The FIFA men's World Cup has expanded to 48 teams for next year's event in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. Don't overthink it: as the great Georgio Chinaglia was wont to say, it's the money, you moron.
I think it'll be bad for the event, at least in the early stages. More mediocre teams against the world's top sides means more lopsided results. It's a bit reminiscent of the women's version in 2019, when the U.S. memorably pasted an overmatched Thailand by a 13-0 tally. I don't know if Germany will drop a baker's dozen on New Caledonia, but I also don't think I'd care to watch that match.
The silver lining to FIFA's greed-grab (or, more simply said, FIFA) is that we get more celebrations as teams unaccustomed to the World Cup stage qualify for the event for the first time, or the first time in decades.
And so I give you celebration this fine morning:
Cape Verde qualified out of Africa, the first time the Blue Sharks have ever made the big bracket.
Ireland trailed Hungary heading into stoppage time, then scored twice to keep their hopes alive. Go to the 4:00 mark to see Troy Parrott's third goal of the game, the one that means the Irish qualify for the UEFA knockout round.
Cape Verde set a record as the smallest nation to ever qualify for the World Cup. And then Curacao beat it. The island nation has a population of 155,000, or roughly one third of that of my county. I'm putting a squad together for 2030.
Scotland and Denmark were knotted at two late in their match, with the Scots needing a win to clinch qualification. See the video at 18:51 for Kieran Tierney's go-ahead goal and 21:50 for Kenny McLain's clincher from midfield.
And finally, no nation had to overcome more than Haiti, who haven't played in a World Cup since 1974 and weren't permitted to host any qualifying matches due to unrest at home. They went ahead and qualified anyway.
A recurrence of a segment! Other than Dave's parody, that is. I do have a number of these truncated albums stored as Spotify playlists, but they each need a bit of backstory. (If only someone would abridge Whitney's backstory like he does the music...) So let's dig into the next one.
Artist: Fleetwood Mac
Album: Tusk
Released: October 12, 1979
Length: 1 hour, 14 minutes
Vinyl Discs: 2
Backstory: By now, the saga of Fleetwood Mac is well-worn, overly-trod ground. But what a story is theirs! It really has it all... short of a murder, perhaps.
On the surface, the Mac story is simply:
Blues band forms in London in '67
Named after drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie
The orig
Some records, some repute, a couple of surprise hits
Founder/leader Peter Green departs three years later
Blues no longer, pop all the way
Additions, subtractions; Bob Welch and Mac's wife sustain them
Some records, some repute, a couple of pop hits
More lineup changes and disarray, until...
Lindsey and Stevie join the band in 1975!
The rest is pop history.
Oh, wait. That's when it got really crazy. Chart-toppers, international stardom, millions upon millions of dollars, cocaine, drama, bad breakups within the two intra-band couples, cocaine, in-fighting, resignations, expulsions, cocaine, affairs within and without the band, time off, comebacks, everyone banging everyone, and cocaine. And that's the tip of the iceberg.
One year ago, Apple Original Films announced that there was a Fleetwood Mac documentary in development. One of those "definitive" ones. Seminal. All that. [Not a single piece of news on that rock doc in the year since. Oh well. My guess is that the loony Mac-ers make any such endeavor... difficult. ] But we shall see. Until then, you have this.
One story about Fleetwood Mac:
2 weeks into their 1973 tour, the band found out that guitarist Bob Weston was sleeping with Mick Fleetwood's wife Jenny Boyd.
Jenny Boyd's sister is Pattie Boyd, George Harrison's former wife. George wrote "Something" and other songs about her.
...but Eric Clapton, one of his best friends, was in love with her and wrote "Layla" about her.
She eventually left the Quiet Beatle for Slowhand, and he wrote "Wonderful Tonight" about her.
Can anyone claim to have more rock hits written about them? What a muse.
The '73 US tour was immediately cancelled whilst in Lincoln, NE. And it wasn't just that Weston was sacked; the band was done. With a couple of dozen tour dates unfulfilled.
