A Shout Out to Billy Joel

One of the best parts of having older siblings is you can raid their music collection. I discovered Pink Floyd, Crosby Stills and Nash and David Bowie from my brother, Ronnie, with his copies of Meddle, Deja Vu and Diamond Dogs, respectively. From my sister, Karen, who is closer in age to me, when I discovered Elton John's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, I was introduced to really great song writing for the first time. Those other albums had great lyrics, but Bernie Taupin's storytelling in Captain Fantastic just blew me away. Definitely, Elton's best. She had Stones albums, the Eagles, Rush and the Beatles among others. At that time, I saw them as their music, not mine. It wasn't until I discovered Billy Joel that I had my music. 

I know a lot of people don't care for his music. He is too light for the rockers; he plays a piano and not a guitar. He has all those pop hits. Yet the pop music fans seem to reject him as well. 52nd Street, probably his best album, did win the Best Album Grammy in 1980, but he is relatively ignored after that. In 1979, "Just the Way You Are" won for best song Grammy, but the album that it is on, The Stranger, has far better songs on it ("Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" and "Vienna" to name only two), didn't even get nominated. It is people like me, who fall somewhere in the between, that hold him in high esteem.

I have always loved the piano. Elton John, Keith Emerson, Leon Russel, Rick Wright (Pink Floyd), Rick Wakeman (Yes), Page McConnell (Phish), Ray Manzarek (The Doors) and Nicky Hopkins (session musician for the Stones) are a few of my favorites. So, it makes sense that I would be a fan of Joel, but he is also a great song writer and a decent singer with an appropriate amount of attitude. 

Saving up to buy an album was an achievement when I was 14.  They cost about $7.00 at the time and so I had to save up at least two weeks' allowance to buy one. Hence, it had to be a good one. The Stranger was one of the first I ever bought. "Movin' Out" and "Only the Good Die Young" was getting played on the radio. My mother hated "Only the Good Die Young." She was one of the Catholic ladies that wanted it removed from the radio because it "encouraged people to be bad," as if anyone ever needs encouragement to do that. I think it was the line "Catholic girls start much too late" that did it.  Perhaps it was the fact that it was forbidden fruit that I wanted it so badly. 

While waiting for his next albums to come out, 52nd Street, I remember buying his back catalog at bargain bins or used records stores. Before The Stranger, there was Piano Man, Streetlife Serenade and Turnstiles. I have a foggy memory of biking home with one of them in a plastic bag in my left hand and my right hand on the bike handle. Kids! Right?

At some point in the early 1980's, I wrote a fan letter to Billy. The only fan letter I ever wrote; in it, I asked him if the next time he came to Providence, if he could play the song "Angry Young Man." The Innocent Man tour in 1984 opened in Providence. I went with my friend Scott and my little sister, (I think I remember this right) and not only did he play the song, but he opened the show and the tour with it. It was phenomenal. It looked a little like this:

When 52nd Street eventually came out, I bought it in 8 track as opposed to album. I loved this album. While my friends started getting into early heavy metal (Judas Priest, Kiss, Van Halen etc.), I was getting into the piano and horns on "Zanzibar", "Half a Mile", "Rosalinda's Eyes" and "Stiletto". It was then that I realized that a lot of the best songs never get played on the radio. I loved the second half of this album (aka side 2) but none of these songs were ever hits. 

Like a good fan, I would buy his new albums as soon as they came out, before I had heard any of the songs. I loved Glass Houses and Nylon Curtain which was very Beatle-esque. Something happened in 1983. An Innocent Man, his 9th album, came out and I hated it. It was all candy pop, very little piano with a 1950's doo wop influence. I was so disappointed. I ended up liking the last song, "Keeping the Faith," but the rest the album I find unlistenable ... even now. 

In 1986, The Bridge, his 10th album, came out and I didn't like either. I thought I would get into it, eventually it was at least back to the style of his older albums, but it never happened. It had a few good songs, namely "Baby Grand" and "Big Man on Mulberry Street," but overall, it was very disappointing. The spell was broken. I couldn't get into the rest of his catalog. I don't know if he changed or if my taste had, probably both but I was done with him. I still love the stuff that I grew up with, but the newer stuff never did it for me. I realize that what I am calling "new" here, is about 40 years old. These type of things happen when you get old. 

I recently saw the HBO documentary, "Billy Joel: And So It Goes." It made me really think about his career and how it influenced me. Last year, 2025, he was diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus causing problems with his hearing, vision and balance. So, don't expect to see him live anytime soon. 

His albums in ranking of my favorite to least:

1. 1) 52nd Street
2. 2) Turnstiles
3. 3) Nylon Curtain
4. 4) Glass Houses
5. 5) Piano Man
6. 6) Streetlife Serenade
7. 7) Songs in the Attic (live)
8. 8) The Bridge
9. 9) Cold Spring Harbor
10. 10) Kohuept (live)
11. 11) Stormfront
12. 12) River of Dreams
13. 13) An Innocent Man
14. 
    

My Generation

I have been unemployed for a few weeks now. Not a big deal we are getting by, but I do get a little frugal when the income gets cut down to one breadwinner. It is not difficult to do other than my addiction... that is, the buying of new music. It is hard to control myself when the iTunes store is so easy to use; it is really difficult to stop. Luckily, I discovered that the library in the town next to ours, Essex, has an incredible collection of CDs. Occasionally, I pack up my laptop and attached CD player and do some ripping of some decent music .... everything from The Clash, Buzzcocks and Television to Adele and Molly Tuttle. This really helps with my addiction, like a nicotine patch. One of the best finds so far is a three-disc compilation of The Who. I have always loved the song, My Generation, but it just started hitting how truly great a song this is. Now that I am in my 60's, it is like I am hearing a different song than what I heard in my teens. This is proof of its genius. 

They are so youthful and full of energy in this 1967 appearance on the Smothers Brothers:

It has really gotten me thinking about the idea of generations. 

Thinking takes me to strange places. Isaac Asmimov's Foundation trilogy takes place in the distant future when there is so much documented history that historians (called psycho-historians) can predict the future using sophisticated mathematical models. We are not there yet, but once I had heard Strauss and Howe's generational theory, it made me think that we are getting a lot closer to Asimov's world than ever. 

Every 80 years or so, America goes through a revolution, a major upheaval that changes everything. Something occurs that changes the basic way to do things in this country. 

Here are the upheavals:

• 1780's: the American Revolution
• 1860's: the American Civil War
• 1940's: World War II and the Great Depression
• 2020's: Trump's bullshit (someday we'll have an official name, until then I am sticking with this)

Smaller upheavals happen as well, I am not forgetting them, like the Civil Rights Movement, the stock market crash of 1890 or the 911 terrorist attacks, but the big ones seem to come every 80 years. Yes, what is happening now in the 2020's, could very well be as big as the other three.

Strauss and Howe generational theory says it is more specifically 85 to 88 years. Generations are defined as groups of people, of similar age, who have a shared experience based on what is going in their society. Within these 80-year periods we have four generational cycles. They label them "adaptive," "idealist," "reactive," and "civic" generations, in order. Major events change our lives, and perception differs based on how old we are when they happen. The 911 attacks shaped the lives of millennials in a way I will never understand as a Gen Xer. 

William Strauss and Neil Howe describe these archetypes that we still use today. If you were born from 1901 to 1924, you are often called the GI generation or the Greatest Generation. This is the civic generation from the previous cycle. Born in 1925 to 1942, the lesser-known Silent Generation, is the adaptive generation. The Baby Boomers, born from 1943 to 60, are the idealists. This group produced the civil rights movement and hippies. Gen Xers, born from 60 to 83, ("I'm talking about my generation") is the reactive generation with the Millennials, from 82 to 2000, being the civic generation. Hence, the Gen Zs are the new civic generation as the cycle continues. No doubt, you could rip some holes in these generalizations, but it is fascinating, nonetheless. 

