’Tis the season for quick reads. So some blurbs about a few (mostly) slim pieces I’ve rolled through recently.
Being Santa Claus - Sal Lizard with Jonathan Lane A memoir by a Christmas season Santa who does everything from standard mall Santa gigs, to private events at homes, to visiting sick kids in the hospital. It’s pretty saccharine, but Santa really shouldn’t be edgy and controversial, right?
The Reservoir Tapes - Jon McGregor I read this not knowing it was a companion piece to a previous, larger novel by McGregor, Reservoir 13.
After about six weeks of hard work, here they are: my 22 favorite songs of 2018. Yeah, 22. Got a problem with that? I didn’t think so.
Honorable Mention “Notes On a Life Not Quite Led” - Mastersystem
This was my hardest song to decide whether or not to include. For several months it was on the running list I keep throughout the year. Then I dropped it late in the summer when I stopped listening to all Scott Hutchison’s music.
Before I drop my favorite songs of the year on you, a few moments for my annual State of Music address.
2018 was tough. Regular readers know the biggest reason why I say this: the May suicide of Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison. I was pretty emotional about Prince’s death, and felt a little strange because of that. I figured that was a one-time effect. But Scott’s death floored me, and in some ways I’ve still not recovered.
As your kids get older there are dozens of trade offs as you leave old annoyances behind but also lose moments of joy that are unique to younger ages.
Sadly the Christmas spirit is pretty much gone among our girls this year. Yeah, L still has some moments where she’s down. She’s the only kid who has wanted to sit down and watch Christmas shows with me. She was listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving, although she has not listened to much since then.
I’m all set to unleash my Favorite Songs of 2018 list on the world early next week. As was a tradition on my old podcast, I’ll offer up this appetizer: a playlist of my #1 song of each year going back to 2004. I always offer the disclaimer that I do not update these lists. A few of these songs would likely not be #1 anymore if I went back and re-evaluated each year.
I’m in the midst of my annual re-reading of Jean Shepherd’s A Christmas Story. If I’m not mistaken, this is the 10th-straight December I’ve reviewed the collection of short stories that much of the movie was based on.
Every year I think, “I should go back and listen to some of Shepherd’s radio shows or read a biography of him.” Sometime this past year I actually took a look at the one biography there is of Shepherd.
A couple Christmas entertainment links to share this morning.
I had been kicking around the idea of writing about my least favorite Christmas songs. Alexandra Petri decided to take that to a whole other level and rank 100 Christmas songs. A few of these I’ve never heard of and I think she leaves out a few that get played a lot on your local holiday music station. But I dig her point of view.
Man am I excited to finally be writing this post.
Yep, after six long, painful, frustrating, maddening, inexplicable months, we finally freaking sold our old house! We closed on Friday, so it’s really real this time.
“Wait, what?” I can hear some of you asking. “I thought you sold it already?!?”
Nope. Astute readers should recall that we thought we had a deal the day we moved into this home, but it fell through over some complete bullshit and we had to go back on the market.
open.spotify.com/user/224a…
“Hire” - Girlpool. I don’t know much about this band. This song made Steven Hyden’s November Mixtape, and he says they make lots of perfect songs, so I may need to check them out. This track has a heavy Elliott Smith vibe to it.
“It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You) - The 1975. I’m not sure that there’s a more polarizing band out there right now than The 1975.
Although we’ve been in the new house nearly six months now, and I’ve read over 20 books over that span, I don’t know that I have a favorite reading spot. Or at least I didn’t until about a week ago. We have a sunroom that had been my spot, but it’s also just off the kitchen and you can hear the TV from there, so while very comfortable and well lit, it doesn’t always have the privacy I want when I’m really diving into a book.
It’s been one of those weeks, so far. Nothing big going on, but lots of little things. Each time I pause and think, “I should really post something to Ye Olde Website,” I either don’t have time to sit down and focus or I’m at a loss for topics.
Thus time for a reader-favorite D’s Notes posts!
GHWB Four years can be a lifetime when you’re young. When George Bush was elected as president in 1988, I was 17 and unable to vote.
November 30. This is when my music listening patterns begin to change. I’ve been listening to some Christmas music, but not as much I have in the past. I think I’m waiting for December 1 to really dive in. This week has been largely devoted to rounding out my Favorite Songs of the Year list. But more about than in a couple weeks. For now, some new music is still rolling in, but the pace has certainly slowed.
Chart Week: November 15, 1986
Song: “Human” - The Human League
Chart Position: #2, 10th week on the chart. Peaked at #1 the week of November 22.
I only got to listen to a few minutes of the local countdown two Sundays ago. I felt obligated, though, to write about it as that was the last old AT40 we will get here in Indy this year. The station that airs AT40 replays switched to Christmas music on Thanksgiving, and will be airing the special holiday editions of AT40 for the next month.
Our Thanksgiving weekend was, by one measure, perfect. We were intensely busy for parts of the weekend. At others we sat around and did nothing. Every long, holiday weekend should have that balance.
C and I went to watch some of her classmates play for the CYO girls basketball city championship Tuesday night. They lost, handily, but C had fun watching them.
Wednesday I snuck a trip into Costco before our builders sent some guys over to wrap up the final thing they still needed to fix.
A few days later than normal, but my annual public service announcement on where to find the most complete schedule of the holiday shows over the next month.
2018 Christmas TV Schedule
OK, this is one of those little things that, if you did not know it, will absolutely blow your mind. It sure did mine. Mostly because it seems achingly obvious yet it isn’t something I had ever thought of, nor had I heard someone else talk about it. I’ve even had relatives live in Australia and they never pointed this out.
The Moon Is Flipped Upside Down in the Southern Hemisphere
Our Thanksgiving week got off to a great start. Monday M learned she had been accepted to attend Cathedral High School for the next four years. S and I got an email around noon, which I forwarded to M’s account. When she got into the car after school I told her to check her email. She had a moment of confusion, because like most kids her age email is about the last method of communication she would ever use.
Blowing My Cover: My Life As a CIA Spy - Lindsay Moran I found this book while doing some research on DB John, whose tremendous Star of the North I read earlier this fall. It was on a list of some of his favorite espionage books, and thus seemed worth the read.
I did not enjoy it as much as John did.
This is Moran’s recounting of her experience as a CIA agent in the late 90s and early 00s, from recruitment through training to becoming an active field agent.
It happened! Really, I thought somehow, someway, the deal would get screwed up. Another, better, bigger deal would come along. Or there would be complications ending his previous contract. Or he would just decide he didn’t want to coach again.
Yet here we are with Les Miles as the new KU football coach!
That along with Pooka Williams going wild in Norman Saturday night combined to make this the biggest, most exciting weekend for KU football since the 2008 Missouri game.