Then... amazingly... Mac manager Clifford Davis "claimed that he owned the name 'Fleetwood Mac' and the right to choose the band members." And so he threw together a band of randos to go out and play Fleetwood Mac songs at those shows.
That lawsuit debacle gave them time to clear their heads and forced them to relocate to California. Which led to the intro of Mick Fleetwood and Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks... as highlighted in the music doc Sound City. Reviewed expertly here.
Another story about Fleetwood Mac:
During this Tusk era, the band was partying so hard that when Christine McVie started dating Beach Boy Dennis Wilson -- a partier legendary on this plant and maybe several others -- those close to Wilson later said that the extreme coke life that FMac had going on trampolined him into a next-level state that continued until his terrible wasteful and sad demise in 1983. If you can one-up a friggin' Beach Boy with your drug habit... Jesus, man.
#shouldabeenmike
So... Tusk. 1975, the renewed Fleetwood Mac lineup comes out with an eponymously titled record. Massive hit. Two years later, after the romantic implosions could've ripped the band apart actually made them creative wellsprings, Rumours. Which made the prior album look like a Random Idiots release. There are big hits and then there is this one.
As sober as 1977 got
Two more years of touring, cashing checks, and Tony Montana facedives, but then it's time for a new album. How do you follow-up a megasmash?
By basically fucking off and dicking around in the studio and having little splintered factions of the full band get together here and there!
For other acts, this would be catastrophic, but when you are a band of ace songwriters and seasoned players at the top of their game... even a misstep sells 4 million copies and has some good shit on it.
It was certainly categorically rougher than the smewthe mewsic on Rumours. And it lacked the catchiest of melodies and wicked sharp FU heartbreak lyrics. But mainly, it was just too damn long. You try to rein in a band that just sold 10 million copies with their last go at it. Double album it is!
There were stories about using studio trash cans as percussion instruments and such. And tracks rough-cut at home studios, then brought into the fancy digs and... kept pretty much as is. There was a sense of being more new wave and... well, not punk, but with a somewhat punk DIY approach. (As much as this band could muster that.) Plus band members generally hung over or messed up all the while, and a plethora of guests stopping by, and the usual madness when a high-profile rock and roll band does anything.
Tusk era... yikes
But they pulled off what is mostly an unsung but worthy effort. Give it a listen... as reduced to a single LP!
My story: My folks didn't have Tusk in the record collection, the one I raided routinely from 1982-1988 (and later inherited). The self-titled and Rumours, of course. But I never heard this sprawling set back then.
In college, you got access to exponentially more music, and freshman year someone lent our buddy Hightower Tusk on CD. (Let's face it, he "borrowed" it and still has it somewhere.) With the aid of Milwaukee's Best, we blared the title track ad nauseum on the hall. The story of the USC marching band at Dodger Stadium was phenomenal. (Check out Stevie's baton twirling.)
Fast forward to 2003. Camper van Beethoven had just reunited after a decade of dormancy (and Cracker spawning), an event worthy of saluting with my attendance at a couple of their live shows. Soon thereafter, a new CD of theirs appeared on shelves... Tusk. A note for note rendering of Camper van playing the Mac. Weird.
(The liner notes said they'd uncovered the tapes from a snowed-in weekend in 1986. Not true, it turned out -- this was done when they got together in 2002 to bone up on their CvB tunes after reforming and just went ahead and did this. Weirder.)
I bought it, predictably. Oh, the disposable income back then. It's a mess, but fun, sort of. Kind of. I mean, it's Lowery belting out the Buckingham./Nicks/McVie lyrics without the benefit of their vocal prowess and strewn together instrumentation. It's reasonably cool.
And most importantly, it made me go back and dig into the original for the first time. Like Mikey, I liked it! But it was long and sprawling. Not cohesive and taut.
What if, though...?
Last rec: as always, listen to it loud.
