My Music Journal 2025: August 30, 2025

 

Saturday, August 30, 2025

Time: 1:30 PM 
Song: Blue Skies
Artist: Willie Nelson
Mode of Consumption: Listening to a Stardust album by Willie Nelson on vinyl at the Barn Sale.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/33LQxf2T3Jbgw3XQ1H3LMY?si=a5d3172278284cd1

I am always trying to match the tone of the sale while playing records during the sale. When my area is empty and maybe there aren’t as many people shopping on the grounds, I like to put on some rock. Something that will infuse some energy into the crowd and we sellers. 

Other times, if I have someone who is really flipping through the vinyl and studying them, I like to put something on that is relaxing, and that maybe will make them hum without meaning to. 

With the weather a clear blue sky with little wind, and the temperatures in the low 80s, there wasn’t anything better than playing a little Willie Nelson. Sending out waves to shoppers that there is no hurry, take your time, and really find that record or two that you need. 

I am already pretty satisfied with my weekend of sales. 

I came in with the goal of selling one hundred records. While I had been stuck in the fifties until late Saturday morning, a buyer came in about midday and bought 32 Christmas records. I made her a deal as most of them were in my dollar boxes. 

It might not have been a huge profit sale, but my back was going to like having thirty fewer records to carry later in the day. It also put me very close to my goal.

As Willie played, I enjoyed the nice afternoon, and felt like anything I sold from then until closing time in a few hours would be a bonus. 

It was my time to enjoy the music. 

My Music Journal 2025: August 29, 2025

 

Friday, August 29, 2025

Time: 8:00 AM 
Song: The Hustle
Artist: Van McCoy
Mode of Consumption: Listening to a compilation album on vinyl at the Barn Sale.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/6hYT9vkr0xMjhBlaLsYq9T?si=73d20f5978724903

I woke at a quarter to five, threw on a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a long-sleeve t-shirt over that. Went down the stairs, put on a pair of boots and then walked Millie around the yard for twenty minutes or so. 

Jodi left while I was walking Millie, taking a load over to the sale before going to work. I ate a quick breakfast, brushed my teeth, and then was on my way with a pickup full of records. 

It was about seven when I arrived and then spent the next hour unloading and arranging the albums and all our other merchandise. 

One of the collages I made – a Transformers one to be exact – didn’t make it. The frame broke as I carried it and the plexiglass cover broke when it stuck the concrete. The first loss of the day. 

 At eight, I was still moving things around as our first customers arrived. I had two or three immediately, while others flocked to the iron implements, tools, furniture and random other relics featured at the sale. 

One lady had taken an hour of PTO to look through my vinyl. She had her heart set on a copy of “Let It Be” by the Beatles, and she got it, along with a few other purchases. 

For the next four hours or so, we had a steady stream of buyers. A little after noon, the crowd slowed to a trickle, but we all had done well enough in the morning that it didn’t matter that much. 

My Music Journal 2025: August 28, 2025

 

Thursday, August 28, 2025

Time: 4:37 PM
Song: Never Going Back Again
Artist: Fleetwood Mac
Mode of Consumption: Listening Playlist Pandemonium Artist Spotlight of Fleetwood Mac.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/19Shlms2uTnOjIUg50TXzd?si=a5398a48efef4fb0

There’s half an hour of work before a four-day weekend. Granted, I will spend the first two days selling records (and moving them from one place to another). That’s different though. It’s a side-venture of my choosing.

It’s four days without being in the office. Unless I really hit it big at this sale.

Wouldn’t that be nice. It’s also impossible. I don’t have a big enough inventory to make enough to not come back to the office on Tuesday.

I don’t know how much I would have to make for that to be possible.

Part of me thinks that Jodi and I have saved well enough that we could probably live a long time on what we’ve already earned plus just doing some part-time work here or there.

The big issue would probably be insurance. We were just informed that our work insurance is going up by forty percent. I have no idea what the open market is like. Probably not good and likely to get worse.

It’s not that I mind work, but I’ve reached a point in my life that there are just other things I’d rather be doing with my time. I’m not a lazy, sit-around type of person.

I’d like more time to write. More time to sell records. More time to make art and crafts to sell. Maybe travel a little more, but that’s not even that big of a priority.

I’d just like freedom from the time clock.

My Music Journal: August 27, 2025

 

Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Time: 6:37 PM
Song: Ghetto Supastar (That is What You Are)
Artist: Pras, O’l Dirty Bastard, Mya
Mode of Consumption: Listening 90s on the 9 on Sirius.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/31bf9SEOppLU6lQ85d8om6?si=c278c3ce49dd4fd2

We cut down Capp Road after picking up a couple folding tables at Jodi’s aunts. Capp Road cuts east and west between crop fields and the occasional house. About halfway between Route 40 and Hoover Road, there is a bridge that crosses the Elk Horn Creek.

