Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Geezer Teaser

The primaries aren't quite over, but the result was a foregone conclusion six months ago: a rematch of Biden versus Trump, the first major party encore since Eisenhower and Stevenson in 1952 and 1956. (Pity the fellow Illinoisan-- our primary is still a week away.) As Jon Stewart attempted to point out a few weeks ago, Biden and Trump are also breaking the record for oldest presidential candidates since... the same two east coast grandfathers, four years ago.

The age difference between Trump and Biden is 3 1/2 years, and while there are obvious old age concerns, only one candidate seems to be in mental decline. The contrast was blatant this past week: Biden give a fiery State of the Union speech, belying his 81 years, while 77-year-old Trump looks increasingly tired and focused at his frequent Nuremberg rallies. One could blame Trump's weariness on all his legal woes, but I'd argue it's his undiagnosed diabetes. (For some personal perspective, my father died of "old age" at 78.)

Some of the Biden obloquy makes sense. His response to Gaza was has been lackadaisical for all involved parties. The economy is fine, and there is job growth, but inflation --or rather, simulated inflation by big business-- hasn't been tackled. Biden's first term has been a mixed bag, but there's no need to reiterate how we cannot let Trump pull a Grover Cleveland. This rematch is unappetizing for many Americans, but Joe Biden is the closest thing to a palatable option. 

Next week: my 2024 baseball preview.

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Wednesday, February 28, 2024

A House, Disordered

We inherited a mess.

After months of struggling to find our aunt's lawyer, we reached out to our lawyer as a last resort. They found an attorney based in Chicago proper, and after a long convo, I reluctantly agreed to be trustee for my aunt's estate. (The two trustees she appointed, my father and her husband, are both long dead.) Her house in Naperville is the entire estate, and we also inherited a mortgage and other debts. Additionally, her sister-in-law was also bequeathed money. When all is said and done, my sister and I might break even. 

When we made out first posthumous visit to the house last July, we did not make a positive impression on the house's caretaker, our aunt's next-door neighbor. This time, we showed him the paperwork, and he agreed to cooperate. Before we walked in, he warned us that there might have been some flooding in the basement. There was a snowstorm in the area in mid-January, and he hadn't been in the house since around New Year's. 

Indeed, there was flooding. About five feet of standing water, just sitting there for about a month. We called State Farm, our aunt's insurer, and they won't help because the heat was turned off. The house permeates with black mold, so have to open windows and wear masks. Thankfully, most of items we want weren't in the basement, but there's still the matter of making the house inhabitable again.

Stay tuned.

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Thursday, February 22, 2024

Departing the Machine

From 2019 until the middle of last year, I contributed to a satirical newspaper called the Chicago Machine. It was a strictly online entity, a tabloid in the loosest sense, in the vein of The Onion and its countless imitators. Citing lack of interest, the Machine quietly shut down late last year; however, I had several articles and news "briefs" in the Trello queue that never saw the light of day. I'm especially fond of this one. (NOTE: I wrote this nearly a year ago.)

Seven months into hospice care, former U.S. President and humanitarian Jimmy Carter finished the 2023 Chicago Marathon in two hours, 58 minutes. Runners and marathon staff was shocked to see the 99-year-old not only standing on his own two feet, but finished in the middle of the pack in one of the world’s highest-profile foot races. Carter attributed his performance to Jesus and a high-carb diet.

After finishing a post-race Clif bar, Carter said he will fly back down to his hometown of Plains, GA and have “insane sex” with his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn.

I suppose if I have any personal nitpick about this piece, it's that The Onion posted several Carter stories in the wake of his hospice announcement last winter. However, I'll attribute that to parallel thought. 

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Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Wincing in the Winter

Happy 2024, one and all. I'm grateful that anyone still reads this.

