THE M:M MUSIC TEAM (LOTR): Crystal Ann Lea, Meg MacDonald, Rene Magallon
FEATURED ARTISTS
Sam Fischer
"This City"
Matt Simons
"Cold"
The Strokes
"Bad Decisions"
EOB
"Shangri-La"
Mt. Joy
"Strangers"
Ruthie Collins
"Joshua Tree"
Father Time and I need to break up. And it’s not me, it’s him.
This morning I woke up and turned off the heating pad I sleep with for when I get chilly at night. Then I put away the ice pack I keep near-by for when I get a hot flash. I put away my orthotic neck pillow, carefully getting out of bed so as to not pull anything new. Back surgery wasn’t fun the first time, I don’t want to be able to compare it.
I took my hormones and my vitamins (Turmeric, Fish Oil, Vitamin C, D and a pre-natal vitamin – not for my uterus because that got yanked out a few years ago but because people clinging to their 40s need them) and, here comes the irony, put Clearasil on a pimple.
I got a snoot full of water up my nose swimming laps over the weekend. I came up sputtering, holding my ears, violently trying to blow out the water that was drowning my brain shouting, “Oh my God it hurts! Get it out! Get it out!”
Children in the nearby kiddie pool thought they were under attack and water wings started flailing (it’s not a very large area and I’ve been told I don’t suffer in silence).
I must have gotten water up my nose a thousand times as a kid. I lived in the water, I was on the swim team, taught swimming lessons and was a lifeguard. If I’d seen anyone react like that when I was on whistle duty and no one was drowning, I would’ve kicked them out just for being an idiot.
At six years old, I was dangling from a clothes line post while my sister pushed me higher and higher. Predictably I fell and broke my wrist. We waited a couple days to go to the doctor because as a kid, I was tough. When we finally did, the doctor slapped on a cast, everyone at school signed it and I didn’t have to do homework for a week.
Last year I felt something in my eye, was convinced I was going blind, so immediately pushed my better half out of bed and made her drive me 20 miles to urgent care. It was a sty and drops from Walgreens fixed it in an hour.
I never flossed as a kid. I brushed twice a day, ate hard candy impatiently (I never found out how many licks it took to get to the center of anything) and barely had any cavities. I now floss twice a day, brush three times a day, chew teeth and gum strengthening tablets, eat fish, salads and vegetables and in my 40s I have either a cavity or crown every time I go to the dentist with a side of, “you may need a root canal soon.”
So physically, all evidence points to my getting older. My body no longer responds as it did when I was a kid. But I’m not sure what happened mentally. I seem to have stalled at 8.
I look forward to the Twizzlers and popcorn more than the movie. I completely destroy the paper looking for the comics and, on Sundays when I’m alone, I skip CBS Sunday morning to sneak in an episode of “Land of the Lost” or “H.R. Puff’n Stuff.”
One of my favorite writers, C.S. Lewis said, “Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”
I love the quote but can’t relate. I never stopped.
“Human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”
– George Washington
070 SHAKE
“A vital new singer makes her debut…an emo-rap Dark Side Of The Moon …Modus Vivendi suggests Enya and Pink Floyd as much as Frank Ocean…the sound of a realist and fantasist sparring, it reflects an artist still coming into focus on her own thrilling terms.” – Rolling Stone
“Shake is a shape-shifting vocalist, able to instinctively channel the angst of emo, the tenderness of gospel, and the emotionality of R&B”
– Pitchfork
THE LONE BELLOW
“The Lone Bellow brings light into a world that can seem pretty dark sometimes… like the band members are opening their arms wide and inviting you to join their family.” – World Café
“Their three-part harmonies, bright horns, and clear gaze at all that has happened – the good, the bad, the painful, and the loving – does it. Soul Music in its more pure form, Half Moon Light is an album of all; of life itself.” – Esquire
JASON ISBELL AND THE 400 UNIT
“arguably the biggest star in slightly-left-of-center country music" – Stereogum
“an immaculately produced, Southern rock call to arms” – Paste
“a soaring, anthemic, instantly-satisfying dose of heartland rock”
– Brooklyn Vegan
"a hard-charging and ominous rock tune" – Nashville Scene
NOAH CYRUS & LEON BRIDGES
“This is a good song. It’ll be a good song tomorrow and next year. Songs like these are made of leather. They’re good forever” – John Mayer
“Chill-inducing harmonies layered over simple acoustic instrumentation allow the song's contemplative lyrics to take center stage” – Billboard
“Cyrus’ vocals, smokey and wounded, are front-and-centre” – The Fader