I remember we used to take this road on the bus during my school days. Back then it was a gravel road, but now it is tar and chip. If the bus driver hit the bridge fast enough and just right, we’d all bounce high off our seats.

One winter day, the bus slipped off the edge of the road and became stuck in the drift in the bank. It was on the way home, I believe, and the day had turned icy and snowy. We were stuck for quite a while, and I believe that my mom was able to get to the bus and retrieve me and my cousin. I am not sure how long some of the other kids on the bus had to wait.

On the north side of the road is an old farmhouse surrounded by feed lots for livestock. I went to a party there one time when I was a sophomore in high school.

It was a birthday party for a girl, who I think was a freshman. They hadn’t lived there long, in fact, I think they were renting it. I don’t know how I know that other than she must have told me.

She rode my bus that year, and for a brief time, seemed to take an interest in me. I remember her being more aggressive in such matters than I had ever encountered in a girl, especially considering I didn’t really even know her. To that point, I can’t for the life of me remember her name. Maybe Melissa. I don’t know. It’s possible that I never really knew it.

I remember her stating that they would be moving again the next July. I don’t remember where to, other than I think it was out of the area. I remember calling her July. I also remember thinking why would I want to start a relationship with someone who was moving away.

Anyways, I attended the party with my friend Jake driving us over. He had just recently turned sixteen and had his license. There was a campfire. I only remember that because one of my peers fell into it at one point. He was prone to such accidents, so it surprised no one, and he had no lasting injuries.

That’s about all that remains of that night and that girl in my memory. Just one of the things that pops up when I drive Capp Road.

My Music Journal 2025: August 26, 2025

 

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Time: 7:30 PM
Song: Behind Closed Doors
Artist: Charlie Rich
Mode of Consumption: Listening to “Behind Closed Doors” album while working on pricing records.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/4NRFiS0pHjTFDjOm1LWTZj?si=7ca117048ecf4f79

If people bought a Charlie Rich vinyl record in the 1970s, this was it. Apparently. This is the fifth copy of “Behind Closed Doors” in my for-sale pile. I don’t think I have ever sold one.

As I place the tag on this latest copy, I realize that I don’t think I have ever listened to it. So, I put it on to see if my customers and I are missing out.

It’s not bad. I am a lukewarm country guy, but I think it’s quality enough that young country fans should give it a try if they are coming to the sale I am setting up at this weekend. I have about nine hundred other records folks should check out, too. Ha.

I believe this is the most copies I have of one album. I do have four copies of Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler” and “Greatest Hits.”

I am trying to be more organized this time, and I have albums divided by genre and I am trying to keep records by the same artist together. I haven’t decided if that is a good thing when it comes to having multiple copies of the same album.

I wonder if the potential rarity of an album makes it more interesting to some of my buyers. If they see five of the same album by Charlie Rich, do they think maybe it’s too common for their collection?

 Certainly it hurts the value I can put on the record. I put four dollars on the Charlie Rich album. I hope someone gives it a chance, even if they’ve never listened.

My Music Journal 2025: August 25, 2025

 

Monday, August 25, 2025

Time: 6:50 PM 
Song: Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong
Artist: Spin Doctors 
Mode of Consumption: Playing on the radio. 

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/1uCqIhOePc6hDMG2ijk8sp?si=311a79a436f64c42

I turn on the radio and then go to the sink and begin filling it with warm water and dish soap. We’d just finished unloading hay for the year, so it’s time to eat and clean up the day’s dishes, and pack tomorrow’s lunches. 

Unloading the hay was a pretty smooth affair. 

I arrived home at about 5:30, and Jodi had the gate to the horse yard open, allowing access to the south side of the barn. She had already pulled the elevator over and had it in position to deliver the bales through the door above. 

“It’s gone pretty good so far,” she said, greeting me in the yard. “Should I pull the rack over?” 

“Might as well,” I told her, retreating to the house to change out of my office clothes for a pair of ragged jeans and a t-shirt. It was a crisp, almost cool late August night. 

By the time I came back out, she had pulled the rack over and had it nearly in place. 

“That look good enough?” she asked. There was maybe a six-inch gap between the rack and the chute that sent the bales to the chain that pulls the bales upward toward the barn. 

“You’re the one that has to put them on,” I said. I am the one that handles the mow work around here. “If you think you can put it on that way, it’s fine with me.” 

