Mostly uptempo rockers this week. A notable exception at the bottom for a very important reason. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Positive Charge” - The Gaslight Anthem The first new GSA song in nine years is a little underwhelming to me. Brian Fallon’s vocals sound very different from how they used to sound, which makes a huge difference. “Days Move Slow” - Bully The new Bully album is going to be a monster. “Binge” - DEADLETTER Starting to sense some buzz building for these kids.
I’m overdue on sharing links. To be fair, I haven’t saved very many of late. A major bummer in the photography world, as Amazon is shutting down DP Review. Anyone who has bought a camera, lens, or other equipment in the past two decades has likely used DP as a resource. It looks like Amazon has clarified their initial plans and will keep the archives up. I just used those this week while looking at film lenses.
Time for part two of my hobby update. In the first entry, I shared how I had sold all my camera equipment. I ended that post by mentioning I had also done something unexpected and possibly dumb. In those weeks after I sold my camera gear, I did everything I could to quash any second-thoughts about the decision. I unsubscribed from every photography website, podcast, YouTube channel, Instagram account, etc. I wanted nothing to enter my information feeds that might make me start looking at replacement gear.
Movies, Shows, etc Argo It had been several years since I watched this. Still holds up, even with all the historical inaccuracies. A MH370: The Plane That Disappeared Maybe the biggest mystery of our time is what happened to this Boeing 777 when it disappeared in 2014. This three-episode series dives into all the theories. Not sure it gets us any closer to an answer, which makes sense given how the plane has never been found.
A big weekend full of big events. Prom The big event of the weekend was M’s final CHS prom. It was quite the stressful week leading up to the dance. There was way more drama in her friend group this year than last. There was one breakup last week, another of her friends is dumping her boyfriend this week, and another girl has been a bit of a wank which has caused some rifts in their core group.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Need You No More” - Chappaqua Wrestling These kids cracked my Top 10 last year and just released their full-length album. It’s not bad; it’s getting mostly positive reviews around the webz. This is probably the second-best track. “Scabs” - Speedy Ortiz SO was one of the bigger buzz bands of the early 2010s, but disappeared for a bit as lead singer Sadie Dupuis concentrated on her solo work. This is the first new track in five years.
After an amazing first two weeks of April, we had the inevitable backslide. I shouldn’t be surprised. Last week was back-and-forth until Thursday night, when a cold front rolled through and sucked all the warm weather away with it. Monday morning it was 28. We had several chilly, gloomy days where it felt more like mid-November than mid-April. Although the sun is out right now - and will roast you if you are sitting in your car waiting for you kid to get dismissed from school - the thermometer barely made it to 60 this afternoon.
It was a pretty boring weekend in our house. There were no games or practices. No parental social events. Nothing at all on the calendar. C talked S into taking her to Ikea to get her birthday present a little early - a new desk set - so we spent Saturday afternoon putting that together and rearranging her room. As always, assembling Ikea furniture was maddening at times. The final result looked good, though, and C was pleased.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “One That Got Away” - MUNA MUNA’s first album was filled with great songs with a variety of influences, from indie to dance to country. Knowing that, I’m going to assume their follow-up isn’t going to be 100% shiny, late ’80s tracks like this, which sounds straight out of a 1988 American Top 40. Although that would be awesome. “Perfect Blue” - Bodywash Some dense, modern, shoegazey goodness for a cold, rainy morning here in Indy.
Chart Week: April 17, 1982 Songs: “Stars On 45 III (A Tribute To Stevie Wonder) (Medley)” – Stars On 45, “Pop Goes the Movies (Part 1) (Medley)” – Meco. Chart Positions: #38, 4th week on the chart. Peaked at #28 for two weeks in May. #35, 10th week on the chart. Peaked at #35 for two weeks. First off, elephant in the room: damn there are a lot of parenthesis in these two titles!
I’ve been working on this post for literally two months. It isn’t groundbreaking, super important, or one that I think my readers will finish and say, “Damn! That was some good blogging!” It’s just a post about hobbies and how my interests change over time. The problem is I keep turning it into a lengthy philosophical rumination about how/why we select our pastimes instead of getting to the point and sharing a bit of news.
A weekend of transition in various ways. Kid Hoops Back to tournament action for L and her travel teammates. Her ankle is still recovering from the sprain she suffered over a month ago. In our games Saturday that showed. She seemed sluggish and a step slow. We lost the first game by 18 to a very good team. They were long, athletic, took and hit 3’s, and were just a tough all-around matchup.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Let’s Hang Out Forever” - The High Water Marks This was a great song to soundtrack the past week, as it felt more like summer than spring. “Want To Know” - Free Range Country or Not entry of the week. “Wrapped in Gold” - World News This could be from 1985 just as easily as it could be from 2010. Yet it’s brand new. “Cicada” - Fucked Up Oh man, this a great song!
Africa Is Not A Country - Dipo Faloyin Those of you who read these posts should know I’m perpetually behind, and even after nearly 20 years I’m still not smart enough to jot down my thoughts about a book shortly after finishing it. So the first entry in each post is usually going to be about four weeks old and my thoughts about it murky. That’s the case with this, a very good book written by a native African raised in London about how the rest of the world views his ancestral continent.
A pretty good Easter weekend in our house. Family Weekend As happens when your kids are in Catholic schools, it was an extra-long weekend. CHS had a four-day weekend, while St P’s had early dismissal Friday and were out for Easter Monday. Throw in C being home sick and L having her annual school service day on Thursday and it was even longer. C has the “Punta Plague,” as M is calling it.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Anti-Curse” - boygenius The supergroup released their first full-length album last week. It’s very good, or at least the high points are. I love how it’s a combination of songs where each singer takes the lead and songs that are collaborations with all three taking turns. Here Julien Baker is up front. Critic Steven Hyden liked this song so much he said Baker should put out an album filled entirely with songs influenced by the grunge era.
Let’s wrap up the college basketball season. Jayhawk Talk Bill Self finally appeared before the media on Wednesday, his first interaction with the press since before his heart episode nearly a month ago. He looked and sounded great. In his recorded interviews with Greg Gurley during the NCAA tournament he always seemed half a step slow, either verbally, mentally, or both. Naturally this led to rumors that he had suffered a stroke.
As mentioned awhile back, I have a few of these in various stages of development. With the college basketball season complete, seems like a good day to dust off this one. This idea comes from a KU-centric podcast I listen to regularly. During the holidays they had a segment where they selected an elite program they would choose to be a fan of if KU was not an option. This came on the heels of Indiana’s visit to Lawrence in December.
A long week in the Dominican Republic to celebrate M’s senior class spring break. Not only did we take the whole family, one of C’s best friends came along with us. There was some drama, a few travel difficulties, but overall it was a pretty good seven days. Location We stayed at the Hard Rock Resort in Punta Cana. I never got an official headcount but around 70 kids from M’s class were there.
Slow month between lots of basketball early in March, watching one show exclusively for a week, and then spring break. Movies, Shows, etc From Paseo To Pembroke: Kansas City’s Golden Era I had heard of this but didn’t realize it was on YouTube until KC buddy Newman sent it my way. A great look at the golden age of Kansas City high school basketball, from 1988 to 1998. I was at a few of the games featured.