Chart Week: September 29, 1984 Song: “On the Dark Side” - John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band Chart Position: #24, 19th week on the chart (charted twice, see below). Peaked at #7 for two weeks in October/November. The history of pop music is filled with opportunists. If an artist or musical style makes a big splash, you can be sure that soundalikes (or lookalikes) will soon follow. At first glance that seems to be the case with “On the Dark Side.
I just started a book that is probably going to take me a few weeks to get through. Seems like a good moment to clear out the queue so I don’t forget about these two. We Cast a Shadow - Maurice Carlos Ruffin Writers have been using the “how far would you go to protect your child” trope for ages. Many of us can relate to it in a strongly emotional way, so it often works.
Going to flip things up a bit, as our family had a rough week that’s worth getting caught up on first. Squad News Monday M got diagnosed with mono. She’s been sick for weeks and it took a turn last weekend, so she went and got checked. She told us she could see the test turn positive from across the room. So she REALLY has mono, I guess. She had a terrible couple of days but after starting on some steroids, improved pretty rapidly.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Spring” - Briston Maroney “Autumn” - The Gaslight Anthem That’s right, we’re getting crazy with the seasons this week! Here two new songs representing the opposing equinoxes. Oddly enough, I find both songs to sound very fall-like, if in different ways. “Waiting for a Cloud” - Golden Apples And then we get this song, which was released about three months too late, as it seems perfect for summertime. “Another Fire” - Voxtrot Always weird when a band takes a long-ass hiatus then returns making good music.
NFL Four weeks into the NFL season and I’m not sure what to make of things. Is there a single team that deserves unquestioned trust? The Chiefs lost at home to Detroit opening night, righted themselves over the next two weeks, then apparently looked kind of crappy against the Jets last Sunday before escaping with a win. The Bills played lethargic football against the undermanned Jets in week one, but have been kind of awesome since.
A pretty slow month for some reason. I guess tennis took up time at the beginning of the month, then I never really got into a groove? I was also listening to football on Fridays and watching a lot on Saturdays and Sundays, with the occasional Thursday and Monday game thrown in. Still kind of weird I watched zero movies. Movies, Shows, etc US Open Watched more of the women than the men, but still tuned in most nights over the tournament’s run.
With a notable exception, I enjoyed a very good weekend down in Austin, Texas. There were a couple motivations for going. One of my best buddies from college, E-bro, has lived there for something like 15 years. Another KU buddy, Billy Sweets, lives in Dallas. The three of us text pretty much every day, so much so that our wives and kids refer to the other two not as friends or buddies or pals, but as “your girlfriends.
I’m off to the airport around 5:45 AM Friday for my weekend trip to Austin and I’ve got a busy day ahead of me as I prep, so I’ll post this 20-something hours early to avoid either forgetting to send it or messing up the scheduling options in Wordpress. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Alley Light” - Squirrel Flower Ella Williams' songs are often slow burners that crest and break near the end. I like how this one is carried by that crunchy guitar riff from start to finish.
I’m not sure why but I’ve struggled to put together blurbs for my most recent books. I’ll bash away for a paragraph or two then realize I’m not really sharing anything interesting other than a basic summation of the plot and give up. After three false starts I’m officially throwing in the towel and offering the briefest of notes about these books and hope that by my next post I’ve shaken this mini-writer’s block.
I’ve been informed that our internet will disappear sometime this morning as Xfinity “works to improve the quality of the network” in our area. I think that’s code for finding a way to charge us more. Of course, they’ve said this like three times in the past week and it always ends up getting delayed. However, I saw their trucks scuttling around the neighborhood this morning so it might be legit today.
