2023
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31 for 31
I’m turning 31 this year, a number I have a surprising number of feelings about. In recognition, if not celebration, of the occasion, please enjoy 31 songs from 1992. 31 for 31. No, these songs don’t represent 1992 perfectly. I hope, though, that they capture some of what made that year compelling and complicated musically. I also hope they capture some of what I love about the music of 1992. There’s a little metal, though little of it from bands in their prime.
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What I Read in September 2023
I wrote this month’s entry while eating mochi cake in a coffee shop. It was very nice to have the bustle around me. I am not usually a person who absolutely must write around people, but equally I do not need things to be perfectly quiet. Today, though, I enjoyed thinking about books with my cake and tea while listening to the Kirill Gerstein recording of the Busoni piano concerto. It was perfect.
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What I Read in August 2023
Happy September! I did not read a lot this last month, but it was a great month for music, music, music. My wife and I saw Bon Iver to kick things, then caught Brandi Carlile and Kamelot to end it. Each show was truly great, but I have a special place in my heart for Kamelot, a band I’ve wanted to see for nearly 15 years. They were fun in a way only power metal can be fun, all bluster and drama in the service of lyrics that make very little sense.
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I Love Things By Examining Them
From Molly Templeton’s most recent Mark as Read column for Tor.com:
This is how I love things: by examining them. Some things, I want to look more closely at than others. Some I just want to bask in. Some I want to pick up and carry over to every friend I think will understand, to hold them out and say: Here. Try this. I know it’s a whole book and it takes longer than trying a bite of something.
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What I Read in July 2023
As I write this, we’re just a few hours past the United States bowing out of the 2023 Women’s World Cup. I’m sad about the loss, but I’m hopeful that the team will come back stronger next time. It wouldn’t be a terrible thing if someone else won, I don’t think. Japan have done it before, in 2011, but they’re playing so well at this tournament that I might just have to root for them.