Foot washing

I wrote the below about two years ago, when I was going through my divorce. At the time, I had not publicly acknowledged that, so I didn't post this. Then last year, the pandemic distracted me from remembering I had written this. So here it is today.

The music of Black History Month

If you know me even a little bit, you know that music is one of the most important parts of my life. I write, play, and listen to music all the time. I've made the majority of my friends through choir, band, church music, or musical theatre (and of course their friends and significant others) Silence is seldom present in my house, because I'm constantly spinning something from my 1300+ record collection.

Back in April of 2020, I was tasked on Facebook to participate in one of those "Post 10 albums" challenges. Over the course of ten days, I posted albums that were significant to me, and I took it a step further by actively listening to that album in its entirety and posting a photo of it on vinyl if I had it on that medium. It wasn't until after I was done that I noticed every single album I posted was by a white artist; all from the US and the UK. 

To right that wrong, as well as just listen to some of my favorite music by some of my favorite artists, I'll be devoting February, Black History Month, to listening to black artists. (I think they're all American in this case) I will listen to at least one album per day from the below artists. I know there are glaring omissions of some of the best black artists. (i.e. Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Prince, and any hip hop artists whatsoever) It's not meant to be exclusive; nor would it be possible in just 28 days.  I also know there seems to be a predominate focus on old school blues and soul music, but this is due to how much of it I have on vinyl, and how much I love it!

Below is the list of artists I will be listening to. If you'd like to join along, I've included a recommended album and songs for those of you who'd prefer them. Most of these should be available on the major streaming services if you want to listen along.

Day: February 1

Artist: Aretha Franklin

Album: I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

Songs: "Respect" "Think" "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman"

Day: February 2

Artist: BB King

Album: Blues on Top of Blues

Songs: "Sweet Little Angel" "The Thrill Is Gone" "Every Day I Have the Blues" "How Blue Can You Get?"

Day: February 3

Artist: Otis Redding

Album: Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul

Songs: "I've Been Loving You Too Long" "Respect" "Satisfaction" "These Arms of Mine"

Day: February 4

Artist: Tina Turner (with and without Ike)

Album: Private Dancer

Songs: "What's Love Got to Do With It?" "River Deep, Mountain High" "Proud Mary"

Day: February 5

Artist: Chuck Berry (also check out his cousin Marvin!)

Album: The Great Twenty-Eight

Songs: "Johnny B Goode" "School Days" "Maybellene"

Day: February 6

Artist: Al Green

Album: Let's Stay Together

Songs: "Let's Stay Together" "I'm Still In Love With You" "Love and Happiness" "For the Good Times"

Day: February 7

Artist: Mavis Staples (with and without The Staple Singers)

Album: If All I Was Was Black

Songs: "You Are Not Alone" "I'll Take You There" "The Weight" "Until I Met You" "Slippery People"

Day: February 8

Artist: Stevie Wonder

Album: Songs in the Key of Life

Songs: "Higher Ground" "Superstition" "Sir Duke" "Living for the City"

Day: February 9

Artist: Jimi Hendrix

Album: Are You Experienced

Songs: "The Wind Cries Mary" "Purple Haze" "Fire" "Hey Joe"

Day: February 10 (It's her birthday!)

Artist: Roberta Flack

Album: First Take

Songs: "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" "Killing Me Softly"

Day: February 11

Artist: Isaac Hayes

Album: Hot Buttered Soul

Songs: "Walk On By" "Theme from Shaft" "Joy" 

Day: February 12

Artist: The Supremes/Diana Ross

Album: Where Did Our Love Go

Songs: "Where Did Our Love Go" "Stop in the Name of Love" "I'm Coming Out" "Baby Love"

Day: February 13

Artist: Michael Jackson (also The Jackson 5)

Album: Thriller

Songs: "Billie Jean" "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" "The Way You Make Me Feel" "I Want You Back"

Day: February 14

Artist: Marvin Gaye

Album: What's Going On (although being Valentine's Day, maybe Let's Get It On is more apropros)

Songs: "What's Going On" "Mercy Mercy Me" "Let's Get It On" "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)"

Day: February 15

Artist: Curtis Mayfield/The Impressions

Album: Roots

Songs: "Superfly" "People Get Ready" "Move On Up"

