The Buffalo Hunter Hunter - Stephen Graham Jones
My second Tournament of Books read of the year, I enjoyed this one more than the first. It falls into a genre I don’t usually have much interest in. However, its presentation was so unique that I really enjoyed it.
The novel is built around a diary found when a Montana building is being torn down in 2012. It was written by a Lutheran pastor in 1912, and in it he documents the “confession” of a Native American man, Good Stab.
Movies, Shows, Etc. Shrinking, season three Well God damn, they absolutely nailed the landing here. This season was very good, but I was a little annoyed throughout as it didn’t seem to be moving forward much. Or at least Jimmy wasn’t. And as the main character, it seemed like he should be doing more than treading water, even if that meant sinking. I was worried they were falling into the dreaded Season Three Problem of falling in love with the show’s cuteness and cozying up to that rather than taking chances.
Finally a weekend with a few more activities.
Crowded House Saturday morning S and I drove down to Bloomington to move C home for the summer. She had brought some stuff when she came home for L’s prom, and was confident we could get everything into S’s Telluride. Man, it was close. We had pretty much every inch of space crammed full but we got everything in. It was in the high 40s/low 50s when we got to her dorm making it a near-perfect day to move.
[open.spotify.com/playlist/...](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4QWhz7iaOteJt4JvXALj1V?si=fd9ef1fe6bee4b5d) “First Of May” - Jonathan Coulton
USE CAUTION WHEN LISTENING TO THIS AT WORK.
Unfortunate that we are sliding into a cooler-than-normal spring as we flip the calendar to May. I did some searching for songs about May last night and this popped up. I had never heard it before, but I am familiar with some of Coulton’s other work. This made me laugh out loud. Especially the third verse.
Chart Week: April 22, 1978 Song: “More Than A Woman” - Tavares Chart Position: #34, 17th week on the chart. Peaked at #32 the week of May 6.
When I was a young music fan, any statement Casey Kasem made on American Top 40 was accepted as an absolute fact. What Walter Cronkite was to adults, Casey was to me. Today when I listen to an old show, I often hear the publicist-crafted bullshit for what it was.
Warning: long, meandering college hoops recruiting talk ahead. Just skip if that’s not your thing.
I haven’t looked back to track this exactly, but it feels like there have been a lot of springs in the last 10 years or so where KU basketball seemed hopeless, the up-coming season a disaster waiting to happen, and that’s all been salvaged by a spate of spring recruiting.
Sometimes, as in the case of Andrew Wiggins committing in May 2013, it was more about how the previous season ended than what the actual prospects for the next season were.
It has been weird getting to Monday mornings lately and, more often than not, struggling to find things to write about. No kid sports. The sports I write about most are out-of-season. I’m waiting for a couple players to make their final decisions on where they play next year before diving into the KU basketball situation. I doubt you want to hear about our dinner with friends Saturday, or how S and I watched five episodes of The Pitt over the weekend.
[open.spotify.com/playlist/...](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0eWS0WFktT04UpqmcPCG7v?si=1442bca6432c4848) “Radio” - Junior Varsity
Back in my music podcast days, I liked to begin each transmission with a song that referenced either radio or political struggle, to represent my fight against corporate radio. This song would obviously be a track one if I was still podcasting.
“The World Is Fucked And I Love You” - Spencer Thomas
Sometimes songs come along and sum up the moment perfectly.
The Royals are getting a new ballpark.
I wasn’t sure what punctuation to use after that sentence. An exclamation point, suggesting excitement? A question mark, noting that despite the length of yesterday’s press conference there weren’t a lot of hard details, and given how long this saga has already stretched it is probably premature to suggest this is the actual finish line? A period is probably best, taking emotion out of the statement.
Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of Prince’s death. His passing is a celebrity death I can remember exactly where I was when I got the news. More significantly, it was the first celebrity death that genuinely floored me. Sometimes it still does. Prince seemed mysterious and eternal. He wasn’t supposed to fall into the trap of using opioids to manage pain that lead to an accidental death like far too many in this country.
