Gheorghemas Day Three: Three Beauts

On the third day of Gheorghemas, Big Gheorge gave to me....

Three beauties, my kids. He also threw me a curve ball w/the following formatting - go ahead, let me have it. I'm here for it. Did this in Word and brought it over here, unsuccessfully. Feel free editors, to do your thing. 

Haven’t talked about the kiddos here absent my son when he was on his swim path. As of July, we’ve three teens in the house, two gals – Grace & Mikayla at 15 & 13; and our boy Declan, 17. Interesting times!

The girls, well, have a hate/hate relationship. Or at least the eldest does. The day we brought Grace’s new sister home, her world and disposition changed within about two minutes. She was precocious, really funny, emotive. She’s still pretty funny but it’s of the dry, cynical kind. Emotive has been replaced with stoic. Gracey was a pseudo preemie – about a month early and weighing about 3 ½ lbs. Teeny little thing who has always been smaller than her peers, and by 8 or 9, slighter than her sis. 

She followed her brother into the pool at the age of 7’ish. She was decent, slightly above average and pretty tough, gritty and very disciplined. Missing practice wasn’t/isn’t an option for her. From the age of 12 into her 14^th year, her progress lagged as compared to her peers. Very little growth physically, so as she watched her mates develop while improving consistently meet after meet, she’d only experience marginal gains, and only rarely. Experiencing stalls in swim is not only common, but a certainty. Stalls like this one, well, that’ll get you down. Throw in the fact that her younger sis shined and shined early, double whammy. It was a tough time for her and us.

To her credit, she gutted it out for too many miserable months before eventually emerging from the drought of all droughts. A bit of a growth spurt, added strength from the dry land sessions, and that grit I mentioned helped her realize an amazing frosh season where she qualified for Districts and then Regionals (which was a stretch to do so) and States (never said it out loud, but based on her times, it was very, very, very unlikely). She not only made it, she qualified for the 500 B Finals (Top 16) as the 13^th seed and finished with the 7^th fastest time. In betting parlance, the odds on this would have been 40 or 50 to 1.  Add a 4^th consecutive State title AND “Rookie of the Year” and you get a giddy Grace. One of my favorite pics...several years ago while attending ND vs VaTech, hence the orange pom pom.

Her sis, a bit different. Naturally sweet, kind, big smile. Similar to her brother, she had the physical attributes that would come in handy. Unlike her brother and until recently, she could give 2 F’s whether she went to practice.  A few years back, she’d sometimes cry on her way to practice at which point we said, “okay, you’re done”. I won’t lie, that really bothered me. What’s the line from The Bronx Tale – “there’s nothing worse than wasted talent”?  A natural and with the swim bod to go with it – legs up to her neck, tall and lean, big feet, long arms. Given her social proclivities, she missed it. Hanging with her peeps is what lured her to practice as it was. The alternative for her was to pick up something else whether an instrument or another sport, and until that time, her mom would assign her chores while her friends were in the pool. Fancy that. She saw the light and returned. 

As I figured, she quickly excelled, and so did her desire to race, to compete, to bring home hardware. With multiple top 20 times in the state across various events, including 5^th in the 200M breast (top 100 in US), ambivalence be gone but maintaining that sweetness. Here she is outpacing her fam during a hike in Acadia...

The D-man. You might remember his exploits from a very young age. He was swimming with the big kids year-round at 8. One of 4, 8-year old boys that year to qualify for FL’s Age Group Champs (FLAGS). Between the ages of 9-12, he took home the high-point award once and if memory serves, was never outside the top 5. At thirteen his thirst began to wane. Bored, tired, burned out plus the added high school workload which he took seriously – the writing was on the wall. 

Fast forward to the end of his freshman high school season where his squad took home the State Championship. He missed qualifying by 1 spot for each of his two events. He took a small break, considered packing it in, but committed to one more year of club & high school swim. He had a couple of club team goals but what he really wanted was to make and contribute to a second consecutive State title for his boys’ team team. He did just that, qualifying for A Finals in both 50 Free and 100 fly. He knew that was going to be his last race (fly). We were pretty sure, but not 100%. Seeded 8^th out of 8 in the heat, winning or placing wasn’t in the cards – a 3^rd place would have required a big drop, seconds vs fractions of a second. He finished 5^th while breaking his high school record. He also swam the fly leg on one relay, and free in another where his team took the top spot in each, as well as that State Title. Given how his and their season ended, we thought he might reconsider. 