Day: February 16 (Yes, I put Satchmo on Mardi Gras intentinoally)

Artist: Louis Armstrong

Album: What a Wonderful World

Songs: "When the Saints Go Marching In" "Dream a Little Dream of Me" "Cabaret" "What a Wonderful World"

Day: February 17

Artist: Albert King

Album: Born Under a Bad Sign

Songs: "Born Under a Bad Sign" "I Almost Lost My Mind" "I'll Play the Blues For You" "Blues Power"

Day: February 18

Artists: (Philly Soul Three-Parter)---The Delfonics, The Spinners, The Stylistics

Albums: The Delfonics, The Spinners, The Stylistics

Songs: "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)" "La La Means I Love You" "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" "You're a Big Girl Now"

Day: February 19

Artist: Ray Charles

Album: Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

Songs: "What'd I Say" "Georgia on my Mind" "America the Beautiful" "Hit the Road Jack" "Here We Go Again"

Day: February 20

Artist: Duke Ellington

Album: Ellington at Newport

Songs: "Take the A-Train" "Caravan" "In a Sentimental Mood"

Day: February 21

Artist: John Lee Hooker

Album: It Serve You Right to Suffer

Songs: "Boom Boom" "Money (That's What I Want)" "Boogie Chillen"

Day: February 22

Artist: Booker T Jones (Booker T & the MG's - They play on so many of these other artists' music, because they were the house band at STAX recording studio and went on to produce music for others well into old age)

Album: Hip-Hug Her

Songs: "Green Onions" "Hip Hug Her" "Soul Limbo"

Day: February 23

Artist: Whitney Houston

Album: Whitney Houston

Songs: "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" "The Greatest Love of All" "Saving All My Love For You" "I Will Always Love You"

Day: February 24

Artist: James Brown

Album: Live at the Apollo

Songs: "I Got You" "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" "It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World"

Day: February 25

Artist: Little Richard

Album: Here's Little Richard

Songs: "Tutti Frutti" "Good Golly Miss Molly" "Keep a Knockin"

Day: February 26

Artist: Harry Belafonte

Album: Calypso

Songs: "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" "Jump In Line (Shake Senora)" "Matilda"

Day: February 27

Artist: Ella Fitzgerald

Album: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Gershwin Songbook Vol. 1

Songs: "Love Is Here To Stay" "Dream a Little Dream of Me" "Someone to Watch Over Me" "Summertime"

Day: February 28

Artist: Howlin' Wolf

Album: Moanin' in the Moonlight

Songs: "Smokestack Lightning" "Evil" "Back Door Man"

A year of being a nerd

 2020 was a tough year for a lot of people due to the COVID-19 pandemic and all the challenges associated with it. For me, it was certainly an interesting year, but in a lot of ways, it was much better than I'd had the past few years. Between 2016 and 2019, I had a pretty rough go of things and I'm fortunate to be through that now. When I look back at 2020 I see it as the year where I really found myself again. There were some real hilights for me. I got to spend a lot of extra time with my kids that I wouldn't have had if not for the shutdowns. I met a few amazing people, despite the pandemic, who really helped me re-build some confidence that I had lost over the rough years. I wrote more songs than I've ever been able to write in such a short time. I discovered my love of kayaking.

I'm not going to talk too much about all that. What I am going to do is show you how much of a nerd I am.

I decided for my New Year's Resolution for 2020 that I would keep statistics on a bunch of different areas of my life, and I did it; I met that resolution. And being the nerd that I am, I want to share some of those statistics with you. So below you have my 2020 in statistics.

Music

Albums listened to - 1,135

Songs written - 11

Concerts attended - 0 🙁

Most albums listened to in a day - 13 (January 4)

 

 Top 20 artists by album listen

• David Bowie - 31
• Elliott Smith - 25
• Otis Redding - 21
• Fiona Apple - 19
• Willie Nelson - 17
• Iron & Wine - 17
• Radiohead - 16
• Elvis Costello - 16
• The Beatles - 15
• The Little Willies - 14
• Brandi Carlile - 14
• Nickel Creek - 13
• Jim Sullivan - 13
• Dawes - 12
• Blind Pilot - 12
• Aretha Franklin - 12
• The Rolling Stones - 10
• Talking Heads - 10
• Ray Charles - 10
• John Prine - 10