I'm turning 40 this coming summer, and I'm not necessarily looking forward to the milestone. I'd like to do something special to mark the occasion, preferably travel, but money is kind of tight. I'm also reminded of my age almost daily; this year's high school seniors weren't born yet when I started this blog. (I intentionally excluded that from last year's mindset list.) The general manager of one radio station I worked at 20 years ago died of old age around Thanksgiving. 

With that said, to alleviate some debt I've started a Stu News Patreon. More info here.

Meanwhile... in 2024 as he did in 2016, Donald Trump is laying waste to a crowded yet weak crop of Republican presidential challengers. The Iowa Caucus was a mere confirmation. Even though 2016 was more of a logjam (17 candidates were debate-eligible at one point) the modern never-Trumpers in the GOP are both scant and in over their heads. Even though Asa Hutchison is still in the race (and polling at 1% at best), Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis combined aren't enough to stop the America First tidal wave. It's sickening that people won't learn from past mistakes --conservatives have always been top-tier gaslighters-- but for a substantial percentage of the US population, an obese, misogynist oligarch in clear cognitive decline is the avatar of what might heal America. 

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Sunday, December 31, 2023

That Wonderful Year in Music... 2023


No bones about it, 2023 was a freewheeling and unpredictable year for music. It was a year of hard left turns, reunions, unlikely collaborations, and several releases that were better than they had any right to be. This year's list is as expansive as it's ever been, yet I'm sure there are omissions. This was also an abnormally strong year for jazz; in fact, I'd argue my favorite album of the year was technically a jazz recording. Let's dig in:

BEST ROCK/POP ALBUMS

1. Guts, Olivia Rodrigo. After recording one of the more impressive pop debuts in recent

memory (2021’s Sour, also a high finisher on my annual list) Rodrigo continues to straddle

the line between adolescence and adulthood, yet emerges as an even stronger songwriter.

Her not-quite-sophomoric sophomore effort leans more toward the vicious punk-pop of “Good

4 U” than the reflective balladry of “Driver’s License.” Rather than keep hitting mid-2000s

nostalgia in the stomach, Rodrigo builds something familiar yet new.

2. Javelin, Sufjan Stevens. Spiritual themes are nothing new in Stevens’ oeuvre. Love and

heartbreak are not unfamiliar topics in music. Put together, however, Stevens creates his

most idyllic and engagingly ethereal work in a good while. Nine of the ten songs are Stevens’

own (the album closer is a Neil Young cover) and Sufjan plays every instrument except on

one track; Stevens’ DIY, unaccompanied approach to songcraft is an intriguing bookend to

his 2003 breakthrough Michigan, but the drama feels organic and less pretentious.

3. 10,000 gecs, 100 gecs. A gloriously cacophonous prank of an album. Two savants make

top-tier hyperpop, veering and jutting around for 27 unpredictable minutes, spoofing

everything from ska to doo-wop. It’s a feast for the ears, in the sense that one appreciates

filet mignon and White Castle on the same plate.

4. Desire, I Want To Turn Into You, Caroline Polachek 5. Let's Start Here, Lil Yachty 6. The Record, Boygenius 7. Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. Lana Del Rey 8. Leaving, Fran 9. The First Two Pages of Frankenstein, The National 10. Food For Worms, Shame 11. Stereo Mind Game, Daughter 12. Norm, Andy Shauf 13. The Age of Pleasure, Janelle Monae 14. Scaring the Hoes, JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown 15. Unreal Unearth, Hozier 16. Sundial, Noname 17. Red Moon in Venus, Kali Uchis 18. Water Made Us, Jamila Woods 19. The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We, Mitski 20. Playing Robots Into Heaven, James Blake

Honorable Mention: Cousin, Wilco.