My generation, Gen X, was originally called the 13's, because we were the 13th American generation. That name didn't catch on. The label Generation X has several origin stories but the coolest one comes from Billy Idol's first punk band by the same name. We are the last generation that has a collective social pop culture memory. What I mean by this, is that we all watched the same television shows at the same time because on-demand media didn't exist and we only had three television stations, mostly. We listened to the same music because there was rarely one or two radio station available to us. VCRs came out in my teens, DVDs in my 20's, DVRs in my 30's and on-line streaming in my 40's and 50's. GenXers had to watch what was on when it was on. Every American Gen Xers can recite the Preamble to the American Constitution. Why? Because we all watched Saturday morning cartoons and School House Rock came on several times on many commercial breaks. 

We had to watch the commercials too. There was no fast forward or skip ad functionalities on our remote controls, if we had a remote. You had to watch what was on or go outside. For a while, I was my family's remote control: "Mark, change it to channel 5. Bonanza is on." "Mark, adjust the antennae." etc.

Regardless of how it sounds, I like being old. If only I had the energy of my youth and the mindfulness that I have now, in my youthful body. That'd be ideal. Truly, whoever said that "Youth was wasted on the young" was onto something. Somethings, though, we should leave to the young. When I see an 81-year old Roger Daltrey singing, "I hope I die before I get old," I really wonder: Why does he still play this song?  

Pete Townshend, the song's writer, said in a 1989 interview with Good Morning America that the line "I hope I die before I get old," was talking about the rich. "Old" is more of a state of mind, representing the establishment. I buy it, I guess. He was in his 40's at the time said this. He was 19 or 20 when he wrote the song. He had to say something to justify singing a song about youth, but he was also very rich at the time, so I am not sure his answer holds up. Like all generations, his, mine and yours, will all, eventually, "fff...fade away!" Everything becomes old and passe. 

I am old man. Please excuse me, my mind wanders. 

 

Try That in a Small Town

I have started going to a commercial gym lately. My time at the Cardiac Rehab gym, where they connected electrodes to my chest as I exercised, has expired. I will miss the crowd there. I signed up for Planet Fitness which is incredibly inexpensive and has all the machine I need to continue my progress. The contrast between the two places is striking. I was one of the youngest people at the Rehab gym, the employees were all healthcare professionals and the exercise equipment looked out onto the Adirondack Mountains. I could let my mind wander pondering the natural beauty. It was nice. Planet Fitness seems to be run by teenagers, I am the one of the oldest members, it seems, and the workout machines all faces televisions, not mountains. All the ellipticals, treadmills and stationary bikes face a line of  sixteen televisions.  All tuned to either ESPN, CNN, CBS, Discovery or Fox News among others. You can't get away from it. Closing your eyes is the only way to get away from the tyranny of the television.

This change is both good and bad. It is bad because I miss my lovely workout view of the Adirondacks. It is good because now I can see all the awful things that Fox News is saying about me.  As a liberal I have always found Fox News entertaining because it always implies that liberals walk lock step together on everything. It is my experience that if I get ten liberals together, I am going to have ten different opposing opinions with lots of nuance. Arguments will ensue about the silliest minutiae. The only thing those ten people would agree about Jason Aldean's song "Try That in a Small Town," is that it is really awful song. It being a racist song, that would be debatable. If "libs" are saying this, like Fox is saying, I can guarantee it is not all of them. Most of them have better things to ponder. 

Last Friday, I saw this on the Fox News banner: "Libs are saying that Aldean song is racist." Something close to that. I was on the treadmill for a half hour and they talked about it the entire time. I did another 15 minutes on the stationary bike and they were still on this. I didn't realize that I was suppose dislike this song, until Fox brought it up. I never even heard of the song or the musician until I saw this. I went back to the gym again after the weekend and they were still talking about it. The volume was muted so I don't know what they were saying but the banner was more of the same. You think they would have something more important to talk about ... like, say, a war in Europe etc. After all, they still claim to be a news network, even though most of us know that they aren't. 

Most of the people I know that I would consider liberal don't listen to country music, particularly those that live in the city. Who can blame them with country music bashing the city like it does? That is all this song by Aldean is. "Try That in a Small Town" is a just latest in country music attack on city folks.  Country life = good, city life =bad is a country music trope that goes way back as far back as Hank Williams, probably even further. If country musicians want city folks to stop being so negative about country music, they might want to start by not being such dicks about the city. 

Here are the lyrics of the song if you haven't heard it yet:

Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk
Carjack an old lady at a red light
Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store
Ya think it's cool, well, act a fool if ya like

Cuss out a cop, spit in his face
Stomp on the flag and light it up
Yeah, ya think you're tough

Well, try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won't take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don't
Try that in a small town

Got a gun that my granddad gave me
They say one day they're gonna round up
Well, that shit might fly in the city, good luck

Try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won't take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don't
Try that in a small town

Full of good ol' boys, raised up right
If you're looking for a fight
Try that in a small town
Try that in a small town

Try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won't take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don't
Try that in a small town

Try that in a small town
Ooh-ooh
Try that in a small town

Like most bad writing, it over-simplifies. Hate is like that. Emotional in content, self-righteous in nature. I've lived in the big city (Boston) and I've lived in small towns. The town I live in now has roughly 2,000 residence, which is, by the way, much smaller than Aldean's home town of Macon, Georgia. I don't find people that different as individuals here than in Boston. The big difference is the number of people. Here in rural Vermont, we have a lot of room, fresh air and privacy. When you have the density of humans that a lot of our cities have, all of that is difficult to find. That affects a person. But I've had great neighbors in Boston just like I have them here. I know I am a better neighbor here than I used to be when I lived in Boston. This is mostly because the quality of life is higher and this has allowed me to be a better person in general. Traffic in Boston, alone, is a bad enough experience to change a person's outlook. Vermont, indeed, has made me a better person, but no traffic, more quiet alone time and cheap/free parking, had a lot to do with it. 

Unless you think that being anti-urban, by caveat, also means it is racist, then this song is not racist. It is simplistic, kinda idiotic and mostly just shit ... but racist, I don't think so. I've grown to like country music, some country music. This wasn't always the case. I grow tired of rock n' roll lyric being opaque and not very well written. The straight forwardness of a good country song is appealing and refreshing. Like rock, rap and jazz, most of country music is bad. But country also has its geniuses. Emmylou Harris' "Red Dirt Girl" is a masterpiece and Towne Van Zandt and Steve Earl are better song writers than most rock musicians which now leans towards tight assed and self-righteous. You don't have to find subtext to find racism in a country song because they are so direct, there is usually no subtext. But isn't being anti-urban enough to alarm you? Aldean's song is saying that if you live in the city, you suck or at least you are complicit. Also, you try that here, we'll kill you. This song praises vigilantism. That is alarming enough for me. You don't have add racism to make me concerned. 

I wrote most of this before I ever watched the video.

I admit the lyrics coupled with the imagery makes the song a lot more disturbing. It is clearly a right wing call for arms. Yes, disturbing. Racist, I still don't see it. I see a lot of referencing to racist "dog whistles" in internet chatter but I don't see it. I could be wrong. 

Picks of the Year 2021: Music

Due to COVID, I only saw one show this year, Modest Mouse. It is amazing how great it felt being out seeing a show. It seems we took this sort of stuff for granted. If anything this pandemic helps us to put things in perspective. It was a phenomenal show, but I think I may have felt that way just seeing anyone up on the stage playing tunes. We were an easy crowd. It was a beautiful summer night the Essex Fairgrounds here in Northeastern VT.  I had just bought their new album. I hadn't seen them before.  They played "Float On," one of my favorites, in the encore. It was nice have some normalcy back. The only show of the year was, obviously, my pick for the best show of the years.  Lets hope that 2022 has a lot of shows to choose from.