Not only did he not reconsider, he did an about face and began working out with the football team the following summer before his junior year. He practically moved into the gym and not thinking it was possible, started eating more. A lot more. Between his first day as a sophomore and first day as a junior, he gained roughly 40 pounds. He added another 30 for his senior year – 240 L B’s. 

He played sparingly as a junior – special teams and occasionally as a blocking back or tight end. But he worked his ass off throughout the season and through the following spring and summer. He moved about position wise, kind of a utility guy but mostly as a tight end and H-Back/fullback, but solely as a blocker. Up until his last three games, he was in on 60-70% of the snaps depending on the package they were running. For the last four games of their season, including two playoff games, he started at right guard and was selected as captain for 2 of those games. Their season ended in the 2^nd round of playoffs a couple of weeks ago. He’s had a couple of small schools reach out, but he’s ready to be a college kid without the commitments. And I’m here for it. A pic of the Captains as they head out to midfield prior to their first playoff game. He's 65. (0 going to Okla; 3 to Ga Southern - studs)

It’s still early days for these three, but could not be prouder of who they are as people. 

Kind contributors in school, at home and socially. Love these little effers.  

Gheorghemas Day Two: Megagheorghasbord

On the second day of Gheorghemas, Big Gheorghe gave to me...

Two Types of Stories
and a Bald Guy with Two Pupp-ies

This most festive of periods is an opportunity for us to turn inward, towards family and friends and away from, as George Will called it today, "a sickening moral slum of an administration" and all it's wrought. (Look at me quoting George Will. That was *not* on our Bingo card.) 

And while that's tempting, before we look on the bright side of life, we're gonna shine leaven it with some bullshit. Forthwith, the rants of the season.

By dint of my position as a leader of one of the DMV's largest youth soccer clubs, I had the occasion today to participate in an event our Club hosted celebrating a very cool organization that helps kids from underserved communities have access to organized soccer programs. I won't mention the organization by name, 'cause they wouldn't want to be associated with the next thing I'm going to say.

The World Cup draw takes place at the Kennedy Center in D.C. on Friday. Because of that, there are a number of FIFA officials in and around the region, and two of them attended the event at our Club. Ostensibly, part of FIFA's mission is to spread the game around the world, and the fellas I met today were lovely and gracious.

Unfortunately, where FIFA spreads the game, corruption and graft usually follow. Since our nation's leadership has become synonymous with those evils, it's natural that FIFA's greed-feathered flock has come together with it. To wit, the world's soccer governing body plans to award a first of it's kind FIFA Peace Prize during the draw ceremony. 

Per FIFA, the new award will be presented each year to a person who has "taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace" and "united people across the world." The notoriously thirsty President* of our country will be in attendance at the ceremony, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino has repeatedly sucked up to him in shameless ways. Y'all, Trump's getting the prize. 

Consider this G:TB's official renunciation of Gianni Infantino and FIFA's leadership**. I only wish he would've been at our event today so I could offer that sentiment in person.

** To be clear, I'm still a sucker for the World Cup, and I'll watch as much of it as I can. I just won't give one red cent to FIFA to do it.

Onward to our next topic.

Rutger Bregman is a Dutch historian and loud critic of the corruption of the modern world economy. His online presence is worth seeking out - he's smart, clear in his thinking, and unsparing in his commentary. Too unsparing for the BBC, it seems. 

During a recent radio address he gave as part of Radio 4's annual Reith Lectures series, Bregman said, "Our elites live-streamed the fire and monetised the smoke. Immorality and unseriousness: those are the two defining traits of our leaders today. And they’re not accidental flaws, but the logical outcome of what I call the survival of the shameless. Today, it’s not the most capable who rise, but the least scrupulous.”

All worth noting, but the BBC cut out a sentence from Bregman's lecture out of what must only be a fear of consequence. The remarks included Bregman's assertion that Donald Trump is "the most openly corrupt president in American history”. Only the listeners didn't hear that part. 

And finally, one more grievance before we get to the good stuff.

Garrett Graff is a terrific writer. I'm working on his oral history of The Manhattan Project, "The Devil Reached Towards the Sky", courtesy of the OBX Dave Book Club. His blog, Doomsday Scenario, is a well reported, and more than frequently depressing summation of current events. 

