Weeknotes: August 4–7, 2025
Monday, August 4
I dreamed I was in a sitcom. There was a daffy character who liked to get her hair cut at cheap department stores and carried around a little green book that was assumed to be some kind of positive affirmational text. Just before I woke up, another character went to spy on her while she sat in the department store salon. The big reveal was that the little green book was actually a gambling how-to titled Let It Bet — she had a severe gambling addiction. End of scene.
I drop off my car at the mechanic's for another pricey repair then catch a ride home from Donald. On the way back to Ypsi we stop at DJ's Bakery on Packard where I get a rainbow sprinkle doughnut to offset my automotive woes. Later, I bum a ride off my brother to go pick it back up. We listen to the Ghettobillies, an Ann Arbor band we played shows with in the last century. Our two bands had little in common except that we were both misfits with no obvious music scene partners — this and a shared sense of humor resulted in an oddball pairing and camaraderie that lasted several years.
About a half mile from the mechanic we come across a road block that wasn't there this morning. I release Jamie from his brotherly obligation and walk the rest of the way. In front of the violin shop where I worked for 15 years a fire hydrant is gushing a jet of water into the storm drain and the driveway is being dug up — there seems to be a broken water main. I have a long history of walking up and down this road which is also home to the studio where I have made every one of my albums. It's mostly industrial (S. Industrial Hwy.), but I have great affection for this part of town and particularly this road. It still feels like home.
Iceland: The Sweet Sunny North
That title, “The Sweet Sunny North,” refers to a pair of Norwegian folk compilations by David Lindley and Henry Kaiser, though I thought of the phrase often while traveling through Iceland. I arrived in this subarctic country appropriately layered, anticipating the wind, rain, and mercurial weather shifts I’d spent months reading about. After the fifth straight day of sun, it was clear I’d landed during a fluke season. This was confirmed on my last day in Reykjavík by a pair of young Icelanders in a gift shop who proclaimed it their sunniest spring in years.
Weeknotes: April 21–25, 2025
Monday, April 21
I'm up earlier than usual and tip-toe into the kitchen to make coffee, trying not to wake Islay. If I make too much of a fuss, she will activate into breakfast mode and we'll have to begin our whole morning ritual. I turn the radio on low and learn that Pope Francis has died. I'm not religious and the Catholic church is historically controversial, but I liked this pope. For 13 years he was a voice of empathy and compassion to a large global flock. For him to die during a period of such fractious leadership is a blow to the world. He was an outlier amid his lineage and I'm afraid his successor will be much more conservative. That's how the pendulum is swinging right now. I visited the Vatican in 2018. I stood in St. Peter's Square and toured the Basilica. It's a place of awe and reverence, even for secular people like me.
In Massachusetts, it's Patriot's Day, a holy day for the running community. I’ts the 129th running of the Boston Marathon. I've never attended, nor qualified to run it (yet), but I love to follow the sport's oldest annual race. Like many, I was delighted when Des Linden, an American runner from Michigan, won in 2018. I read her memoir last year and this morning she announced that this would be her final professional marathon.
I keep the race broadcast on in the background while I work. Kenyan John Korir distances himself from the pack early on and it's his to lose. He finishes well ahead of any competitors and 13 years after his brother Wesley Korir, making them the first pair of siblings to wear the laurel wreath. The women's race is more dramatic with Kenyan Sharon Lokedi keeping pace with her teammate, the reigning Boston champion Hellen Obiri, until the final mile. Obiri is known for her kick, but it never comes and Lokedi pulls away, shattering the women's course record at 2:17:22.
Weeknotes: March 31 – April 4, 2025
A sick week last week. Weeknotes had a fever, but it’s on the mend.
Monday, March 31
Q1 ends with a sigh. The flu in February, then Covid in March, family health scares, and the daily horrors of the news. I'm exhausted. But, tomorrow is a new month. My energy is starting to come back, I've got a gig on Wednesday, and I'll be done with classes in just five weeks. After that, Iceland.
Today it's Scott and Amanda's birthday, siblings born seven years apart on the same day. I've been in different bands with each of them dating back to high school. On the turntable, I’ve got the first of two Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty duet albums. I pause work in late morning to test drive an outfit for the Iceland trip. By most accounts, I can expect average Icelandic temperatues in the mid-40s (F) which is the weather in Ypsilanti is today. I've got a good rain jacket I'll use as my outer shell and a zip up fleece for a mid-layer. Islay and I walk for about 45 minutes and I feel comfortable in my layers. But as much as I appreciate the tech gear, I'd be so much happier in my tattered canvas coat and jeans. I'll probably bring them too. Obsessing over what to pack for an adventure is it’s own vocation
Weeknotes: January 20–24, 2025
Monday January 20
When he received the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said this:
"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”