to plug in and rock out, I dig the results.
Wednesday’s sectional quarterfinal went pretty much as expected. Lawrence North jumped on Cathedral early and never let up. It took four possessions for CHS to even get the ball into the paint on offense, and that resulted in an immediate turnover. Our first shot was a hurried airball. LN hit their first four 3s and 6 of 8 for the half. Meanwhile our only 3-point attempt that even hit the rim came on the last play of the first half when we banked in a half-court shot to cut the LN lead to 34.
After 23 games over three months, Cathedral’s regular season is complete. Sectionals officially started Tuesday with CHS set to play their opening game tonight. I’ll wrap up the regular season in this post and save whatever happens in the playoffs for a separate entry(-ies). The Irish opened their final week of the schedule traveling to neighboring Carmel. That 20 minute bus ride must have really gotten to the JV girls because they played like crap.
I’m still battling a cold. It’s one of those shitty ones that isn’t crazy bad during the day, more annoying than debilitating. But at night between the coughing and sneezing and body aches manages to keep me from sleeping. Each of the last two nights I’ve given up and gone into M’s room to toss and turn so I don’t keep S awake with my nonsense. She did the same thing last week when she had the same cold.
I have started 2024 on a huge reading run; I finished my seventh book of the year early this morning. It helps that I’ve been sick the past couple days and unable to sleep, so I’ve stayed up deep into the night knocking out the final book in this list. Said illness and lack of sleep will also push my sports notes entry to Tuesday this week. Sea of Tranquility - Emily St.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Train Full of Gasoline” - Ducks Ltd. Not sure it’s possible to write a catchier song about an ecological disaster than these guys have done. Believe it or not, this band is not Australian. They are from Toronto. I bet they listened to a lot of Aussie pop, though. “So Nice” - Finnoguns Wake This band, however, is Australian. “Shadow of a Doubt” - SPRINTS I really like this group, but in small amounts.
NFL Because of basketball (KU and CHS) and some other activities, I didn’t get to see much of the four playoff games last weekend. San Francisco is very lucky to advance, and does not seem like the same team that ran roughshod through their opponents during stretches of the regular season. Jordan Love’s final pass for Green Bay might have been the worst choice/throw in a big moment in a long time.