Today is the 16th birthday of my younger daughter, Fiona.
When looking for a way to mark the occasion, I first thought about doing a week of “sweet sixteen” songs. I sure had plenty from which to choose. But it turns out almost every one of them is super creepy — like Jeffrey Epstein creepy.
Then I thought, why not let Fiona pick her own birthday tribute? So that’s what I did.
Here’s a track from 1999’s Lost and Gone Forever, the third studio album by Boston-based indie rock band Guster.
This album was my introduction to Guster and I put it up there with follow-up Keep It Together as the best thing they’ve done.
On this album, the band was still sticking to its “no sticks” percussion philosophy, with drummer Brian Rosenworcel playing bongos and other instruments by hand.
This is the third Random Weekend to feature The Beatles in this young year. Perhaps the Random iTunes Fairy heard my pledge to feature more Beatles songs and took on the mantle herself.
Today’s track, from 1967’s Magical Mystery Tour, is a fine example of just how great the band’s output is no matter how deep into their catalog you go. ‘Your Mother Should Know’ is a dancehall ditty written by Paul McCartney in a style his parents enjoyed.
It’s been a week of relentless positivity, so I figured I might as well go out by throwing stones at some of the movies that disappointed me this year.
I try to see only movies I think I will like, or at least movies a lot of other people seem to like. I certainly don’t envy film critics obligated to watch every piece of crap opening at a multiplex near them.
Following are some of the titles I expected (or at least hoped) to like, only to end up disappointed.
In alphabetical order…
Continuing my look at the films currently making up slots 11 through 50 on my 2021 list, today I’m focusing on a grab bag of titles from the comedy, family, documentary, sci-fi and horror genres.
My opinions of these movies, and all the movies I’ve mentioned this week, vary widely, but I can say that at the very least I recommend seeing all of them. Tomorrow, I will cover some movies that fall on the other side of the ledger.
In alphabetical order…
Meet Me In Montauk 