Top albums of 2019 (plus top albums of 2010s)

I continue to listen to less and less music...  But that doesn't mean that I can't still put together a year-end top albums list.  Unlike last year, when I threw my arms up and made no attempt to order the list, I'll at least try to rank the albums this year (despite not giving them an adequate amount of listens).  When I first began compiling these lists (and up until a couple of years ago), I used spreadsheets to tally up points to create the rankings; ain't nobody got time for that these days.  But here's a rough cut (with links to some of my favorite songs from some of the albums)...

1. Jenny Hval - The Practice of Love
2. James Blake - Assume Form
3. Buke & Gase - Scholars
4. Davido - A Good Time
5. Joseph - Good Luck, Kid
6. The New Pornographers - In the Morse Code of Brake Lights
7. Foals - Everything Not saved Will Be Lost Part 1
8. Tool - Fear Inoculum
9. Lower Dens - The Competition
10. elbow - Giants of All Sizes
11. Somos - Prison on a Hill
12. Tycho - Weather
13. Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow
14. Sudan Archives - Athena
15. Tender - Fear of Falling Asleep
16. Clams Casino - Moon Trip Radio
17. Thom Yorke - Anima
18. Foals - Everything Not saved Will Be Lost Part 2
19. Lillie Mae - Other Girls
20. Burna Boy - African Giant

As a bonus, here's a list compiled because my good friend Tom asked what my top albums of the decade are.  I combed through the lists from 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, and came up with this...

1. Foals - Total Life Forever
2. Beach House - Depression Cherry
3. James Blake - Overgrown
4. Other Lives - Rituals
5. Moderat - III
6. Bear in Heaven - I Love You, It's Cool
7. Panda Bear - Tomboy
8. The Range - Potential
9. Jenny Hval - The Practice of Love
10. Sigur Rós - Kveikur
11. Alt-J - This is All Yours
12. Hundred Waters - The Moon Rang Like a Bell
13. Jónsi - Go
14. Crystal Castles - (III)
15. Grizzly Bear - Painted Ruins

Tool @ Barclays Center (11/19/2019)

I almost didn't include the picture above, because Tool has a "strict" no-camera policy at their shows (though sneaking a couple of pictures in would have been easy).  But then Maynard "allowed" cameras for the last song, which was dedicated to the artist who does their artwork (a special guest that night).  This at least gives an idea of the general stage setup, but doesn't include the lasers, LEDs, or transparent curtain that they had in front of them for most of the show.

Good stuff about the show:

• I intentionally skipped the opener (Killing Joke) and got to my seat right as Tool was taking the stage; perfect timing.
• It's a Tool concert, so of course there's going to be good music played well.  They mixed in a good amount of old and new.  Setlist here.
• They played my favorite song from the new album, "Pneuma".
• The stage setup, lighting, and effects were cool.
• They had a 12 minute (laser projected) countdown clock between the main set and the encore.  They don't do the "let's keep them clapping for an unknown while" thing.
• I met up with high school friends Eric and Cam in front of the venue after the show.  We had previously discussed attending the show together, but they initially didn't think they could make it - so I bought a solo ticket.  Obviously, they ended up going at the last minute.

Bad stuff:

• My left shoulder was still recovering from surgery 3.5 weeks prior, and was slightly uncomfortable for brief portions of the concert.
• The view from my seat was not the greatest.  As you can see from the photo, the left speakers block a good portion of the view, in particular one of the platforms where Maynard hung out in the back.
• People who stand up in front of you in the nosebleed seats.
• When I stood up to see over the people standing in front of me, I kept my coat on my seat.  It ended up falling to the floor and somehow getting some liquid (I'm guessing beer?) all over it.
• I don't have too many complaints about the actual content of the show, despite not thinking the latest album was as good as the previous three.  However, Danny's "Chocolate Chip Trip" percussion wankery was garbage and a complete waste of 10 minutes.

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Rating: 4.4/5

Massive Attack @ Radio City Music Hall (9/26/2019)

This show was part of Massive Attack's tour to commemorate 20 years (well, 21) since the release of their landmark album Mezzanine.  The show had actually been rescheduled from the original date in March.  A pre-show email advised guests to arrive when the doors opened 60 minutes before the 8pm "strict" start time, as there would be no opener and the security lines would likely be long.  Well, they were right about the long lines, but it only took about 10 minutes to get through.  I was at my seat a few minutes before 8pm, but waited about an hour before Massive Attack took the stage a couple of minutes before 9pm.  It was somewhat understandable since the (sold out) seats weren't even half filled at 8pm, but still annoying to arrive on time and then have to wait an hour.