She nodded, and so I went into the barn, plugged the elevator in, and then ascended the stairs to the mow. 

We had 85 bales, nearly twice that we got off the first cutting of the same field. Jodi held a few back because she didn’t like the look of them, but otherwise everything went without a hitch. 

Hay is something we always did with her father, so I think we both feel good when we’re able to complete it now that he’s gone. I am sure he’s got a front row seat above to watch us do it every time around. 

My Music Journal 2025: August 24, 2025

 

Sunday, August 24, 2025

Time: 8:30 AM 
Song: Cough Syrup
Artist: Young the Giant 
Mode of Consumption: Listening to Sirius radio on the way to church. 

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/1UqhkbzB1kuFwt2iy4h29Q?si=852847dc2ae445ae

It’s a cool morning that feels like fall. 

I am thinking about being 43. Sometimes that feels very old, and others it’s not really old at all. 

I think about being 23, not so long ago, yet so long ago. Who was I then? Just out of college. Juggling a couple jobs. Dating Jodi. Wondering if I’d find a career. Wondering if I should write more. Probably wondering where’d I’d be when I was 43. 

Skip back ten more years and I was 13. A kid. I think that wasn’t so long ago, but still so long ago. Think about all the people were here then, and now are gone forever. It was a different century. The internet was more a rumor than reality. Most phones had a chord. I had no idea what I would be doing when I was 23, and 43 wasn’t even conceivable. 

How long will it be until I am 63? Twenty years. So long from now, but not that long from now. Who will be here? Who will gone? Will I be gone? Will I be retired? Able to do anything I want that my aging body allows. 

We don’t have any kids. Will anyone remember us once we are both gone? Will our things be sold off or thrown away? 

Someone will wonder why I have so many records? Will someone listen to a few of them and think about me? 

My Music Journal 2025: August 23, 2025

 

Saturday, August 23, 2025

Time: 8:15 PM
Song: Love Yourself
Artist: Justin Bieber
Mode of Consumption: Listening to radio at Jodi’s moms house.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/50kpGaPAhYJ3sGmk6vplg0?si=5bc2468f4d204ffc

The black cat with white paws came to the open screen door, peered inside and sat down. We were playing dominos at Jodi’s mom’s (Kathy) house after having picked up pizza for supper. 

“He’s like Boots’ skinny little brother,” Jodi said. Boots is one of Kathy’s two cats that live in her garage. Both her cats are robust in body if not in spirit. This little fella is a stray in the neighborhood. 

Kathy gets up and begins making it a dinner of bread and milk in an old whip cream container. 

She takes it out to her patio and places it on the edge. The stray cat had retreated to the drive way when she came out. Kathy called to it repeatedly before leaving the food and coming back inside. 

The cat circles around the patio and waits a few minutes before walking over to the food. It’s clearly learned who it can depend upon in the neighborhood. 

We resume the game of dominos as the song nears its end. 

“I used to be able play this on my keyboard,” Jodi said. 

“Used to?” Kathy asks. 

“Yeah, I haven’t practiced in a long time. It would probably be pretty clunky at this point.” 

The cat has finished its meal and disappeared. Our game continues.

My Music Journal 2025: August 22, 2025

 

Friday, August 22, 2025

Time: 5:51 AM
Song: Dreams Go By
Artist: Harry Chapin
Mode of Consumption: Listening to Greatest Stories Live by Harry Chapin on vinyl.''

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/7iKNTXZPpj7HHaL7xg7Tzs?si=eeb99506d11547ec

I bought this album a few weeks ago at an estate sale in the Lost Nation subdivision outside of Dixon. It was one of five I bought with the idea of either keeping or putting on the sale. For two bucks, it’s worth taking a chance. 

“I don’t think I know any Harry Chapin songs other than ‘Cat’s in the Cradle’,” I tell Jodi as the album plays. We are eating a supper of tomato pie, corn on the cob, and green beans. She’s turning me into a vegetable.

“I think you’ll know the ‘Taxi’ song,” she answers. She then tells the story of the song about a man who becomes a taxi driver and then has a customer who it turns out he knew in his younger days. 

None of that sounds familiar, but it’s likely I’ll know the tune once it plays. It surprises me that I have looked into Chapin more. He’s the sort of singer songwriter that I gravitate toward. 

Jodi looks at the album cover. 

“I guess I never knew what Harry Chapin looked like,” she comments. 

“Me neither. I just know he died young, but I don’t remember how.” 

“Hmm, I don’t know if I knew that.” 

The album continues playing as we finish eating and do the dishes. We only get through the first record of the set, so I’ll have to wait until the next time to hear “Taxi” and decide if I know it. 

