Thursday, July 12, 2018

Serious as Serious Can Be

I've spent a fair amount of time in my hometown over the past three weeks. It's a 30 to 45 minute drive each way so the trip gives me plenty of time to listen to music. zson accompanied me on one or two of these trips and he has a bizarre musical palate for a seven-year-old--I suspect no one else in his class gets in the car and demands LCD Soundsystem or The King Khan and BBQ Show songs by name. Lately he's into Jane's Addiction and we were listening to "Nothing's Shocking" as we pulled into Teaneck. Driving around town listening to this album made me feel particularly maudlin, as it pulled up memories of time spent inebriated with friends twenty-five-plus years ago. Then "Summertime Rolls" came on.



For a second, the line "It's oh so serious, as serious as can be" made me think of the serious state of things around me, but then I snapped out of it. This is a goddamn love song about summertime love, the one of the most fleeting and youthful things on earth. It isn't serious!



I realized I needed to lighten up, remember the Gheorghe mission statement, and try to take things in stride. So from the depths of my iTunes library, here are a bunch of fun songs about summer to help you (or at least me) get through the rest of June.










I used to know how to make yootoob videos turn into a playlist in an embedded player but clearly I don't remember how. No matter! It isn't worth fretting over. Just enjoy the tunes.


62 comments:

Whitney said...

Summertiiiiime and the livin's easy
And Zman's on the microphone with Rob m.c.
All the people in the dance will agree
That we're well qualified to represent the GTB

Marls said...

The lack of Mungo Jerry is disturbing

Whitney said...

Dude, it's in the Spotify playlist.

Mungo Jerry, some of the best facial hair ever.

zman said...

Mungo Jerry isn't in my iTunes library and these songs were pulled "from the depths of my iTunes library."

zman said...

About an hour left on Mike's watch. Get your bids ready!

Marls said...

Sorry Z. I pulled a Dave and only looked at the pictures.

TR said...

You could go a million ways by finishing this sentence:

“I pulled a Dave and...”

zman said...

If you get an Aston Martin DB11, don't get vanity plates reading "AM DB11."

Marls said...

The 30k fee that Christies is adding on is a nice return for taking some photos.

T.J. said...

god damn Fresh Prince/Jazzy Jeff song is a banger

zman said...

The fee seems steep but it's Christie's. You can buy from them with confidence. eBay less so.

Whitney said...

And they write condition report poetry like "There is a nick to the lug at 7 o'clock."

zman said...

zwoman says that reading the condition reports are like reading diagnostic reports from a radiologist. You can only understand ~69% of it.

rob said...

half in the bag in the afternoon for the second day in a row. sitting atop carters mountain drinking cider. just watched a dude propose to his lady. life is good. love is good.

Dave said...

LCD sound system? jane's addiction? zson has great taste!

where did he get it?

Dave said...

life is not good for that guy proposing to his lady, as he's been drunkenly surveilled by rob.

rootsminer said...

Z, I'm glad zson exhibits legit indie-cred, but don't you want to get him into black music, like you did me?

Rob, did you see the doctor of philosophy with the Rasputin poster on that mountain?

rob said...

no, but i did see a dude with a beard down to his knee on the downtown mall this morning.

Donna said...

