It’s been a busy few days. Going back to last week, our friends the R’s visited from KC for a long lake weekend. They met us down there Friday afternoon and stayed through lunchtime Sunday. As a lot of you know, the R’s have two boys and they’ve not spent a ton of time with our girls. So we really weren’t sure how that would all go. Our concerns were without need, because after a few moments of awkwardness, they all got along famously.
Well, here we are: the teenage years. Holy shit! Thirteen years ago this morning M came into the world, full of drama from the start. It’s a cliche to say something like “and that day, my life changed forever.” But, really, what else can you say? Marriage is a big change in your life. But S and I had also been together three years when we got married. There were some adjustments that came with not having our own apartments anymore.
open.spotify.com/user/224a… “Little Guitars (Intro)” “Little Guitars” “Best of Both Worlds” - Van Halen Every summer, around this time, I spend an afternoon listening to Van Halen’s Diver Down and 5150 albums. Those two albums, representing the DLR and Hagar sides of classic VH, have always screamed summer to me. I didn’t get Diver Down until the summer of ’84, months after buying 1984 and nearly two years after its initial release.
Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic - Jason Turbow I teased this one awhile back when I mentioned I was roaring through an awesome book. I started it on a Monday afternoon and wrapped it up before lunch on Wednesday. It was that good! Turbow looks at one of the iconic dynasties in baseball: the Swingin’ Oakland A’s of the early 1970s. The team, which featured Reggie Jackson, Joe Rudi, Sal Bando, Bert Campaneris, Vida Blue, Blue Moon Odom, Ken Holtzman, Rollie Fingers, and primary manager Dick Williams, was one of the great collections of both talent and personalities in big league history.
I was worried this would happen. The Royals were the second-hottest team in baseball in the six weeks leading up to the All-Star Break. They were playing really good baseball and were in the heart of both the Wild Card race and the AL Central. Suddenly not only were the Royals keeping all their free agents to-be until the end of the season, but they might just be kicking the tires on a pitcher or hitter to add for the stretch.
What was supposed to be a relaxing weekend got a little weird. All thanks to sleeping strangely, or something simple and dumb like that. A few times a year I get a pinched nerve in my neck. It’s usually the result of sleeping on my stomach too much. Which is a problem because I prefer to sleep on my stomach. Anyway, sometimes these episodes are particularly powerful, and this weekend was one of those occasions.
open.spotify.com/user/224a… “Never Been Wrong” - Waxahatchee. After several months of teasing single, Katie Crutchfield’s third solo album is finally out, and is receiving rave reviews. Based on the early songs, I’ve really been looking forward to it. And, after one listen, it really delivers. One of the best albums of the year so far. “Dean’s Room” - Allison Crutchfield. I ignored Katie’s twin sister’s album - released back in January - because I didn’t love the first single.
Some All Star Game, huh!?!? So good that I waited a full day before sharing my thoughts on it.[1] I’m being sarcastic: the game kind of sucked. Under most circumstances a tense, 2–1 game that goes 10 innings would be highly compelling. But it’s the freaking All Star Game in a year of the juiced ball. We want to see homers soaring through the South Florida air. We want runs, baby!
Before I share another tidbit from our holiday week, we had kind of a crazy morning today. M and I went out to buy school supplies[1] and then grabbed some lunch. In the five minutes it took us to get from Target to the restaurant we caught a break in the storm. But the western skies looked pitch black. By the time we got inside and had ordered, rain was coming down in sheets again.
Time to get back at it. After the long holiday week, bookended by trips down to the lake house, we’re finally home for what should be a very quiet week at home. Last week we had my brother-in-law, his wife, and their two-year-old daughter from Boston staying with us. It was good to catch up and hang out with them. The two-year-old, we’ll call her Little L, has reached the hilarious stage of kid-dom.
youtu.be/Kr0tTbTbm… “Summertime” - DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince. Still busy with family and prepping for another lake weekend, so just a vid this week. I heard this all-time classic this morning, which seemed like a sign. Enjoy your weekends!
How’s this for symmetry: when the calendar passed from Saturday to Sunday, we were officially on the backside of 2017. And when we passed from Sunday to Monday, we were officially on the downhill slope of our summer break. Weird! We’ve been busy with several family events: gatherings, trips to the lake, visitors from Boston. But I did want to check in quickly to share some words in which I try to figure out what the hell my man Kevin Pritchard is thinking.
open.spotify.com/user/224a… “Endless Shore” - Melody’s Echo Chamber. Terrible news broke this week when Melody Prochet’s family announced that in an accident earlier this month, the French singer suffered an aneurysm and broken vertebrae. She had a new album scheduled for release soon, but that has been shelved for the time being as she (hopefully) recovers. Send good thoughts her way as we listen to this song, which landed in my top 10 for 2012.
Crap. With the NBA Draft on a Thursday going into a busy weekend, I totally forgot to share some draft-night thoughts. Which is a shame, because I probably had a couple really good ones I forgot about over the weekend! First off, some truth: draft night was a big letdown. There was sooooooo much hype coming into it. It had the potential to be the biggest non-game night in league history.
North Korea has been in the news a lot lately. Between the election of a new American president who is incapable of making measured comments or rational decisions and North Korea’s continued efforts to build a nuclear weapon and missile system capable of reaching the US, it feels like we’ve reached a new and particularly dangerous time in how we deal with that country. Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down among many excellent books) wrote this long piece about the state of the relationship and our options, both diplomatic and military.
I fear these are a little subpar compared to many of my summaries. Since finishing these books, I’ve been knocking out some longer pieces that have been stuck in my Instapaper queue for awhile. And I started a book on Monday that I can’t put down; I’m over 250 pages in as of 5:00 Tuesday. I fear that has warped my memory of these two books a bit. The Not-Quite States of America - Doug Mack.
open.spotify.com/user/224a… “We Could Run” - Beth Ditto. The former lead singer of The Gossip released her first solo album last week. Her voice is still awesome, and she takes the music in a poppier, more radio-friendly direction. It may lack the rawness of The Gossip’s best work, but it is still mighty fine. “Somebody Else” - The 1975. I came across this song by accident a week or two back. It sounds like something I would have listened to in 1984-85.
I finally wrapped up season five of The Americans last night. With shows that I watch a few weeks (or months) after their original airing, I generally have a folder in my Instapaper account where I stash reviews and discussions of each episode from places like The AV Club, The Ringer, etc. to read after I’ve watched them. I don’t read them when I save them, but I often get a feel for what’s going on from the headlines, blurbs at the top of the page, etc.
Anyway, I’m now officially closer to 50 than 40, which sucks big time. I know, I know, 50 is the new 30, blah blah blah. And most folks of our generation look a lot younger than I remember our grandparents looking when they were in their 50s. But, man, the body just keeps rebelling. It feels like I’ve aged more in the past five years than I did from 30 to 35, or 35 to 40.
A weekend of gatherings for us. Saturday was new nephew #2’s first birthday party. Cake, presents, and the never-gets-old fun of watching a little one have their first experience with cake. Seriously, I love watching the pure comedy that is one-year-olds taking 5 minutes to figure out they can do whatever they want to the cake in front of them before they finally dive in with both hands. Good times.