open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Brothers Gonna Work It Out” - Public Enemy This popped up on my workout playlist this week. Peak PE. “Crystal Bullets” - White Denim I can dig what these cats are laying down. “Knead” - illuminati hotties ih’s album Let Me Do One More has received almost universal acclaim. I don’t love Sarah Tudzin’s voice, so I can’t get into the album as much as the consensus does. This one works for me, though, with it’s heavy ’90s influence.
I saw my first movie in a theater since late 2019 last night. The reviews were decent enough and the Covid numbers here falling fast enough that I felt comfortable going to see No Time To Die with my brother-in-law. Four other people had the same idea, so we had plenty of room to ourselves and felt perfectly safe. I don’t think I’ve seen a James Bond movie in a theater since some time in the Pierce Brosnan days.
Although L’s basketball team is in week one of their three-week stoppage of play for fall breaks, there were still hoops to be played last weekend. St P’s normally hosts a Cadet (7th/8th grade) A team tournament over fall break. We had some logistical issues and weren’t able to host this year, but a neighboring parish took it over so that four teams could still get together and play a few games.
A few items to add to your reading queue for the weekend. I’ve always bought into the myth that minor league baseball was somehow purer than big league ball, and the connection between minor league clubs and their communities was deeper than that between big cities and MLB clubs. That’s probably all Bull Durham-fueled garbage, but baseball is largely built on myths anyway MLB is doing its best to fuck all that up by squeezing out much of what was local and unique about the minors.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Silk Chiffon” - MUNA featuring Phoebe Bridgers MUNA is doing it right. They landed a gig opening for Phoebe Bridgers on her fall tour. Then they parlayed that into her taking a guest vocal spot on their latest single. In a different time, this song would be a huge radio hit. And making a large chunk of the country clutch their pearls that a song about being gay was so popular.
I’m a little shocked that I am upright and able to walk today. You see, L’s coaches cancelled their practice last night and decided to have a loose shoot-around/scrimmage. I took L then hung around in case they wrapped up early. The coach, who I’ve coached with four different times, roped me into the fun. We started with a game of knockout that included everyone in the gym: our team, a girl from the B team who was there, a younger brother, plus three parents and one grandparent.
Mother Nature can’t figure out what she wants to do. For the past few days, if you’ve looked through a window to see what’s going on outside, you would assume fall has taken over. It’s been cloudy most of the times, flat out dreary a few times, so you would think you would need to bundle up a bit when you set outside. Yet it’s still been close to 80 most days, and it looks like it’s going to be warmer than that for the next several days.
Somehow I did not watch a single movie last month. I think that was mostly due to paralysis by too many choices. There were plenty of nights when I scrolled through the various streaming services we pay for, searching for a movie that jumped out at me for 30–45 minutes then gave up and watched a show. Movies and Shows The Office I got into a little Office jag in late August and it continued into last month.
September 2021 The Cranberries - 30 Matt Pond PA - 27 The War on Drugs - 27 We Were Promised Jetpacks - 24 Beastie Boys - 23 Complete stats available at my Last.fm page.
Welcome to the fourth quarter of 2021. My late year itch to build my favorite songs of the year list has already started to make its presence known. Holiday music is eight weeks away. Let’s kick it off with a pretty standard Friday Playlist. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Weights” - Bartees Strange A bonus track from the updated, deluxe version of Strange’s debut album, I love how this just goes from the first beat.
After a six-week-ish lull, my pace of knocking out books has picked back up. I’ll likely finish another book later today, but wanted to go ahead and get this out. Missionaries - Phil Klay Klay’s second work about modern warfare is his first true novel; Redeployment was a series of short stories based loosely on his service as a Marine public affairs officer in Iraq. Here he takes a broader view of war.
My sports weekend was a little more compressed than normal. We hosted several of M’s friends and their families Sunday evening, so we spent a lot of time prepping for them and then enjoying their company. Friday night was CHS’ homecoming. We went to dinner with a couple other families and by the time we walked in, the Irish were already up 16–0 midway through the first quarter. It didn’t get any better.
No long essays about how old music makes me feel this week. I do write a little more about most of these songs than I usually do, though. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Waste Your Time” - Jackson+Sellers Jade Jackson says this song is about those final moments of a toxic relationship, when you are reevaluating everything you’ve been through and realize it wasn’t worth it. Me? When I hear the phrase “waste your time,” I think of the conversation S and I had in May 2002.
Finally worked through my Instapaper account to find some things I’ve saved to share with you. Dave Holmes Visits 1988 to Pay Respect to Casey Kasem’s Last True American Top 40 Countdown Someone posted this piece to the AT40 Facebook group I’m a member of. It comes from right after Casey Kasem died back in 2014, but I still enjoyed reading it. Maybe some week I should do a commentary for all 40 tracks in a countdown.
There are constant reminders that we live in crazy-ass times. Times where simple differences of opinion aren’t allowed and every debate has to be A Whole Thing. Times where civility has disappeared from discourse and it rapidly transitions into vitriol. Some of you know my wife has a second job, taken to support my blogging career. Not really. Taken, truthfully, because she’s good at making decisions and would rather help to form and implement policy than be told what the new policies are going to be.
…Happy Holiday youtu.be/Qfi9JpgMc…
Well piss. I swear that I’ve posted this about three different times over the past two days. Obviously I’m losing it. Chart Week: August 25, 1984 Song: “Breakin’…There’s No Stopping Us” - Ollie and Jerry Chart Position: #34, 13th week on the chart. Peaked at #9 the week of August 4. I love musical origin stories. Especially ones where a lucky break launched an otherwise anonymous performer towards success. For every artist like Michael Jackson, Prince, Whitney Houston, or Mariah Carey, who each possessed talent that made stardom seem inevitable, the charts are loaded with dozens of artists and bands that required a perfect combination of factors to have their moment.
I need to run through my Instapaper account and collect some more good reads to share. To tide you over, here is one that made me laugh out loud from McSweeney’s. Wake Up Sailors, Scurvy is a Hoax
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “I Don’t Live Here Anymore” - The War on Drugs with Lucius The title track from the upcoming TWOD LP. It is the brightest, shiniest, poppiest track the band has ever done. Naturally I love it. Lucius provides a very nice vocal assist. “This Enchanted” - Hatchie Harriet Pilbeam recently signed with Indiana label Secretly Canadian, and this is her first single on that imprint. Like just about everything else she’s done, it’s pure magic.
Another kickball season is complete. L’s team was supposed to make up three games that had been rained out. One school never responded to multiple messages from our coach about a reschedule date. It’s the team L kicked six homers in one game against a year ago, and we’ve generally beaten them like rented mules since third grade. So I don’t blame them for avoiding the game. Monday we played on a crazy field that has a fence in short left field.