I bought 12 full length albums in 2021 and one EP.  I listed them below in order of favorites, most favorite to the least, but I have to say, it was a good year because I liked all of them. This was difficult to do and I will probably change the order many times before I hit publish.  There are some great new discoveries this year that I am very pleased with as well, like Bob Schneider, The Weather Station, Iceage and White Horse.

Bob Schneider - In a Roomful of Blood with a Sleeping Tiger

I never heard of this guy until this year. I don't remember how I discovered him. Perhaps he just appeared on one of my Spotify lists.  When you listen to online services like Spotify and Pandora, the artist doesn't get a lot of money per play (like pennies), so I like to buy the songs I like.  

Bob is an Austin, Texas based musician from Michigan. He used to be the lead singer of a band called Ugly Americans. His latest album has some real gems on it, like "Thor," "Lord of the Flies," "I Love Life" and "The Sun's Coming."  His lyrics are very tender and poignant without being trite. "Thor" instead of being a Norse god, he is a suburban white guy who has anger issues and a very touching song. 

I'm looking forward to checking out his back catalogue. 

Aimee Mann - Queens of the Summer Hotel

I usually buy Aimee's new albums when they come out. Few song writers alive can turn a phrase or an image like her. What I love about this new album is that it mostly piano based. My favorite songs on it are "Burn It Out," "Suicide is Murder" and "At the Frick Museum."

The Hold Steady - Open Door Policy

The Hold Steady is one of the better rock bands around these day. They are from Minneapolis but seems to have a New York City sound reminiscent of The Velvet Underground or The Feelies. This is their eighth album. Lead singer and rhythm guitarist Craig Finn writes all the songs in collaboration with the other members of the band. Their lyrics just take me away. Here are the opening lines of "Feelers":

    It was an early morning meet-up at the mansion up the mountain

    The Maestro still had glitter on his face

    They led us to the office and once my eyes adjusted

    I took a little look around the place

    On the mantle was a portrait of his father and the fortune

    He'd amassed from being ruthless but polite

    And a bottle with a model, a specific British clipper ship

    On his desk there was a pistol and a pipe

This is an album full of stories and atmosphere.  

The Weather Station - Ignorance

The Weather Station is a Canadian folk rock band from Toronto. They are very jazzy and remind me a little of Steely Dan if they had a female singer. You may be familiar with the single "Robber" if you listen to a rock station rock station. 

The War on Drugs- I Don’t Live Here Anymore

This Phillie band is so hot. Everything they do is so good, they are almost an automatic buy for me these days. The title track is probably my favorite song on the album. References to Dylan in any song goes far with me. 

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raise the Roof

This is their third album together and they seem to be getting better.  It seems like an odd combination of the Led Zepplin lead singer with a blue grass musician, but they make it work. I am not sure how. "Can't Let Go" is my favorite song on this album. 

James McMurtry - The Horses and the Hounds

James is the son of novelist Larry McMurtry and I think of him as a leftist cowboy. His politics are always clear in his songs and they are usually biting and direct. 

Foo Fighters - Medicine At Midnight

I think I might like the Foo Figthers more than Nirvana. I don't listen to much music that is this hard these days, but this one is quite good.  I love the song, "Waiting on the War." 

Modest Mouse - The Golden Casket

I've had two of their songs on my hard drive that I have been loving for years, "Missed the Boat" and "Float On."  I've wanted more from this band for a while so I finally just bought their latest album in preparation of their live show. I like it, but don't love it.  It is a bit uneven. "Back to the Middle" is a great song. 

White Horse - Modern Love

Another new discovery for me. This band is from Hamilton, Ontario. Canadian rockers just seem to have their act together. "Relic in a New Age" is a beautiful song. 

Peter Frampton - Peter Frampton Forgets The Words

Peter Frampton is not a great song writer but he is an amazing guitarist. So when this classic rocker puts out an instrumental covers album, my ears perk up.  On this album he covers Roxy Music, Bowie, George Harrison, Sly Stone, Radio Head, Lenny Kravitz among others. My favorite is a song called "Maybe" originally by some country musicians I never heard of. 

Ezra Furman - Sex Education: Songs from Season 3 - EP

Season 2 of the Netflix show "Sex Education" wasn't as good as season 1.  One of the contributing factors is it didn't have an Ezra Furman soundtrack. Season 3, he is back and so is the show.  It is too bad it is only an EP ... not enough Furman. 

Iceage - Seek Shelter

This band reminds me of The Hold Steady, the Danish version. 

Other Favorites:

Here are my favorite songs of the year that aren't on any of the albums I bought:

"There You Go Again" and "Take Me Back to Tulsa" by Asleep at the Wheel

"Time and Trouble" by Bob Weir, Jay Lane & Dave Schools

"Wake Up Romeo" by Caro Emerald

"Jazz On the Autobahn" by The Felice Brothers

"Miami Sun" by Iguana Death Cult

"Rock Paper Scissors" by Jah Sun & The Rising Tide

"Laurie Rolled Me a J" by John Craigie

"Medicine Man" by Keb' Mo' 

"In There" by Liz Phair

"Squid Tattoo" by Sean Rowe

"Chaise Lounge" by Wet Leg

"Genuine Hesitation" by Matthew E. White

Picks of the Year: 2020

The year has been rough, but for me, 2016 was worse for me personally. The pandemic didn't affect me much. I have been telecommuting since 2007, I am an introvert and I live in one of the states that has been handling this crisis very well.  This is more of the same for me. The only big difference is that I have more people at home than usual. 

I saw only one film in the theater this year and attended no concerts. Boredom is this year's hobgoblin. I cannot wait to get to a rock show. We should at least have some outdoor shows this summer, right? 

I made up for it by watching a lot of television, did some reading and bought a lot of new music.

BEST ALBUMS:

I bought 16 albums in 2020 ... that is, all the song in MP3 format on a release by an artist. I am not talking about vinyl. 

There are some surprises. All but five of these artists are fairly new to me. The Eels, Dan Bern, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams and Bob Dylan are performers I have been listening to for years.

I like them all but if I had to put them in order best to worst, it would be as follows: 