He recently posted a piece on the checks and balances implied in our system, and how they're failing us at the moment. The nut sentence: "Once you elect or appoint someone who has no moral core — who then appoints people with no moral core and fires those who do — nothing else in the system of checks-and-balances turns out to matter." 

I mean, if you put it that way.

Okay, you've made it this far. Now you get some treats!

FIFA may combine football with fraud, but kids who get to meet their heroes don't care one bit about that. Check out USWNT captain Lindsey Heaps with an overwhelmed admirer after this week's friendly against Italy:

This is what it’s all about ❤️ 🎥 @uswnt.ussoccer.com

[image or embed]

— The Women's Game (@womensgamemib.bsky.social) December 2, 2025 at 9:28 AM

Legendary playwright, author, and screenwriter Tom Stoppard passed away last week. Amidst the outpouring of plaudits for his work, a single letter to the editor stood out and outlined one of the untold ways art has real-world impacts.

The letter, written to the Times of London by Michael Baum (Professor emeritus of surgery; visiting professor of medical humanities, University College London), explained how Stoppard's play Arcadia inspired a cancer research breakthrough:

Someday, hopefully far into the future, I'd appreciate if one of you could pen a similar message to the Loudoun Times-Mirror about G:TB's impact on humanity.

And finally, hope y'all enjoy some comedy with your farce. Deep into a thoroughly-reported ESPN story about Lane Kiffin's departure from Ole Miss for LSU, comes this:

Bodacious Ignatius, it turns out, is more than just a pretty name. The 8th-grader can play some hardball - apparently he's a pretty decent little second-baseman. So while this is the first time you will have heard of him, we're betting it's not the last.

Gheorghemas, Day 1: LFG

We ain't got time to waste (or time to bleed), let's get the world's best faux holiday (as voted on by readers of Nuns' Life) started:

On the first day of Gheorghemas

Big Gheorghe Gave to Me

A bald guy with two pupp-ies

Paddlemaster and His Two Bears

(Much) earlier today in Gopeng, Malaysia, the opening ceremonies for the 2025 International Rafting Federation (IRF) World brought together more than 75 competitors from 20 countries. Teams in four categories (Youth, Junior, Open, and Masters (40+) will compete over the next week in four different disciplines (Sprint, Head to Head, Slalom, and Downriver) to crown champions. And among the competitors are three FOG:TB from Truckee, CA.

Our guy (and my distant cousin) Christopher Old made a living as a whitewater rafting guide on the Gauley River in West Virginia, the Biobio River in Chile, and at a couple of rivers in Northern California for the first decade or more after we graduated from William & Mary. He met his wife on one of his trips in Chile, and they've raised three outdoorsy kids in the Sierras.

Turns out he didn't give up his affinity for fast water, as he was named to the U.S. Men's Master's team for the World Championships. To boot, his teenaged twins took their place on each of the Boys' and Girls' Junior boats. It's a family affair on the Kampar River this week, and a hell of a cool story for the extended Gheorghieverse. 

Keep your dial right here for race results and photos over the coming week.

Post-Turkey Post-Punk

Our closest local friends, non-Marls edition, have a kid named Rory who goes to the University of Pittsburgh. They were a theater kid in high school and love to perform. Pretty good recipe for a lead singer, as it turns out. Rory's band, Straight Decline, just released an EP entitled Mid-Semester Crisis. Here's the first single, "There Are No Mathematical Jokes, Only Mathematical Punchlines (Calculus Song)". If you like Midwestern Emo, you'll enjoy.

And here they are performing a live set at The New Low in Pittsburgh:

A Very Gheorghie Thanksgiving

The Teej is in Curacao, not feeling blue, so it's on us to keep one of the Gheorghiest traditions alive. 

Happy Thanksgiving, friends. As the years pass, I'm increasingly thankful for all y'all and our little interweb cubicle.

Strange Bedfellows

It's not often that the local news is a purveyor of punk rock history, but I suppose stranger things have happened. Hell, just look around.

Last night on DC's NBC affiliate, reporter Mark Segraves gave us this story about the forthcoming release of two long-lost Bad Brains live shows from The Bayou in the early 80s.

I did not see that coming, but it's a uniquely local story about one of the pioneering bands of the punk era, and it's got some amazing footage of Bad Brains frontman jumping from the balcony of that late, legendary venue. 