Fleetwood Mac, Tusk on One Record
Side A (22:08)
1. The Ledge
This is my second-favorite rock song called "The Ledge," I really dig this loose sound. This is not the high-production gloss of the Mac that you hear on albums that immediately preceded or followed Tusk. It is layered only with Lindsey Buckingham's madness. He got rid of everyone else's takes at his song and kept his home studio output on all instruments and vocals. Well, the official lineup on this song is:
Lindsey Buckingham – guitars, bass, drums, lead and backing vocals
Mick Fleetwood – possible snare drum
Awesome. Punkish rock anti-pop and the perfect way to start this insane record.
2. Think About Me
Veering right back into the expected F-Mac production... albeit with a wee touch of muscle and some cool Christine McVie lyrics. She is missed.
3. Sara
Now this sounds like Fleetwood Mac. Stevie lilting over Lindsey's electric and acoustics. Some ethereal back vox. A song either about Nicks' baby with Don Henley that never was, or her best friend Sara who slept with Mick Fleetwood while Stevie was doing the same. Either way, it's the one real hit from this mess of a release.
4. That's All for Everyone
Yep, everyone. Well, not everyone -- Buckingham was responsible for lead and backing vocals, electric guitars, charango, kalimba, additional bass guitar, piano, drums, and percussion. The rest of his mates chimed in where they could. It's the "fun" in "dysfunctional."
5. I Know I'm Not Wrong
This one didn't even have the trimmings of Stevie, Christine, John, or Mick helping out. LB plays everything, including harmonica. And yet with a chorus: "Don't blame me / Please be strong / I know I'm not wrong." Effffff you guys. No song was ever more Lindsey Buckingham.
6. Sisters of the Moon
We will round out our Side A with some more Stevie. A haunting little number thanks to her crooning and Lindsey's Strat work. A good tune released as an unsuccessful single. (A theme.)
Side B (18:44)
1. What Makes You Think You're the One
We'll start the second side of the record just like we did the first. Loose and rude Lindsey B. Tusk producer Ken Caillat claims that Buckingham took aim at his ex-lover in this song and "imitated Stevie's distinctive vibrato, giving it a bleating, goat-like quality, and her rudimentary piano quality, which he knew made her self conscious." Not very nice.
2. Over & Over
Again, we slide back into the lovely Christine. Silky. This song led off the double-album Tusk. What a head fake. I won't do that to listeners!
3. Not That Funny
Wait. Wait a minute. Is this Lindsey Buckingham singing "Don't blame me" yet again?? In not even a distant cousin relative of "I Know I'm Not Wrong," but more of a half-sister kind of way? Unreal. Apparently someone felt like a pariah in 1979. This amuses me greatly.
4. Walk a Thin Line
A much sweeter sound than lyric. According to Wikipedia, "Walk a Thin Line" was inspired by a Charlie Watts drum fill on "Sway", from the Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers. This drum fill caught Buckingham's interest, and he intended to feature the part on one of his Tusk songs. Now ya know.
5. Tusk
This is one of my favorite rock songs of all time, just for the pure fun of it. A great album closer. Should've been, now it is.
Not long after the time he killed Prince, the artist formerly known thereas got to work in his Paisley Park studio to produce a compilation of the work done under his once and future name. According to Prince Vault, the video was creating to satisfy the wishes of the promoters of 1995's Ultimate Live Tour, who wanted him to play the hits. Instead, the video was played as an introduction to those shows. The resulting mashup was released as a CD single called The Purple Medley. And until this week, I'd never heard it, nor of it.
Just in case you're in the same boat, enjoy this funky mix.
When I began this post I was going to write one of my usual attempts to be dry and witty but decided that a picture is more effective in this situation.
That's a helluva lede! If you read on you'll learn "New Milford Police Officer Desmond Kivlehan was on patrol when he saw Luke Randall, of Harrington Park, hit a parked 2023 Toyota around 12:20 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10, Captain Kevin Van Saders said." Sounds like a typical Monday to me.
