31 December - Good Riddance

Not gonna miss 2020 one little bit. Let's see if 2021 can be a much better year, okay?

22 December - Early Friday

Today was my last day in the office until next Monday. Taking a long Christmas weekend, and hoping to get my feet up for a good part of it - maybe watch a bunch of movies. It's not like we can go out and party with friends, right? But hey, we knew this odd sort of Yuletide was coming, so let's make the best of it.

Yesterday was the Winter solstice, and also the grand conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. It was fun watching them get a bit closer to each other (visually speaking) in the night sky over the past several weeks. If you missed their closest point yesterday, you still have a few more nights to enjoy seeing them up there together while they slowly drift apart again and drop over the Western horizon.

I'm not feeling down about the cold season arriving. Remember, we celebrate the Winter because we know the Spring and Summer sun are hidden deep within, just waiting for the equinox. Light a candle. Ring the bells. Love one another.

12 December - Utopia Parkway

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
M: Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
T: U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
W: Peter Gabriel - Us
F: Fountains of Wayne - Utopia Parkway

My commutes will be few during this year's remaining couple of weeks, and as I've been mulling over not compiling these weekly lists any longer once the new year arrives, I've decided that this post will be the last one to feature them. If you've enjoyed them, I'm glad. But the coming months will be largely devoted to other content, much of which will concern my new album, which will be available on Bandcamp in late January.

For this final week, I chose albums by a few favorite frontmen, with Friday showcasing my friend Chris Collingwood. Chris and I didn't meet and form a friendship until a few years after this album was released, but it was Utopia Parkway that first made me a fan. In particular, the song Red Dragon Tattoo. Loved it immediately, and of course the rest of the record is fun as well. Hell, all their records have great songs on them.

This has been a strange year, and the death of Adam Schlesinger loomed large in the tragic reality of this awful pandemic. But I'm glad that I've got all the FoW albums to listen to, and their former lead singer right up the road. It's good to have friends, especially those who have become like family.

Have a look through my previous posts, the ones that have these THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE lists. In them are a lot of friends who I treasure and admire, and those in the lists are certainly not all of them. But perhaps by seeking out the ones I've mentioned, you'll find a way to meet the others.

We're all in this together. Be well, stay well.

4 December - 80s New Wave Hits

THIS WEEK'S COMMUTE
S: Pink Floyd - Animals
M: David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
T: Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
W: Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill
F: Out Out - 80s New Wave Hits

Yes, that's right. We came into the shop on Sunday. It was the weekend after Black Friday, and a lot of people ordered tubes for their amplifiers and other gear, and we didn't want to be swamped trying to ship them all on Monday. It's that time of year.

Today's CD in the car is a favorite by Out Out (aka Mark Alan Miller). I love this album. I love his original material too, but this is a wonderful collection of, well, 80s New Wave Hits. Check it out out, why don't you.