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.
We are going to start out heavy but quickly fall into a mood. Seems appropriate for Easter weekend. [open.spotify.com/playlist/...](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1MNQcI5gUVuNJu5V76OSSi?si=b247c3ab094449bc) “The House of I” - The Afghan Whigs The Whigs released a couple new covers earlier this year. Now brand new original music. They still sound great. “It’s A Beautiful Life” - Francis of Delirium Glad our only Luxembourg act has some staying power. “Javelin” - Kevin Morby As promised two weeks ago, the second excellent new track from one of KC’s finest.
I read three-plus books on spring break. I also had three blurbs written up before break that I should have posted two weeks ago. Combine those and you get an extra large helping of my reading notes. Bright Lights Big City - Jay McInerney I never read this, as it came out just a couple years before I would have been interested in it. I remember when the movie came out and people were shocked the Michael J.
Movies, Shows, Etc. The Diplomat, season three I’m not sure why I put this off so long, this season debuted last fall. Once I started, I figured I would knock it out in four or five nights. However, the early episodes were a little slow and drifted towards the soapy side, as this show can do at some times. Honestly, I was about to abandon it during episode three. It finally found its footing in episode four and I was again hooked.
I only watched a few minutes of basketball here and there over our spring break. It wasn’t that I couldn’t watch; CBS was available on our TV and I’m guessing the one quasi-sports bar on the site could get other games. My enthusiasm for the tournament was low to begin with and I figured I’d rather sit in the sun and read, or go to dinner, than sit inside and watch the games.
It was a spring break different from any other we’ve taken. Turned out it was also one of the our best spring break trips, in no way because of who was not with us. First off, it was straight-up weird traveling with just one kid. Much different than when we traveled without M the last two springs. It kept feeling like we were missing or forgetting something. Only checking one bag?
[open.spotify.com/playlist/...](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/12t00IxHlbIcqfDI9luYE7?si=4c8705a007bd4e91) “Vacation” - Touch Girl Apple Blossom We are off for our spring break tomorrow. This song is more about getting your heart broken than sitting in the sun, but it is jangly enough to evoke the right feelings. “The Early Days Of Love” - Brigitte Calls Me Baby Their album came out last week. There are at least five really good tracks, meaning I 100% would have bought in back in the CD era.
As expected, I’ve changed some of my Final Four picks. After the initial run, I realized I can’t have three Big 10 schools coming to Indy. Every time I’ve watched Illinois this year, their games have been awesome. The most potent offense in the country is a lot of fun to watch. Their band of Euros and an unsung PG from Kansas score almost effortlessly. Their general Euro-ness does cause some occasional bad defense, though.
A couple college basketball related links as we prep for the tournament to launch in full force tomorrow. A great story about a moment in college basketball history I knew nothing about. The video clips, especially, are a time warp to another era. That was the winter I was discovering college basketball, which means I’m extra romantic about it. There was something special about that time when it was still very much a regional sport and teams like Indiana State could be total mysteries to everyone outside Terre Haute.
Not a ton to talk about that isn’t basketball related. C came home for her spring break Friday. She took a detour to Cincinnati on the way. Her high school friend who goes to Auburn visited her in Bloomington on Wednesday and they drove over to visit friends at UC Thursday before finally looping back to Indy. L had another long weekend, as the Indy St. Patrick’s Day parade was Friday and Cathedral always takes the day off for that.
Another week, another playlist. [open.spotify.com/playlist/...](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4MbU06JBji8ubvRCE0kOpG?si=44b16e342eaa49ec) “I Danced With Another Love In My Dream” - Brigitte Calls Me Baby I’m telling you, if radio didn’t suck, this band would be on the verge of blowing up. The title of this track plays even more into their connections with The Smiths. “Brace Yourself” - Gladie As I said when I shared another song of theirs two weeks ago, this band sounds straight out of the Nineties.
Colts The Colts held on to their two most important free agent pieces this week. I’m not sure the process was right, nor am I sure the results were ideal. First, they slapped the transition tag on quarterback Daniel Jones. By doing so they immediately made wide receiver Alec Pierce a free agent, which was seen as a rather large blunder by NFL experts. However, within a day Pierce re-signed with the Colts.
I forgot one book in last week’s entry, then another I’m saving because I have a similar book in my queue and I want to write about them together. I hope no one minds that these books are not in the exact order I read them in. The Anthony Bourdain Reader - Edited by Kimberly Witherspoon One down side to reading primarily on a Kindle is I am never sure how long a book is when you begin.
The quiet weekends continue. We started our latest in-home project, only to be foiled by problematic wallpaper. S painted a little bit. I cleaned some gutters. We started laying out clothes to prep for spring break packing. Other than that, slow times. Jayhawk Talk The one event of the weekend was KU closing out the regular season with a pounding of K-State. Nothing unexpected about that, K-State is trash.
I’ve been going through an especially persistent bout with my periodic insomnia this week. I have no idea how I couldn’t sleep last night but here we are, me bleary-eyed after hours of tossing and turning, getting up to read and reset my brain, then more tossing and turning. We’ll see how that affects the songs I put together for you today, and what I write about them. If this turns to gibberish by the end, you know the reason.
Such Great Heights - Chris DeVille My second book about modern rock of the year. This one, by one of Stereogum’s best writers, covers the indie rock of the past 25 years. From its rise out of the ashes of ’90s alternative rock to its embrace of hip hop, R&B, and traditional pop music in more recent years. And all the many stages in between. It is not just an accounting of the bands that were important to each stage of this process.
Sub-title Too Long For The Web: In Which An Effort To Unload Some Unused Furniture Becomes An Opportunity To Show What Nice People We Are The main title has nothing to do with KU’s loss Tuesday night to a very mediocre Arizona State team. A game in which Bill Self was ejected, Jacque Vaughn received a technical, and Elmarko Jackson was called for a flagrant foul, all of which seemed like garbage calls.