My Music Journal 2025: August 21, 2025

 

Thursday, August 21, 2025

Time: 11:47 AM
Song: Everybody Laughs
Artist: David Byrne, Ghost Train Orchestra
Mode of Consumption: Listening to Spectrum on Sirius Radio during lunch break.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/1gbFItwP8tng1ZeXoqh0eS?si=511e0b66fdcf42b2

I am parked in the lot near the YMCA in Dixon that faces the Rock River. To the left of my field of vision is the dam and to the right the Galena Avenue Bridge. It’s a gray sky day, but it feels good after the last two weeks where temperatures have been in the 90s and the humidity high.

An SUV pulls in next to me, a woman is driving.

When she comes to a stop, she hollers back to kids in the back seat that she’s going to call their dad (I think that’s what she said, I wasn’t trying to listen).

A few moments later, she’s talking to someone, and it’s clear they are talking about catching fish. The questions range from “Is it bigger than the last one?”, “How big?,” and “How long?”

She has an unusual cadence to her speech. I can’t quite tell if it’s an impediment or perhaps a result of a hearing issue. She is enthusiastic about the fish conversation, and I think it’s nice that this person either has the same enthusiasm for fishing as the person on the other end of the line or simply is glad that the person is having a successful day at the river.

I probably wouldn’t be able to muster the same amount of enthusiasm. The last time I remember fishing was on a class trip to Oppold Marina in Sterling. I am not even sure what grade that was other than I believe we were to construct our own poles with sticks, strings and hooks.

Fishing has just never been my thing.

Yet, I do spend most lunch hours at the river. I enjoy seeing the water flow by. I usually bring a book and my lunch. It’s generally quiet and usually a few people wander by to watch.

The fisherman arrives at the SUV before I leave. They load his stuff, and the conversation remains positive and excited as he take his seat next to the driver and they take off.

My Music Journal 2025: August 20, 2025

 

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Time: 5:19 PM
Song: Alibi
Artist: Hurray for the Riff Raff
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s on shuffle on the way home from work.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/1hS3RXEQbXtWgYpot2Ay07?si=c6457f2cde754764

I completed a statement of interest today for an opportunity with the state’s Department of Transportation. That’s part of the job. I’ve spent the better part of the week working on the various documents, resumes and other required pieces of the submittal.

We put our best foot forward, but likely we won’t win the job. I won’t go into the why, because there could be a dozen reasons why we aren’t selected.

We won’t find out for a few months, and by then, I’ll probably have forgotten most of the work I put into it.

It’s hard to be satisfied in that process.

Back in the newspaper days, there was a daily product. A section that I could pick up the next day and either feel good about or dread looking at. Most of the time it was somewhere between. Good things here, not so good things there. Satisfaction was fleeting, precariously sitting on the edge of doom when an error became obvious.

With writing fiction, it can be just as frustrating.

I might get a piece that I think is ready for publication, but then I get a dozen rejections, and wonder if I should think again.

Even pieces that are published I look back at and consider revising here or there. Or maybe I should do more with them.

The satisfaction is confused with emotions and uncertainty.

Later tonight, I push mowed part of our yard. Our riding mower is in the shop. I can only get maybe a quarter of the two-acre yard done before dark.

I sit on our porch and feel pretty good about it, even though I know I still have more to do.

My Music Journal 2025: August 19, 2025

 

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Time: 5:37 PM
Song: Up from Under
Artist: The Wallflowers
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s on shuffle on the way to Write On Meeting.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/6abbpzBAVz7zgmc6aEM48j?si=48a4e6b2e2cd4e30

Tonight, we had a writing workout session at Write On. The prompt I wrote on was “What I did over summer break.” I decided to write a journal entry by a high school English teacher.

--

June 5, 202X

I fell in love today.

It happened at the intersection of Fourth Street and Baker. She was walking east on Baker and so was I, until we were both halted by that nefarious blinking red man at the crosswalk. Car engines idled in the closest lane, barely covering the thud of the bass from the speakers inside.

“I think that little guy is a demon,” she said. She wore a flowered sundress, sandals, and had a giant hemp-like purse slung over her shoulder. “He always knows when I am coming and he drives away the little white fellow that lets me pass.”

“Hmm, I’ve always leaned toward him being more of a nymph,” I replied. “Like Puck in Midsummer’s Night Dream. He likes to stop me here and wait for it to rain or just when a long funeral procession is going to cross this way, but none of his pranks are ever that harmful.”