HS Football Cathedral went down to Lexington, KY to play last year’s Kentucky 5A state champs. The Irish got an early lead, weathered their normal letdown, built the lead again, then held on for a nine-point win. Probably their best, most complete win of the season, from what I could judge by listening. They travel to Cincinnati next week. The big news of the week was that the season finale against Center Grove has been moved to Butler’s stadium.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “September” - Earth, Wind & Fire OK, we’re a day off. But I can’t miss my annual chance to throw this into a playlist. “Deep End (Paul’s in Pieces) - The National The National dropped a surprise album Monday, serving as a companion to First Two Pages of Frankenstein, released earlier this year. There are two really good songs on it. This is obviously one of them. You think I would waste your time with a bad track?
Chart Week: September 19, 1981 Song: “General Hospi-tale” - The Afternoon Delights Chart Position: #35, 9th week on the chart. Peaked at #33 for two weeks. I’ve been reading through the RFTS archives and was surprised that I’ve never written properly about a novelty song, stuff like “Pac-Man Fever” or “The Curly Shuffle,” for example. I probably should have held off until one of those popped up on an old AT40, but this record was so strange that it required my first novelty song post.
Curb fans will enjoy this real-life origin story. One evening, as they drank into the night, it dawned on them. ‘I looked at his face and I said, “There’s something about you, man, that spooks me.” Just saying that spooks everyone!’ It clicked. ‘“You’re Richard Lewis!” “You’re Larry David!”… I was yelling at him, he was yelling at me.’ ‘I disliked him intensely’: Richard Lewis on first meeting Larry David A great Q&A with Darryl McDaniels of Run-DMC.
HS Football Two games again this weekend. Friday night Cathedral played at the public school down the street. Both girls had some friends over before the game and we walked to the stadium. First play of the night CHS snapped the ball over the quarterback’s head, he chased but could not cover, and North Central took over in Irish territory. Not a promising start. North Central was winless and it showed, as they went nowhere and gave the ball back to CHS, who methodically ran up a 49–0 lead before halftime.
The music vault is overstuffed again, so we’re back to extra large playlists. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Little Fires” - The Gaslight Anthem Now we’re talking! This is the return to the classic TGA sound we’ve been waiting for. “Coming Home” - Echo Ladies “Resolution/Revolution” - The Linda Lindas “Nightmare Nights” - Church Girls Three straight songs featuring female vocalists who kick ass. I heard them in this order this morning, driving home from dropping L at basketball at 5:45.
I have some assorted items that have been sitting around for a week or two that aren’t big enough for their own post. So you get back-to-back Notes entries. Kid Hoops L is in her third week of basketball workouts at CHS. The first two weeks were before school on Wednesdays and Fridays. She’s been getting up before 5:00 on those days. My alarm is set for 5:19 but I generally hear her banging around and wake up well before that.
A lot of sports and stuff to get through from the past weekend. HS Football Weirdest game of the season for Cathedral, against rival Bishop Chatard. It was CYO Night + Homecoming + Chatard, so the stadium was packed. We got there an hour early and still had to park in the overflow section a couple blocks away. The Irish started hot, jumping out to a 21–0 lead in the first quarter, and it looked like it would be a repeat of the past three years, all blowout CHS wins.
It’s a big weekend for me: Sunday evening I’m seeing Pearl Jam for the first time since 2000. I’m pretty excited about it. I re-added the SiriusXM Pearl Jam channel as a favorite a couple weeks ago and have been listening to it a lot in preparation. I’ve also been spinning their songs on Spotify in between all the other stuff I regularly listen to. I’ve been tracking their current set lists, although with PJ that tells you nothing about what they will play at your show.
A special playlist to come later today. [youtu.be/CN_-BFeRr...](https://youtu.be/CN_-BFeRrrU?si=sk1xh9RrVdl6adur) “Love is Alive” - Gary Wright Mr. Wright died this week. Contrary to popular belief, he was not a one-hit-wonder: he had three songs that cracked the top 20. By every measure except for one, this was his biggest hit. Like “Dream Weaver,” it peaked at #2 on the Hot 100. It remained on the chart seven weeks longer than “Dream Weaver,” and finished #9 in the 1976 year-end countdown to #37 for “Dream Weaver.