Johnny Law "discovered vodka bottles and a large quantity of cocaine in individually wrapped bags inside the vehicle." But that sounds typical for a DeLoran driver, no? There's more!
Randall, who was also listed as a wanted missing person from Harrington Park, was arrested at the scene.
He was charged with DUI, careless driving, reckless driving, failure to possess insurance and registration, driving without a license, and other related traffic offenses.
On Nov. 3, Randall was charged with DUI, careless driving, throwing objects from motor vehicle, and driving without al license in Harrington Park, records show.
Vodka bottles, 87 baggies of cocaine, and two DUIs in seven days ... all in a DeLorean? I don't agree with those choices (except maybe the DeLorean) but Luke sounds like the life of the party.
Every town has its quirky local landmarks. These are the kinds of things that make a place more than just a pin on a map. In the case of my little burg, an institution is reclaiming its rightful location.
From 1947 to 1994, The Mighty Midget kitchen stood at the Y-shaped intersection of Market and Loudoun Streets in Leesburg, standing sentry at the westbound entry point into downtown. The aptly named takeout spot was fashioned from the fuselage of a World War II vintage B-29 bomber and served burgers, dogs, and fries.
The structure was retired and sat in storage for several years before it found new life a few blocks away as part of the Hamburg Döner, a German street food and beer joint. I had more than a few brats from its tiny kitchen during the Döner's annual Oktoberfest. After the Döner closed in 2019, the kitchen itself stood dormant.
That's about to change. At this very moment, work crews are installing the newly-renovated Mighty Midget at its original location. The metal of the fuselage is gleaming, almost as if it's found a renewed purpose, a happy little kitchen. Avis Renshaw, owner of another Leesburg icon, Mom's Apple Pie (which shares a parking lot with the relocated Mighty Midget, will run what she calls, "the original food truck without wheels" when it reopens next year.
I'm very much looking forward to a mini-summit with Marls at the Midget. Worlds will be coming together, and my town will be all the better for it.
Ignacia Fernandez is competing in the Miss World Chile pageant in her home country. Last week, she performed in the talent portion of the show. As you might expect, she's gorgeous. As you may not expect, she's the frontwoman of Decessus, a death metal band. So here's what television audiences across Chile saw on November 2:
Here she is with her bandmates. This is 'Dark Flames', from their newest album.
Books, covers, etc. Take this energy into your weekend, my friends.
Greetings, gheorghies, on this fine and fair Friday that also happens to be G:TBday. Remember, G:TBday?
It's Gheorghe: The Blog's Birthday!
This here blog turns 22 today. I remember my 22nd birthday, I was (still) in college (still) and was (still) drinking at the Greenleafe in Williamsburg. I remember thinking that I got as inebriated or more so than I even did on my 21st. Way to aim high.
22 years ago the country was mired in a lot of political and military doings that divided the country -- specifically, the war in Iraq. What a mess that was.
Oh, were it all that quaint and simple these days. It's like when Kyle Reese went back to the mid-80's to find and protect John Connor's mom -- yeah, L.A. was a dangerous and weird place then, but compared to the morass of the future, hallelujah.
Side Note: what about a mash-up where Reese and the Terminator overshoot the mid-80's and go to 1955 and encounter George McFly and Lorraine and Biff and Doc Brown? Could be amusing.
Aaaaaand I just now googled that. And of course it already exists. In more than one iteration! The robots are already taking over!
G:TB brains would've done that funnier, methinks.
Anywho... it's a silly and obvious understatement to say that the world is a different place than it was on November 7, 2003. I mean, 22 years prior to that day was November 7, 1981. When "Private Eyes" by Hall & Oates topped the charts and Raiders of the Lost Ark was still big at the box office. And the World Series had recently been won by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Oh, wait...
Gheorghe: The Blog nostalgists often polish off Rob's memorable first post, the GTB mission statement and reissue it -- hell we did that when we first coined G:TBday in 2018.
