Author: Matthew Groff

  • Woodstock ’99: A Remembrance

    On Saturday night, the wife and I watched on HBO, Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage. I thought the doc was good, worth watching, maybe I’ll review it later. What I thought the doc did well, was reminding me about the world I lived in around 1999, and that Summer.

    What I remember, (And that’s key here. This isn’t fact, this is an emotional response and memory from me, so it has the very high likelihood of being exceedingly inaccurate…) was that Woodstock ’99 was bullshit from the beginning.

    I was living in Arlington, TX at that time, and it wasn’t really surprising that no one I knew was going to the concert which was 1,500 miles away. In fact, I knew no one who wanted to shell out the money for the Pay-Per-View of the concerts. It was the first time that I remember that everyone my age thought of Babyboomers as sellouts who were only interested in taking as much money off Gen-X as possible. Example, the first Woodstock cost $18 to attend all three days. In 1999 dollars that would be $81. The promoters charged $180. Then there were the $4 waters, $7 sandwiches, and $12 pizza. I remember it being called Corporatestock.

    Then there were the bands, which for me were pretty much all shit. At that time, I think the only people I would have wanted to see were Live, Rage Against the Machine, Willie Nelson, Red Hot Chili Peppers. All the other headliners were Metal-rap cockrock bands. It was frat boy, cargo shorts, no shirt, backwards baseball cap garbage music that played to the worst instincts of young dudes that wanted to fight and get laid. But at the same time, that was the only rock music left. All the big grunge bands were no more by 1999, except for Pearl Jam, who was at a low point. The other half of music was taken over by pop and boybands. If you just wanted a rock band, it was a wasteland then.

    And when the riot, fires and craziness went down, my first impression was, yes, burn the that fake corporate thing to the ground. But I also remember the news coverage that came after; of the fighting, deaths, sexual assaults, lack of security, water and just basic sanitation. In my mind, it became a preventable bomb, or should have never happened in the first place. There were a lot of dirty hands in that mess

    The 90’s ended on a sour note just like the 60’s did with Altamont. And what also died that weekend was the nostalgia that the 60’s were worth replicating.

  • I Don’t Understand the Premier League

    So, I can admit that I was wrong. Or maybe I was living in denial. The Sun and everyone else is reporting that Harry Kane is going to Manchester City for 160 million pounds. I had thought it was a ploy by Kane to get the owners of Totenham to spend the money to build a team, as Kane still had one year left on his Spurs contract.

    Clearly, I was wrong.

    Now, here’s the thing that I don’t understand; with Kane going to Man City, what does Tottenham get in the deal? Is MC sending players, or cash or what? I am sure this has to do with me being new to the sport, but in the States, if a player is under contract, and another team wants them, then there is a buyout or a swap of players. From what I have read, it sounds like Man City is offering a lot of money and Tottenham’s owners are letting it happen.

    That can’t be right, right? I feel like I am missing something.

    The only good news in the world of Tottenham is that Son Heung-Min signed a four-year extension on his contract. Now I just need to find out if Lucas, Dele, and Bale are going to hang around as well. I know Lloris will be there, as he’s out there modeling the away kit on the team’s website.

    I am looking forward to the start of the season. That will be on August 15th, against, irony of irony, Manchester City.

  • That Other Anniversary

    And I happen to have another anniversary this week. Today is my ten-year wedding anniversary. I am a little surprised that I have been married for ten years. It did go by rather fast. I never thought that I would get married in the first place, so to get to this place, I guess does show that the two of us made the right call.

    The truth is that most of our anniversaries haven’t had the best celebrations attached to them. Our first anniversary was pretty great as we took a week in Vermont to celebrate. And then after that, it’s been pretty hit and miss. One year, the wife was out of work and money was pretty tight, but we still went out at the local restaurant down the block; nothing fancy. Another year, my wife was pregnant, so no alcohol silliness for either of us, nor oysters. After the kid was born, that anniversary celebration was a babysitter, and an afternoon movie. We also don’t do big gifts. Most of the time it’s Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream on the couch laughing at something on TV.

    But neither of us complain about it. I could be all cute and sentimental and say that the kid is our wonderful anniversary gift, but that would be a lie. The kid makes us a family, which is awesome, but I married my wife because I like spending time with her, and she’s smart and makes me laugh, and is fun.

    She’s still fun after all of this time.

  • Napping

    The kid hates naps. She hasn’t regularly taken one for over a year now. Oh sure, now and then she’ll take one, but it’s pretty rare. Now, if we suggest taking a nap, she treats it like a punishment.

    We all know that in about eight years or so, she’ll get back on board with napping. Then she’ll be like us, and want to take naps but can’t find the time.

    But you know who gets naps on their own terms? My 77 year old father. He naps when he feels like it and it’s glorious. I am jealous, that’s true. I would to be able to accomplish a task like he does, and then reward himself with a nap. Yet another thing to look forward to in retirement,

  • The New Blog’s Anniversary

    So, one year ago, while still in the middle of the pandemic, having been laid off from my job, and just barely holding on to any semblance of a normal life, I decided that I would start up my old WordPress blog again, and commit to writing a post five times a week for the next year. And just see what would happen.

    And here I am a year later. The facts are that I went from, if I was lucky, one person reading a post to now having four people reading a post. Previously, I had 60 followers after three years of off and on blogging, to now having 221 followers. I have had seven comments shared over this year, and a bunch of likes. And I also know in the world of online traffic, that this isn’t a blip on anyone’s radar. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate more than anything that I am not yelling into a void. That people take the time to stop by, like something, does make me feel good, and not so alone.

    When I picked up blogging again, I did want to better myself as a writer, even though I wasn’t exactly sure the type of writer I wanted to be. And honestly, I’m still not sure. But I did know that if I wanted to get better at anything, I had to practice. I had to put in the time, and start doing the work. That meant committing to something, and doing it on days that I didn’t want to do it. And reading over things that I wrote, and admitting that it sucked and I could do better. And slowly, I started to enjoy the work, and look forward to the work.

    So, to the four of you that will see this today, thanks again for stopping by. I have, hopefully, another year of work ahead of me. Let’s see what happens.