1. Song For Our Daughter - Laura Marling: I never heard of Marling until this year. I heard a few songs on Spotify and I was blown away. She has a Joni Mitchell-ish style of singing with some powerful lyrics. I bought her latest album and I wasn't disappointed. 
2. The Night You Wrote That Song: The Songs of Mickey Newbury - Gretchen Peters: This would have been #1 but there is one song that I just don't care for. The entire album is a group of songs by a late song writer that I have never heard of.  I have been listening to Peters for a few years now. I buy a song here and there. This is the first album of hers I've ever bought.  This is great stuff and only one song is "too country" for my taste. 
3. Bonny Light Horsemen - Bonny Light Horsemen: This band is the first folk supergroup that I ever heard of. It consists of Vermont's own Tony winner Anais Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson from The Fruitbats and The Shins and Josh Kaufman from The National and Hiss Golden Messenger. I hope they stay together and continue to make music together because I love their sound. 
4. Sex Education Original Soundtrack - Ezra Furman: One of my favorite shows of the year also a great soundtrack all by the same guy. Do I love the music because I loved the show or did I love the show because of the music? Probably a little bit of both.  
5. LP5 - John Moreland: This is my first Moreland album as well. This is a great bluesy folk singer that can write a great song: "you can't reach salvation from your rocking chair". He's got the Texas sound. 
6. Kingdom in My Mind - The Wood Brothers: Another new one for me. Chris Wood is famous for his other band Medeski Martin & Wood. He teamed with his brother Oliver and this is their eighth album together. It is folk rock, Americana, blues ... I don't know, I call it great. 
7. Rough and Rowdy Ways - Bob Dylan: Dylan is my guy. Whenever my wife says to me, "Did you hear?" I dread that it is about Dylan's demise. He's 79 years old and still putting out amazing stuff. This is his 39th album (if I counted correctly). Not all of them are great, but he's been on a roll lately. His past few albums have been great. 
8. Good Souls Better Angels by Lucinda Williams: I guess I went folk rock this year. She's been one of America's best song writer for decades. This is her 15th album and as good as any of them. 
9. Reunions - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: I love this guy. I love his work ethic, his dedication to the music and to his fans. More importantly, I love his tunes. 
10. Earth to Dora by The Eels: I was a little disappointed in this album by one of my favorite bands. Their songs usually grab me immediately. It hasn't happened yet. 
11. Ghosts of West Virgina by Steve Earle: Lots of songs about coal mining. I like it, I don't love it though. 
12. Rivalry by Dan Bern: I discovered this guy a couple of decades ago at Falconridge Folk Festival in Up-State NY. He is not your typical folk musician, he is over six feet tall, wears fatigues and sometimes scares his audience. He is a painter and an ex-ball player and writes songs about Henry Miller, Marilyn Monroe, Monica Seles and going down on Madonna. He put out three CDs during the pandemic. The one I bought was about baseball. Not as witty as usually, but I am such a ball fan, it almost doesn't matter. 
13. What Are We Frightened Of? - Alberta Cross: I always thought this band was from Alberta, Canada. They're from East London. Nothing on this album has really grabbed me yet. This is their sixth album. They started off as a two piece: Petter Ericson Stakee (singer and guitarist) and Terry Wolfers (bass). But this is the second album after Wolfers left the band. It is really just a Stakee solo album. Maybe that is what is missing. I still enjoy the album but it is not as good as their other stuff. Stakee, give Wolfer a call. 
14. Xoxo - Jayhawks: Alt-country at its best, but I've heard better from them. 
15. Holy Smokes Future Jokes - Blitzen Trapper:  I've heard better from them as well. The songwriter just doesn't seem to be there on this album. 
16. Friendly Figures - KULMA: A little bit of rap, a bit of techno, a bit of jazz. I know nothing about them but I still enjoy it. 

BEST SONGS

I bought 310 songs in 2020 totalling 20 hours and 9 minutes. One of these years, I will have an entire day of new music. Please note, this is new stuff that came out this year. I bought plenty of other stuff from prior years (like Deer Tick, Kamasi Washington, Peter Gabriel, ELP and Gov't Mule). This blog post will talk about just the songs that came out in 2020. It has been great year for recorded music. In an era when musicians can stay home and create an album on their laptop, the pandemic is not going stop creatives from creating. 

Below are all the favorites for the year. Some of my favorite musicians are here (Dylan, Ani, Bird, Bern, Earle and Isbell) and some musicians I never heard of (Coriky, David Alvin, Geek Music, David Dondero and Twisted Pine). Some of my favorites this year came from television shows with Ezra Furman's amazing soundtrack to Sex Education and perhaps, my favorite song of the year, "You're Dead" by Geek Music which is the theme song to What We Do In the Shadows. 

I never heard of Shirley Collins. I don't know why. It bothers me. She's right up my alley, a raspy and jaded folk singer. I may be buying a lot of her stuff in the coming hear. 

I bought some great cover songs this year, some of them I don't know the original version. My favorite cover this year is David Alvin's reinvention of "Highway 61 Revisited". It is a talking blues version with a driving steel guitar. It blows me away every time I hear it.  

Keep the Damage to Myself - Alberta Cross 

Hark! - Andrew Bird

Do or Die - Ani DiFranco

Hard Time Come Again No More - Arlo Guthrie

Murder Most Foul - Bob Dylan

The Roving - Bonny Light Horseman

Clean Kill - Coriky

The Legend of Yasiel Puig - Dan Bern

Highway 61 Revisited - Dave Alvin

Easy Chair - David Dondero

Thoughts and Prayers - Drive-By-Truckers

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - Ezra Furman

You're Dead - Geek Music

The Sailor and The Night You Wrote that Song - Gretchen Peters

Overseas and St. Peter's Autograph - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Living in a Bubble - Jayhawks

Let Me Be Understood and Harder Dreams- John Moreland

How Lucky - Kurt Vile (with the late John Prine)

Look What They Did and Private Lives - Low Cut Connie

Big Black Train - Lucinda Williams

My Brother, My Keeper - Mandolin Orange

Terminal One - Rymden, Bugge Wessenltoft & Magnus Ostrom

Sweet Greens and Blues - Shirley Collins

Black Lung - Steve Earle

Quarantine Blues - Steve Poltz

Papaya - Twisted Pine

Jitterbug Love, Don't Think About My Death and Little Bit Broken - The Wood Brothers

BEST TELEVISION SHOWS

I used to look to HBO for great television, but this has changed. HBO has because pretentious and in love with themselves while the other networks are putting out some great stuff. Here is all the new shows I watched this year. I tried to put them in order. Please note that this does not include shows that weren't new to me. I'm still loving The Crown, it is just not new to me anymore. 

Sex Education (Netflix) - Love this. The son of a famous sex therapist turns therapist to his fellow classmates. Everything is great about this show, especially the soundtrack. 

Ramy (Hulu) - A friend of my wife turned us onto to this. It is a very funny, poignant and educational. It is about a Muslim single guy trying to find a wife. 

What We Do in the Shadows (FX via Hulu) - Mockumentary about vampires. Hysterical. Need I say more?

Ted Lasso (AppleTV) - This is more heart warming than funny. Ted is an upbeat American football coach who gets hired a soccer coach in the England premiere league. It is a funny Friday Night Lights where they say "Wanker" a lot. 

Normal People (BBC3 via Hulu) - I almost forgot about this one. I published and went back to add it. It was very good and shouldn't be missed. This is about two Irish students growing up together and having an on-again-off-again romance. The writing and acting are top notch. 

Derry Girls (Channel 4 via Netflix) - I have to rewatch this with the subtitles on. The accent is a bit much but it is about teenage girls in Northern Ireland during "the troubles." Another one of those shows that is funny but also informative. 

Pen15 (Hulu) - This is cringe comedy. Two adult comedians, play themselves when they were teenage girl losers. It is sometimes hard to watch because you feel bad for them. 

Devs (FX via Hulu) - This is a sci-fi thriller about quantum computing created by the same guy we created the movies 28 Days Later and Ex Machina. I just loved this. It has surprises around every corner. This is a real sci fi. Not a bull shit action film pretending to be sci-fi. This is a mini-series so I guess I'm done with it but I don't want to be. 

The Flight Attendant (HBO) - This one surprised me. A flight attendant wakes up in bed with a one-night stand stabbed to death. Very well done. I wouldn't have guessed it by the trailer. 

The Boys (Amazon) - This is a super hero show outside the DC and Marvel universes. It is very good and profound at times. I had never heard of this series going into it. 

The Morning Show (AppleTV) - This has so many big stars that I expected it to be crap, but it was quite good with Steve Carell playing the bad guy.

Tehran (Apple TV) - This is another surprise that I just found by clicking away.  It is political intrigue between Iran and Israel with lots of spies. You like the characters but you hate the system they are intertwined in.   

Roadkill (BBC One via PBS) - This is a political intrigue drama starring Hugh Laurie which I really enjoyed but it only has four episodes. Come on BBC. 

