This is just incredible. Not just the story, but also how it was reported. This is A+++ journalism of a style that, sadly, just doesn’t exist anymore. youtu.be/V6CLumsir… I have no memory of this, but apparently this story was a bit of a sensation in the 1990s, one of the first viral events on the Internet. It must not have trickled down to those of us who relied on AOL to be our gateway to the World Wide Web back then.
Several significant events in our house over the past few days. Let’s get caught up. School When I picked M up from school last Wednesday she had a weird look on her face. “Everyone says school is shutting down after this week,” she exclaimed. Apparently each day a few more kids were not showing up to class either because they were Covid positive or were quarantining because of close contact with a positive person.
I will warn you the first song in today’s playlist is filled with NOT SAFE FOR WORK language. Play cautiously. That’s appropriate for today as yesterday came word that schools in Indianapolis will be required to go virtual again by the end of the month. More about that next week, though. On to the music… open.spotify.com/playlist/… “JU$T” - Run the Jewels with Zach De La Rocha and Pharrell Williams LOOK AT ALL THESE SLAVE MASTERS POSIN' ON YOUR DOLLARS
Yesterday we got our updated car insurance policy, listing M as an insured driver. The addition to our premium was a nice way to start the holiday season. She’s been hassling us about a car for weeks. I believe I already shared that CHS only gives parking passes to sophomores if there are exceptional reasons that require one. She’s told us several times that we need to come up with something and send the email.
Chart Week: October 27, 1984 Song: “Purple Rain” - Prince & The Revolution Chart Position: #4, 4th week on the chart. Peaked at #2 for two weeks in November. (This ended up being a big coincidence, but not a bad choice for the 50th entry in this series!) One of my favorite things about listening to old AT40’s is when they cause me to pour through old charts to examine the movement of various songs.
Sunday night I sat down to bang out some election thoughts. After about an hour and a couple beers I had over 2500 semi-coherent words. Younger me would have pushed on, getting everything out of my system, working until well after midnight to finish and then post the piece. 2020 me, though? He was ready for bed. And as morning dawns I feel like I want to take another, sober, stab at my 2020 election post.
Fuck you, Don. Try not to destroy too many more things on your way out.
I had a regular list put together to share like any other Friday. But given the news of the morning, I’m scraping it and throwing this ad hoc list at you. You should be able to figure out which songs are directed at which candidates. open.spotify.com/playlist/…
Baseball took up a lot of time last month. But I still squeezed in some quality television programming. The Spy This brief series tells the story of Eli Cohen, a Mossad agent who infiltrated Syrian society in the 1960s and became a deputy minister of defense before being discovered and executed. It is a compelling, interesting story that is very well acted and paced, and beautifully photographed. I also enjoyed the old school spy tale angle.
Nothing much going on today. Might as well share my most recent reads. A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson My master reading list isn’t complete; I didn’t really start digitizing it until the mid-to-late 2000s, so a lot of books I read in the first decade of this century aren’t accounted for.[1] So I know I’ve read a few of Bill Bryson’s travel books, I’m just not certain how many.
Here we are, the week many of us - a plurality of those who voted four years ago - have been looking forward to for an entire election cycle. And it dawns dominated by a sense of dread. Regardless of the results of tomorrow’s election, I think the US is on a horrible course, one where democracy is constantly subverted by a vocal minority. Where intimidation and voter suppression has become a normal part of one party’s methods for hanging on to political power.
October 2020 Throw back month! Bruce Springsteen - 72 Pearl Jam - 47 U2 - 39 cartalk - 26 Bob Mould - 24 Complete stats available at my Last.fm page.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Impossible Weight” - Deep Sea Diver with Sharon Van Etten The music to this sounds thoroughly modern, but Sharon’s vocals have a terrific New Wave quality. “Guest in Your Life” - Sinai Vessel This song sounds warm and familiar, like the fall clothes we are all pulling out as the weather gets cooler. “80 Days of Rain” - Lande Hekt Apparently this song is about climate change. “Oceans” - Pearl Jam Last week PJ released the recording of their 1992 MTV Unplugged performance in the US for the first time.
I’m overwhelmed by numbers. The more I look at them, the more my sense of dread and disappointment and even fear grows. That’s right, it’s time for a long overdue update on my golf game. Quick summary: not good. Now, for the people into that kind of thing, far too many details. Feel free to skip the rest, although you’ll miss the accounting of the greatest moment of my golfing life.
Chart Week: October 23, 1982 Song: “Steppin’ Out” - Joe Jackson Chart Position: #32, 10th week on the chart. Peaked at #6 for three weeks in December. I’ve written many times about how my parents influenced the music I have listened to. I’ve also mentioned how my grandparents always had the radio tuned to the local station, which between farm reports and news/weather bulletins, played the most generic blend of Top 40 pop possible.
An extra-large playlist this week. I had some time to kill before a World Series game started and did a little more work than I normally do on the curation side. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Around Your Room” - Kississippi This doesn’t sound much like the music Kississippi has made in the past. It sounds more like a CHVRCHES song. It is utterly fabulous. “CRY” - Julia Jacklin Last week Julia released two new songs inspired by the state of the world.
Man, I hate fall break. I’m pretty sure I’ve ranted about this before. But as our girls are on fall break right now, it is on my mind. A year ago at one of L’s soccer practices I was making sarcastic comments about fall break with the dad who I had coached with for a few years. We agreed fall break was dumb and messed up youth sports, which should always come first.
A couple recent departures from the University of Kansas athletic program that deserve a few words. Silvio First, late last week Silvio De Sousa announced he was leaving the basketball program. KU, like every Power 5 sports program, has a long list of players who were “disappointments.” Silvio might be at the top of KU’s list. During the 2017–18 season, when Billy Preston was ruled ineligible and Udoka Azabuike was injured, De Sousa seemed like a gift from the hoops gods.
It felt like I mostly sat on my ass watching sports this weekend. Turns out a lot went on. Here are some details. HS Football M snagged a ticket at the last minute to the Indy high school game of the year: 5A #1 Cathedral vs 6A #1 Center Grove. Both teams were undefeated, had rolled through their first eight games pretty much unchallenged, and were ranked in the top 25 of the USA Today national poll.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “You Held My Heart” - The Flatmates “1-2-3-4!” is a great way to start off any weekend. “Music Makes Me High” - The Avalanches This could easily be my theme song. “Moment in the Sun” - Sunflower Bean The days are getting shorter. Daylight Saving Time ends in two weeks. Our moment in the sun is almost over. “Bailey” - Suzie True Another piece of fun garage pop to book-end the newer music on the list.