And the show itself was, to be honest, somewhat disappointing.  I figured that they would play all the songs off Mezzanine (they did), but also assumed that they would include a variety of songs from their other albums.  Instead, they played a bunch of covers that I didn't care much for.  So basically...half the show was good, and half of it wasn't.

I will give them props for including the major original guest vocalists from Mezzanine: Horace Andy and Elizabeth Fraser.  Also, the backing band (two drummers and all) did a pretty solid of recreating the (likely mostly originally electronic) music live; though they did overindulge in some wankery a few times.  I think 3D was the only one (besides the backing band) who stayed on stage the whole time; Daddy G and the guest vocalists seemed to be only out there when they needed to be.  The light show and screens were impressive, though often overly strobe-y.  The videos had a techno-dystopia theme in addition to being unabashedly anti right-wing politics (and Trump).  The show ended somewhat abruptly with no encore after a little more than 90 minutes.  The highlight of the show for me was clearly "Teardrop" with Elizabeth on vocals.

Overall, I'm glad I saw them live at least once.  But I wish they played more Massive Attack tunes.

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Rating: 4.0/5

Best Man Speech for Chike & Rachel

This is the pre-written version of the Best Man speech that I gave at Chike & Rachel's wedding last Saturday (6/8/19).  This does not include a few minor hand-written edits that I made that morning, nor a couple of lines that I ad-libbed during the actual speech.

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Before I start, I want to express my sincere thanks to everyone who was able to make it here today for this event.  My family and I are very happy to be able to share this day with you.

Chike

I want to start off by talking just a little bit about my dear brother Chike.  I apologize to those of you who are wanting to hear some funny stories about Chike as a kid, because I don’t really have any of those today - my memory isn’t exactly the greatest.  I will assert, though, that as the oldest brother, there definitely was a time that I could beat Chike up...I think...those days are long gone.  Or maybe it was just because I fought dirty as a kid.  Even with my hazy memory, I know that there was definitely a time when I was about 6 or 7 that I kicked Chike in the groin and made him pee blood.  Sooo...I’m hoping that he hasn’t been secretly plotting his revenge for 30 years.

But that is not to say that I ever worry about Chike hurting me.  As all of you know, he is a gentle giant.  Every time someone has realized that we were brothers, they have had nothing but the nicest things to say about Chike.  And it is all well deserved.

Growing up, I was a bit protective of both of my brothers, Chike and Nedu...in spite of a kick or two in the groin.  And I think this oldest-sibling-syndrome kept me from realizing for a long time just how remarkable a person that Chike is.  I knew he was a talented artist, but I was in denial for a long time that he could be as smart as I was when it comes to computers and technology.  But these days I am proud beyond words of how much success he has had in his career as a UX designer - already ascending to the ranks of director at (WWT) Asynchrony Labs.

On a personal level, I’m also happy with the relationship that Chike and I have.  We don’t need to say all that much to each other, but we have an understanding.  Although...there was this one time about 8 or 9 years ago when we were living together, and we both showed up to a mutual friend’s birthday party without knowing that the other person was going to be there.  Hmmm...perhaps we need to work on our communication just a little, tiny bit.

Kidding aside, I’m so happy and proud to have you, Chike, as a brother.  And I’m thankful that you have been able to step up to fill my absence since I moved to New York.  I know you’re definitely better at providing mom emotional support than I am, and I suspect perhaps also at tech support.

Rachel

There was always something about Chike and Rachel’s relationship that led me to believe that it would work.  Rachel has always been there for Chike, and the rest of us, both in good times and in bad.  The same can be said for her mom, Patricia, who has graciously hosted not just Chike, but myself and my mom at their holiday gatherings.  When my dad died, Rachel and her family showed up for every memorial event that we had.  It’s inarguable to say that Rachel comes through in the clutch.  A couple of years ago when Chike was setting up the smart thermostat in their house, he ran into some trouble with some wiring in a very tight space in their furnace.  Needless to say, Rachel put aside her bemusement with his technological antics, and came through with a slender, but quite literal, helping hand.

