Gonna make a record in the month of May

This past May was a big month for music. Arcade Fire released a new album: We. Some reviewers panned it. Others liked it. I fall somewhere in the middle. One common critique is that the songs sound like repackaged early Bowie. There is an echo of Bowie and, to some extent, Roger Waters. But I like Bowie and Waters. So that’s not necessarily a bad thing to my ears. We may not be completely original or a perfect piece of music but it does have its moments and it certainly is listenable.

There’s also a new album by Wilco – Cruel Country. Twenty one songs. Every single one is a gem. I can’t say enough about how much I’m enjoying this record. I’m still digesting it, but it gets stronger with each listen.

Van Morrison has a new release called What’s it Gonna Take. If there was a way to scramble the lyrics into Gaelic this would be a great album. Good songs, good hooks, good performances. But… Unfortunately, Van has gone off the deep end on the topics of the day. He’s always been a crazy genius. Sadly, as he gets older, the former seems to be crowding out the latter. A musical Ezra Pound for our time.

Steve Earl is back with a tribute to Jerry Jeff Walker titled Jerry Jeff. It’s on rotation. A great performance of timeless songs.

And finally, a couple of other interesting releases; Florence and the Machine’s Dance Fever and Omnium Gatherum from King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Both are worth checking out.

Not as I do

Today is Tuesday, April 19. It’s National Garlic Day.

No masks on planes? It’s probably time, but I wouldn’t judge anyone who wanted to still wear one.

Commonwealth Magazine did an after-action on it’s story about the Globe and Philip Morris. The original story by Herman Coleman looked at the Globe running sponsored content paid for by Philip Morris and the objections by scientists quoted in those stories that they didn’t know about the tobacco company connection. Initially, the Globe was contacted by Herman but simply refused to comment. Then, after publication of Herman’s story, the paper collected their response to refute the allegations. Imagine if every subject of a Globe story did that? And now, in its wrap up, Commonwealth again contacted the Globe to get their take. Their response? You guessed it. No comment.

81 year-old Ringo Starr is hitting the road again this summer. And it’s not a light tour.

Thomas Friedman finds that the anti-fragile West seems to be doing better in the face of modern challenges than the less resilient, authoritarian societies in Russia and China.

And if you like the taste of salt but want to cut down, these electric chopsticks are for you.

Addition by subtraction

It’s Thursday, National Beer Day. (We all put the yeast in!)

Russian aggression isn’t just an abstract notion in Estonia. Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has some strategic—and tactical—advice for the West.

When US companies failed to detect and remove Russian malware from their networks, the government got a warrant and did it themselves. This is modern preemptive cyberwar.

George Grella reviews Philip Glass‘s 13th Symphony, performed this week in a world premier by the Canadian National Arts Centre Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. It’s great to have another Glass symphony and nice to see him take the stage after the performance.

Richard Davey is being introduced to New Yorkers at a time when subway crime is a big concern. It doesn’t sound like he’ll get much of a honeymoon period. The Post has already nicknamed him the new ‘Train Daddy.’ (His predecessor, the old ‘Train Daddy’, lasted only 25 months in the job.)

And a $20 dollar bill with a banana sticker on it? How did that happen?

He said, she said, he said

Tuesday. The day after Monday.

This is worth reading. It’s depressing… but it’s worth reading.

First the Globe refused to comment on allegations of misleading scientists quoted in a story sponsored by Phillip Morris. But then, after having time to get their defenses together, the paper retorted and now the scientists at the center of the story are unavailable for comment. Welcome to the era of sponsored content and post-journalistic journalism.

Francisco González, founding member of Los Lobos, has died.

The Cybertruck may be history but the DeLorean is rising from the ashes.

And Holi is always great for colorful photos. Taylor Coester doesn’t disappoint.

Franchised fiasco

Saturday. It was worth the wait for the weekend.

In today’s Boston ‘Metro’ news, a musician from Los Angles died— in South America. I don’t know why the Globe even bothers to organize their news by sections.

The Washington Post covers the de-globalization of Russia as Western brands flee the country. There’s a new codicil to the Thomas Friedman rule that countries with McDonalds don’t attack each other: When they do, the McDonalds’ have to close. As far as coffee goes, Starbucks has suspended all operations in Russia. But as of today, Dunkin’s is still serving up Moscow mocha-chinos.

Mike Evans writes about the appeal of the Leica M9, one of my all time favorite cameras.

During the Iraq war priceless antiquities were lost. In Ukraine a different set of cultural artifacts were destroyed. A smaller tragedy maybe, but still a tragedy.

And here’s William Shatner‘s all time favorite album playlist. It’s a trip down memory lane.

The clouds part

Hey, it’s Thursday!

Robot umpires are coming to Major League Baseball. What could possibly go wrong.

With Omicron in retreat, David Leonhardt thinks it’s time to ask the questions: “When should schools resume all activities? When should offices reopen? When should masks come off? When should asymptomatic people stop interrupting their lives because of a Covid exposure? Above all, when does Covid prevention do more harm — to physical and mental health — than good?” We’re almost there. But not quite.

Joan Vennochi calls out selective outrage bias when it comes to disruptive protests.

The state of popular music in 2021 is not great. Each Friday I scan iTunes new releases and listen to random albums from artists I never heard of. Every so often I find a gem. But not very often. Ted Gioia goes a little deeper than me. He listens to several hours of new music every day. There are plenty of great young musicians releasing music, he says, but “the music industry has lost its ability to discover and nurture their talents.” As a result, most industry growth is in old music and old musicians. That”s not a healthy thing.

And it looks like Barney Fife’s evil brother has taken over a small town police department in Alabama. Maybe Goober could take that SWAT truck apart and reassemble it inside the courthouse.