She smiled. Boy, was that gorgeous. I can’t speak to her overall dental hygiene, but this brief glimpse was enough for me. Her smile was perfect. It creased her face enough to indicate that she wasn’t too young for a middle-aged fellow like me. Just right, I thought. She might even have my same birth date.

Cars passed, tires thudding over the heavily repaired blacktop, and neither of us of seemed to have anything more to say. I wanted to ask if she worked near here. Perhaps in an office, or some sort of art studio. I imagined wherever she worked was full of color, bright splashes of gold and purple and turquoise. She would be the centerpiece of the place’s vibrancy. Her smile, her sundress and her sense of humor.

I should have asked her name. I should have looked at the time. It had to be about 10:30 AM. I left the house ten minutes earlier, the walks part of my summer exercise routine while classes were out. Maybe I should have just followed her.

But I didn’t. The nymph disappeared and we both entered the crosswalk, she turned north after the intersection, my only logical route was south. I paused to watch her, but not so long as to freak her out. I can just see it now in big black letters on the front page, “LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER CITED FOR OGLING FEMALES DOWNTOWN.”

I thought about her all the way home. I thought about her while I was working on second draft of my great American novel. I thought about her while the TV blared the Cubs game and the dog slept at my feet. I thought about her until a new worry entered my brain as my head hit the pillow tonight.

What am I going to tell my wife?

My Music Journal 2025: August 18, 2025

 

Monday, August 18, 2025

Time: 8:20 PM
Song: It’s Gonna Work Out Fine
Artist: Ike & Tina Turner
Mode of Consumption: Listening to Super Oldies of the 60s Vol. 3 vinyl album.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/2vGVafns1VhbbhyIKi5VtL?si=4173e0c293d343b9

I’ve been working on getting ready for a sale over Labor Day weekend by cleaning and pricing albums. I’ve also been reorganizing them a little bit.

“Are you having a breakdown or something like the guy from ‘High Fidelity’?” Jodi asked the other night. I had stacks of records piled around the basement.

I started with the several bins of records that I price for a dollar. I now have separate box for soundtracks. I also rearranged so that I had a box for compilation albums. From there, I did a box of random female artists, country artists, comedy, random rock and other genres, Christmas and Gospel, and then two boxes of instrumental.

I tried to also group albums by the same artist together. It’s interesting the artists that were clearly big at one point who don’t seem to attract new vinyl buyers.

Johnny Mathis – I have nearly twenty of his albums, and I have never sold one individually.

Herb Apert & The Tijuana Brass – I have sold an album of his or two, but not many.

Wayne Newton – Not a lot of his, but that pile seems to be growing.

Barbara Streisand – People loved her once, but not so much now.

Then there are the Band leaders of yesteryear.

Guy Lombardo, Tommy & Johnny Dorsey, Percy Faith, and of course, the collections put out by Lawrence Welk.

It's a continuing learning experience of former and current music tastes. 

My Music Journal 2025: August 17, 2025

 

Sunday, August 17, 2025

Time: 6:19 PM
Song: Underground Blues
Artist: Richard Roberts, Jr.
Mode of Consumption: Listening to Midwest Revue while eating supper.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/61O6YQ8xGY296z8TqUdwdC?si=932cbb4d8a8540c3

This week Billy Rose had an artist in studio where he conducted an interview and the artist (Roberts, Jr.) played a few of his songs. 

Roberts, Jr. lives in Quad Cities. I believe he said he arrived to the area sometime in the 1980s, deciding to stick around throughout the years. 

Rose and Roberts talked about the changing music landscape in the area. 

Rose: I started this show (I think he said in the 1990s) because he watched this show and that show, and the bands were always from L.A. or New York, at least that’s what they claimed, but he knew better in many cases. 

Roberts talked about some different events and play-a-longs that have revived the music scene in the QCA.

Rose was enthusiastic and shared that when he was getting out of high school there were forty or fifty bars in Clinton alone, and all of them would regularly feature live music. Now there was two maybe three. 

I wondered if the scene was ever that big in a town like Clinton. Granted, Clinton used to be a hub of sorts with a large factory base and the benefit of being located on the Mississippi River. Sometime in the late 1980s and early 1990s that changed, and Clinton has only recently seemed to be getting back on its feet. 

The show lasted an hour and we heard it all while we prepared our meal, did dishes, prepared our lunches for work tomorrow and did other menial chores. It was a nice glimpse of a working musician in the region.

My Music Journal 2025: August 16, 2025

 

Saturday, August 16, 2025

Time: 7:17 PM
Song: Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat
Artist: Herman’s Hermits
Mode of Consumption: Listening to Herman’s Hermits “On Tour” album on vinyl.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/6lWCT9kctZxKMERn6MzaGC?si=3e7eaae5e089430a

Jodi’s uncle Tim bought some records at an auction today, and we picked them up during a birthday party for Tim’s brother Roger this evening. 

