World Series thoughts, NASCAR, twee records, oh my...
GREEN BAY PACKERS WEEKLY RECAP:
Well, Aaron Rodgers IS NONE TOO PLEASED WITH ANTHONY BARR, but he's also pretty fucking funny. But, he should be pissed. That hit was borderline legal/dirty but 100% unnecessary. There was no need to drive a fellow professional football player into the ground shoulder first. I get that Barr wants us to "GET OVER IT," but I assure you he wouldn't be over it if he was out for the next two months and just had screws and a plate inserted into his fucking collarbone. Asshole...
Brett Hundley didn't look bad this week, though. Of course, it's the bye week and he didn't play, but nevertheless. I'm kidding of course. I believe the kid will be alright. McCarthy knows how to coach QB's and I love Hundley's confidence. I keep finding myself wanting to say "Brett" but we all know no Green Bay quarterback is "Brett" besides the one and only. The greatest ever. The man who saved our franchise. The one who brought the Lombardi Trophy home. Anyways, not too much Packers news and I didn't watch any football this weekend since:
A. The fucking World Series in on
B. Sunday afternoon was spent in agony after WATCHING THE NASCAR RACE END LIKE THIS.
Yes, I watch NASCAR, and yes, I am a huge Chase Elliott fan. I always enjoyed his dad as a racer (I was more of a Rusty Wallace fan but it was hard not to root for Bill) but this kid is special. He's still only 21. But, he more than likely had this race, Martinsville of all places, one of the most prestigious tracks, one his dad never won at, won and was only a few laps from taking his first checkered flag. He now has 6 or 7 races that he has almost won or finished 2nd in. Heart-breaking for the kid. He even overcame his past troubles with restarts to get back into the lead multiple times. And then to be cheap-shotted and wrecked from behind, I don't know how he didn't throw a punch. Denny Hamlin certainly would've deserved it...
By the way, what the fuck is this World Series?! And, yes, THE BASEBALLS ARE 100% DIFFERENT AND JUICED. I have no doubt about that. There was a replay of Carlos Correa during game 5 hitting his crazy high fly ball, and after a second or so a look of shock came across his face when he saw it had a chance to get out. He clearly was happy he lifted it to get Altuve home from third on the tag, but he was shocked to see it go out. These guys know. It's their job to know. As one of the pitchers, McCullers I believe, said pitching with these new baseballs was as if you wrote 10,000 times in a row with a #2 pencil then someone handed you a pen. You'd notice the difference. It's their livelihood and they're the best in the world at it; of course they would know if it was different. Dallas Keuchel said "Obviously, the balls are juiced. I think they're juiced 100 percent. But it is what it is." Far too many fly balls are ending up in the seats.
Now, I'm entertained by this Series, for sure, especially since the Astros are leading, but this is not the kind of baseball I want to see in the regular season, let alone the Series. 2000 more home runs this year vs. 2 seasons ago. More home runs than any year during the (ridiculously obvious) Steroid Era. C'mon... We're not that stupid are we? I spent my youth as a hit-for-average, hit-for-location, defensive shortstop so that's what I like to see. I loved the way the Royals won their series and am still flabbergasted by what Bumgarner did the year before. Those are my kind of Series. If baseball is going the way of the NFL, more points/runs and shootouts over defense, then count me out. It's the main reason I watched less than five minutes of football this weekend and I've been constantly frustrated by a couple games in this Series. It was very obvious when some of the best pitchers in the world, Kershaw, Verlander, Keuchel, have to go away from some of their best stuff. They didn't suddenly forget how to throw a baseball, but they can't suddenly learn how to throw a new one either...
THIS WEEK IN MUSIC:
Here I am, sitting at the desk in the... Wait, I'm fucking home for one of these! It's my cluttered, old, damaged, a little too dusty, slightly too small and kind-of-uncomfortable desk that I'm writing this from. This week has been a rough one for a number of reasons that I won't go into, as they are boring and best reserved for my (eventual) therapist. But, as always, I've gone back to music to help me through. I learned some cover songs for an upcoming show, relearned some old tunes of my own that I haven't played for probably 6-7 years and leaned heavy into some old "twee" records I haven't spun for years. So, what does melancholy Bradley listen to to brighten his spirits (or, more accurately, dwell upon his melancholy which makes him feel better somehow) during a rough week? Let's find out together... (Just kidding I already fucking know. But, I'll pretend not to so it's more fun.)
Camera Obscura - "Underachievers Please Try Harder"
As soon as those first descending notes of "SUSPENDED FROM CLASS" hit my earholes, I'm immediately transported back to Madison, WI and the house on East Johnson I shared with Jake, Quinn and Tyler. It was a crappy, old house but it was close to State Street and cheap enough (barely, well, not really, as we sometimes had to steal food in order to eat and pay rent in the same month) for 4 musicians with part-time jobs. I'll always remember walking the neighborhood with my Sony CD Discman and playing this album on repeat as I watched the other young kids, mostly students, unlike me, and tried to determine what their life's story was. In the summer, I would lay on the grass at James Madison Park, or "the JMP" as we called it, across the street and just people-watch. Yes, there were pretty girls but mostly it was about just experiencing the world outside of the tiny town of Horicon, WI and music was such a huge part of that. In the fall and winter, I would always wear my hoodie with my jacket so I could smuggle along a couple extra CD's to listen to on my walks. Just as I did in Horicon throughout my High School years, I would put on my headphones and just walk for hours. I loved it most when it was cold outside for some reason. I think it was because it was so peaceful, as Wisconsin in the wintertime is not a time for people to be outside, unless they are weird Asperger's kids who obsessively walk the same route over and over, day after day, listening to the same few records for months on end...
Belle and Sebastian - "If You're Feeling Sinister"
"GET ME AWAY FROM HERE, I'M DYING" is just so damn good. "I could kill you, sure, but I could only make you cry with these words." Well played, sir. Well played.
I remember not owning this record for years. Jake burned me a copy (Jake is the only person I've met who was more into discovering new, or new to him, artists and albums. He had WAY more music than I did so I was always poaching and burning CD's from him.) which I played for years until during a move I lost a ton of CD's, both real and burned copies. I still haven't remembered and repurchased all the albums I lost, so occasionally I'll stumble across something lost from long ago and be filled with the joy of rediscovering some beauty I misplaced along the way. The Weepies were like that. Somehow, they didn't make the "twee" music week. Hmmm...
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Eponymous
This isn't technically "twee," as I believe it falls into the "hipster as fuck" category. The intro track is borderline unbearable but the moment "LET THE COOL GODDESS RUST AWAY" kicks in, sweet Jesus, it is catchy, loose, silly, unintelligible but, most importantly, fun as hell. This is another one I stole as a burned copy from Jake (later to replace it with multiple purchased copies that I kept giving away to people who said they would "hate that shit." Some changed their minds, some couldn't fucking stand the singer's voice and never got past it. Sad for them...) and just played on repeat all summer long. The JMP, the beach volleyball, the flirting between the college boys and college girls, the seagulls, the smell of Lake Mendota, the small church on the far end of the park, the boat launch, the bench I would watch the waves from for hours, the swingset I'd swing on for the other hours in the day; all that was in this record for me. It was magical, it still is. Most people assimilate music to their lives; my life is moments of beauty or darkness dictated by the music. Time is ethereal yet fleeting and is no way to define a life. Music is my mileposts, I remember life through records, not records through life, if that makes sense. Whatever, it's getting late...
Goodnight to all my fellow travelers on this long, lonesome, Lost Highway...