UNDERTOW 2.23
A quick one this week because I’m fucking exhausted…
GIGS OF THE WEEK:
9/7 (THAT’S TOMORROW!!!): Sirens in AC, 1-5.
9/7 (THAT’S ALSO TOMORROW!!!): Terry & Jerry Trio w/ Sugar Dave Hughes, 9-12 at the Rusty Nail. (Lynn Sosik, could be a pretty cool version of Quitter for you there if you can stay awake past 9. I have to. I’m being paid. I go to bed at 730 these days when I’m able.)
9/12: PENULTIMATE (NEXT-TO-LAST FOR THE DUMMIES) GIG AT JERSEY GIRL, 530-930.
9/13: Terry & Jerry make our annual fall return to Anglesea Pub, 8-1130. Many, many Anglesea dates added through the end of 2024, INCLUDING NEW YEAR’S EVE WITH… WHOEVER IS AVAILABLE! A more diplomatic person would say something like, “Line-up TBD” but we all know I’m not very diplomatic. Fuckers.
(AND JUST IN CASE I’M TOO WORN OUT TO WRITE A COLUMN NEXT WEEK) 9/19: Final Jersey Girl of 2024, 530-930.
9/21: Terry & Jerry Trio w/ Al Olivero, 9-12 at Rusty Nail.
So there’s that…
QUESTION OF THE WEEK: From Terry & Jerry guitarist Jerry Kolber. “Has anyone ever told you to leave well enough alone?” Shockingly, the answer is yes. Hundreds of people, actually. Not sure why…
MIND-SHREDDING MUSICAL DICHOTOMY OF THE WEEK:
I enjoy working at Old Navy. I really do. But the wild swings in the quality of our soundtrack makes my teeth itch. One minute it’s an awful, terrible, no good R&B cover of Imagine (as chronicled last week), the next it’s an absolute banger like Daft Punk is Playing At My House by LCD Soundsystem. I’m losing my mind.
Fucking. Banger.
Speaking of Old Navy, some insidious person keeps refilling our break room candy dish. I’ve been doing okay-ish with my weight/ diet recently but there’s just no possible way to walk past a bowl full of Tootsie Rolls and not have one. Or three.
SOPHIE’S CHOICE OF THE WEEK:
Pay the $1000 ($1012, to be precise) car repair bill I just got? Or go see Squeeze next Saturday in AC? I’m leaning towards Squeeze because I’ve already got the car. What are they gonna do? Come and unrepair it? Tis a quandary. The barbarian in me says fuck them, go to the concert. The Catholic in me… does not say that. (UPDATE: Since writing this paragraph two days ago I have, indeed, paid the repair bill. And a quick look at the internet shows Squeeze tickets going for about $100 ea. So maybe both? Also, surprisingly, the show is just about sold out. Everybody loves Squeeze.)
THOUGHTFUL TERRY & JERRY FAN OF THE WEEK:
Sandy Mannik (and husband Ralph) sent me a text from Wrigley Frield in Chicago Thursday night where they were to see the Cubs play the Yankees saying she was sorry to miss us at Jersey Girl. There are no better fans than Terry & Jerry fans. Speaking of which…
BEST FANS IN THE WORLD OF THE WEEK:
It’s You! Or at least, those of you that read this column and come to our shows, of which that Venn diagram would just about be a circle. Aleks, Lynn, Wendy, Randy, Dave, Sandy, Ralph, Kathy, Pete… who am I forgetting? You’ve all been terribly supportive in ways big and small and now that summer is over I just wanted to say thank you and I love you.
How tired was I Wednesday morning? While eating lunch, I was scrolling Twitter on my phone, reached into my phone holster for my phone to play a game, didn't find my phone in there, and went to my truck to get my phone. My phone was in my hand.
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE OF THE WEEK:
I walked past a young lady wearing an I LOVE PAUL MACCARTNEY t-shirt at Old Navy so I said, “I love Paul McCartney, too!” After a brief discussion her mom joined us to make sure I wasn’t a weirdo (I man, I am a weirdo, just not that kind of weirdo…) and it turns out this 16-year-old fell in love with Paul’s music, ironically, while writing a book report on John Lennon. Man, I wish Paul still got played on the radio. He’s still writing great stuff. If you haven’t yet, check out his album Memory Almost Full from a few years back. Start with this one and keep going…
Speaking of Old Navy, while I understand (I don’t accept, but I understand) why the ladies section can get a bit messy (I folded more fucking jeans this week than I have in my entire life up to this point), I’m seriously disappointed in some of you men out there. Absolute savages.
THING I NEVER HAVE TO TRY AGAIN OF THE WEEK:
In an effort to make some positive changes to my diet, I’ve been trying some little things. No chips with my sandwich, no toast with my eggs, that sort of thing. As you may have heard, I make an absolutely killer chicken cutlets and/ or fried pork chop. It’s pretty easy, actually. Dump a can of seasoned bread crumbs in a bowl, then drown that shit in salt, pepper, garlic and paprika. Egg wash, roll, fry. Done. Anyway, last week we tried peanut “breading” in place of bread breading on our pork chops and the results were, well, let’s just say our dog Charlee ate very well that night and the following day. And the day after that. (I made six.) Whaddyagonndo? You win some, you lose some.
And lastly this week…
THINGS I’M WATCHING/ HAVE WATCHED/ MIGHT WATCH:
HBO (sorry, I’m never calling it MAX, fucking idiots): 10 years later I finally got arounbd to Silicon Valley and it was… fine. As we’ve talked about before, a story doesn’t have to be perfect as long as the characters are strong, and Silicon Valley had enough strong supporting characters to keep me invested long enough to plow through six seasons in a week, including Zach Woods (Gabe from The Office), T.J. Miller (who I never liked in anything before I liked him in this but who was “canceled” a while back for being a creep, apparently) but most importantly Martin Starr, who is deadpan hilarious. He’s dry as the Sahara and easily the best thing about the show. I did not care at all for the lead actor, Thomas Middleitch, who is all twitches and ticks, or Kumail Nanjani, who fucks everything up with his personal politics.
APPLETV+: Bad Monkey, starring Vince Vaughn (reviewed last week), has hit its stride after a shaky start. The story is stupid as shit and not believable in the least, but the cast is outstanding. Meredith Hagner is in danger of running away with the whole thing. If you have APPLETV+, watch her in this. If you have HBO (I’m never callit it MAX), watch her in Search Party. She’s great at playing a very particular type of character,
THEATERS: I’m considering seeing Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice on my day off Sunday. But now that I don’t get free tickets any more, I have to weigh these decisions very carefully. Either way, for the rest of my life, I will be a “sneaks in his own candy” guy becuase I’ve had enough of this bullshit.
Sorry if the typos are egregious this week, I can literally barely keep my eyes open as I tap out these last few joijoijvmijugtp;98yhvaoi
BLAST FROM THE PAST:
From back when I was almost famous…
https://www.npr.org/player/embed/94140682/94140645
Wow! I had forgotten about that Interview.
Those were some fun times.
What hit me presently is Sunrise, Sunset.
Mom doesn’t really respond to much now but Randy visits with her and sings that to her. She sometimes sings a few words
or just says, that’s right and smiles.
She’s always loved Randy and somewhere deep inside she still does.🥹