Author: Brent Evans

morning babble / Friday 01-27-23

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes, it gets tidied up; but other times, not so much. When all else fails: watch the video!

Happy Friday – last one for January! I cannot believe next week is February. How many people still writing 2022?

Bad beer last night – I’m at that age where I don’t want to drink a bad beer. Not a beer snob just protecting my girthiness. Funny – I write down girthiness and it wants to change it to grittiness – 2 completely different ideas.

New Music Friday:

I put together a Spotify playlist of the songs that I talked about and thought about today for New Music Friday. Click here for that!

• Sam Smith’s 4th studio album dropped today and it’s called Gloria / 13 songs spread out over 33 minutes – take what you can get. The song being pushed today talks about Sam being “so over love songs” and the fun-time goal of: “I need a partner when the lights come on.” It’s called ‘I’m Not Here to Make Friends’ (clip) The actual video for that song will be available this weekend – here’s the link. Wrapping up the album on Gloria, the final song is a duet that includes Ed Sheeran called “Who We Love” – that will have to be pushed as a single at some point.

• “Outshined” is a song by American rock band Soundgarden. Written by frontman Chris Cornell, “Outshined” was released in 1991 as the second single from the band’s third studio album, Badmotorfinger (1991) – definition courtesy of Wikipedia. Today, we get a cover of that song from the group, Brass Against (clip). I’ve been listening to this group. They play all kinds of covers from bands that I love, like Soundgarden, Rage Against the Machine, Run the Jewels. The brass sound to go along with that rock sound – totally digging that. Highly suggest going deep on them – Brass Against.

• Last December, my wife and some friends of ours hit up Philly and went to the South Jazz Kitchen to see the holiday show from Emmaline, who is an incredibly talented jazz singer. She has a new album coming soon and today we get the first taste with the song “These are the Memories” (clip) Looking forward to the rest. She’s actually on a small tour right now, too. Not coming to Philly quite yet, but we’ve seen her twice now at South Jazz Kitchen and I’m sure that there will be a third.  My mouth is watering.

• Couple days before Christmas, we got the booty shaking song “Dancing’s Done” from Ava Max. Today, we get the rest of the album Diamonds and Dancefloors – 14 songs in just under 40 minutes – nearly half the album has been pushed with singles. Today, Spotify is pushing her song, “Ghost” (clip)

• A whole lot of disco-sound happening. Going back to the 70s, are we? Anyway, here’s something that isn’t new (came out last February), but has definitely gotten into my head lately. I learned about from this guy. Matt Kessler and his YouTube channel called Too Many Records (clip) After a statement like that, I had to dig into that album. I actually opened the Babble today with a clip of the song that crawled into my head. Here’s another clip from that song “One Way” by Saba (clip) He’s smiling as he’s editing himself for the radio show that he’s on. Apparently, he got his start by collaborating with Chance the Rapper, but he’s definitely flying quite nicely on his own right now. Again, that’s Saba with his album Few Good Things. Thanks again to Too Many Records also – now, I have another record added to my vinyl to get list.

Thank you to Spotify, Rolling Stone, Apple Music, uDiscoverMusic, Pitchfork & I know there’s more. Too Many Records!

Please subscribe on YouTube and spread the Babble wherever you can – Thank you!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Life is a lot like jazz . . . it’s best when you improvise.” – I saw that at South Jazz Kitchen in Philly – back wall of the stage – that’s George Gershwin

morning babble / Monday 01-23-23

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes, it gets tidied up; but other times, not so much. When all else fails: watch the video!

Happy Monday – time to get back at it.

This past weekend, I listened to not one, but two recent podcasts that Tim Ferriss had with Todd McFarlane – creator of Spawn and Venom / Founder of Image Comics and McFarlane Toys. I was truly inspired. McFarlane talked about the guardrails that were placed on him and how he broke free – OR, basically he just ignored them. Oddly, I then sort of began feeling the shackles on my own brain starting to shake/break free. Shackles that are placed there by myself. I thoroughly enjoyed those interviews.

For the links to the podcast click here: First Interview / Second Interview

GOAL SETTING MONDAY & REVIEW –

It’s Monday – talk about setting goals up and then knocking them down

Accomplishments –

I didn’t hit snooze all week BUT – I didn’t find any real benefits despite the “extra” time in my life. Instead, I feel as if I wasted time just not doing stuff. – that bummed me out. I expected myself to be doing something. Creating . . . something!