Fully expect Mr. KQ to jump into the comments and let us know he was at one of the shows that comprise the new release, which will drop Friday on National Record Store Day. Get some.

Gheorghasbord: Yang (aka The Pick Me Up)

Been a minute since I gave you the yin, a sobering view of the current state of affairs. I promised you the other side of the coin, a joy-filled palate cleanser, so here it is. 

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.

Cape Verde after they qualified for the 2026 World Cup
byu/Shroft insoccer

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.

Full time scenes at Jamaica vs Curaçao
byu/Critical_Mountain851 insoccer

Incredible scenes in Curaçao after their historic world cup qualification
byu/Shroft insoccer

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.

Joyous scenes as Haiti, who have not played at home in four years due to civil unrest, qualify for their first World Cup since 1974
byu/turmericist insoccer

As a Single LP 2: Fleetwood Mac, Tusk

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 lasted... not very long.
• Fleetwood and the Macs had to sue to play as Fleetwood Mac. Took a year to settle. This strikes me as even more insane than when John Fogerty was sued for sounding too much like himself. 
• 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. 

Enjoy.

New to Me

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.

Just another Monday in Jerzy

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.

Pretty Big Dill

Happy National Pickle Day to all who celebrate. Parade Magazine has you covered: here's a list of 26 different pickle-related promotions available all day. Me, I've got my eyes on that Grillo's pickle-scented candle.

Relevant to My Interests

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.

The New Style

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.

Happy 22nd G:TBday

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.) 

Happy Double-Deuce, gheorghies! 

Turn the Volume Up

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.

Prime's Time

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.

Beautiful Autumn Saturday Filler

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.

Gheorghasbord: Yin

Got a selection of odds and ends for you over the next few days. Gonna do a bit of yin-yanging, if you will. Even if you won't. Not stopping me. 

Today, we'll start with the bleak, the dark, the cowardly buffoonery that's helping to enable it.

Sarah Kendzior is a journalist, author, and researcher. She's studied and written extensively on the rise of Donald Trump and his coterie of ghouls - and the cultural conditions that enabled it. She writes a newsletter on Substack, and posted a beautifully stark piece yesterday, which included the following thought: 

A government shutdown was always the goal. The premature ending, the stripping for parts, the theft without pretense of duty. The open abandonment of the public good. The apathy at abandonment and the avarice in apathy. The slaying of seasons, the torture of time, the collapse of chronology: when promises turn to premises and premises to pixelated dust. There is honor in real dust: this is not that.

When you are ruled by a technocratic death cult, the concept of leverage changes. A general strike does not pose the same threat to the powerful when their goal is to destroy the national economy. A protest does not have the same impact when officials are devoid of shame. A spectacle does not hold the same power when AI lies are generated with a whisper to a soul-stripping robot. A vote is an illusion when elections lack integrity. Calling your representative is a grim farce when your representative serves transnational oligarchy — and sells it American sovereignty.

We'll follow up that softly-whispered damnation with a more forceful condemnation from Ta-Nehisi Coates. Speaking at an event in Minneapolis, Coates offered this measured and typically cutting critique of the institutions and individuals whose cowardice has defined this era:

@mikosataylorcoaching Just saw Ta-Nehisi Coates live in Minnesota and y’all… his words were a balm to my soul. No fluff. No filter. Just truth. 🖤 “You don’t have to fix it all—you just have to be human where you stand.” That part. 🎤 Thank you @StKates + The O’Shaughnessy for this space. 📚 Support Black authors. Listen when they speak. Share their work. #TaNehisiCoates #msp @St. Catherine University #SupportBlackAuthors #BookTok #BlackWritersMatte ♬ original sound - Mikosa Taylor | Business Coach

I might've chosen any one a dozen other fucking things to close with, but here's one that gives us tragedy and comedy in equal measure. Last week at a protest in Oakland, an ICE agent appears to have shot a tear gas canister into the face of local minister Jorge Batista, the aftermath of which you can see below (there's video, but it's not a fun watch).

A different angle of the confrontation reminds us that ICE and its agents aren't some unbeatable monolith. Rather, they're largely undertrained, scared, and overmatched. See, as an example, what certainly appears to be the urine stain on the shooter's pants, right where it would be if one were to piss oneself in fear.

