For the first time since way back in August we had no kid sports this weekend. That meant I got to fully immerse myself in televised sports. There was plenty of baseball, soccer, basketball, and football on our TV, along with a bonus dose of college basketball on my Twitter and email feeds. Some words about all that… Baseball Man, what an excellent ALCS. I only say that because the Houston Astros won.
A slightly different format this week. All because I took the girls to the library yesterday, as I always try to do on the first day of a school break. I want them loaded up with books and videos for even just a long weekend so that there’s no complaining about not having anything to do and being bored. I checked for some books on my list and saw that [Runnin’ With the Devil: A Backstage Pass to the Wild Times, Loud Rock, and the Down and Dirty Truth Behind the Making of Van Halen] was available, so I grabbed it.
The Outlaw Album - Daniel Woodrell It had been awhile since I read a Woodrell book, so I glanced at the library’s offerings and grabbed this. I didn’t know it was a short story collection and may have skipped it had I known. In fact, calling it a short story collection might be giving it too much credit. It feels more like Woodrell unloading his notebook of half-fleshed out ideas and packaging them for the benefit of his publisher.
A quick (and late) rundown on our weekend. Which had a little cray-cray in it. Saturday was a freaking perfect day. Low 80s, breezy. One of those mid-October days that you wish you could hang onto for the next five months. So of course we spent it blowing leaves at the lake house and then hauling the boat out for the winter. There was a wrinkle to our winter boat plans this year.
Men are idiots. I say that with shame as a man, and with fear as a father. I’m honestly not sure why people are shocked and surprised about the Harvey Weinstein news. We should be disgusted and horrified, but surprised? Hell naw. His years of sexual harassment and abuse of women going public is kind of like Louisville getting hammered for paying high school basketball players: you damn well know this isn’t some isolated case.
open.spotify.com/user/224a… “Dark On Us” - Lucas Oswald. A Shearwater member’s solo effort. Not too shabby. “Offa My Hands” - Jessica Lea Mayfield. Mayfield’s new album, Sorry Is Gone, is focused on an abusive relationship she recently escaped. She left the relationship with a broken shoulder following a physical encounter. Heavy stuff. And while the lyrics of this song are heavy as well, I do enjoy the little bit of whimsy she sings them with and the confident sway of the music behind her.
Some night Tuesday night. L was attending her first ever Pacers game - a preseason game against a team from Israel - with a buddy from school. Their family gets tickets from a family friend, so several times a year they get to sit on the floor, right next to the basket on the visitor’s end of the court. She was super excited. So that she was attired properly, I ran out to find her a Pacers shirt.
The photo of Carlton Fisk waving his home run fair in game six of the 1975 World Series is iconic. I had no idea there was such a deep story behind it and the man who captured those frames. Harry Cabluck not only caught Fisk dancing down the first base line. He also shot Franco Harris’ Immaculate Reception in 1972. And he was just behind John F. Kennedy’s car in Dallas on November 22, 1963.
The last big, kid sports weekend of the fall is in our rearview mirror. C ran at the City championships on Saturday. That’s where she ran the best race of her life a year ago to finish 6th in the 3rd/4th grade race. This year it was much warmer and very windy, so not ideal running conditions. But coming off the 5th/6th grade girls winning the biggest meet of the regular season three weeks ago, we were hoping they could add a City title.
So I kind of missed out on Tom Petty. I always loved “Refugee,” “You Got Lucky,” and his epic duet with Stevie Nicks, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” But when he really hit his stride, both artistically and commercially, in the mid/late 80s, I was off listening to other stuff. Hip hop and R&B. When I got to college I shifted to alt rock. All genres that stood in stark contrast to what Petty was doing.
Our contractor put the last touches on our guest bathroom renovation project last night. After eight weeks, we finally kicked the girls down the hall and have a bathroom to ourselves. Two toothbrushes! A clear countertop! No piles of ponytail holders scattered all over the place! Now if we can just keep them from ruining the new bathroom… We had hoped to be done several weeks back. But we had a big snafu with one custom-ordered piece that set us back three weeks.
The Force - Don Winslow. Winslow writes excellent epics anchored in the world of organized crime. In the past he’s focused on the drug trade, specifically the cartels of Mexico. Here he shifts much farther to the north to look at the life of Denny Malone, Manhattan’s toughest, best, and most powerful detective. Malone’s crew runs North Manhattan. Nothing happens in that part of the city without either his permission or his punishment.
Yesterday L marched into her classroom and immediately proclaimed that it was the last day she would be attending school as an eight-year-old. Girl is not afraid of attention. Yep, nine years ago today we became parents for the third time. And, as I say every year, L is the ultimate third child. She can size up a room quickly and know how to entertain everyone in it. She can sense when her sisters are fucking up, do the exact opposite thing, and make sure we are aware that her behavior is different.
A mix of old and new this week. open.spotify.com/user/224a… “The Others” - The Jezabels. The proverbial “Between Albums" single from this very fine Aussie group. The song is very fine, too. “Continental Breakfast” - Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile. There are plenty of one-off duets. Not so common are two artists coming together to make an album together. Barnett and Vile are so perfectly matched with their easy, mellow, guitar-based vibes, that this seemed inevitable.
It’s over. Sure, there are five games left in the 2017 season, but the run for the championship core of the Royals is officially finished. Although the standings kept showing them just out of the Wild Card spots, they’ve effectively been done for about a month. But it became official Tuesday when Minnesota beat Cleveland leaving the Royals too far behind with too few games remaining. What a frustrating season. The death of Yordano Ventura in the off-season was by far the worst thing that happened to this organization over the past year.
Duuuuuuuuude! What a freaking couple of days for college basketball! And we haven’t even started fall practice yet, let alone any games that matter. A couple hours ago one of the 20 greatest coaches in the history of the game got fired. (Correction: he’s officially been placed on leave, although apparently his contract calls for a 10-day grace period before he can be fired for cause.) Yesterday assistants at four other schools were arrested.
Steven Hyden has to be one of the three or four writers I’ve linked to most over the years. I think he’s the best music writer going these days, and have followed him across Pitchfork, the AV Club, Grantland, and now Uproxx. I appreciate both his musical sensibilities and his writing style. I’d say eight times out of ten when he is enthusiastic about an artist, I end up loving them too.
Our September heatwave continues. This weekend would have been a great weekend to sneak in a weekend at the lake. Naturally we had sports both days, so had to just stand/sit and roast in the heat. It was a doubleheader weekend for L in soccer. Her team played at 4:00 Saturday, which was probably the hottest moment of the last 4–5 days: mid–90s, humid, no clouds or breeze to help out.
Just a video today, as we have a variety of contractors in-and-out of the house today. youtu.be/LuN6gs0AJ… “I Melt With You” - Modern English. Fall begins just after 4:00 today here in Indy. So of course we’re in the midst of the hottest, driest stretch of the year. Cross country practice was cancelled last night and Sunday’s meet as been moved up two hours to keep the kids out of the heat.
Well this checks a few boxes for me. General 80s nostalgia 80s pop culture and political sub-categories Nuclear obliteration And Kansas City/Kansas references Yep, The Day After was a pretty big deal. And, perhaps, as relevant today as it has been for nearly 30 years. The Day After traumatized a generation with the horrors of nuclear war My favorite family story about The Day After was of some college friends of my parents who lived in Lawrence when the movie was being filmed.