This got me thinking about Cal Newport and his Time Blocking routine. It makes sense – you block out times to do things. Set aside specific times . . . to get your shit done. Currently, with a constantly rotating kids schedule mashed into mine, it’s not that easy. Plus, if I write down 7pm, I’m going to write. What happens when one of the kids has a math problem or wants to practice their violin for me? You help with the homework and you listen to the sweet strings of music. Lindsey Stirling started somewhere too.

Now, I’m not writing off this method. Instead, I’m thinking in “timing blocks”. This past November, my goal was to write 30 minutes every night. No set time. Just the set timing block of a 30 minutes. It didn’t matter where that block was placed. Make sense?

Week ahead –

So, I don’t want to hit snooze again all week and with that extra time in the morning possibly utilize it with “timing blocks”. Over the course of the week, I want at least 5x of 30-minute writing sessions. I also want at least 3x of 30-minute video/script work sessions. And lastly, I want at least 3x of 30-minute journal creating sessions.

Please subscribe on YouTube and spread the Babble wherever you can – Thank you!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Today will not be perfect” – by Todd McFarlane

morning babble / Friday 01-20-23

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes, it gets tidied up; but other times, not so much. When all else fails: watch the video!

Made it! It’s Friday. I say, “we made it” but we have lost a lot of people lately.

Lost David Crosby / last week, Lisa Marie Presley / Jeff Beck / A whole lot of sad going on.

Also, earlier in the week, our family lost our dog, Charlie.

Our house is now Dogless – know what means? More vacuuming. I’ve already caught myself tossing something to the floor and then having to pick it up.

Enjoy the Now / You know what helps get me through it all – music!

New Music Friday:

I put together a Spotify playlist of the songs that I talked about and thought about today for New Music Friday. Click here for that!

Black & White Film playlist via Spotify – “Feels like falling in love in the 50s”

• I talked about this band last week – Måneskin (Moan-Ah-Skin) – as they dropped a new single “Gossip” which featured Tom Morello from Rage. Today, full album drop – it’s called  Rush and I think I have my first new favorite album of 2023. I’ve already listened to it all – nearly an hour of music, 17 songs. Today, the song “Baby Said” is being pushed. I think you get a Maroon 5 or Adam Levine sound going on. (clip) Little naughty there too – it’s rock & roll and I like it. Again, the album is called Rush and the band is called Maneskin.

• Next up – Boygenius is back together and they just released 3 new songs for their upcoming album: the record. I like that. Album comes out March 31st. But again, 3 songs today, I went with the one that has Phoebe Bridgers on vocals – “Emily I’m sorry.” (clip) Interesting line emphasizing the age of 27 – we lost Kurt Cobain at that very same age. AND – speaking of Kurt. His band, Nirvana, appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone many, many moons ago (picture). Boygenius recreated that same shot (picture).

• This past week, the band – The National – announced their next album release which is called First Two Pages of Frankenstein. We get the whole thing on April 28th. But today, we have “Tropic Morning News” (clip) I’m a huge fan of their sound and I’m really looking forward to good things from them this year . . . as well as a summer tour! We’ll see if I can get to one. Again, that’s The National – go check them out. By the way, Phoebe Bridgers of Boygenius – will appear on 3 of the songs on this upcoming album.

• Back in December, Metallica returned to the scene with their first new song in more than six years. Today, we get number two – “Screaming Suicide”. (clip) It’s Metallica. In its entirety & arriving April 14th is their new album 72 Seasons. Also, a tour kicks off in Europe that same month, before a bunch of North American shows which come later this year.

Many thanks to: Spotify, Rolling Stone, Apple Music, uDiscoverMusic, Pitchfork & I know there’s more.

Please subscribe on YouTube and spread the Babble wherever you can – Thank you!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Sometimes I just need somebody to tell me a bunch of ideas I don’t like, so that I can figure out what it is I actually want.” – by Phoebe Bridgers

morning babble / Monday 01-16-23

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes, it gets tidied up; but other times, not so much. When all else fails: watch the video!

Happy Monday / Happy MLK Day, too! Some of you have off today and got attacked by the bed and stay under those warm sheets a little longer. Skip the workout?