So, can I just say, that I come to this space because I find you guys generally funny and fun, and usually pretty sane (!!) and in line with my political views, which in the world we're living in is helpful as the state of our nation leaves me puzzled and irked and irate kind of all at the same time.
So, coming to read this blog makes me informed about sports and music and stuff - helps our family buy a car - and most importantly makes me laugh.
But today I'm coming here to vent - for a moment - if y'all will allow it..just for a moment...and my husband's already heard it, and I have to be careful around the children (they don't need to know how shitty the church can be, at least not like this yet!), and so here goes - Forgive me!!
I spent the last two weeks dealing with the worst of the worst pastoral care situations - a 45 year old was in ICU - medical-induced coma - because, basically of hospital negligence, and we buried her this past Sunday. And it sucked. And I worked a TON. And that's my job and my role and all of that. And okay, fine. And the family was grateful. And I'm glad I could do what I'm supposed to do and the church could and all of that. But needless to say that left me exhausted and sad and feeling quite existential about things, yes...
Well, Wednesday, YESTERDAY - last night, I was moderating the church's monthly session meeting - meeting of the leaders of the church - and this almost 90 year old man, screamed and yelled at me and stormed out - of a freakin' church meeting - because he's unhappy that I asked them to add a sentence to a policy about how we count the money that is collected at church. OM-F**ing-sweet Lord!!
Okay. I think I'm done now. But felt the need to get this out. After doing so with my husband. Who poor thing has to hear from me about this stuff because who else can I tell?!
He likes to say "this is the water we swim in"...but good grief. I am so over it.
So - in case you were ever wondering what pastors do besides the Sunday Worship thing - this is it. Doesn't it sound fun?!!!
And that's of course if you're someone other than a crazy person like Pat Robertson or Joel Osteen.
Thanks for listening y'all. If you got to the end anyhow.
Here's to hoping y'all's Thursday and rest of the week is significantly better and I'm looking for the upswing.

Marls said...

Donna - please vent anytime you want. Most of us have at some point or another on here.

As a semi-professional insurance person, I can tell you that some of the worst risks for crime insurance are churches and non-profits because people go ape shit when people try to put the proper controls in place. You are doing the right thing. At best, the guy is an old cranky person. At worst, he is an old thief.

rob said...

i’m starting to think that all our problems could be solved if we remove people from the equation. hurry up, robots.

zman said...

Vent Donna! I briefly dated a minister who provided pastoral care to cancer patients in hospice--that was pretty much her entire ministerial practice. This is some of the most important, emotionally taxing work anyone in any profession can do. Vent all you need to.

zman said...

And rootsy, he's also into Solomon Burke and early Nina Simone. I tried a little Tribe but I want to avoid curse words and racial slurs to the extent possible so we haven't listened to much hiphop together.

Maybe I'll let him listen to The Jungle Brothers ...

Whitney said...

Run-DMC’s first album is just begging for Zson to listen

No cursing
Moral lessons
No misogyny
It’s seminal
It’s super def

And oh yeah, Jam-Master Jay is the one in charge

Whitney said...

Oliver Perez is warming up for the Indians.

WTFF

zman said...

And if you say you've heard these rhymes before we're gonna have to fight cuz I just made the motherfuckers up last night.

TR said...

Donna - don’t you dare get offended by that old guy, with his...loose skin...and his...old balls.

Dave said...

hello venting gheorghies

Danimal said...

Don't sell yourself short Marls - you're quarter professional.
And speaking of the water we swim in, you are looking live from a shabby Holiday Inn Express in Sarasota, FL as we start a 3-day meet with our state's fastest kids.
72 hours
5 people
1 hotel room
1000's of screaming parents
0 kids who can hear their screaming parents
1000+ dollars by the time it's all over with
17 meltdowns (dad and girls combined)
9 minutes cumulative competitive swimming, give or take

rob said...

that sounds sublime

Whitney said...

Danimal, if it gets too crazy you can go hit some balls with my folks. They are Sarasota residents now.

Whitney said...

And Donna, feel free to unleash fury here. Our old freshman hallmate Rob has been doing it for 15 years, especially for the last 20 months.

Danimal said...

Thanks for the rec Whit. Do they live in a golf course dev? Lakewood Ranch is my guess. We work for a couple of joints down here - Ritz-Carlton and The Concession. Sadly, no golf during this trip. Word.

Whitney said...

And zman, don’t alter Reverend Run’s original rhymes. He didn’t swear on the 1st record.

Now if you say you heard my rhymes, we're gonna have to fight
Cause I just made the super-def rhymes last night

zman said...

Fair enough. My Jungle Brothers reference was supposed to be Dickensian foreshadowing, but it appears I scheduled my JB's post for Monday. So now it's more of a Trumpian teaser.