There were about twenty albums tucked into a nifty case, the outside of which was a faux brown leather. Once cleaned up, the case might have been the best find of the bunch. This album from Herman’s Hermits was inside along with an Everly Brothers, Dave Clark Five, and a couple from the Partridge Family records. The vinyl condition seemed OK, but the covers were all a bit rough, so none will make top dollar. The rest belonged to my dollar bin. 

The case, though, I think has some potential. I am thinking of putting $10 on it at an upcoming sale over Labor Day weekend. 

If it doesn’t go then, I was thinking about putting together a vinyl collector’s starter’s kit and posting on Facebook for maybe $50 or $75.

The kit would include the case and maybe ten albums. 

My mind is working on which albums from my “For Sale” pile to include in such a kit. 

Maybe something from Johnny Cash. Maybe Elvis. I have a Beatles album in the sale bin, but I suspect that won’t make it through the sale.

I was thinking a good Christmas album should be included. Some sort of compilation album and perhaps a soundtrack. I have a ton of soundtracks in stock right now, including three copies of “Grease.” That would be good. 

What else? Hmmm. 

I think an Herb Alpert record is a nice one to have in the collection. Also, a live album, I do have Beach Boys live album. 

It is fun thinking about what would be a good fit. What would be good tent poles for someone looking to start a collection, but starting small. 

My Music Journal 2025: August 15, 2025

 

Friday, August 15, 2025

Time: 10:02 PM
Song: Let It Go
Artist: Idina Menzel
Mode of Consumption: Watching production of Disney’s “Frozen” at Timber Lake Playhouse.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/0qcr5FMsEO85NAQjrlDRKo?si=e26ad6608fb24deb

They came dressed in gowns mimicking their princess of choice. They came dressed as Olaf, the talking snowman. They bandied about the grounds before the show, and they waved wands hoping to cast the right spell for the show to begin. They ranged in age from toddler to young adult. 

What did it prove? 

I guess it proved to me that “Frozen” is this generations Disney tent pole. The show that even if you didn’t want to watch it, you likely did a dozen times at the behest of friends or teachers or family members. Yes, if you were a youth in the 2010s and since, you likely can recite the tale of Elsa and Anna chapter and verse. 

It’s filled that role that “Lion King” did for those in the 1990s and before that there was “Cinderella,” “Snow White,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin.” 

And with it, “Let It Go” is that staple song that brings them to their feet. The signature song for this tale that I think is hinting at female empowerment and casting away societal pressure to suppress gifts and talents to fill a “woman’s” role. 

That all said, I came of age in the 1990s and didn’t have kids when this movie came out. So, I had seen the movie once, on a bus trip probably a decade ago. I had a general idea of the story, but couldn’t remember much else, other than the song. No one could escape that totally when “Frozen” hit it big in 2013. 

I think what stands out to me, at least from the production at Timber Lake, is that it is one of the few times that a villainous turn isn’t telegraphed by the villain delivering a monologue or song telling you he is the villain. 

Instead, Hans simply makes the classic pro wrestling ‘heel’ turn with little forewarning near the end of the third act. Yep, he was playing Anna, the kingdom’s people and the audience the entire time. 

He wasn’t in it for love. He was grabbing power. 

I suppose it’s a step forward in Disney storytelling. Although, one of my favorite parts in the “Lion King” is Scar singing out his plans to the hyenas before killing Mufasa and sending Simba into exile. 

My Music Journal 2025: August 14, 2025

 

Thursday, August 14, 2025

Time: 7:04 PM
Song: I Can’t Have You
Artist: The Gulls
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s on shuffle after eating at Basil Tree in Dixon.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/07aqD6zYskpBMTZNf0SJpK?si=679fbd9e7d27431d

It’s not often that we go out to eat during the week, but we did tonight for Jodi’s birthday, which is actually Friday.

Basil Tree is an Italian Ristorante in downtown Dixon, and it’s the usual pick for her birthday meal. We each had a tomato soup appetizer followed by pasta and then split a piece of tuxedo cake.

Near the end of the meal we talked about our niece leaving for college soon, relatively far from home.

Jodi had gone to a nearby community college the first two years after high school, and I went an hour away to Northern. She transferred to Northern her junior year.

So, we were never very far away.

“Could you have gone far away at that age?” she asked.

I thought about it.

“I think so.” Both my siblings had gone to school three hours away in Champaign. My older brother moved to Atlanta after graduating college. The idea of moving away wasn’t a foreign concept in my world.

