Category: Music

  • Earworm Wednesday: Always Respect The Reverend

    It’s the way Al Green sings that first line that just gets stuck in my head.

  • Earworm Wednesday: Friends Make You Funky

    So, the part of this song that gets stuck in my head is the refrain of “Most of All” at 1:22. Don’t know what it is, but it just plays in a loop in my head. Not a complaint because I love this song.

    “Flash Light” is the song I think of when someone says Parliament or George Clinton, or Bootsy Collins (even though Bootys doesn’t play in this song,) or funk music in general.

    See, I made a friend, a best friend, in 9th grade and as all best friends do, he introduced me to the wonderful world of funk. I think I had seen Parliament an SNL rerun, but I knew nothing about them. That’s when my friend stepped in and filled that gap I didn’t know I had. He helped me understand what the “Great Rock n’ Roll Swindle” was, how funk influenced hip hop and rap, and the importance of “on the one.”

  • Earworm Wednesday: Our Pandemic Song

    The one thing I know for a fact is that my wife is the one who introduced this song to our family during the Pandemic. It got put on a playlist that we listened to all the time; out driving, taking a hike, having a picnic, dance party at home, whatever we were doing this song would pop up. I put it on a playlist, and the kid even added it to one of her first playlists she created. So when I hear it, not only does it get stuck in my head, but it reminds me of a very specific two year period of my life.

  • Earworm Wednesday: What the hell is a “Disco Round?”

    I mean, I know it’s referring to a disco floor, but “disco round” is still a weird term.

    Though the song came out in 1978, when I hear it, it makes me think of getting ready for elementray school in the early 80’s. My mom would play the “top 40” radio in the kitchen as she got all of us ready for school. And for whatever reason this song played one morning as I ate Frankenberry cereal, and became lodged in my memory.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Start of the Season, Growing Up, and Getting Older

    (It’s always some other guy…)

    Yup, Saturday is the start of Tottenham Hotspur’s 2025/26 Season! Am I excited? Yes! Will they do well? I doubt it. Will I watch every match. You bet! Seriously, what’s the point of being a supporter of a team if you don’t support the team all the time! I don’t know much about the team for this season other than new manager (Thomas Frank,) Son isn’t with the team (moved on to LAFC where I hope he kills it,) and that the team will play in the Champions League this year. I feel ignorance might be bliss going into Saturday and hope to be pleasantly surprised. Let’s see what happens.

    Can’t stop the kid from growing up and I don’t want to, either. Just a week into middle school and I can already feel the change in her. There’s a bit of more confidence, but I am seeing the first specks of anxiety. I’m happy about the first, and feel bad for the second. But as she gets older I can see now that I will be taking on a more supportive role, and not leading anymore. I’m trying not to mourn what is in the past, but celebrate the possibilities of her future. I can feel a wild ride is coming.

    Which means I’m getting older. And I know that I am old because my daughter did the math, and figured out, that if you use The Simpson’s pilot date of 12/17/1989, then Bart was born in 1979, and Lisa was born in 1981. “They’re Gen-X, just like you!” she yelled at me.