Perry Mason (HBO) - This is not your father's Perry Mason (TV show from the 50's) but based on the original source material, the novels by Erle Stanley Gardner. Mason is not yet a defense attorney but an investigator. I almost didn't finish this, it took a while for me to get into it but it ended up being very good in the end. It is very gritty and it came close to being cliche, but it never crossed into it. 

Waco (Netflix) - I don't know how accurate this was about the siege of the Branch Davidian compound in 1993, but it is thoroughly entertaining. 

Red Oaks (Amazon) - This is very light but enjoyable. It is about a country club in New Jersey 1980's. Think of it as a less silly Caddyshack. 

Defending Jacob (Apple TV) - A kid is murdered in Newton, MA and the assistant DA's son is the suspect. Did he do it?  Honestly, I can't remember if he did or not. 

The Umbrella Academy (Netflix) - More people with super powers told in a creative way. As usual, this show suffers from the Netflix second series syndrome ... but not quite as bad as other Netflix series. First season, quite good. Second season, not quite so good. Maybe they've learned their lesson because it isn't as pronounced as some of their other shows. 

F is for Family (Netflix) - I still watch this occasionally. I think it is implied that F is for Fucked up Family. Regardless, it reminds me too much of my fucked up childhood. I love Bill Burr's humor, but it can be a bit depressing at times. Get out of my memories Bill Burr!

The Outsider (HBO) - Another Stephen King horror show. It is fun, it is gross. Not a lot else going on. I just expect more from HBO. 

The Undoing (HBO) - I would watch Nicole Kidman read the phonebook. Hugh Grant is her murderous husband. I liked this until the last episode. What a disappointment. 

Star Trek: Picard (CBS: Access) - But this is the year's biggest disappointment. One of my favorite Star Trek characters gets his own show. When disc one arrived in the mail, I reminded my wife to make time to watch it tonight. Mid-way through episode two - "Do you know what's going on?" You shouldn't have to look up a plot on Wikipedia to understand what is happening.  I am well versed in Trek lore. So far, I am not impressed. I also predicted the ending at around episode six. I hope season two is better. 

Queen's Gambit (Netflix) - I loved this show until she grew up and the show turned into sex and drugs and checkmate. I stopped watching. I am reading the book now. Maybe I'll watch the rest of the show later. 

Reckoning (Netflix) - I had to look this up because I couldn't remember what it was about.It was that unmemorable. Oh ya, that serial killer show. That's all you really need to know. That's all I remember. Nothing new here. 

Killing Eve (BBC America via Hulu) - This is another disappointment. It is okay but I stopped after season one. Maybe I'll return to it again, but it is certainly not as great as people claim.

Away (Netflix) - The personal lives of astronauts on a trip to Mars ... *yawn* Stopped watching.

Castle Rock (Hulu) - Another Stephen King series ... yada yada yada. 

Industry (HBO) - Hateful people doing things I don't understand on computer screens. Stopped watching. 

Lovecraft Country (HBO) - Lovecraft was a racist!? Oh ya, I guess he was. There is some interest stuff in this show but mostly it is over-produced and poorly written. Come on HBO, you can do better. Stopped watching. 

Next (Fox via Hulu) - Another AI is taking over the world. I wish an AI would take over the writing of this show. Stopped watching. 

Schitt's Creek (Netflix) - I'm not sure why so many people likes this show. It is basically Green Acres without the laughs and likeable people. They are annoying and pretentious. Worst of all, they aren't funny. I would  have stopped watching this long before I did (like the second episode), but my wife wanted to keep giving it another try. Eventually, she gave up and I was grateful. 

BOOKS:

I've committed to reading at least one classic a year for the rest of my life. This year's was a small one, The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, which I enjoyed. This is the third of his novels that I've read and my second favorite. I've read The World of the Worlds and The Time Machine with the latter being my favorite of his.

I only read eight books this year so it should be easy enough to rate them in order of preference:

Circe by Madeline Miller

Girl at War by Sara Novic 

The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

The Lake House by Kate Morton

Summer Hours at the Robbers Library by Sue Halpern (Vermont writer)  

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro 

Open Season by Archer Mayor (Vermont writer)

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

The first two books I really loved. Circe is a retelling of Circe's story from Homer's Odyssey. I generally don't like fantasy but this was so well written and since it was based in a story I already knew, it made it more palatable. 

Girl at War is about a war orphan from Yugoslavian civil war and her transition into being an American. 

The Lake House was good, but I've never been a huge mystery fan and everything wrapped up a bit too nicely in the end. 

I have determined that I am not a Neil Gaiman fan. This is the second book by him that I've read and hated. So be it. No big deal. Maybe I'll like his graphic novels. 

2021's classic is For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway. I'm about a third though now.  Wish me luck. 

Picks of 2019

2019 was an interesting year for us. The big change is that we took in a young foster child. Without going into the details of the child, this is a life changer. I am enjoying it but I am exhausted. I am also going to the movies less and reading less.  Also, I only posted 21 blog posts this year, while the last few years I was in the 40's. I only completed three books this year but one of them was a huge classic, Middlemarch. I have told myself that I would read one classic a year the rest of my life so I will be lucky if I finish one book a year now.

Favorite Trips:
We had a few destination weddings this year with friends getting married in Chicago and the Bahamas. Chicago was fun as usually. After the wedding we drove to some baseball towns and took in four games in Cleveland and Pittsburgh (to see the Red Sox and the Cubs). We also visited Falling Water in the Pittsburgh suburbs. 

We chose not to stay at a resort on the Bahamas and rented an AirBnB in the Nassau suburbs. This was a good idea since we really don't care for the resort experience. We took the local bus all over the island and really enjoyed the local flare. Of course, the beaches were awesome. 

We also took a road trip to Ottawa to go the Ottawa BluesFest. This was a new experience for me, because of severe thunder storm, they moved the entire crowd into a nearby museum to wait out the storm. Only in Canada.

Best Live shows:
We saw some great shows this year. We saw Lyle Lovett and his Large Band, the Avett Brothers, the Fruit Bats, Greg Brown, Jason Isbell and Rodrigo Y Gabriela. Every show was phenomenal.

For my wife's birthday we went up to Ottawa for the BluesFest because she is a big fan of Jason Isbell.  We lucked out in that Rodrigo Y Gabriela, one of our favorites, was playing on the same day.  This was the best show of the year. I have always been a huge fan of Pink Floyd. I never thought I'd see someone cover "Echoes" but Rodrigo Y Gabriela did it and blew me away.

Media:
Best New Podcast:

I discovered a handful of new podcasts this year: 

• The Al Franken Podcast
• Useful Idiot with Matt Taibbi and Katie Halper
• Against the Rules with Michael Lewis
• The Joe Rogan Experience
• The Femsplainers
• An Arm and a Leg

The best is Al Franken's. He got a raw deal and it is great to see him (hear him) bounce back.

Favorite new TV show: 

We never finished ER but we are close.  We will eventually. It does hold up, but it does jump the shark in the latter seasons. 

In the meantime, I discovered a lot of new shows in 2019:
Cobra Kai, The Morning Show, The Watchmen, His Dark Material,  The Girlfriend Experience, The Terror, Mars, Chernobyl, Killing Eve, Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, NOS4A2, Catch 22, The Alienist, Living with Yourself, Another Life, Criminal: UK, Unbelieveable, Tuca and Bertie, Black Summer and Counterpart. 

The surprise of the year was Cobra Kai which I expected to hate. It is a sequel to The Karate Kid which is a movie I liked when it came out 30 years ago, but doesn't really hold up now that I am a discernible adult. But the show is a lot more nuanced than the movie. Daniel is not necessarily the hero and Johnny isn't all bad. Both characters are middle aged and living in the past. It is portrayed by the same actors which is impressive. It still has karate but it is less melo-dramatic than the fairly awful movie from my youth. 

