Say Nothing - Patrick Radden Keefe My brother-in-books Sir David and I often share recommendations with each other. I don’t know that he’s ever pushed a book as hard as he did this one. I think he got a little nervous he had oversold it, but this turned out to be a great recommendation.
Keefe provides a thorough but quick history of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and its key members during the Troubles, the period in Northern Ireland from the mid–1960s through the 1990s when the country was torn by violence between primarily Catholic Republicans looking to unify with the Republic of Ireland and mostly Protestant Loyalists who wanted to remain a part of the United Kingdom.
Chart Week: May 10, 1986
Song: “Be Good To Yourself” - Journey
Chart Positions: #20, 5th week on the chart. Peaked at #9 the week of May 31.
Remember when it used to be a surprise when new music arrived? At least for kids. Before the internet, before I had cable TV, and before I could read music magazines regularly, new albums by my favorite artists often appeared seemingly out of the blue.
Holiday number two of the Coronavirus era has come and gone. Memorial Day weekend was especially strange here in Indianapolis since there was no 500 mile race to dominate local events. The race has been pushed back to August, for now. But the month of May is the biggest month of the year in Indy, and the last three weeks have felt extra empty without all the race prep and coverage.
Happy Memorial Day weekend! Some songs to fuel your holiday.
"Peaceful Ambassador" - The Dead Tongues
Hiss Golden Messenger has been a connecting point for me to that sub-genre of music that balances indie rock, folk, and alt country. Ryan Gustafson has played with HGM over the years, but The Dead Tongues is his personal project. He works in that same space, but this track has a dirty, early 1970s feel to it.
I’m struggling to find the motivation to write this week. I have a couple things started but can’t seem to get them wrapped up.
Instead of working on either of those, I thought I would share this insane video instead. I hate heights so this make my stomach churn but I still find it amazing.
youtu.be/RG9TMn1FJ…
Via TMN
(Apologies to Rex Chapman for stealing his “Dogs, bruh,” for the title.)
I’m not sure if it is time to transition the title of these assorted notes posts back to how I labelled them before March. Not everything in these is about what is going on with Covid anymore. At the same time, our lives are going to continue to be pretty boring for some time and much of what I share here will be affected, at least indirectly, by the state of the world.
youtu.be/KRa8ZH_iO… Prince and the Revolution, live, 3/30/85 This is my weekend assignment, so I’ll make it yours, too. For this weekend only this concert is streaming for free. Superfans insist it is one of the greatest Prince performances ever, and it came at the absolute height of his popularity. Find a way to spend two hours with it.
I’ve seen the article I’m linking to below passed around a lot this week, so many of you have probably at least seen it. I highly recommend reading through it. Erin Bromage is a biology professor who explains how things could go over the next few months, as we being to reopen while still navigating the back side of the curve.
As states reopen, and we give the virus more fuel, all bets are off.
I’ve felt a lack of enthusiasm and motivation the past few days. School is winding down. M is done Friday. C and L are done next week. Assignments have already dried up and they’re just running out the clock. A few teachers seem to have checked out, too, which makes it tough to motivate the girls.
The news has devolved further, making me less and less interested in paying attention to what’s going on, and making my blood pressure rise when I do check in.
Point B - Drew Magary God damnit, Magary has done it again!
(I feel like he would like that opening line.)
If you can’t immediately place the name, Magary is the all-around excellent writer responsible for things like his annual take down of the Williams Sonoma Christmas catalog, the best mailbag on the internet (once on Deadspin now on Vice), his weekly NFL columns, his political/culture/food writings on various outlets, and his long form profiles for GQ.
Happy Friday, y’all.
It’s a Wordpress/Spotify Fuck Up Week so here’s a link to the playlist.
“Melancholy, MA” - The Sheila Divine I just discovered this week that TSD, a band I loved almost 20 years ago, put out a new album last year. I listened to it and was impressed with the first 4–5 songs before it lost steam and meandered to the end. Those good songs don’t match their classic ones, but they’re good enough to throw into the rotation for awhile.
It is so sad what has happened to Sports Illustrated over the past decade. SI was required reading for people my age who were into sports for most of our young lives. When I was a kid, Thursdays were the best day of the year because that’s when the new issue of SI would usually land in the mailbox. The magazine was full of great game stories, features on the most interesting athletes in the world, and usually one long-form piece that you would want to read again as soon as you finished it.
Chart Week: April 23, 1983
Song: “One On One” - Daryl Hall & John Oates
Chart Position: #7, 13th week on the chart. Peaked at #7 for three weeks.
Sometimes I come across anecdotes on AT40 that make me giddy.
For example, I first heard this episode a few years back while in the car one Sunday morning. I heard the story I’m about to share and started hooting in excitement.
It feels typical for this stage in life here on earth that anytime there is good news, it is heavily balanced by awful news.
The worst, early hot spots are all calming down. Italy and Spain are taking steps to return to normal. The New York City/State area are trending in a positive direction. Across the US, many restrictions are being relaxed.
All that is countered by the brutal reality that we are likely moving back toward normal too early and too quickly.
A full month of being locked in had the expected effect on what I’ve been watching on TV: I consumed a shit-load of content! I thought about breaking this list into multiple entries. Instead I’m going to put on my editing hat and pare these down as much as I can. I will put the items I write most about at top, and share progressively less as we move through the list.
It’s going to be a beautiful weekend here in Indianapolis. I hope wherever you are the weather will allow you to get outside and enjoy a nice day or three as well. Here is a soundtrack for your weekend activities.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“Sun Baby” - The High Violets I loved this band in the mid–00s and thought they had disappeared. I was just reading up on them and saw they released a highly regarded album just four years ago.
I shared earlier this week that I’m paying less direct attention to the news over the past couple weeks. I am, though, still reading plenty of deeper pieces on where we are at and where we are headed. I still have several articles in the queue but I thought these two pieces were very good and worth sharing. They take a look at the structural issues in our country, largely political, that the Coronavirus crisis has highlighted.
A big step back toward normalcy today: S went back to work. She’s on a limited schedule, just two days a week and only seeing two patients per hour, all of whom are age two and under. She’s also not back in her office as it remains closed for the time being. This will be the plan for six weeks or so and then there is a phase 2 and 3 in the works before her practice is completely open again.
Last Tuesday CBS aired a very important program. Officially titled Let’s Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince, the show as a tribute to the late Prince, who died exactly four years ago from its initial air date. The show got such a great reaction that CBS re-aired it Saturday night.
I recorded the Tuesday broadcast and watched it Thursday afternoon. It was outstanding! These tribute shows can often go off the rails, become mawkish, or serve more as vehicles for the performers than the honoree.
open.spotify.com/playlist/…
“Runaway Dog” - Retirement Party Seems like there have been several songs I’ve shared lately that have a strong, mid–90s vibe. Not sure if that means the grunge years are coming back. Add this one to the list. Especially in the rhythm section this has the feel of a Belly song.
“Wash it Away” - Black Lab This wasn’t really grunge era - it was released in 1997 - but it is a forgotten gem from the ’90s alt-rock scene.