Whitney said...

Dan, they don’t. They live in a nice spot next to the Ritz. Say hi to them at the bar there.

Whitney said...

I’m en route to Raleigh to see Tedeschi Trucks, Marcus King, and Drive-By Truckers. Fairly enthused.

Mark said...

The Ritz in Sarasota is nice. I’ve stayed for a couple of weddings.

Zman is a better father than I. The curse words fly all over my car while my daughter and I ride around listening to hip hop. She knows she can’t curse but I’m bent on giving her some good taste in hip hop before she’s infected with the awful taste that her friends are sure to have.

And while Sublime’s “Summertime” is good, the remix with The Pharcyde is better.

Whitney said...

Happy birthday to Dennis

rootsminer said...

Glad to hear Zson is getting some soul stylings.

Mark, I think Z knows his kid wouldn't be able to keep a lid on age-inappropriate stuff he hears. I know mine suck at it.

Mark said...

Solid point, Rootsy. I’d forgotten about some of the tales of Zson.

rob said...

marcus thornton is suiting up for armored athlete, the #4 seed in the northeast region of the basketball tournament. the team is mostly made up of midwestern d1 players - including cody zeller and a couple of other indiana players. victor oladipo is an investor. they play their first game tomorrow at 3:10. the tbt remains a damn genius idea, and it's only getting better.

Dave said...

zman, where's my two sentence album review? i worked my ass off on those two sentences!

zman said...

Let's not forget the time zson said "Fuck that grandma" to zmother-in-law.

Dave, I'm spreading the layzman filler out.

Whitney said...

In case it was ever in question, the Truckers continue to deliver the goods. Even as an opener.

Mark said...

I love TBT and watch far more games than I probably should. I’d love to attend some of the later round games in the future. I’ll be in NYC next week and was hoping the games were there already but they are not. So I’m gonna have to hang out with my family.

Whitney said...

TBT... Marls just loves it. He’s always been a fan of Throwback Thursday on Facebook.

rob said...

just saw the mr. rogers documentary. so good. the world misses that man.

TR said...

Mark - lmk if you are up for a drink in NYC. I owe you one after a decade of not meeting you.

TR said...

Wife and I are on Episode 10 of Staircase. Such a bizarre story.

Whitney said...

Any of you watching Wimbledon this AM? Not bad action. Good action.

Whitney said...

Nadal’s grunt/moan sounds like Flavor Flav’s in the chorus of Don’t Believe the Hype.

TR said...

I did a lot of yelling at 8 y/o boys last night. They were mentally checked out and we lost our last regular season game, falling to 10-1-1. While I don't like the negative momentum into the playoffs, the burden of an undefeated season is now off the backs of my boys. We don't need a repeat of what happened to the 2007 Patriots.

Mark said...

TR- I’m definitely down to get a drink. We’ll be staying near Union Square Thursday and Friday and Brooklyn on Saturday and Sunday.

Unrelated: I have little to no interest in The Big 3 basketball league. Watching old athletes play half court does nothing for me. With that said, seeing Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf ball out on guys at nearly 50 years old is pretty cool.

Whitney said...

Daydrinking at a craft beer joint in Raleigh. Good town. Last two times I was here was a Santa Stumble in 2012 and a rugby weekend vs N.C. State circa ‘91.

For the record, not leaving a daydrinking craft beer comment to veil an Indigo Girls concert attendance.

zman said...

WKNC get it done, 88.1 on your FM dial.

Mark said...

Zman speaks the truth. That’s a dope station.

rob said...

some of us are secure enough in our manhood to harmonize to the indigo girls. ain't that right, rootsy?

Mr KQ said...

Speaking of harmonizing, Helplessly Hoping brings the goods on the ol hifi setup. Or any CSN(Y) tune.

Whitney said...

I’m somewhere in Raleigh at somebidy’s lair listening to Outlandos d’Amour on vinyl. Cheers.

Whitney said...

aka hi gheorghies

rootsminer said...

Rob, our harmonies are manly af!