But, in seriousness, it’s been clear to many of us that this wedding was inevitable.  I remember, on the day of my dad’s funeral, talking with some family members from out of town who were impressed by how much support Rachel and her family had shown during that time.  I particularly remember my Uncle Ezy who made it absolutely clear that he knew that Rachel was the one for Chike.  After describing his observations, he summed it up by saying: “Chike, that woman is an Orjih.”  And I couldn’t agree more.

Toast

Finally...I want to wrap this up by proposing a toast.  But before I do that I cannot forget to express my gratitude for perhaps the most important thing about this wedding.  Chike...I want to thank you...for taking the pressure off me...to make my mom a mother-in-law and a grandmother.  Here’s to Chike and Rachel, and their beautiful babies.

Foals @ Brooklyn Steel (4/14/2019)

Preamble rant...  Seeing shows in NYC is kind of a pain.  Brooklyn Steel is less than 5 miles from my apartment, but it takes about an hour to get there via public transportation...especially when the MTA changes the subway routes/schedules due to weekend work.  Between that and my poorly picked spot in the crowd standing behind a group of giant (plausible basketball or volleyball player) dudes and next to a couple of groups of pot-smokers, the show started off with me feeling that I was getting too old for this concert-going business.

But after a good show and a fairly breezy journey home (pretty good timing on the subway, which was running the normal route by then), my mood has improved.  But not enough for a lengthy post - it's still pretty late.

I will give props to Foals for playing a lot of their older classics (though only one of my favorites) along with most of the new album (which is pretty strong, though a bit of a change in style).  Speaking of which, the new songs came off well.  They had lots of energy, and I think an extra couple of performers on stage.  Good stuff.

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Rating: 4.5/5

Top Albums of 2018

Following a previous down year, 2018 was the downest of years in music for me.  According to my Last.fm statistics, I listened to less music in 2018 than I had in any other year since I joined the service in 2007.  These days my commutes are dominated by podcasts (I keep adding new ones, and have a hard time keeping up with the stream of episodes), and I can't really get into listening to music while at work.  So my music listening is mostly relegated to a bit of the time spent on my computer at home or on the weekends.  I still try to keep up with some of my usual avenues of discovering new music, but I seem destined to be stuck in the past in terms of music appreciation; who knows whether that will change at all this year.

Therefore...  In lieu of a meticulously considered ranking of favorite albums from last year, I will instead simply list some that I found noteworthy.  With no indication of which I thought were better than others.  I simply didn't listen to them enough to really form a decent opinion.  My main purpose in making these lists is to be able to look back in the future to get a sense of what I was really into in terms of music; maybe this will still be helpful in that regard.  I should note that having quantitative stats from Last.fm is also really good for retrospecting.  Anyway, here's the "list":

Mimicking Birds - Layers of Us
Yamantaka // Sonic Titan - Dirt
Exitmusic - The Recognitions
Hearts Hearts - Goods/Gods
Beach House - 7
Big Red Machine - Big Red Machine
Low - Double Negative
Lupe Fiasco - DROGAS WAVE
Rubblebucket - Sun Machine
Mirah - Understanding
Mumford & Sons - Delta
Jacob Banks - Village
Foxing - Nearer My God

Mike Birbiglia's The New One @ Cort Theatre (1/12/2019)

Mike Birbiglia's new comedy special has a 3+ month long stint on Broadway - a pretty amazing accomplishment.  And I think the show is deserving of it.  I didn't know anything about the show going into it, and I'm not sure if that made it fresher or not.  You can read reviews about it online (e.g., this one) if you want to know more, but that may (or may not) spoil a couple of the surprises.  I'll just say that Mike really hits his stride doing his trademark autobiographical story-telling with plenty of funny anecdotes and a couple of profound moments mixed in.  I really enjoyed it, and Fran was in stitches the whole time.

Language and Progress - A Conversation with Steven Pinker and John McWhorter @ The Anne L. Bernstein Theater (12/6/2018)

Since moving to New York, I have had the chance to attend a few talks by thinkers that I greatly admire - Sam Harris & Lawrence Krauss, Richard Dawkins & Brian Green.  It wasn't until this morning (in anticipation of tonight's event) that I considered that it might be worthwhile to blog about these types of events.  (I should perhaps also mention a Neil deGrasse Tyson talk that I saw a few years ago in St. Louis as another blog-worthy event.)