We're gonna beat these losers. Because there are more of us than there are them, and because the cause of righteousness will bring more and more people to it as time goes on. In the meantime, keep calling out their cowardice, disgraceful un-Americanism, avarice, and general goddamn weirdness.

Wrenball Preview

Year One of the Brian Earl Experiment at William and Mary showed promise, as the Tribe debuted a new coach, an entertaining, up-tempo style of play and a return to the top half of conference standings. 

Following a successful run at Cornell, Earl convinced a handful of key contributors on a roster that had scuffled along under previous coach Dane Fischer to stick around and to give him and his system a chance. The holdovers and a wave of transfers produced the program’s first winning record since 2020 and the Before Times, pre-Covid, when Tribe all-timer Nathan Knight roamed the landscape. William and Mary finished 17-15 overall and a spunky 11-7, good for fourth place, in the distended patchwork that is the Coastal Athletic Association. 

The Tribe’s calling card was pace and perimeter shooting. More than half of their shots were 3-point attempts. They were third in the nation in 3-point attempt rate (.517). They were fifth nationally in 3-point field goal shots per game and tied for 15th in 3-pointers made per game. Seven players attempted at least 80 shots from behind the arc. They were also 45th in “pace” – the number of possessions per 40 minutes – and second in the CAA in scoring (77.7 ppg) (Brief aside: I’m well aware that “Tribe” is a singular nickname and therefore an “it” and not a “they;” I adhered to that inconvenient propriety for 30 years in my previous life and I’m thankful that management here at the digital tree fort is more grammatically lenient). 

Encores and continuity are tricky in the new era of NIL and rampant player transfers, components that prematurely drove away championship coaches Jay Wright at Villanova and Tony Bennett at Virginia. By nature, transfers are upperclassmen and sometimes graduate students with one or two years of eligibility remaining. Coaches often aren’t simply filling a few roster spots with a transfer or a couple of freshmen recruits, but bringing in a vanload of fresh faces who see opportunity and are happy to wear the school laundry for a season or two. 

Such is the case in Williamsburg. The Tribe cycled out eight players from last season’s team, including five of the top seven scorers. They lost 80 percent of their scoring and almost 70 percent of their rebounding. Earl brought in eight new players – seven transfers and a freshman, nearly all of whom are guards and wings with perimeter chops and decent shooting eyes. Returning leaders are a trio of seniors, 6-4 Kyle Pulliam (9.9 ppg, .313 pct from 3-point range), 6-5 Chase Lowe (8.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg) and 6-2 Kyle Frazier (4.7 ppg, 33 pct 3-point shooter). Newcomers who figure to contribute include 6-7 junior wing Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi from LaSalle (5.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 34.8 pct 3-pt shooter), 6-6 graduate student Jo’El Emanuel from Fairleigh Dickinson (11 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 36 pct from 3), 6-6 graduate student Cade Haskins from Dartmouth (9.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg), 6-4 junior Reese Miller from Blinn CC (41.6 pct 3-point shooter) and 6-0 graduate student Jhei-R Jones from D2 Winona State (10.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.1 apg). 

Two additions who may have outsized importance are junior transfer Kilian Brockhoff, a 6-9, 235-pound German making his third stop after seasons at UC Santa Barbara and Saint Louis, and Kaleb Spencer, a 6-8, 225-pound freshman from, believe it or not, here on the sandbar and who did a year’s prep work at highly regarded Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia. 

For all of Earl’s reliance on a quick pace and perimeter shooting, his system requires a solid post presence for offensive balance and rim protection. It’s not a coincidence that the Tribe limped home last season, losing its last four and six of its last nine, after a season-ending injury to productive 6-8 forward Noah Collier. Without a consistent backup, opponents took advantage at both ends, extending their defense to challenge W&M shooters and working inside on offense. 

Earl’s frequent all-court pressure is designed more to goose pace than to turn over opponents and generate easy offense; the Tribe committed almost as many turnovers as they forced last season, and though they scored a lot, they also allowed a lot (76.4 ppg) and their field goal defense was in the bottom half of the conference. Makes for interesting viewing. 

The Tribe opens at home Nov. 3 vs. Georgian Court University, which I believe houses the athletic department for Downton Abbey, and has non-conference dates against state rivals Richmond, Old Dominion, Radford and Norfolk State. There’s a trip to Queens, N.Y., to face Rick Pitino and St. John’s, as well as road games at George Washington (G:TB Northern Va. chapter alert!), Duquesne and Bowling Green, and a date versus Texas El Paso at a Jacksonville, Fla., tournament. 