Jodi’s brother had moved to Rockford after high school but was home often. So, her experience was a bit different.

The truth is that if I had a direction in life at that point, I might have moved away or pursued a school farther away. I wish I had more confidence in myself and my writing abilities at that age. It perhaps would have led to different professional opportunities. Jodi made a similar comment after having a career goal.

Later, Jodi said: “Oh well, we’re pretty happy with how things turned out.”

I agreed.

My Music Journal 2025: August 13, 2025

 

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Time: 6:08 A.M.
Song: Lyin’ Eyes
Artist: Eagles
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s on shuffle while working out in the basement.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/5lQKRR3MdJLtAwNBiT8Cq0?si=3c818ed0dac147ec

The lyric played while I was doing jumping jacks.

“A rich old man and she won’t have to worry.”

A few moments later, Jodi’s voice calls out down the basement steps.

“You know, if I find a rich old man, you’d be the one I’d be cheating with.”

She was joking, of course, but after having a few days off last week, I think we are both thinking of ways that we could move out of the workforce.

“I’d share the money with you,” she continued. “At least we wouldn’t have to go to work tomorrow.”

The last part of her statement is from the “Darmine Doggy Door” skit video from Tim Robinson’s Netflix show “I think You Should Leave.”

In the video, Robinson plays a man short on sleep who thinks a monster has entered his house through a traditional doggy door. He makes the remark while realizing that he might be eaten that he “won’t have to go to work tomorrow.”

It’s a line we drop a lot now whenever the potential for something bad happens.

My Music Journal 2025: August 12, 2025

 

Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Time: 5:04 PM
Song: Losing My Religion
Artist: REM
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s on shuffle on the way home from work.

I have a distinct memory of this song playing at Westwood Sports Complex in Sterling at some point in my youth. My sister, Kim, played her youth softball games at fields located to the east of the main Westwood Complex.

Doing a bit of Googling, I see that the song was released in February of 1991. So, it’s possible it was the summer of 1991. I would have been 9 years old.

I don’t remember anything else.

Just that I was there, and I am pretty sure watching my sister play softball, and “Losing My Religion” was playing

I don’t know where the music was playing from. I don’t remember there being speakers at any of the softball fields. Youth sports were played too much less fanfare back then; I imagine that went double for girls’ sports.

I suspect someone had their car radio blaring.

Or maybe the game was over, and we were sitting in our car for some reason with the radio playing.

I don’t even know why I have this memory, or why it pretty much comes to my mind anytime I hear the song, or I happen to be at Westwood.

I do know that I never quite understood what the phrase “losing my religion” meant, but I always assumed it was something sordid, and as a youth, likely something sexual that I didn’t comprehend.

What I can say, is that the song is catchy, and it’s a good one to sing along to on the way home from work and wonder about some random evening when I was nine.

My Music Journal 2025: August 11, 2025

 

Monday, August 11, 2025

Time: 5:15 PM
Song: I’ll Take You There
Artist: The Staple Sisters
Mode of Consumption: Playing at the dentist’s office

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/5YLnfy7R2kueN0BRPkjiEG?si=01337d8d289e442a

The opening lines of this play:

“Oh, mmmm, I know a place

Ain’t nobody cryin’…” 

And I think, I don’t think I am at that place. A few minutes later, that’s confirmed as I can hear the dentist comforting a young girl through some sort of procedure and the girl’s cries could be heard throughout the office. 

I’ll also realized that even though I have probably heard this song hundreds of times, I’ve never thought about who recorded it. With nothing else to do while the hygienist scraped plaque from my teeth, I figured it out. 

That’s Mavis Staples. 

Has to be. While I am far from a Mavis Staples expert, her vocals are unique. So, there, I learned something at the dentist’s office. 

After the cleaning, the dentist arrived, and she commented on a Supremes song playing. The hygienist, who I think is older than the dentist, crinkles her nose. Apparently, she doesn’t like oldies. 

From there, I get a breakdown of a recent change to the music played at the office. They rely on broadcast radio, and recently the station they traditionally listened to changed format from Top 40 to hard rock. It just didn’t work for their clientele. 

They tried a couple other stations. 

“One was Top 40,” the dentist said. “Really it was Top 4. That’s all they seemed to play. We called in ‘Pink Pony Radio.’” 

“I kind of miss Pink Pony Radio,” the hygienist said. 