Tonight's event actually had a bit of a backstory.  It was originally supposed to be a conversation between Steven Pinker and Matt Dillahunty, and was promoted by Pangburn Philosophy.  However, that company folded about a month ago, so the event was cancelled along with several others.  Everything I have read and heard on the matter thus far indicates that Travis Pangburn was a fraudster who swindled both speakers that he had recruited and customers who had bought tickets for the events.  I should note, though, that although I knew about Pangburn ceasing operations, I didn't actually realize until last week that this specific event had been cancelled - it seems Pangburn didn't send out a notice to ticket-holders who had acquired tickets through his site.  And of course he wasn't providing refunds - the purchase confirmation notice says "No Refunds & No Exchanges. All Sales Are Final.".  Luckily, I saw Steven Pinker's retweet last week of this make-up event, with tickets being made available for *free*; so I jumped at the chance.

The event was held in a small theater on Broadway - I would guess it seated about a couple hundred people (though I'm terrible at these sorts of estimates), in contrast to the ~1500 at the originally scheduled venue.  Prior to the start, I noticed Steven and John chatting right next to the audience, and attempted to go say hello (as it seemed that a couple of other people just had); but the organizer (Jay Shapiro) stepped in, saying that there would be time for that afterward, as they were about to begin.

The talk was moderated by Shapiro, and consisted of about 30 minutes on linguistics, maybe 30 more on progress denial, and then another 45-ish more on audience questions.  Steven and John are both obviously brilliant guys, and pretty much agreed on everything that was discussed.  I can't say that I have any familiarity with linguistics, but some of the discussion on that topic was pretty interesting.  They dished on theories of the relationship between language and human thinking, a bit of what Chomsky got right and wrong, and other things that I can't remember.  Unfortunately, though, I also don't remember either of the couple insights that I found particularly interesting at the time.  After Jay transitioned them to ideas on progress and its denial, they discussed Steven's books on the subject, as well as John's categorization of many social justice proponents on the left as adhering to a religion.  I found that last bit particularly interesting (the rough outline is that such social justice proponents react strongly against reasonable arguments that don't adhere to their worldview in a dogmatic way similar to religion), and will try to spend some more time with his thoughts on that matter.

After the talk, I hung around a bit to take advantage of the intimate setting and try to meet the speakers.  I was fortunate enough to separately briefly chat with John, Steven, Jay, and Coleman Hughes (who was in attendance and had the first audience question).  I delivered a message from Fran to Steven telling him to keep up the good work and that she thought that his curls were almost as awesome as hers - he was happy to hear that last part.  I also got a little more background from Jay and John about how they hurriedly put the event together at the last minute.  All in all, it was a pretty cool event, and a nice way to end a birthday.

Thom Yorke @ Kings Theatre (11/26/2018)

I had mixed expectations going into this show, so I'm not too disappointed that I didn't like it more than I did.  Thom is (obviously) a musical hero of mine - both because of Radiohead and much of his solo work.  I knew this wouldn't be like the shows he did as a band with Atoms for Peace, but wasn't sure how much this would be like a DJ set.  In the end, it was somewhere in between.

There was a lot of head-down button-pressing and knob-twiddling, but both Thom and Nigel did break out guitars for quite a few songs (plus a couple on keyboard for Thom).  Thom was also pretty animated, often dancing in his trademark awkwardly entertaining style.  Despite that, it's hard to give many points for performance during this show.  I didn't really like many of the new songs, and I might even go as far as to say that some of the ones that I knew were a ruined a bit by the new overly-electronic stylings and improvisational singing - "The Clock" being a prime example of this.  Seemingly every song had a newly conceived camouflage of an intro (and some also an outro), which were on the whole hit or miss - mostly miss.  There were definitely some highlights, though, including new tune "Not the News" and an excellent rendition of "Default".  Thom definitely still has some great pipes (as displayed during "Atoms for Peace" and "Suspirium"), even if he sometimes seems like he'd rather not try.  One might conjecture that his age showed a bit when he hilariously forgot a couple of lines during "Truth Ray", but I've known him to do this type of thing for a while.  I would be remiss if I did not point out that the visuals on the backing screens were pretty spectacular the whole show.

I'm probably being too harsh on this concert, though - mostly because I'm such a huge fan of Thom's work.  Despite the low-ish rating, I did enjoy a lot of it, and wouldn't dare ask for my time or money back.

