This is a pretty short post.

It is Friday morning. I have my caffeine. I have a to do list made and some things I want to get done. That is the easy part. Now comes the tricky bit, actually overcoming the malaise of the times and doing stuff.

It also a Steve Wonder kind of morning. This is not a bad thing. I think it is pretty great that you can listen to Stevie Wonder at any time and feel great. I was thinking about this yesterday and realized, yet again, that he really has created an incredible body of work.

I am also plowing through some music I got for the radio show. I listened to NZCA LINES Pure Luxury record. It has a kind of slower Chromeo vibe going on with some Hot Chip and Prince influences through in. For Your Love is not bad, Prisoner of Your Love will go over with the cool kids crowd. I hope ‘your love’ is not in every title. Pure Luxury uses a Kraftwerk sample and it has some decent energy going on. Although I must admit I am kind of tired of all this retro ’80s sound that is getting old now.

I am glad to have The Fiery Furnaces back! Their new 7″ is called Down at the So and So On Somewhere. It is pretty great.

They have a terrific chemistry now that was waning on some of their latter albums. I did scratch my head when I read the press release and realized they have been at it for twenty years now. wow time flew by. Incidentally, the last few Eleanor Friedberger records have been great. My friend Gerry drove me by their house in Oak Park once.

Daniel Blumberg has a new record coming out called On&On.

The first single, Bound is a quandry for me. I did not love it at first. I liked the music and melody but not the vocals. But somehow it became an ear worm and I have warmed up to it a bit. It is very polished sounding too. It sounds a bit like The War on Drugs in many ways. I am curious to see what the album sounds like.

Goodness I need to get some fresh air.

I think this weekend I will go to either Laumeier Park or the Botanical Garden early to stretch my legs and get some air. Both have pretty solid social distancing in place!

Plus it is hard to beat the Japanese Garden at the Missouri Botanical Garden. It is so tranquil and so peaceful that it is just the tonic for a stressed world.

They worked on the back porch yesterday. They scraped some stuff of the ceiling and did some structural work on it. But it meant I couldn’t read on the back porch. So I used my couch instead.

This week I have been working through some Flannery O’ Connor. The Complete Stories is pretty much all you need. It has thirty one short stories and they do not play nice. There is some serious stark realism going on here. She is uncomfortable at times and that is okay because she challenges readers and does not hold back. I had read most some of these a few years ago but thought it would be good to revisit her.

I miss being able to travel.

I have been drinking more and more cranberry juice. I even put some vodka in that ‘sumbitch’ too. I am going to start using more NASCAR truncated words and phrases in my vocabulary and see if anyone notices. Hey if the rest of country talks dumb what is keeping me?

My day will be filled with transcribing some interviews, leading, drinking caffeine, watching soccer and sending out some resumes. I also am hoping to pot and plant some new plants that were given to me. Another exciting thing I will be doing is cleaning out emails. Fun.

I just looked at my financial investment stuff. I hate doing that since I have like no money. I need to really know more about stocks and that kind of stuff but it is hard when a lot of the people I know who do that stuff are not exactly nice people.

I would also like to watch a movie or two.

Tonight I am getting takeaway at this great Mexican place by me. It will great to get something not made at home. Plus you cannot beat a well made tortilla.

Clearly this will be an exciting day.