Wait, it’s Friday already? And it’s almost May? Holy crap time has flown this week/month. So apologies for the last-minute playlist. open.spotify.com/user/224a… “any other night” - the dates. I’m having a hard time finding anything about this group, mostly because the combination of song title and group name falls into one of those Google holes where about 1000 other things pop up. I know Garrett Goddard is also in King Tuff, a band with a very different sound.
I really want to crank out a kid sports update. But this is our busiest week of the spring - two games tonight, track meet tomorrow, two games Thursday, game Friday, track meet Sunday - and it seems like I should wait until we get through it before I start breaking things down for you. Instead I’ll share what I did with the girls last week, when I spent two days with them at school activities.
Chart Week: April 20, 1985 Song: “We Are the World” - USA for Africa Chart Position: #1, 5th week on the chart. Spent four weeks at #1. Ah, the 1980s celebrity/cause single. It seems like there were tons of these but a check of Wikipedia shows there really weren’t that many original songs written for this or that benefit. I guess it’s because so many came in a pretty tight window that they seemed so prevalent.
A very Good Friday and Happy Easter weekend to you all. open.spotify.com/user/224a… “Everybody Here Hates You” - Courtney Barnett. This song is a grower. I was just thrilled CB had put out a couple songs for Record Store Day. But as I’ve listened to this more and more, it has gotten into my head and I really like it. “Caves” - Gregory Alan Isakov. Isakov’s albums are often tough for me to listen to because they are so spare and folksy.
Through a combination of laziness last week and being super busy this week I haven’t caught you up on what I’ve been reading over the past month. Black Leopard Red Wolf - Marlon James This book arrived with massive hype. James’ last novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings captured nearly every major book award and was one of my favorites of recent years. For his next effort, James decided to take the classic elements of fantasy writing and incorporate African folklore, history, and themes into them.
Holy shit! What else can you say to Tiger Woods winning the Master’s in 2019, 11 years after his last major victory and 14 years since his last win in Augusta? It was a pretty insane weekend down at Augusta National. First, a big shout out to Mother Nature. Usually if I’m discussing her I’m calling her a bitch. But by threatening severe storms in Georgia, and thus moving the tournament’s final round up to Sunday morning, and also raining out C’s track meet here in Indy, I was able to watch every second of Sunday’s glorious coverage.
A bit of a busy week here for a variety of reasons, which has put me in the strange position of not having a big queue of new music to share. So some classics for you this week. open.spotify.com/user/224a… “Float On” - Modest Mouse. This song has jumped up a lot recently on Sirius for some reason. I think I’ve heard it 10 times in the last six weeks or so.
It’s a Nephew Duty day so getting this out a little later than I planned. OK, now for the trip itself. First off, I must say, I can not recommend enough traveling on off-days during spring break. I believe we saved a little on the airfare by doing a Thur-Thur trip. More importantly, the airports were breezes to get through. Immigration in Mexico was a stupid easy; last year it took us nearly an hour to get processed.
I’ll hold off on my big spring break summary to share some thoughts on the end of the college basketball season. I don’t know if it is me getting older, the media getting stupider, or a combination of both, but I have a harder time following sports media without getting pissed off these days. For example, in the lead-up to last night’s National Championship game I kept seeing articles, mostly on ESPN, that referenced the “controversial” foul call at the end of the Virginia-Auburn national semifinal.
As expected, my Cancún summary is rather long. So I shall divide it into a couple posts for you. Part one goes back to the pre-trip drama I mentioned before we left. Two Sundays ago we were deep into the trip prep process. Packing, printing itineraries, making our 30th Target run, etc. As a part of this I pulled out our passports to make backup copies. I got through the girls’, threw mine onto the copier, and glanced at S’s.
youtu.be/ibyAiAfBt… “Real Thing” - Middle Kids. We are home, safe and sound, tanned and tired. We made it home a little after 9:00 last night thanks to multiple delays in our return flights. A long summary post of our week in Cancun will come Monday. I monitored my music sites while away, bookmarking posts I wanted to come back to. I was thrilled to see a new Middle Kids single and news of a new EP next month.
youtu.be/7VzakY8h5… “Mirror in the Bathroom” - The English Beat. RIP to one of the coolest men, and coolest names, in the second British Invasion of the 1980s, “Ranking Roger” Charlery.
Chart Week: February 25, 1978 Song: “How Deep Is Your Love” - Bee Gees Chart Position: #10, 23rd week on the chart. Peaked at #1 for three weeks in December 1977 and January 1978. The most amazing chart stretch of my life was the Bee Gee’s run in the late ‘70s. They absolutely owned the charts thanks largely to the monster that was the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The soundtrack, which sold over 45 millions copies and spent over six months at #1 on the album chart, featured seven #1 singles - although three of those topped the charts before the album was released.
As I said Monday, this is a very busy week. It’s already noon on Wednesday and it feels like the first half of the week has raced by as we get closer to our spring break departure tomorrow morning. Last night M and C and I went to St. P’s first every big theater production. A few years back there was a suggestion that the school should bump up their arts offerings.
Usually when I post a link to an article, I like to offer a few thoughts about its content. I’ve been sitting on this one for a few days and, honestly, can’t come up with anything. It may be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read. Which is saying something: I’ve wasted A LOT of time on the Internet over the years. So, for your reading pleasure, please follow this link.
This is a very busy week, with our spring break beginning Thursday and a lot of prep in the days between now and then, along with some babysitting of a nephew one day. So I figured I would start my NCAA post Sunday night as I watch the final game of the weekend, Oregon-UC Irvine. KU I told you this was going to happen. OK, I feared a blowout because of Auburn’s experience, speed, athleticism, and depth.
A slap-dash, quickie playlist this week as I had a few things lined up this morning and have a lot of basketball to watch this afternoon. open.spotify.com/user/224a… “Friendly Aliens” - Chad VanGaalen. This guy is from Canada. This song is trippy and strange and fun. “Without a Blush” - Hatchie. Your weekly Australian song. Her EP last year was excellent. Looking forward to her full-length debut in June. “When Am I Gonna Lose You” - Local Natives.
A rather busy week has kept me from diving too deep into the nitty gritty of this year’s NCAA tournament field. It’s the first week of kickball practice, so I’ve been making sure our teams are good to go, balls have been inflated and distributed, and making sure all the stuff I need to clear with the school office before teams get outside has been cleared. M had her scheduling night at CHS on Tuesday.
The First Major: The Inside Story of the 2016 Ryder Cup - John Feinstein Years ago I used to read a lot of Feinstein’s books. His A Season Inside is one of my all-time favorite sports books.[1] But, over time, I found his books to basically be the same format with different details. There were little moments that would appear in every book that drove me nuts. Plus he comes off as a bit of an arrogant prick.
You may have noticed something very important was missing around here last holiday season. Yes, I never linked to the newest edition of The Hater’s Guide to the Williams-Sonoma Catalog, the annual gut-bust of a read. Good reason for that: Drew Magary, the mad genius who puts those together every year, suffered a sudden and major health issue last December. Fortunately he has returned, apparently in good health, and realized the phrase better late than never applies to internet parodies as much as anything else.