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Setlist: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/thom-yorke/2018/kings-theatre-brooklyn-ny-439733cb.html

Rating: 4.1/5

Mew @ Brooklyn Steel (10/14/2018)

This show (and tour) was a 15th anniversary celebration of Mew's breakout album, Frengers.  As such, the last half of their setlist was dedicated to playing the album in order.  Interestingly, they took a 10 minute intermission between the first half of the set and the Frengers portion.  Unfortunately, I got my timing a little wrong (and the weekend MTA closures didn't help) and didn't make it to the venue until Mew was on their second or third song (based on what what someone answered when I asked; not sure since I can't find the setlist online).  It was nice to hear all of Frengers (admittedly a strong album), but I would have liked to hear more of their newer stuff.  They also played one old song, "King Christian", that I wasn't familiar with.  Side note: Jonas is still one of the least animated front-men around; but that's fine as long they play good tunes and he belts out that falsetto.

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Rating: 4.4/5

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Update (10/16/2018): The setlist has been posted and I apparently missed two of their best songs to start off the show.  So my complaint about hearing newer songs is kind of on me.

Beach House @ United Palace Theatre (8/23/2018)

I considered not going to this show because I injured myself playing soccer 3 days before and was still limping around (the injury happened on Sunday, and I worked from home Monday and Tuesday); plus I've seen Beach House several times before.  I'm glad I decided to use my ticket, though, as this ended up being probably my favorite of the times that I've seen them.  This was surprising because I think the album that they put out this year (7) was a little weak.  The new tunes didn't drag down the setlist too much, though, and a couple were even standouts.  "Lemon Glow" (my favorite from the album) was a stunning closer for the main set, and "Dive" was a solid way to end the evening.  Something about the live rendition of "L'Inconnue" made it also noteworthy for me, and my second fave from the new album, "Dark Spring", didn't disappoint either.

Of course they also threw in enough classics to keep us happy.  And "Levitation" - one of my top songs from my favorite album of theirs - was a great way to start the show.  I would have liked to hear some more of my favorite songs of theirs, but I guess those songs probably aren't their most popular ones.  They did bump up the production value of their light show a bit, but maintained their standard perform-in-the-shadows style (the two pictures above were chosen because they are the most lit that the band members ever got - they are not representative of their lighting for most of the show).  Based on their comments, they enjoyed the energy of the crowd, which was mostly standing despite the theater environment.  All in all, a high quality concert.

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Rating: 4.5/5

Radiohead @ Madison Square Garden (7/14/2018)

Just seeing my favorite band for the umpteenth time in the umpteenth different city...no biggie.  Though it was Franziska's first big concert and she was new to the works of Radiohead.  She said she had a great time, so that's good.  This show falls somewhere in the lower middle of the pack for me in terms of Radiohead shows.  How much I enjoy them basically comes down to the setlist selection, and they didn't play too many of my favorites this time around; but that's perfectly fine.  They did play the top three songs that Fran wanted to hear, though ("Lotus Flower", "The Numbers", and "Present Tense").  The highlight of the show for me was Thom's sublime voice on "Spectre", which they debuted this tour and were playing live for only the third time.  My biggest complaint was that Thom's guitar was almost inaudible in the sound mix on our side for the last few songs of the main set.

Oh yeah...we completely missed the opener, Junun (Johnny's other band).  But Fran did hustle to get us there on time to make sure we didn't miss any of Radiohead.

Setlist: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/radiohead/2018/madison-square-garden-new-york-ny-1beba560.html

Rating: 4.6/5

Top albums of 2017

My musical dark age continues.  Or perhaps I'm becoming a crotchety old man who bemoans the fact that they don't make music like they used to back in the day.  I didn't get too particularly excited about any albums this past year, and a few that I was looking forward to ended up being busts.  The list this year is dominated by familiar (to me) names, as it was a low year in terms of new artist discovery.  Let's hope next year's list turns that around a little bit.

1. Grizzly Bear - Painted Ruins
2. Bonobo - Migration
3. Hundred Waters - Currency EP
4. Sylvan Esso - What Now
5. Major Lazer - Know No Better (EP)
6. ODESZA - A Moment Apart
7. Mew - Visuals
8. Death From Above 1979 - Outrage! Is Now
9. Hundred Waters - Communicating
10. Moses Sumney - Aromanticism

11. Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.
12. Phoenix - Ti Amo
13. UNKLE - The Road: Part 1
14. Alt-J - Relaxer
15. Fever Ray - Plunge
16. Mutemath - Play Dead
17. Feist - Pleasure

Mogwai @ Terminal 5 (12/8/2017)

The short story is that Mogwai's new stuff is not as good as some of their older stuff, and the more new stuff they play the less good the show is.  I didn't prep much for this show, but I don't think that affected my impression of it too much (though there were certainly a few songs that I didn't recognize).  Their setlist spanned their catalog, which was good for some variety; but their mid-career material (especially Happy Songs for Happy People and Mr. Beast) is their best work in my opinion.  The stage setup and lights were interesting, though not mind-blowing.  I could have done without a couple of sections of excessively loud noise, and the accompanying hearing loss (I need to start taking ear plugs to shows).  It was also weird to see them play a couple of songs with undistorted vocals; one was from the new album, and one I didn't recognize.