Well, I just listened to a podcast with David Goggins. Just came out with Chris Williamson on his Modern Wisdom podcast on the overnight. I’ll provide a link but as of this typing/talking – there wasn’t a link to it yet even on his website. It just popped up in my podcast player feed and I was like – yup, I’m listening to that one. (clip)

You never meet a hater doing better than you – agreed.

Goggins just came out with a book called: Never Finished – I got the audiobook of that. That’s how I “read” his first book – Can’t Hurt Me / Incredible depth and passion can be heard on his audiobooks

GOAL SETTING MONDAY & REVIEW –

Accomplishments –

Ran throughout the week / 3-Day Fast

Week ahead –

Running every weekday this week again / Don’t hit the snooze button

More than half of Americans admit to hitting the snooze button, to the tune of nearly 4 months of our lives wasted snoozing (click here for the study)

Overall – 1st draft of my book will be handed off to my friend Cecil on March 1st.

Please subscribe on YouTube and spread the Babble wherever you can – Thank you!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“You’re gonna fail, you’re gonna be in your head, and you’re gonna be saying I’m not good enough. It’s about how you overcome that.” – by David Goggins

morning babble / Friday 01-13-23

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes, it gets tidied up; but other times, not so much. When all else fails: watch the video!

Ahhhh, Friday the 13th. Nothing scary here – just me in full color.

Quick Fasting Recap / I wrapped up my 3 Day Fast on Thursday night with a beverage from 2SP Brewing Company and a hoagie from Wawa. Nothing fancy but delicious still. The boy had a swim meet and the wife had a class – it was the easiest solution and I would have eaten anything at that point, too. Sad thing is that I got home and patiently had to wait 30 minutes until I could eat. I always use the Zero app when doing the fast – great articles there as well about fasting.

I mentioned this past Monday, but a good show to see about fasting and if you have Disney+ is the 3rd episode of Limitless with Chris Hemsworth (Thor). Actually, all the shows are good, but the 3rd one is about Fasting. It also has one of my favorite doctors to listen to via podcast : Peter Attia in it. But again, it does have Chris Hemsworth, who does take off his shirt. (clip)

New Music Friday:

A reminder – I put together a Spotify playlist of the songs that I talked about and as well as thought about for today’s New Music Friday. Click here for that!

• On Thursday, Miley Cyrus dropped the song, “Flowers” – it’s the first one from her eighth studio album Endless Summer Vacation. We’re supposed to get it all on March 10th. Speaking of getting it all – you get a whole lot of Miley in the video that dropped as well (clip). That’s a fun video. I didn’t play the naughtier scenes, but you get the gist with that clip. With the song, I really enjoyed the overall sound as well as the lyrics. Love yourself. Again March 10th. Sounding good and looking good.

• Next up – the band – Måneskin (Moan-Ah-Skin) – dropped a new single. Real quick though before we get to that song – how do you say that band name? It’s a Danish word meaning “Moonlight”, but they’re an Italian band. While most American fans pronounce “Måneskin” as “man-eh-skin” or “mahn-eh-skin,” the band revealed to CNN that the correct pronunciation is actually “Moan-Ah-Skin.” That said, they weren’t and aren’t offended if you say it differently. have just unveiled a brand-new single, GOSSIP. Featuring the one and only Tom Morello, (clip) I’m really liking the sound of that one. I’ve been a fan of their past work and look forward to their full album drop – next Friday, the 20th – and it’s called Rush

• And on to the next one – Released in accordance with what would have been David Bowie ’s 75th birthday (Jan 8th), Spoon shared a cover of “I Can’t Give Everything Away,” the closing track on Bowie’s final album Blackstar. (clip) Wonderfully done. This got me curious if another album from Spoon was on the horizon. I realize that they might not put that one on it, but the boys are obviously hanging out, making music. Do another album. Also, I have officially added to my personal list of vinyl that I need to get – Lucifer on the Sofa which came out last year in February.

• Lastly – a Breaking & Entering artist for myself – Jared James Nichols. Bluesy sound – the single being pushed today reminded me of the Michigan band – Greta Van Fleet. Definitely has a classic rock sound to him – like Cream. Anyway, the song is called “Easy Come, Easy Go.” (clip) Today, we also get the whole album – self titled – so, just remember the name Jared James Nichols and you got it. Plus, he also has a couple past albums that I’m excited about listening to as well.

Thank you to Spotify, Apple Music, uDiscoverMusic, Pitchfork & I know there’s more.