But the best show may be Unbelievable which is a story about a young girl who is raped who believed by no one. The story and the acting are top notch. At times, I didn't believe her story.  

Favorite Albums:
I bought six albums/CDs from 2019.  "Gold Past Life" by The Fruit Bats is my favorite. It reminds me of their performance at the ArtsRiot in Burlington. The Avett Brothers album was a disappointment with the lyrics taking a right turn and The Flaming Lips album is as weird as ever, a bit too weird this time. 

"Closer Than Together" by the Avett Brothers
"The Flood in Color" by Joe Pug
"Gold Past Life" by Fruit Bats
"Come What May" by the Joshua Redman Quartet
"King's Mouth: Music and Songs" by The Flaming Lips
"Mettavolution" by Rodrigo Y Gabriela

Favorite Songs:
I only bought 127 MP3s this year that were new songs from 2019.  These are some of my favorites:

Manifest - Andrew Bird
We Americans - Avett Brothers
World Gone Crazy - Beans on Toast
Mint Condition - Caroline Spence
Special Announcement - The Felice Brothers
The Bottom of It - The Fruit Bats
Go Crazy - G. Love and Special Sauce (featuring Keb Mo)
Overexcited - Guster
The Stranger I've Been - Joe Pug
East October - John Moreland
Unwed Fathers - John Prine with Margo Price
How We Do - Joshua Redman Quartet
Golden Embers - Mandolin Orange
Rikers Island - Raphael Saadiq
Morse Code - Reina del Cid
Echoes - Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Confessions - Sudan Archives
This Life - Vampire Weekend
Alabaster - The Wood Brothers

There are a lot of brothers in there. While Echoes does blow me away, I am so impressed with Sudan Archives and her use of the violin.  My favorite original song of the year is Confessions by Sudan Archives and Echoes is my favorite cover. 

2020 promises to be a great year. We will hopefully get rid of Trump this year, more like by election than removal from office but either one will do for me. 

A Killer Rock n' Roll Running List

I went for my annual medical exam recently and when they weighed me, I was 29 pounds lighter than last year's weigh in. This was great news for me. I did a lot in that time period to help cut my weight. I cut pasta out of my diet, I cut down on bread, I changed my weekday breakfast from oatmeal or cereal, to yogurt and fruit. Most of my snacks are fruit now. I also played tennis all winter, almost every weekend, my wife and I played a set or two. But the thing I am most proud of is that I am now running about three miles every other day now. I couldn't have done this without a killer playlist.

I used to be a runner. In high school I ran track and by my senior year I was quite good.  I made the regional all-star team and ran in state championships for middle distances like 400 meters and 300 meter low hurdles.  I was truly awful at the beginning of my track career, as a freshman. I always had problems with my arms. When I got tired, I would hold them against my chest. My coach would yell at me to "move your arms!" I would listen only for a minute or so and then go back to holding my arms back up against my chest. He had me run with weights in my hands which really helped. I used to run on average about seven miles a day back then.

Once college started, my first semester was spent on campus at the University of Rhode Island and I started running on campus. But once the cold set in, the wind blowing off the ocean and classes etc., I stopped running. I consumed lots of beer and pizza, hence gained a lot of weight. I didn't start running again until  recently. That is about a 30 year stint away from running. 30 years went by without having a killer play list. That's what I needed, really!

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a couch potato that whole time. I lived in Boston for ten years and I didn't have a car most of the time. I biked a lot. My longest trips were across Rhode Island, from Westerly to Woonsocket (two days) and across Massachusetts, from Lee in the Berkshires to Brighton in Boston (three days). I loved biking. I'd do more of it now if I didn't live at the top of a huge hill.

A few things had to happen for me to return to running. First off, I don't run in the winter. It isn't just the cold here in Northern Vermont but the ice on my street in deadly. The days are so short that I have a very short window of when I can run and I am nowhere near an indoor running track. Once I realized that I was fair weather, I could live with that. The most important thing that needed to happen is that I needed a killer running list. It has to be so good that I look forward to running. I've heard other people's choices for running lists. They seem to think you have sacrifice quality for a good beat.  No, you don't have to go over to the dark side and have crappy music on your playlist. There are some really great rock and roll songs that are good for running.

A few other things are needed, like a good app on my phone. I am using the Dog Walk which tells you when you hit a mile and gives you your time. Currently, I am running a mile in 16 minutes. Yes, I am very slow. But a lot of that is hills and I have to stop to pick up dog poop at least once a run.

Oh ya, the dog. Hazel is awesome on a run. She is extremely happy running. She is steady and doesn't stop often.  She is the perfect running dog.

I have 108 songs on my running list now. I am not going to go over all of them, just the favorites. What makes a song upbeat?  If the beat of the song is faster than your heartbeat, you perceive it as fast. This is why sometimes you think a song is fast, but then you go running and it doesn't seem that fast. This is because your heart is beating faster hence your perception changes.

Here are the songs:

Classics:
I defined classic as anything that came out 1983 or before. Why? Because I graduated high school in 1983.  That's right, it is all about me.

The Who: These wily Brits have a lot of great upbeat songs, but Slip Kid from the By Numbers album has always been one of my favorites.  Sometimes I accidentally start singing out loud when I am running and you may hear me say, or even yell, "There's no easy way to be free!" at the top of my lunges. This is a great rocking song.

David Bowie: Most Bowie is not upbeat, but Queen Bitch is. The song is a tribute to the Velvet Underground and sounds just like a Lou Reed song, but better. It is off his Hunky Dory album, an underrated album.  The Scary Monsters album actually has three great running songs: Up the Hill Backwards, Ashes to Ashes and Fashion.

Bob Dylan: You know I can't blog about music without bringing up Dylan. Most of his songs are not rocking but these two tracks from Slow Train Coming, Gotta Serve Somebody and When You Gonna Wake Up are.  For newer Dylan songs, try Political World and Everything in Broken both off the Oh Mercy album.

Sly and the Family Stone: Dance To the Music is rocking from the very first notes, a trumpet blasting, and it just gets better from there. The bass is truly magical on this song.

Haircut 100: I fear I might have flashback from college while running to Love Plus One, but this is 80's rock that I stand by.

Pet Shop Boys: Are they old enough be classic?  I am not sure, but West End Girls has such a driving beat that I am tapping my feet just thinking about this song.

Sweet: Ballroom Blitz is a song that really brings me back. Glam Rock at its best.

Contemporary:
Keller Williams: If you listen to jam bands at all, you are familiar with Keller who is one of the greatest banjo players around. He has a song called Mantra that is the perfect song to start your workout. Set the play list to shuffle and click on Mantra to start off running.  It starts off slow with an acoustic guitar riff and slowly builds. This is an incredibly creative song about how the mind wanders during meditation. It is light and somewhat comical. Perfect for running.

Phish: As a Vermonter, I am required by law to promote Phish.Trey's guitar and Page's piano on Chalkdust Torture from A Picture of Nectar are truly sick.

Modest Mouse: I love this band. Two of my favorite songs, Float On and Missed the Boat are both great for running.

Mood Ruff:: Mood Ruff is a Canadian rapper so technically this is may not be rock n' roll, officially, but the song Rocketship rocks.

Spoon: Almost everything by Spoon is good to run to, but try The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine which from the first guitar note will have your leg tapping or Got Nuffin which does the same but with the drums.

Parquet Courts: This is a very dark New York City band. Check out Dust and One Man No City off of their "Human Performance" album. The rhythm guitar is what drives these songs.

Cake: About half of what this band does is good for a running list.  Right now, I only have Love You Madly on my running list. I need to add more. I have everything this band has done. I wish they put out more.

