ISO - Apollo 1 Ticket

Something about amazing performances that shock me. On Thursday night Disney had a sing along and I heard Michael Buble for the first time (yeah, I guess I live under a rock) and if there was a greek god of song it's him. Then I listened to Lady Gaga last night and taking the torch from the late Whitney Houston would be the greek goddess of song - she's really astonishing. Stevie Wonder singing "Lean on Me" into "Love's in Need of Love Today," the opener to my favorite Wonder album, The Stones doing an acoustic "Can't Always Get What You Want," the girl who voiced Moana doing "How Far I'll Go...." I love seeing the talent and being exposed to things I love and other things I'd never see. Last but not least was Eddie's beautiful choice of "River Cross." I can't help but think how amazing and emotional it would be close a set or an encore with that. Implement more band with the build up, shatter that ceiling and then ease the band out til it's only Eddie on stage with the vocals. I have chills thinking of it. They did something similar with "Parting Ways" a few times in the 2000 tour. "River Cross" is a gorgeous song. 

I was listening to "7 O'Clock" this morning and wondered if trump loses in November and it is indeed 2021 until we see the band again, is this song rendered obsolete and we never get to hear it live? I know the song isn't strictly about politics (none of the album is), in fact I argue it's about all that's wrong in the world. But the statements about politics and the president in this in particular would be a different context in a live show. Like I'm pretty sure we're never hearing "Bushleaguer" again. And you really could've rewritten that song as "trumpleaguer" if you wanted. Just my daily random thought.

I love sports, and that day to day fluidity that they bring is gone. It's been hard on that front. Sometimes it's the most normal things that make a schedule matter. Sports don't matter in the scheme of things but it's weird that the day to day is dead in that regard. You can forget a lot, but sometimes the television moving as a distraction is pretty powerful. A game is happening as you're watching and when they're not you feel a pause. 

My kids love the new version of DuckTales - a show I loved as a kid - and they did it right. A kids' show with adult jokes, hitting all the things kid love and all things I loved when I was a kid and more. It's hard to engage nostalgia and entertain the current youth and somehow these people make it work. 

I read Philip Roth's novel The Plot Against America when it came out in 2004 - I saw the similarities with the political administration at the time. Roth had something to tap into and it comes across even more poignant in the HBO Miniseries that wrapped up a few weeks ago. When the people in charge of The Wire tackle Roth and alternate history you know it's going to be good but I didn't know how hard it would be watch. It's difficult watching the kind of narrow ignorance roiling through Roth's narrative and to feel that I see it playing out in an adversarial present is even more disheartening. 

Not too many ISOs these days. It's a bummer. I can't wait to see this board thriving (probably next year) and something like my stupid little experiment gets buried in minutes. Soon enough we're going to be complaining about setlists, show lengths, posters (the good, the bad, and the flippers), the latest march (we don't need and can't find). I can't wait for those problems

Last night Chris Cornell's cover of "Nothing Compares 2 U" came on and if you haven't heard it - drop everything and do it. Done? Cool. Amazing right? I have to say it's not only one of the best covers of all time but it's an astonishing vocal performance on par with anything I've ever heard. 

It's interesting when you watch films that deal with government and diplomacy; more often than not it's cooler heads and eloquent wordsmithing. Then you watch the news and it's quite the contrary. So many hands in the dishes, nothing ever gets cleaned, not to mention dried. 

I can't do the news. But I still need to laugh at the news so I do watch John Oliver. While he's biased, I will say from what I've seen from nearly every news outlet (PBS News Hour Excluded) is that he is pretty even in his assessment of the virus and all the details surrounding preventative measures, testing and governing. I feel like watching Oliver is how I felt watching Jon Stewart post 9/11. There was a humanity of discontent that wasn't about rattling cages for the sake of making noise; or causing an uproar but to get truth out there. A logical hand isn't in demand and yet, it's what we sorely need.

One of the band mentioned in above Killers article is Foxygen - never heard of them but they're solid. I don't know how to describe them, atmospheric, smooth, alternative....so does alternative become the all encompassing tag? I always disliked that tag. Like grunge. What is that? So many bands have various influences that tagging them with a phrase seems demeaning and doesn't really allow one to go down the rabbit hole of influences. How many of us knew growing up just how much punk was an influence to Pearl Jam? We had to read. And we had to read about Neil Young. Nirvana sounded more punk but with the exception of a few cuts you don't see it as much in Pearl Jam.

Check out Foxygen. Cool music.