Chart Week: August 30, 1986 Song: “Heaven In Your Eyes” - Loverboy Chart Position: #33, 5th week on the chart. Peaked at #12 for two weeks in October. A quick entry this time, based on a cultural nugget that shows how much the world has changed since 1986. Casey shared that Loverboy keyboard player Doug Johnson refused to appear in the video for “Heaven In Your Eyes.” Why? Because the song was on the soundtrack for Top Gun, and Johnson was a pacifist.
I’m guessing this was our last ever four-day Labor Day weekend, at least on the academic side of things. St P’s generally (but not always) gives the kids Friday and Monday off, while CHS just takes the actual Monday holiday off. Who knows what M’s schedule will be this time next year, but she won’t be here, so that means the remaining girls will be on the same schedule for the final holiday weekend of summer in 2023.
Movies, Series, Shows Better Call Saul, season six I wrote about this here. A for the season, A+ for the series. The Queen’s Gambit It took me awhile, but I finally got to this. Not sure if it was better or worse to watch it well after its initial buzz had faded. While I enjoyed the story, I felt it had some big holes and ended a little too cutesy. But Anya Taylor-Joy was dazzling and delightful in the lead role.
The new music faucet finally seems to have been turned down a notch. My Latest Songs playlist is as light as it has been in months. Hopefully just a brief respite before things pick back up again for the fall. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Paradise” - Briston Maroney One of my favorite artists of 2020 is back with his next phase of music. Not sure this matches those ‘20 highs, but this isn’t anything to complain about, either.
This season was supposed to be L and her team’s final run to kickball glory. Even with a tough schedule we figured they would be battling in every game and, because of the strength of their division, remain in the mix for a City championship berth right up until the end of the season. Instead it’s been a bit of a mess. Things started well; they won their first two games.
August 2022 The Beatles - 61 Spielbergs - 52 John Mellencamp - 29 Wilco - 24 Alvvays - 19 Complete stats available at my Last.fm page.
Kind of a weird weekend, or at least it got off to a weird start. L threw up all night Thursday and into Friday morning. I heard her throwing up again around 6:45 and went running into her room only to discover it was M across the hall throwing up in her bathroom. Just like old times! At least they are old enough now not to puke in their beds.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Easy On Your Own?” - Alvvays Alvvays went eight years between albums number one and two. So a five-year wait for album number three doesn’t seem so bad! “Desert Snow” - Local Natives With the heat coming back after to Indiana after two very pleasant weeks, thoughts of snow are welcome. “Burning” - Yeah Yeah Yeahs Yeah!!! “River Mountain Love” - Truck Stop Love A couple weeks back Spotify spit out an alternate version of this terrific mid-90s track by the best thing to ever come out of Manhattan, KS.
After finishing nine books in July I didn’t finish my first August book until the 15th. And then I finished two more books in just over a week. I think I’m doing just fine. After the Fall - Ben Rhodes The latest book by former Obama staffer Rhodes, this one is about the current state of the world, how we got here, and where we could be headed. It’s not an uplifting book, nor one that will give you reason to be hopeful that things are going to get better.
A few things for you to read. The already messed-up world of professional golf got even crazier last week when Patrick Reed filed a bizarre lawsuit against the Golf Channel and GC personality Brandel Chamblee. Attorney (and golfer) Will Bardwell had this terrific, and hilarious, breakdown of the case’s merits. Patrick Reed’s Libel Case Is A House Built On Sand This is straight-up weird. Thank goodness this bug didn’t crash planes or send nuclear power plants into meltdowns.
Kid Hoops After a few weeks off, it’s back to the hoops grind for L. Saturday her travel team kicked off a Back to School league that will play on Saturdays for the next two months. I think this is the first time her coach has put his team into the league, and he’s doing his best to keep it light. They won’t practice. He’s going to rotate starters every game.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “You” - Julianna Riolino Should a Canadian with a name like this play music like this? I guess that’s a dumb question, because clearly she does. I’ve shot some songs back and forth with my brother-in-music E$ lately that have fallen on the far side, for me, of the line between country and alt-country. This one lands one the near side of that line, with just enough pop to balance the early era, Dolly Parton vibes that carry it.
Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould faced a huge challenge as they brought their series Better Call Saul to an end. Not just because of the normal pressures that come with wrapping a critically acclaimed and beloved (by those who watched it) show. But also because of how they ended Breaking Bad, one of the best series endings of recent memory. After thinking about Monday’s series finale for a few days, I am comfortable saying they absolutely met that challenge.
Some catchup from the last few days. Shots Fired…Literally Friday night we had our old neighbors from Carmel over for dinner. They like to rib us about moving from Carmel, which has little violent crime, to Indianapolis, which like most big cities has some issues. I joked that we hadn’t heard any gunfire from our home in over a year. Later that night I was in bed, asleep, when I heard one of the girls talking to S.
Another week with a jam-packed list. The new music continues to roll in. I still have a couple tracks leftover from my podcast review. We just passed a significant music anniversary. There was a massive death in the music world this week. And an amazing YouTube find will cap things off. Strap yourselves in and enjoy. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Girls Make Me Wanna Die” - The Aces This band shares a lot of DNA with MUNA, both in making fun, poppy jams and being up-front with being Queer.
L went back to school yesterday. M and C started classes today. Thus our academic summer has ended. Which makes this the perfect day for a post I’ve wanted to share for quite awhile. It will be extra navel-gazey, so feel free to skip if you prefer my writings about music, sports, books, etc. to those about being a middle-aged man. When Covid began and our gym shut down, I was still able to use our modest home equipment to workout.
A very good weekend trip to Kansas City. Other than the heat, of course. Travel It was probably our easiest drive between Indy and KC we’ve ever had without driving at night. A few slowdowns, a few standard trucks passing each other or slow people in the fast lane issues. But otherwise it was kind of smooth sailing. One side effect of me switching to a smaller car without a third row is that trips like this can be problematic.
July was one of my better reading months in recent memory. Nine books finished, and all were legit books. No graphic novels, manuals, photography collections, etc. mixed in. Here are some brief synopses. Phil - Alan Shipnuck The book that shook up the golf world when an excerpt was released earlier this year detailing Phil Mickleson’s thoughts about the Saudi-backed LIV golf tour, a tour he is now getting paid somewhere in the range of $200 million to play shitty golf on.
A busy week for M. Two college visits and senior pictures have all been checked off her To Do list. We went to Purdue last Wednesday and then IU on Monday. Both trips went well. She liked Purdue more than she expected, and when we left she felt like it had pulled even with Cincinnati as her co-favorite. Or at least a school that would definitely be on her list for a second visit and more research.
M and I are off to Bloomington for campus visit number five today, so it is a perfect day to drop this list on you. Movies, Series, Shows Somebody Feed Phil, season one Crap, I forgot to include this in my June entry. After watching the Anthony Bourdain film, I tried to find something similar to his classic shows to scratch my food/travel/culture show itch. This came pretty close. The show is far funnier than any of Bourdain’s and never tries to be as arty.