Mid-March is here. The conference tournaments are complete. The brackets released. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Yaaay…
It can be hard to get tone across in text. If you guessed, based on the opening lines of this piece, that I’m not super pumped about the NCAA tournament, you would be correct. However, unlike some recent years, I also am not dreading it. Basically, because Kansas has no shot to make a deep run, and I’ve known that since the second week of January, I approach this year’s tournament without any excitement for the possibilities the next two to three weeks hold, but also without any fears of the potential bad outcomes.
Some more rockin’ tunes this week.
open.spotify.com/user/224a…
“Satellite” - The Get Up Kids. This band might be the most successful to come out of the Kansas City/Lawrence music scene of the late 90s/early 00s. I run into people all the time who love them. But I was never a huge fan; emo just never was my bag. But this song hits me in the right spots, a fun little raver that makes me want to jump around.
Hey! Another super long post about kids sports! This one is a little special, though.
After five years, M’s CYO sports - and likely all sports - career is over. It was not a bad ending.
Her volleyball team came back from the brink of losing twice in their tournament, closed out their arch-rivals in the championship game, and ended the season as B-league City champs!
First off, they got very lucky with how their tournament worked.
Chart Week: March 1, 1986
Song: “Beat’s So Lonely” - Charlie Sexton
Chart Position: #26, 12th week on the chart. Peaked at #17 for three weeks in March/April.
One-hit-wonders come in all size, shapes, sounds, and types. Charlie Sexton may be one of the cruelest examples of a OHW.
Sexton was a bit of a musical prodigy, trained in his preteens by legendary bluesman W.C. Clark. Soon after he was performing with bands and recording his own music.
open.spotify.com/user/224a…
“Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself” - Alex Lahey. We don’t deserve all the great music that Australia is pumping out these days. Last week Julia Jacklin’s newest album came out. Stella Donnelly’s was released today. Alex Lahey is next on the list, with hers dropping on May 17.
“In the Capital” - Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. Man did I get excited when I heard this track. A new album from RBCF in 2019?
I’m in the midst of a mighty fine reading run, so some quick blurbs about four recent books.
The Finnish Way - Katja Pantzar I kept seeing this one on the ends of aisles at bookstores, highlighted in the library, etc. and finally caved. I had to know what the hell the Finnish Way was.
Pantzar, a child of Finns who was raised in Canada but moved to Finland as an adult, attempts to isolate what it is that makes the people of Finland unique.
Something was strange in our house this morning.
M sensed it. She walked down the stairs, paused, and said, “It feels weird in here. Like I kind of feel like I did when I was a baby, but I don’t know exactly how or what that means.”
L was on the couch, whimpering, muttering, “Dad? Dad, is that you? Why is it so cold, Dad?”
C was just crying, but that could have been her braces.
It’s been a busy couple weeks for two of our girls’ teeth.
M officially graduated out of her orthodontic practice two weeks ago. She had her braces taken off back in June but while her teeth emerged beautifully straight, her gums were “angry,” to quote her orthodontist. He floated the idea of some minor laser surgery to clean them up but wanted to give them more time to heal on their own first.
One staple of the blog that I’ve ignored of late is the Kid Sports update. So, here is a long-ass post with too many details about what our girls have been up to.
M and C have been playing volleyball for the last couple of months. C returned after taking a year off and really enjoyed it. She’s still pretty spazzy on the court - there’s no other way to put it - and often that cancels out her natural athleticism.
It’s March! Which means accumulating snow Sunday followed by record cold for most of next week. Le sigh… Here’s some music to get you through the latest trash weekend.
open.spotify.com/user/224a…
“Capacity” - Charly Bliss. An ear worm that defies putting in a musical slot. I hear lines back to the music of at least three different decades in here.
“stay” - pronoun. In a somewhat similar vein is this track. It makes me a little jittery that spring weather still seems far off, because this sounds like a track for outside activities.
Chart Week: November 6, 1976
Song: “The Rubberband Man” - The Spinners
Chart Position: #15, 9th week on the chart. Peaked at #2 for three weeks in December.
As promised, our first journey into the 1970s. This is the perfect jam to make that deeper run into the chart history.
As I’ve said many times in the past, my parents listened to a lot of soul, R&B, urban, or Black music, whatever you want to call it.
Well, here we are: three games left in the Big 12 season and after pounding Kansas State last night, Kansas is a game out of first place, needing to both sweep through their last three games and get some serious help if they want to extend The Streak to 15. In years past I’d say there was a 75% chance that KU would pull it off. This year, though? I think it is 25% at best.
open.spotify.com/user/224a…
“Blankets” - Craig Finn. This is the first time I’ve really enjoyed one of Finn’s solo songs. It may make me reconsider his entire solo catalog. But I’ll likely just got back and listen to classic Hold Steady tracks.
“Heart Attack Kid” - Ben Kweller. Kweller disappeared for awhile. This is a pretty solid return.
“Devil May Care” - Son Volt. Jay Farrar is always gonna Jay Farrar.
“F the NRA” - The Coathangers.
This mini-documentary hits a lot of things I like: photography, golf, beautiful eccentrics to name three. It made me both happy and sad as I watched it.
Fair warning: plenty of NSFW language in this piece.
vimeo.com/317860394
Via Kottke
I’ve dillied and dallied a bit on these, so some quick recaps of my four most recent books.
Beastie Boys Book - Michael Diamond and Adam Horowitz Simply one of the best music memoirs ever published. I’m being 100% honest, not funny at all. This book is equally hilarious, poignant, thoughtful, and moving. Mike D and Ad Rock tell the band’s story from their early days cruising the seedier parts of New York’s hardcore scene, through their transformation into rappers, and then through their massive, international success.
Have I mentioned my issues with our gas, water, and sewer utility before? Well, I’m about to!
These people suck. Seriously.
Here’s a list of the issues we’ve gone through with them over the past eight months.
First, our builder did not drop any grass seed until the week that the water line was supposed to be connected. They had a firm date from the utility - this was the week we reached a deal to buy the house - and leveled the torn up ground and then covered it with seed.
It’s been a rough few musical days, another time when we have been reminded that painful music is sometimes a product of truly painful lives.
On Wednesday The New York Times ran a story in which several women accused Ryan Adams of abusive behavior. Phoebe Bridgers and Adams’ ex-wife Mandy Moore both went on record about their relationships with Adams and the pain he inflicted upon them. Worst, the article suggested than he engaged in a highly inappropriate, on-line relationship with a musician that began when the girl was only 14.
A couple smaller things smashed into one post today.
First, there’s just too much information out there. I know this is, like, a devastatingly deep and original opinion, but that’s why I have a blog, people.
Wait, I’m not talking about the general flood of information we swim through each day. I’m talking about the maddening process of trying to buy pretty much anything.
Example: our printer is dying. So I go on the webzzz to do some research on what garbage printer we should buy for the next 18–24 months.
Chart Week: February 12, 1983
Song: “Down Under” - Men at Work
Chart Position: #1, 15th week on the chart. Spent four non-consecutive weeks at #1 in January and February.
If you’ve paid very close attention to my music posts over the years, you may recall that I kicked around a project in which I would find the best single weekly top 10 of the 1980s. A couple summers back I spent a few nights scrolling through top 10s and marking down my favorites as I watched Royals games.