Cage the Elephant: I love this song: Ain't No Rest For the Wicked. Is it rock? Is it rap?  Who cares really!  A great upbeat song.

Courtney Barnett: Australia's best newish song writer can also rock. Check out Pedestrian At Best. She can write and she can jam.

Gnarls Barkley: I just discovered recently that CeeLo Green and Danger Mouse are Gnarls Barkley. I had no idea. I know both of these guys and I know Gnarls Barkley. I had no idea that they were one and the same. Crazy is great to run to.

The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is one of my favorite albums of the last 20 years. Fight Test is probably the only running song on it.

Fela's Egypt 80 and & Seun Kuti: I am sure there are several hundred songs from this Nigerian family, the Kuti's, that are good running songs. I am just telling you about the one that I know of. The horns in Think Afrika are to die for.

SUGARCULT: Los Angeles is a great song to run especially when it is very hot.

Dessa: Technically this is rap but man Fire Drills is such an awesome song. Nothing like an angry feminist to get your adrenalin pumping. Probably the best song to come out last year.

alt-J: Left Hand Free is a strange song, but I love it. It gets me moving.

The Kills: Future Stars Slow and Cheap and Cheerful are both great for running. This band really has rhythm.

Frances Dunnery: Too Much Saturn is still the most entertaining and witty song I've ever heard and it is also great to run to.

Chumbawmba: Come on now! Every running list has to have Tubthumping on it.  If not, then something is very wrong.

G. Love & Special Sauce: G. Love with Jack Johnson on guitar. Rodeo Clown is one of my favorite songs. How could it not be?

Metallica: What can I say? I like an occasional heavy metal song. Enter Sandman is great to run to.

New Order: I've been listening to Love Vigilantes for years. It wasn't until I added it to my running list that I actually listened to the lyrics. It is about a ghost returning home from war watching his widow open the telegram about his death. Depressing but a great running song nonetheless.

Simple Kid: Staring At the Sun is the only song I know by this band, but I love the guitar riff. The change in tempo throughout the song doesn't bother the running. I am not sure why.

Obscure:
I don't know what is obscure really. Perhaps these bands are household names. I just don't know if anyone else I know are familiar with these bands.

Brad Sucks: This is a great name for a band. I know nothing about them. They aren't even on Wikipedia. Check out Dirtbag.

David Kirton: Green Camouflage is a reggae song about peace. What else do you need to know? Add it to your list now.

Plants and Animals: These guys are from Montreal & Halifax. I can say only one thing about The Mama Papa: More cowbell!

Mother Mother: Another Canadian band, Let's Fall in Love and Touch Up are fantastic.

Pigeon John: Money Back Guarantee is about meeting a woman in a bar and not knowing what to say to her. It is very witty and fun to run to.

Ryan Shupe & The Rubberband:  Yes, another banjo song, Banjo Boy. It is self referential and endearing.

Noah & The Whale: L*I*F*E*G*O*E*S*O*N will have you spelling out loud on your run.

The Speech Writers LLC: I heard this song, Chbb, on Pandora about a decade ago and I immediately bought it. I don't understand the song title but it is a great upbeat song.

Now you have no excuse not to go running.

Song Interpretation: Sweet Heart Like You

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am a huge fan of Bob Dylan. I get very annoyed when people don't know who he is or complain about his voice. Ignorant people are maddening to anyone rapt in fandom. To me, he is the greatest living chronicler of  the American and human experience. He is the 20th century Walt Whitman and Mark Twain rapped up into one person. He plays a mean guitar as well.

My first exposure to Dylan was the song "Sweetheart Like You." I heard it on the radio and for quite while, I thought it was by the band, Dire Straits. Dylan's voice sounds an awful lot like Mark Knopfler's on this track, but then I learned that Mark Knopfler (front man of Dire Straits) produced the song and played guitar on the album. Even at age 18, I could recognize a guitar player by listening to a riff. I learned the song was by Dylan, believe it or not, when I saw the video on MTV.  Then I ran out to buy the album on cassette. That's when this ride began.

Infidels was released in late 1983 and is his first non-religious album after the trinity of Slow Train Comin', Saved, and Shot of Love were released. It was originally titled Serving a Ruthless World, but apparently he didn't like the idea of having four albums in a row that started with the letter "S". Infidels' name calls attention to the end of the religious albums. He lost a lot of fans in the years those albums came out. They were very preachy, condescending and deeply religious. Infidels was a relief to these fans, but still, it is not a great album. It would be some time before he released another great album, but it was a decent album with some great tracks. It is uneven at best. It came out in an era, in America what is considered the bad part of the 1980's, when most of us realized that Reaganonics was a lie. Some people still haven't figured this out. The town I grew up in was hit hard with factories closing all over town. My thriving working class neighborhood now had crack houses and prostitutes walked the streets at night. I'm still waiting for the trickle down to hit that town. Songs like "Jokerman," "Neighborhood Bully" and "License to Kill" were indictments on the greed and excesses of the Reagan years. You can see why I got hooked. Even an average Dylan album is great compared to most of the crap coming out in the 80's.

"Sweetheart Like You" (see lyrics below) is like a lot of other songs in that its narrator is a man singing to a woman, yet it is not exactly a love song, at least not a traditional love song. By the first stanza, we know that her boss has gone North for vanity reasons. Who is her boss? We are not sure. It could be the obvious that he is her boss at her job or he could be a possessive lover. Since this album is still full of religious imaginary, the boss could be God. It may not matter, but she is no longer under his yoke. So the narrator compliments her. Did he have to wait until her boss was gone to do so? He compliments her hat, her smile and tells her that she is too good for this "dump." What is this dump? Is it a bar, like the video shows, another place of employment or is it life in general? Is it the America? The power of the lyrics is that it could be all of them. This gives it depth and makes it thought provoking.

The next stanza he compares her to another woman who used to call him "sweet daddy" when he was "only a child." She reminds him of her when she laughs. There is so much here, almost too much, to grab onto. Who is this other woman? Is it his mother or an aunt because it is someone that he knew as a child? But her nickname for him is paternal. This is a paradox about the cycle of life that we are our parents and they are theirs and they make the adults that we are. It reminds me of the Wordsworth poem My Heart Leaps Up where we find the quote "The child is father of the man." We are not adults until our child beats it into us making us whole until we are no longer children ourselves. In our reality, past is experience, present is experiment and tomorrow is expectation. Dylan's narrator sees it as a cruel game, you make the "queen disappear" with a "flick of the wrist," yet how could there be someone as beautiful as her in this cruel world? How could someone so beautiful be letting a wretch like him into her life? How do you make "the queen" disappear? ":With a flick of the wrist." Our narrator reveals to us that he is a part of the problem with this world.

He tells her that she "should  be at home," presumably a safe place, where she could not be hurt. Our narrator, shows us some misogyny,"that's where you belong." He quotes the New Testament, John 4:2 almost directly "in your father's house, there's many a mansions."  I am no expert, in this quote, I believe, Jesus was talking to his disciples about the vastness of heaven. Is he telling her that there is no salvation until the afterlife? All you got here is misery and abuse: "Just how much abuse will you be able to take?"

The last stanza is the most difficult to interpret because the narrator no longer praising the woman any more. He is less conciliatory and downright preachy. He paraphrases Eugene O'Neill's "Emperor Jones": "steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king." He paraphrases Herman Melville's Billy Budd: "They say that patriotism is the last refuge/To which a scoundrel clings." Perhaps Serving a Ruthless World was a better title for this album, because there is clearly no hope in this world and the next world is a "step down." This is the most religious song on the album and my favorite. It is a devastating portrayal of a very ruthless world and it has no answers. The more you listen, the more questions you have which is one of the things that people don't like about it. For me, it just makes me listen more. 