My Music Journal 2025: August 10, 2025

 

Sunday, August 10, 2025

Time: 3:31 PM
Song: Room at the Top
Artist: Tom Petty
Mode of Consumption: Listening to the album “Echo” on Spotify

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/7By7UYWA21PcKoKCl8ZaI7?si=34e4220bcd5f4941

This is the follow up post to yesterday’s post. 

The second album that always makes me think of the fair is Tom Petty’s “Echo.” 

In the summer of 1999, Petty released this album and simultaneously DirectTV was playing a free Petty concert on loop where he was debuting a lot of these songs along with some of his classics. 

This was the summer before my senior year of high school, and so really, the last fair of my youth. I don’t remember a lot about the actual fair, other than it was in an era when it was starting to hit some tough times. The crowds were small, and there might have been a night or two of rainy weather. 

I ran around most nights with a group of friends that included Jodi, her cousin, Abbie, my friends Jake and Kyle, and likely a few others depending on the night. 

I don’t think I had started football practice yet for the season, although it’s possible that was starting, too. I also might have baled some hay during the days. 

All of that is possible. 

I do know that we went back to Jake’s house at least one of the nights and re-watched this concert, probably for the tenth or eleventh time that summer. 

It’s easy to slip into listening to Tom Petty. Clearly, his tunes are catchy, but they sort of seduce you into the little four-of-five-minute worlds he creates. 

I realize now that I was in a little four-or-five-minute world of my own, one that was on the brink of changing drastically over the next year or two. 

My Music Journal 2025: August 9, 2025

 

Saturday, August 9, 2025

Time: --
Song: Mysterious Ways
Artist: U2
Mode of Consumption: --

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/3KsBkosKDPSB235IeoHOby?si=398c5ec8d73f48bb

So, a first for the blog: We arrived home from the fair last night about 10 PM, and I realized that I didn’t have any song from the day in mind. To be honest, I couldn’t even remember any of the songs that I had heard.

“Do you know what songs were playing when we were driving home?” I asked Jodi. 

“Not really. There was a Lumineers song.” 

We had talked for most of the ride home, and between the conversation and from being exhausted from the week, I couldn’t think of one tune, much less having any sort of deep thoughts about them. 

So, I thought, what songs remind me of the fair? 

There are a few. Actually, there are two albums. I will write a little about one here. Maybe save the other for a rainy day (maybe Sunday).

Sometime when I was in grade school, my sister bought the album “Achtung Baby” by U2. It must have been right around the fair. 

It was also the year that they were re-surfacing and doing some realignments for IL Route 40 north of Sterling to Milledgeville. So, we had to take a detour around to get to the fairgrounds, so the trip was a bit longer. 

Either way, I feel like we listened to the tape every night on the way to the fair. It probably was only one night, maybe two, but in my mind, it was every night. So, the songs from that album always make me think of the fair. 

My Music Journal 2025: August 8, 2025

 

Friday, August 8, 2025

Time: 8:50 PM
Song: Mountain Music
Artist: Alabama
Mode of Consumption: Played by the cover band “Blue Steel” at the Carroll County Fair.

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/7BjmEKAVTnJNkRNaUzBy2K?si=e2593178fa174cc2

This was the second consecutive year that Blue Steel was the main attraction on Friday night at the Carroll County Fair. They are a cover band, a pretty good one. 

The trouble with music acts for small fairs is that to get an act that will draw a crowd, you have to pay said act more than they will draw in, most likely. That’s been an issue for nearly thirty years. Its roots are good. Getting artists and the crews that travel them the money they deserve after years where musicians and the army of people touring with them were basically controlled by record companies and paid comparatively little. 

The problem is fairs have small budgets, generally, and so that means they have one of two choices. 

They can pay a small act who might have had a hit at one time in the last twenty-some years, or possibly an act that is building toward having a hit, and will likely not draw that big of a crowd. The fair did that for the better part of two decades with mostly low-level country artists. Or, you get a cover band, who isn’t likely to draw a huge crowd, but will at least play songs people know. 

It’s amazing to think that in the seventies and eighties, people like Loretta Lynn, Charley Pride, The Statler Brothers, and Tom T. Hall came to Milledgeville, Illinois. It’d be great if something could shift in the music industry to bring brand named acts to small communities. 

This year Blue Steel played a pretty country-heavy set until the second hour of their show, and being sort of a novice country music listener, it was hit-or-miss with me in terms of knowing the songs. 

I know this Alabama hit. It made me think maybe we should do a “Mountain” playlist for the Pandemonium. 

Some came to my mind right away. 

• “Misty Mountain Hop” by Led Zeppelin.
• “Mountain Sound” by Of Monsters and Men
• “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver. 

Stay tuned to the Pandemonium this coming week, I think this will be the topic.