But what about subsequent posts? The very second post is one worth looking at 22 years later.
Take a peek:
I'd say it holds up pretty well. Kudos, tiny dictator. And nice mention of the Wiggles. (The Wiggles documentary is worthy, if sweet and void of gripping controversy.)
I harbor no illusions about how shitty the next year is gonna be with a declining and addled POTUS and his evil henchmen (are there any of the kind of henchmen) one mid-term electoral defeat away from an avalanche of oversight. But today we mark in celebration.
Zohran Mamdani has freedom that nearly every high-profile pol doesn't: he has no Presidential aspirations because he's ineligible to win the office. So he doesn't have to pander or triangulate. One of the remarkable aspects of his mayoral campaign in New York is the consistency of his messaging - perhaps matched only by his seemingly genuine affection for all the people of his city.
Here's the speech he gave after he won last night. You really should make time to watch it.
And for good measure, here's the righteous Billy Bragg sharing Woody Guthrie's evergreen message.
My daughter texted me in the early hours of the morning, saying, "feels like freshman year". She was referring to yet another drubbing suffered by Colorado's football team, who fell at home to Arizona by a 52-17 score that wasn't even that close. The Buffs have been outscored 105-24 over the past two weeks, and fell to 3-6 on the year.
Travis Hunter ain't walking through that door. So what happens next for a program that's great at hype and proving to be less so on the field.
It's no secret that head coach Deion Sanders has dealt with a number of health issues over the past several years. He had two toes amputated in 2021 due to issues related to blood clots while he was the head man at Jackson State. Then, at the start of this season, cancer led to surgery to remove and reconstruct his bladder. The 58 year-old still gets around reasonably well, and his carriage reminds one of a man once one the world's most athletic humans, but those kinds of traumatic interventions must take a toll.
Sanders' kids are no longer in Boulder, except for his namesake who runs the Buffs' social media program (and runs it well). That same kid, Deion Sanders Jr. echoed online fan sentiment last night, reposting a fan's message on X that said "absolutely embarrassing" and adding a one-word statement of his own: "very".
Coach Prime has unquestionably been a boon for Colorado's athletic department, the university's public image, and even the local economy. But after this season, the Buffs will have one winning year in three to show for all the buzz. Sanders is a brilliant marketer and brand-builder. He's brought some talented athletes to campus, and a coterie of big-name assistant coaches. As the evidence continues to mount, however, it's becoming clear that he's a mediocre in-game coach, and that's probably being kind - the Buffs routinely mangle clock management, rarely make impactful adjustments, and don't ever come from behind to win games.
So we're left with a proud man in physical decline who has admitted he doesn't like to recruit and increasingly looks like he's not up to the gameday demands of big-time football, but is clearly an asset that supports the university's broader aims. A modest proposal, then.
Make Coach Prime CEO Prime.
Colorado AD Rick George should create a new role for his rainmaker, letting him lead the program as chief executive while hiring a coach to manage the details in practice and during games. This would reduce Prime's physical workload, allow him to focus on the things he's best at, and give the Buffs a better chance to compete in the Big 12.
The job would appeal to a certain type of young coach who wants someone else to deal with the public-facing responsibilities of the job so he can focus on football. Boise State's 37 year-old Spencer Danielson is 21-6 as a head coach, and says he's happy out of the limelight. He fits the profile, though.
George has shown a willingness to take big swings and call plays not in the standard AD manual. He's tied himself at the waist with Sanders, and he's got to see that the current situation is growing untenable. Plenty of people have disregarded G:TB's advice (looking at you, Democratic Party) to their detriment. Rick George would do well to heed it.
NPR calls the new project from Waxhatchee's Katie Crutchfield with her sister Allison "far better than your standard side project". Recording as Snocaps, the sisters released an eponymous new record yesterday. It's a vibe. Hat tip to the Squeak for hipping us to it. Turn it up loud as you roll out into the sun-dappled autumn leafscape to enjoy a sublime East Coast Saturday.
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