Lyrics and music by Bob Dylan:

Well the pressure's down, the boss ain't here

He's gone North, for a while
They say that vanity got the best of him
But he sure left here in style
By the way, that's a cute hat
And that smile's so hard to resist
But what's a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?

You know, I once knew a woman who looked like you
She wanted a whole man, not just a half
She used to call me sweet daddy when I was only a child
You kind of remind me of her when you laugh
In order to deal in this game, got to make the queen disappear
It's done with a flick of the wrist
What's a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?

You know a woman like you should be at home
That's where you belong
Taking care for somebody nice
Who don't know how to do you wrong
Just how much abuse will you be able to take?
Well, there's no way to tell by that first kiss
What's a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?

You know you can make a name for yourself
You can hear them tires squeal
You could be known as the most beautiful woman
Who ever crawled across cut glass to make a deal.

You know, news of you has come down the line
Even before ya came in the door
They say in your father's house, there's many a mansions
Each one of them got a fireproof floor
Snap out of it baby, people are jealous of you
They smile to your face, but behind your back they hiss
What's a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?

Got to be an important person to be in here, honey
Got to have done some evil deed
Got to have your own harem when you come in the door
Got to play your harp until your lips bleed.
They say that patriotism is the last refuge
To which a scoundrel clings
Steal a little and they throw you in jail
Steal a lot and they make you king
There's only one step down from here, baby
It's called the land of permanent bliss
What's a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?

Picks of the Year: 2018

Two dates hang over us separated by a hyphen. Our year of birth and our year of death. It is on the hyphen is where all the fun happens. Congratulations to everyone reading this. The date after the hyphen will at least be 2019, hopefully much higher.

2018 was a pretty shitty year in regards to history. The stock market has been a roller coaster ride, our president has been as bad as ever, school shootings are still plentiful and our environmental problems are escalating, but it is was still a pretty good year for me and my immediate family.

In March, we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary and had a group of friends and family over for a bonfire. In October, we took a trip to Boston to see the Red Sox play the first playoff game of the season and they not only won the game we attended, but they won the World Series, fourth time in the 21st century.

We lost our electricity for three days in November and we are currently without a fridge (for two weeks now). A new one is delivered on Thursday morning. 

Favorite Trip:
We had our first tropical vacation this year with a week in the Dominican Republic. A resort vacations are not our style, but it was incredibly relaxing. I'm not sure if I will ever go to resort again, but I enjoyed it. Staying one place during a vacation and not exploring isn't exactly what I am used to nor to my liking. 

We also had road trips to Kansas City to see the Red Sox with a stop in Chicago to see my wife's family and the Cubs. We went to Clearwater, Florida for a week with visits to Virginia and Baltimore to see friends. I had a business trip to Vegas which I hate and we went into Boston to see the Sox a couple of times. 

Media:
Best New Podcast:

I discovered a handful of new pod casts this year: 

• Retropod - a short history podcast by Washington Post
• The Indicator by Planet Money - a short economic podcast where they dissect a number                                                      from the economy
• This Song - a radio station out of Austin TX, KUTX, talks to musicians about a song that                                                     inspired them. 
• By the Book - these two woman read a self help book and for a month live by it. It is very                                                     funny. 
• Pod Dylan - One Bob Dylan song is dissected
• The Great Albums - One great rock album is dissected. 
• Everything Is Alive - an interview with an inanimate object. 

Everything Is Alive is my favorite new podcast. It is put out by producers of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. It is hysterical. They usually have comedians playing the objects. They interview a lamppost, a subway seat, a grain of sand, an elevator etc. 

Best Book I read this year:

I read the following books this year:

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nahisi Coates (audio book)
Lamb: The Gospel According to BIff, Christ's Childhood Pal - Christopher Moore
Because They Wanted To - Mary Gaitskill
A Man Called Ove - Fredrik Bachman
Grunt by Mary Roach
The Rising Plague by Brad Spellberg
A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving (reread)
Var the Stick by Piers Anthony
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (currently reading)

I didn't meet my goal of twelve books. Lamb was probably my favorite. Not often does a book make me laugh out loud. His writing reminded me of Tom Robbins. 

Favorite Movie I Saw in a Theater: 

I saw the following movies in the theater this year: 

Vice, Boy Erased, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Crazy Rich Asians, Won't You Be My Neighbor, Sorry to Bother You, RBG, Deadpool II, Avengers: Infinity War, The Post and BlackKKlansman. 

The Avengers movie might be my favorite in that I don't think I've ever been as shocked as I was by the ending. Overall, it was not a great year for movies.

Favorite new TV show: 

My wife and I just started rewatching ER from the very beginning on Hulu. We are pleasantly surprised how much the show holds up. We tried to watch St. Elsewhere and it didn't hold up at all. We are on season 2 of ER now and plan on bingeing all the way to the end. Maybe we'll finish by the end of 2019. 

In the meantime, I discovered a lot of new shows in 2018.  

Among them are:  Big Mouth, Star Trek: Discovery, The Marvelous Mrs Maizel, Homecoming, Jack Ryan, The Haunting of Hill House, Goliath, Humans, American Gods, The Rain, Safe, Disenchantment, Bodyguard, Ken Burns' Vietnam, Maniac, The Sinner, The Secret City, Collateral, Lost in Space, Requiem, Seven Seconds, The End of the Fucking World, Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams, Absentia, Victoria and Fleabag. 

Hands down, my favorite is The Marvelous Mrs. Maizel on Amazon. A Jewish housewife in 1950's NYC delves into stand up comedy. It is a treat for fans of comedy, history and drama. Big Mouth on Netflix is probably my second favorite, cringe-worthy, but fantastic comedy.

Favorite Albums:
I bought seven albums/CDs from 2018. I went fairly mellow this year. My favorite has to be John Prine's "The Tree of Forgiveness."  Yes, John Prine is still alive and putting out some of his best music. His lyrics are as witty and poignant as ever. 

Here are the albums:
"Secularia" by Eliza Gilkyson
"Free Yourself Up" by Lake Street Dive
"Everyday Life, Everyday People" by Slightly Stoopid
"The Deconstruction" by Eels
"By the Way, I Forgive You" by Brandi Carlile 
"All the Things That I Did, All the Things I Didn't Do" by Milk Carton Kids
"The Tree of Forgiveness" by John Prine

Favorite Songs:
I have 247 MP3 songs from 2018. Below is a list of some of my favorites. If I have to pick a favorite, which is difficult, I have to pick "Fire Drills" by Dessa. I don't often pick a hip-hop songs as the best but this one is truly great. I might have to go back to 2005 when I last picked a hip-hop song with Mood Ruff's "Rocketship."  

Favorite new songs of the year.
"Bloodless" Andrew Bird
"The Mother" Brandi Carlile
"Under the Wheels" Calexico
"My Old Man" Chuck Auerbach
"Crack the Case" Dawes
"On and On" Dead Horses
"Fire Drills" Dessa
"The Deconstruction" and "Rusty Pipes" The Eels
"Egg & Daughter Nite, Lincoln Nebraska, 1967 (Crazy Bone)" John Prine
"Summer's End" John Prine
"Beverly" Low Cut Connie
"Hey Mama" Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
"Baby Don't Leave Me Alone With My Thoughts" Lake Street Dive
"Hell-on" Neko Case
"Desire" Ought
"One More Night" Slightly Stoopid
"Choosing Sides" Benjamin Lazar Davis
"Wild" Molly Burch
"Things I Learned" Motel Mirrors
"Glass Jar" Tristen
"Your Dog" Soccer Mommy
"Lay Low" Gretchen Peters

Enjoy 2019. I'll be here.