I didn’t want to open the Babble today with this, but on Thursday, we did lose singer-songwriter and the only child of Elvis Presley – Lisa Marie Presley. She was only 54. “Enjoy the Now” everybody

Please subscribe on YouTube and spread the Babble wherever you can – Thank you!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Life’s too short to sit through songs you don’t love.” – by Mark Hoppus of Blink-182

morning babble / Monday 01-09-23

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes, it gets tidied up; but other times, not so much. When all else fails: watch the video!

My wife had a Jen Hatmaker cook book club on Saturday night, where she made crème brûlée as the dessert. There were extra. I had 7. I also ran today.

When else can you ever have 7 crème brûlées? They were delicious.

Besides running, I also weighed myself today. Damn. That’s all I’m saying there.

GOAL SETTING MONDAY & REVIEW –

Accomplishments –

Ran a 5K Monday through Friday – set up a great morning routine and feeling for myself

Also, No coffee after 3pm.

New Year’s Resolutions

I think it was Larry David that taught us “You can’t say happy new year after January 7th”

Week ahead –

3-Day Fast / Working on some “Enjoy the Now” Videos as well as a 3-Day Fast Video

Good show on fasting – Limitless with Chris Hemsworth on Disney+ / It’s Thor

Please subscribe on YouTube and spread the Babble wherever you can – Thank you!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Take what you can from your dreams, make them as real as anything.” – by Dave Matthews – birthday boy, turned 56 today.

morning babble / Friday 01-06-23

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes, it gets tidied up; but other times, not so much. When all else fails: watch the video!

That song takes me back to my U of D days. I had a good amount of liquid courage one night along with my friend, roommate, and now business partner (Bob) – we sang that song – loud – to a room filled with some lovely Blue Hen ladies. That’s the closest that I have ever come to doing karaoke.

(Clip)

How many of you are still holding onto those New Year’s Resolutions? By the way – we’re not even a week in. How many bailed on Wednesday? Forget it – give me another helping. Or – I’m not getting up for that work-out . . . I’m slipping in. It’s okay.

New Music Friday:

I put together a Spotify playlist of the songs that I talked about and thought about today for New Music Friday. Click here for that!

• Kids are dangerous in more ways than one. In the early morning hours, Elle King was preparing a bottle for her kid when she accidentally fell down a staircase. She suffered a concussion as well as amnesia. The latest from King is that she is doing better – her tour has resumed again, but it’s still a battle with the lights, the grind of the schedule, physical therapy – lots of stretching and quiet times. Anyway, today we do get “Tulsa” from Ms. King. (clip). Later this month, we get the whole album on the 27th called Come Get Your Wife.

• First new music since 2016 is being heard from Peter Gabriel and it’s a song that I had to practice saying and will now have to say very slowly – in order to get it right – the song is called “Panopticom.” Each new song will be accompanied by a piece of art and this one features the work ‘Red Gravity’ by David Spriggs. You can see it here (play clip). Gabriel said that the song “is based on an idea I have been working on to initiate the creation of an infinitely expandable accessible data globe: The Panopticom. We are beginning to connect a like-minded group of people who might be able to bring this to life, to allow the world to see itself better and understand more of what’s really going on.” My man has always been weird and I’m drawn to that. I mean – he came up with the Slipperman costume with his last album for Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (show picture) I have a Lego of the Slipperman. Anyway – new music today from Peter Gabriel. As for the whole album – his first of all original material in 21 years – it’s coming this year. No actual release date yet.

• K-Pop band – NewJeans – released a new song a couple weeks ago called “Ditto” but today we do get their new one: “OMG”. (clip) I thought it sounded like Ariana Grande at first – is that bad? Catchy little tune. Maybe not my cup of tea, but I certainly understand a hook and how it can wiggle into your head and stay. We’ll see. I actually liked that video, it was taken from one of their dance practices. Just going along to their own song and you could still hear the claps.

• Lastly – nope, he’s not dead yet. The man might look 103 but he’s a spry 75. Who am I talking about? Iggy Pop. (clip) That song is called “Comments” – one of 11 new songs from his new album: Every Loser. Just last year, we heard two other songs already: “Frenzy” and “Strung Out Johnny”. Iggy Pop. The man always has his shirt off. Good for him. Less to pick out in the morning. Steve Jobs – black turtleneck. Iggy Pop – nope.