Best Album, Senior Division: The Rolling Stones’ anti-nostalgic Hackney Diamonds

Second Best Album, Senior Division: Paul Simon’s Old Testament pivot, Seven Psalms

Third Best Album, Senior Division: Bob Dylan (Taylor’s Version), aka Shadow Kingdom

Best Song, Senior Division: The Beatles’ AI-assisted “Now and Then”

Worst… Everything, Senior Division: Roger Waters’ mumbly, unnecessary re-recording of Dark Side of the Moon


BEST JAZZ ALBUMS


  1. Fly or Die III (world war), Jaimie Branch. A posthumous release (Branch died suddenly in 2022, when this was in post-production), the third album from her Fly of Die ensemble wasn’t necessarily intended to cap a trilogy. What a way to go out, though: everything about this album is vibrant and teeming with life. Branch lets her punk-jazz freak flag fly, seamlessly inserting some psychedelic accents. I finished listening in exhilaration, which soon turned to melancholy, as III only teased at what a Fly or Die IV would’ve sounded like.

  2. Mélusine, Cecile McLorin Salvant

  3. Triogram, Triogram

  4. Your Mother Should Know, Brad Mehldau

  5. Brand New Life, Brandee Younger

  6. Solo, Benny Green

  7. In Real Time, Artemis

  8. Book of Queens, Krasno/Moore Project

  9. After Dark, Chris Hazelton

  10. New Blue Sun, Andre 3000

Best Jazz Reissue: Evenings at the Village Gate, John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy


BEST SINGLES

"The Drop," Sports Team

"Evergreen," Mount Joy

"brrr," Kim Petras

"Nothing's Free," Angel Olson

"This Is Why," Paramore


"Wings of Time," Tame Impala

"No More Lies," Thundercat feat. Tame Impala

"Ring of Past," Men I Trust

"Slipstream," Django Django

"Mermaid Vampire," Susto


"One Like You," LP

"Forgiving Ties," Deer Tick

"Nothing Matters," The Last Dinner Party

“Angelcover,” The New Pornographers

“Sometimes,” Mannequin Pussy


BEST VIDEOS

  1. “VOID,” Melanie Martinez. Surreal, gross, WTF… unforgettable.

  2. "Back On 74," Jungle. Sometimes a great video doesn't need a complex premise. This British duo has a history of making clips with insane choreography, and this time they really outdid themselves.

  3. "What They Call Us," Fever Ray. This reminds me of some of my old temp jobs.

  4. "Make Way," Protomartyr. I mean, it's science, right?

  5. "Free Yourself," Jessie Ware. Madonna might have faded into sad irrelevance, but the artists she influenced have carried the torch and then some. 

Honorable Mentions: "Feel Good," by Slowthai (Surprise!) and "Anything To Be With You," by Carly Rae Jepsen (It's hard for me to say no to any clip that was shot in Chicago at 3 AM).

Your thoughts?

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Sunday, December 17, 2023

Random Notes, December 2023

 St. Nicholas' Day was over a week ago, but here's some candy for your shoe: 

+ A few months ago, I shared a eulogy of sorts for my aunt, Kay Allard while trying to uncover the communication breakdown behind her passing. As a last resort, my sister reached out to our lawyer to find her lawyer; a couple days later, we both had a 10 minute phone conversation with the woman handling our aunt's estate. As it turns out, both of the designated trustees in her will, her husband and my father, are both long dead. My sister has volunteered to jump in as the new trustee, and to my understanding we have some cooperation from her stepson in Florida. We may have also inherited some debt. Stay tuned. 

+ The Biden impeachment is a waste of time, energy, and money. In pandering to right-wing propaganda (and voters who gobble up said propaganda) the GOP is frittering away whatever advantages they have in Congress on an investigation where there is little evidence that connects the president to his son's various vices. 

+ In the wake of Donald Trump's "dictator on day one" remark, imagine if Trump pulls a Grover Cleveland *and* Democrats win back the House. (I'm not as optimistic about the U.S. Senate, at least right now.)

+ I almost met David Letterman! In all honestly, I was nowhere near Dave and never have, but I caught wind of his Netflix show shooting one episode in Chicago and I was on the wait list for the taping. I even cleared out my Tuesday afternoon just in case, but for naught. What could have been...

Next time: my annual year in music blog.

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