Most listened albums

• Jim Sullivan - U.F.O. (9)
• Elliott Smith - XO (8)
• The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (8)
• Elliott Smith - Figure 8 (8)
• David Gray - White Ladder (7)
• Blind Pilot - We Are The Tide (7)
• The Little Willies - The Little Willies (7)
• Dawes - Nothing Is Wrong (7)
• Jon Brion - Meaningless (7)
• The Little Willies - For the Good Times (7)
• Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters (7)
• Elliott Smith - Either/Or (7)
• Tom Petty - Wildflowers (6)
• The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers (6)
• Talking Heads - Speaking In Tongues (6)
• Weezer - Pinkerton (6)
• Brandi Carlile - By the Way, I Forgive You (6)
• R.E.M. - Automatic For the People (6)
• Nickel Creek - This Side (5)
• Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger (5)
• Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True (5)
• Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (5)
• Cake - Fashion Nugget (5)
• Clem Snide - End of Love (5)
• Nickel Creek - A Dotted Line (5)

Favorite albums first listened to in 2020

• Jim Sullivan - U.F.O.
• Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
• The Delfonics - The Delfonics
• Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
• Al Green - I'm Still in Love With You
• Roy Orbison - Mystery Girl
• Sam & Dave - Hold On, I'm Coming
• Toots & the Maytals - Just Like That
• Black Pumas - Black Pumas

 

 

Movies

Movies watched - 147

Movies seen at the theatre - 5

Fully animated movies - 23

Black and white movies - 6

Movies watched by country:

• USA - 123
• Japan - 12
• UK - 3
• Ireland - 3
• Sweden - 1
• Spain - 1
• South Korea - 1
• New Zealand - 1
• Germany - 1
• Canada - 1

 Favorite movies first watched in 2020

• Parasite

• Grave of the Fireflies

• Black Swan

• Baraka

• Fateful Findings

• Boyhood

• 12 Angry Men

• Hands on a Hard Body

• May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers

• Wolfwalkers

• Jacob's Ladder

• Princess Mononoke (but only because I'd already seen Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro; all the Hayao Miyazaki movies are great) 

 

 

 

 Driving

Total miles driven - 12,473.5

Most miles driven in a day - 1,075.1 (December 26)

Days without any driving - 12

Dining

Restaurant meals - 180 (most of these were carryout/drive thru)

Coffee out - 95 (Panera rewards is a dangerous thing!)

Local restaurants patronized more than once:

• Uncle Bob's Homemade Ice Cream - Eureka, IL
• Pegasus Pizza - Morton, IL
• M&M Twistee Treat - East Peoria, IL
• Leaves 'n Beans - Morton & Peoria, IL
• The Fox Pub - Peoria, IL
• Italian Villa - Henry, IL
• Ice Cream Shack - Washington, IL
• Cranwill's Drive In - Pekin, IL
• BBQ Smokewagon - East Peoria, IL
• 30-30 Coffee - Peoria, IL

 

Books

For a year with so much down time, this was in incredibly slow reading year for me. Astericks indicate books I read out loud to the kids.

• The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
• American Gods - Neil Gaiman
• Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
• *The Horse and His Boy - C.S. Lewis
• Theft By Finding - David Sedaris
• *The Last Battle - C.S. Lewis
• *Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling
• *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling (unfinished)
• Heart of Darkness - Joseph Konrad (unfinished)

Running

• Total distance run - 739.3 miles
• Time run - 121 hours, 48  minutes, 47 seconds
• Longest run - 11.02 miles
• Average pace - 9:53
• Longest daily running streak - 5 days (9/21-25 & 11/3-7)

So there you have it; I'm a nerd, and I've proven it.

Below are some of my resolutions for 2021, which I will likely be writing about in the future; probably not taking as detailed statistics though.

Music

• Write 12 new songs
• Start a band
• Record most of the songs I've written

Movies

• 3-year goal - Watch a movie from every country in the world

Running

• Run at least one marathon in 2021

Fitness

• I lost 30 pounds between fall 2019 through 2020. I want to lose 20 more in 2021.

Writing

• Write at least 6 blog posts