Rating: 4.2/5

alt-J @ Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts (11/3/2017)

I was a little worried going into this show because I feel like alt-J's album from this year (Relaxer) is without question their weakest yet, but things turned out better than expected.  The band apparently knows not to play the songs from the album that are garbage.  The setlist spanned their entire backlog so far, and they played pretty much every good song that they have, save for "Hunger of the Pine".  In addition, the light show was on point.  The visuals were stimulating and matched the music well, but at the same time kept the musicians somewhat out of focus.  I have nothing to complain about regarding their performance - it was enjoyable from start to finish.

One thing they did that I haven't seen at a concert before...  At the end of the show they put up credits that named the band, visual artist, crew, etc (and then put up a Thank You).

Rating: 4.7/5

Hundred Waters @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (10/7/17)

I don't know what it is about too-cool-for-school Brooklyn, but in my humble opinion 10:40 is too late for the main act to come on stage.  I arrived a little before 10pm (doors were @ 8, first act @ 9), thinking that I might be a little late for Hundred  Waters; I was obviously wrong.  They were scheduled to come on third at 10:30, and were about 10 minutes late to start.

Things were pretty good once Hundred Waters started.  They played a lot from their most recent album release (Communicating), but I was pleasantly surprised that they played a few from the prior EP (Currency) - the title track from that EP is my favorite song of theirs this year.  The slow songs from the new album didn't do that much for me, but there were a couple (such as the title track, which they opened with) that I appreciate more now after seeing live.  I was surprised that they didn't play "Xtalk", and wish they would have.  They had 3 dancers perform onstage on a couple of their songs, including that first one.  Overall, I wasn't quite as impressed as the first time I saw them, but it was still a good show.

As an aside, the Music Hall of Williamsburg is a solid venue.  It has a pretty intimate feel without being just a dive.  The layout with the mezzanine also allows it to get pretty loud when the crowd is cheering hard.

Rating: 4.3/5

Interpol @ Forest Hills Stadium (9/23/17)

Yeah...having that pole prominently block my view of center stage didn't help my feelings about this show.  But it was still mostly good, regardless.  Per the e-mailed schedule, Interpol was supposed to take the stage at 8:10pm.  Running on CPT like I normally do, I didn't give myself too much travel time buffer to get there before they were scheduled to start (though I had heard Battles and Deerhoof before, I didn't really want to sit through either of their performances).  And then I ran into NYC MTA subway maintenance woes - the E line was not running at the stop closest to the temp corporate apartment I was staying in.  So I had to hoof it over to catch the R a few blocks north, and that train was experiencing delays.  I made it to the stadium around 8:30, but was lucky to find out that Interpol hadn't taken the stage yet - they got on around 8:40 or 8:45.

As planned, they played Turn on the Bright Lights from start to finish - it was the 15th anniversary of their debut album's release.  They also played another song from that era, but I had never heard it before.  After a break they came out for an encore, but only got through 3 or 4 songs before they were stopped due to the strict 10pm curfew.  Maybe starting late wasn't that great after all.

Performance-wise, they were mostly on point.  Paul's vocals sounded a bit off on quite a few songs, but I'm not sure if it was him, the sound mix, the acoustics in the stadium, or some combination thereof.  It would have been nice to hear them play a few more songs, especially more of the newer material.  So the shortened show and sub-optimal view from my seat gives this concert a lower score than it would deserve in ideal conditions.