Tomlinson’s Wake - Randy Wayne White
Another book from Steve Donoghue’s Best of ’25 lists. And another one that didn’t quite work for me. Apparently the main characters in this book have appeared in previous books by White, so perhaps not having a history with them affected my enjoyment. The opening pages felt a little Carl Hiaasen-ish, and while there were quirks throughout, it shifted away from the non-stop bonkers-fest that so many Hiaasen books are.
A focus on family in today’s post.
Prom Saturday was L’s junior prom. Originally the plan was for her and a group of girlfriends to go together. A month ago we rented a sprinter van that would hold up to eight, with plans for everyone to gather, get ready, and do pictures at our house before the dance.
Then three weeks ago one of the girls got a date for the night and dropped out of the group because his circle of friends does not overlap much with her’s.
A pretty solid playlist this week. Two songs I’m especially jazzed about.
[open.spotify.com/playlist/...](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ULdIllOsaPvq3bHDqmJN7?si=e64ab5db785143e7) “ATTEMPT A CRASH LANDING - THEME” - The Twilight Sad
Kind of a pretentious title, between the name itself and the CAPS. But this song kicks ass so I’ll allow it. A proper track to kick off a playlist.
“Conflagration Mindset” - Cola
A stark, mechanical piece that sounds heavily indebted to Radiohead. Singer Tim Darcy wrote the lyrics about his experience having his home destroyed in last year’s LA fires, which makes it hit a little harder.
Chart Week: April 10, 1982 Song: “Juke Box Hero” - Foreigner Chart Position: #26, 9th week on the chart. This was the song’s peak.
There are songs, albums, and bands that are foundational to our love of music but get forgotten as we age. We go through phases, tastes shift, and over four or five decades pile up huge collections of music that bury some of those early interests.
I had a very quiet weekend.
L scooped ice cream both Friday and Saturday nights. She had some friends over Sunday, one of whom got promposaled here. S went down to Cincinnati for M’s sorority Ladies’ Day on Saturday, spending the night. Sunday L and S went to a bridal shower for L’s “god cousin.” C even had visitors at IU, her aunt and two cousins spending Saturday afternoon with her.
For the second straight week we lock into a general vibe through this entire playlist. Rather than being reserved, though, this one is bright and full of the vibrance of spring.
[open.spotify.com/playlist/...](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2syOK1WY3q1SkcAODbaVJn?si=7cf573799e134e48) “Pay No Mind” - Weird Nightmare
Not sure if this sounds more like The Knack or the rock revival bands of the early 2000s.
“Receive” - youbet
The latest in our ongoing series of female fronted bands that sound straight out of the mid-Nighties.
A big ol’ bag of links to get you through the day.
An amazing, super in-depth profile of Robyn.
Listening to her music, you’re not enveloped in the minutiae of her emotional universe, as you are with someone like Taylor Swift. Rather, Robyn will extract from her universe the simplest of plots—a pure love, thwarted—and then expand it to encompass everything. Her voice, tensile and clear, is an ideal delivery system for longing; it makes me picture melted sugar hardening on ice.
Final Four Well, at least UConn lost. That’s the only good takeaway from the men’s Final Four for a neutral observer. The championship game was an ugly slog. Michigan was clearly the better team all night, but was missing easy shots, then forced things by taking terrible shots. The teams combined to miss nearly twice as many shots as they made (42 shots made, 81 missed). Sooooo many sloppy turnovers. Wildly inconsistent officiating.
My Easter weekend extends through today, so I’ll save the weekend notes for tomorrow and instead get back on the Reaching For The Stars horse after too long of a break.
Chart Week: April 5, 1986 Song: “What You Need” - INXS Chart Position: #6, 12th week on the chart. Peaked at #5 the week of April 12.
I’ve been writing this series long enough that there are several recurring themes.
Some quick Final Four thoughts.
I was downtown Monday evening and the place was deserted. However, preparations were well underway for this weekend’s events.[1] One popular restaurant had shut down early and was getting a thorough floor cleaning. A nearby hotel was having its exterior power washed. I imagine similar work was being done all over downtown Indy. Sadly the weather is going to turn just when the games get going, falling from near 80° today into the 30s at night and barely 50° during the day.