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The Ol’ Switcheroo
Dispatches are my palette cleanser between stories. Think of them as a curated clearing house of thoughts, asides and the occasional prose.
Today, instead of ending with notable pieces I found on Substack, I’d like to flip the script and start there —
Jason Thompson - Like Fogerty? Baseball? Centerfield is the closest thing to Ron Shelton’s “I believe” speech I’ve read in a long time. And Slow Ride is a roaring, Viking ode, to the history of Foghat’s anthem to hedonism.
Michael Maupin 🄾🄵 🅂🅃🄾🅁🅈🅂🄷🄴🄳 - I kid you not, weekly I remember his friend-of-a-friend story about Waterskiing with Bob Dylan. This damn tale is so crammed in my grey matter that I’ve considered telling it as one of my own. Oh, and he’s wrapped it all up in a great reminder to be curious.
Summer Koester is one of those writers who get me fired up. Go read Men, bears, and men who wish they were bears and tell me I’m wrong. She’s not only right on the mark but, boy, does she bring the data. She’s also right about black bears being cowards.
Vánechka (aka Vanya) - On Appnesia and other ailments will make you wonder why we haven’t seen a new pill on the market. Ask your doctor if it’s right for you.
Kevin Alexander did me a solid. I’m a recent New Order fan and I tumbled into his epic 35 years as a New Order fan write up. Crikey. I’m still referencing it as I collect my own thoughts.
Non-Sequitur(s)
The other day, both kids napped at once—a rare parent’s anomaly. I dozed off in my chair and dreamt of a solo moon mission. Others were supposed to be there to help harvest soil samples, but were stuck in a TSA line. Alone on the moon, I felt something was wrong. I shouldn’t have been operating the machines without permission, and I feared getting in trouble. Anyone want to interpret this through Freud, Jung, or Faraday’s lens?
In my late teens I worked at Blockbuster. Every week some stoner would call and ask, “Do you have Children of the Corn 3?” We never did. And I still wonder if that guy ever got to see it.
I can't decide if giving my kid a computer with a keyboard in a touchscreen world will either give him an edge in the future or just make him shake his fist at kids sooner.
Eccentric Epics
A few days ago I posted this Note:
I’ve been noodling on a very experimental piece, different from anything I’ve written. But I’ve been hesitant to publish it. I mean, I think it’s interesting, would anyone else?
Like I’ve come to expect on Substack, the replies and DMs were both helpful and inspiring. Some talked about caveats, like readership falling off during longer works, while others noted how serialization is a great learning tool. I took all of this to mean it’s still the wild wild West here — there’s no “one way” to express your creativity. And that, dear friends, is the kind of challenge I like.
So, next week I’ll drop the first post of my limited series: Produce, Me?
Big thanks to Eric Falden, S.E. Reid, C. M. Setledge, Adam Lutzi Rockwell, Jack Backes, Niccolò Hilgendorf and Claudia Befu Ibarra for the encouragement! Please go subscribe and read their work.
Music
The Subdudes - Next to me
Visage - Fade to Grey
Gary Clark Jr. - Maktub
NIN + Gary Numan - Cars — h/t to Michael Maupin for this recommendation
I always love a good music rec, thank you! Also, your nonsequiturs (omg why can I not spell that word) are amazing. And thanks so much for the shoutout on my bear men story, J.!
Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed the New Order piece.
P.S. This version of 'Cars' is dynamite. I'll bet I've seen it 20 times and it still gets me going.