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.
July 2022 The War on Drugs - 31 Jack White - 23 Maggie Rogers - 20 The Beatles - 19 MUNA - 18 Complete stats available at my Last.fm page.
Just a little more cleanup from my podcast archives research, a whole heck of a lot of new music, and no playlist next week due to travel means (at least) one more mega playlist for your listening pleasure. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “In the Right” - The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness Some jim-dandy power pop here, my friends. “Overcome” - Young Guv Let’s keep it on the power pop tip for one more track.
M and I are off to visit Purdue so it seems like a great day to share some more interesting reads. I don’t know a thing about cricket, and I’m guessing most of you don’t, either. That doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate the ridiculousness of this story. “I have never seen a scam like this. These guys just cleared a patch of land deep inside a village and began playing a match and beaming it on YouTube to make money through gambling.
Chart Week: July 22, 1978 Song: “Baker Street” - Gerry Rafferty Chart Position: #2, 14th week on the chart. Peaked at #2 for six weeks. I’ve been wanting to write about this song for ages, and everything finally lined up thanks to an AT40 I caught last week. “Baker Street” is one of the greatest songs of its time. Or any time for that matter. It is an unforgettable, undeniable, unassailable piece of rock ’n’ roll art.
It has been a lazy few days around our house. M spent last week in Michigan with one of her best friend’s families. She seemed to have a great time. Boy was the house quiet without the most talkative sister around. Kind of a preview of what awaits us next fall. I had big plans to do something fun with her sisters while she was away, but every day one of them had something pop up that prevented that from happening.
I continue to clean out the holding pen of music that is overflowing with both new tracks and classics I rediscovered while trolling the archives of my old music podcast. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Alright” - Sam Fender The life cycle of albums can be strange. These days many bands will drop multiple singles well before releasing the full album. Streaming messes up how singles are handled once the public has their hands on the LP so you might as well trickle them out slowly when you have the chance.
Some sports happenings over the past few days. Royals As if being shitty wasn’t bad enough, ten Royals players “did their own research” and decided not to get vaccinated against Covid, preventing them from traveling to Canada for the series with the Blue Jays over the weekend. Just an exhausting moment. As I am barely interested in the team or sport right now, this does not make me want to come back.
Normally my Spotify playlist where I stash songs for the Friday Playists has anywhere from three to eight songs in it. This week is different, though. First off, this has been a very good year for music already and it feels like a ton of solid tunes get released every week. So I have plenty of new tracks to share. Second, I dug into the playlists of my old music podcast this week and re-discovered a bunch of tracks I hadn’t heard in years.
The Committed - Viet Thanh Nguyen I read, and loved, Nguyen’s The Sympathizer in 2015. His sequel did not quite meet the original’s standard. The Committed picks up a few years after The Sympathizer, with the main character living in Paris in the early 1980s, and attempting to start a new life in the Vietnamese ex-pat community. Once again he must play the different factions of the community off of each other to maintain his safety.