William and Mary was picked fourth in the CAA behind Towson, defending tournament champ UNC Wilmington and College of Charleston. Earl set a worthy standard in his first season, but again he must identify a cohesive rotation from among a slew of newcomers and returnees eager to make a significant impact. If the “bigs” develop, the Tribe has a chance to build on last year and not simply hoist and hope.

Tar Heel State Distress

Dispatch from the State Where Wilbur and Orville Mightily Tried to Take Off: A couple of recent developments have roiled the citizenry here in North Carolina, and that doesn’t even include Bill Belichick’s tenure in Chapel Hill. I’ll try to keep it brief, as y’all come to this site for politics and current events like guys go to IKEA for simplicity and serenity. 

The state legislature voted this week to redraw the Congressional district map, in lockstep with the Big Orange Oaf’s directive for Republican-controlled states to do so to maintain, if not increase, the GOP’s narrow hold of the House of Representatives. The current map is already tilted to give Republicans ten seats and Democrats four; the new map is likely to give Republicans an eleventh seat and take away one Democrat rep. It just so happens that the rep is Black, and the redrawn districts split up the African-American constituency. 

This wouldn’t be a big deal if state legislative maps weren’t already gerrymandered to hell and back. North Carolina is essentially a purple state. As recently as 2022 the Congressional breakdown was seven Democrats and seven Republicans. Vote totals in all Congressional races combined are generally within a few percentage points one way or the other. Yet Republicans hold super-majorities in both the state House (71-49) and state Senate (30-20) – thanks, further gerrymander! – and two years ago re-drew the Congressional map for the current 10-4 advantage. 

The legislature has also done its darnedest to kneecap the Democratic governor (previously Roy Cooper, now Josh Stein) to do anything beyond voice strongly worded opposition. Democrats may sue to overturn the map, but in a dandy little turn of self supervision the Republican-controlled State Supreme Court ruled a couple years ago that the Constitution doesn’t expressly prohibit partisan monkeying with voting districts and that courts cannot force change or alter maps, that only the legislature can do so. 

The message to Dems, as Marco the Albanian said to Liam Neeson in “Taken” – Good luck. Meanwhile, more than a year after Hurricane Helene ravaged areas of western North Carolina, state and local officials are still waiting for Federal funds promised by FEMA. 

According to a Washington Post story, millions of dollars in cleanup and recovery funds are hung up by bureaucratic delays and obstacles, which has forced the state and various counties to assume much of the costs so far and stretched budgets beyond their capabilities. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees FEMA, has said that the review process and further scrutiny are needed to root out waste, fraud and abuse. In a statement to the Post, FEMA said that it’s prepared to support states with critical disaster needs, but that its Disaster Relief Fund “is not infinite.” 

Coupled with President Bone Spurs’s remarks earlier this year about possibly shuttering FEMA, and states and local governments taking more responsibility for disaster recovery in the future, folks in North Carolina and elsewhere are a mite skittish about whether the Feds will pony up. Staff cuts to the Federal workforce, FEMA included, have further slowed and complicated the allocation process. Also, Noem, who I wouldn’t trust to oversee cleanup of a garage never mind a multi-billion-dollar disaster, has to sign off on any expenditure over $100,000, and such requests also now go through a DOGE vetting process. 

The Post also reported that so far the Federal government has covered only 10 percent of the damage from Helene, compared to 70 percent of the damage caused by storms such as Katrina, Sandy and Maria. All of which leans into an evolving notion of “You’re On Your Own.” It’s a curious addendum to the current regime’s campaign mantra of “America First.” If the wealthiest nation on the planet is going to slash foreign aid and pull back from alliances and concentrate on matters within, then what parts of America and which Americans come first? To be sure, there are indicators, many of which aren’t promising for those of limited means and influence. Depending on one’s level of discouragement, it might be enough to hop on one of Wilbur and Orville’s machines and take off for distant shores.

Gheneration Next

Next in our ongoing series celebrating Gheorghie progeny (KoGTB?), we give you an up and coming band of rockers from the land where Treehouse Brewing makes Julius and its numerous variations. Friends, I give you...The Public. 

(The guitarist on the far right is Dooger's kid, Owen. These lads have a genre.)