Rating 4.3/5

MuteMath @ Brooklyn Steel (9/20/2017)

This was my first show after moving to NYC.  I timed my arrival pretty well, getting there just as the second opener was finishing up.  MuteMath played for close to an hour and 45 minutes.  I wasn't feeling it that much for the first part of their set (during which they played a few of the new tunes), which had me a bit worried.  But things eventually picked up through the intermission and one-song encore ("Typical", of course), and I was on a pretty good high when I left (in addition to a bit of hearing loss).  They did seem to play a bunch of the songs differently than they have in the past (or at least differently from the album versions), and I'm not sure if that's related to Darren's (the original drummer) departure or not.  Paul had some nice dance moves and a few antics, including bringing his daughter out for one song.  Their stage setup was all white, including their clothes and instruments, which went well with the video projection.  I was a little disappointed in the energy of the crowd; it may not have sold out, which I wouldn't have guessed for an NYC show, even on a Wednesday night.  The venue was pretty cool, though.

Rating 4.4/5

Travel challenge update

I just returned from a couple of weeks in Southeast Asia, so it's probably a worthy time to post an update on my travel challenge.  Assuming that I can count the 5-hour tour to Seoul during my layover in South Korea, I am now ahead in both states and countries.  While I've actually crossed off a few places from my last five-year travel plan, I'm not sure where I'm headed next.  In any case, here's the updated list:

#	Country	State
1	Argentina	Alaska
2	Australia	Arizona
3	Austria	California
4	Brazil	Colorado
5	Canada	Florida
6	Chile	Georgia
7	China	Hawaii
8	Czech Republic	Idaho
9	England	Illinois
10	Estonia	Indiana
11	Finland	Iowa
12	France	Kansas
13	Germany	Louisiana
14	Greece	Maryland
15	Indonesia	Massachusetts
16	Italy	Michigan
17	Japan	Minnesota
18	Kuwait	Missouri
19	Malaysia	Montana
20	Mexico	Nebraska
21	Netherlands	Nevada
22	New Zealand	New Jersey
23	Nigeria	New Mexico
24	Norway	New York
25	Paraguay?	Ohio
26	Peru	Oklahoma
27	Russia	Oregon
28	Singapore	Pennsylvania
29	South Korea?	South Dakota
30	Spain	Tennessee
31	Sweden	Texas
32	Switzerland	Utah
33	Thailand	Virginia?
34	Turkey	Washington
35	Ukraine?	Wisconsin
36	USA	Wyoming

I Am My Father's Son

My father died almost 2 weeks ago (on June 21).  The following is a tribute to him that I read at memorial events over the past weekend (wake-keeping and funeral).

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I Am My Father’s Son

I am my father's son.  Too often we hear of kids who say that they never want to be like their mother or father when they grow up.  This has never been the case for me - I have always admired my dad.  This is not to say that I’ve always wanted to be exactly like him; we grew up in too different of times and environments for that to be the case.  But as I have grown older it has become increasingly apparent to me how much he has shaped my worldview and the trajectory of my life

All of my big life decisions have been made after consultation with my dad, whether he knew it or not. A friend pointed this out to me after I graduated college, and it still rings true today.  Starting with college...he came up with the list of schools that I applied to, took me to visit a few of them, and helped me decide what to major in.  He was a key part of my post-graduation plans, and helped me decide to take the job in St. Louis instead of immediately beginning graduate school.

While I was in college he and I had a couple of long discussions where he impressed upon me the importance of owning a house that I can call home.  When I began working I chose to live in my parents’ house for a few years in order to save up for my own house, as well as help my mom while my dad was in Kuwait.  It was one of the greatest joys of my life when I surprised both of my parents after contracting my house.

Pa was never one for debt if it was avoidable.  He would only spend the money that he had, even when he was making an expensive purchase like a new car.  So, of course, when it came time for me to buy a car, I had to pay in cash just like him.

Despite his many successes in life, he was not one to be extravagant or boastful.  He was simply concerned with taking care of his family and providing them the best life possible.  I have come to appreciate this more in recent years as I see the results of his sacrifices.  In the last few years he often expressed how proud he was of me and my brothers, which always filled me with great emotion.  While I’m sure he did this as well while I was younger, at the time I was naively focused on the moments of sternness.  Although effusive affection was not in his nature due to his upbringing, my mom and I would agree that by the end he had become a veritable softie in comparison to when I was a child.

As I move on to further big life decisions, I will miss having my chief advisor and role model.  My dad married my mom when he was 38 years old, so I guess that gives me 3 years to find a wife if I want to be just like him.  But when that time comes I won’t be able to call mom and dad to get advice or share the news.  It will have to be just mom.  And as much as that hurts, it will be alright because I have the best mom in the world.  And one last thing that my dad and I shared is a great love for her.