Thank you to Spotify, Apple Music, uDiscoverMusic, and I know there’s more.

Please subscribe on YouTube and spread the Babble wherever you can – Thank you!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“People have the strength to overcome their bodies. Their beauty is in their minds” – by Peter Gabriel

morning babble / Monday 01-02-23

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes, it gets tidied up; but other times, not so much. When all else fails: watch the video!

It’s January / Happy 2023 / No countdowns this year / Nothing to count up either.

Sign up for the newsletter / Allowed my intrusion into their internet inbox

GOAL SETTING MONDAY – Set them up / Knock them down

Personal Development Vlog on Mondays

With the Monday Goal Setting, I’m going to explain what I learn from everything that I read, listen to, and experience. The fasting / The running / Not sure of any new health challenges. I am interested in cold water immersion therapy. I’m not sure how many people want to see me climbing into a tub of ice and trying not to scream though.

Kobe Bryant – The Mamba Mentality

Ray Dalio – Principles: Your Guided Journal

But then . . . that’s it for the Babble until Friday with New Music Fridays.

I have many interests that I know distract from both of those topics.

Comic Books – Go to Captain Blue Hen Comics in Newark! / Maybe they need a naive fool like myself babbling on about The Boys, Batman, or The Preacher series.

Vinyl – Go to Rainbow Records in Newark

Behind the scenes, I’m working on finding my End Game and getting there.

Please subscribe on YouTube and spread the Babble wherever you can – Thank you!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“I don’t believe in luck. … It’s persistence, hard work, and not forgetting your dream.” – by Janet Jackson

morning babble / Friday 12-30-22

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes, it gets tidied up; but other times, not so much. When all else fails: watch the video!

Coffee cookies / like coffee cake but in cookie form . . . Christmas cookie form

#99 of 5K runs / #100 will happen tomorrow

No COVID!

Surprise Album that I enjoyed: Different Man by Kane Brown

Most Listened to Vinyl: Chloe and the Next 20th Century by Father John Misty

Close 2nd & 3rd Vinyls: Both of the Jack White albums

Spotify Top Song: “Gucci” by Pink Laundry (courtesy of Babble Playlist)

Remove the Babble Playlist – Top Song – “Coming Undone” by Korn

Another album turned to: Lucifer on the Sofa by Spoon

Name I want to push: Barrens by Tone Marrow

New Music Friday:

I put together a Spotify playlist of the songs that I talked about and thought about today for New Music Friday. Click here for that!

• The duo – Rae Sremmurd (Ray Shrim-murd) – has a new song out just prior to their New Year’s Eve appearance with Miley and Dolly in Miami. Song title is “Torpedo” – and more music – like a whole new album – should be coming in 2023. Nice little song. I was amused how they rhymed Speedo with Torpedo. The line was “And your pockets too tight just like a Speedo”. (play clip) That video was produced by Ear Drummers Film. If you say Ear Drummers backwards . . . you get Rae Sremmurd.

• I don’t go down the country road too often, but when I do . . . a lot of times, it’s an attractive lady that got my attention. (play clip) Lainey Wilson came out with Bell Bottom Country at the end of November. I didn’t listen to it. BUT – today I heard a couple specialty singles from Spotify: “Middle Finger” and “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” – I really liked the Hoochie Koo cover. By the way, I did go back and “heart” the Bell Bottom Country album – I’ll give it a listen.

• Blink-182 has a new album coming out . . . sometime soon . . . in 2023. They begin their world tour in March. Could it be before that? I hope so. Anyway, today I heard their song “Dammit” covered by another band that I was unaware of. Here’s Blink’s version of the song (play clip). And here’s Tall Heights with their version (play clip). I like that. I then learned that Tall Heights came out with an album earlier this year and I will definitely be giving that one a full listen. That one is called Juniors and came out in January. By the way, anyone that was looking closely at the Blink video might have noticed that the drummer wasn’t Travis Barker – that song was pre-Barker.

Please subscribe on YouTube and spread the Babble wherever you can – Thank you!

NEWSLETTER WILL BE OUT ON NEW YEAR’S EVE!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“How much longer are you going to wait to demand the best of yourself?” – by Epictetus

morning babble / Thursday 12-29-22

This is the scribble that leads to the babble. Sometimes, it gets tidied up; but other times, not so much. When all else fails: watch the video!

HAPPY FRIDAY EVE!

3 days until EXIT PLAN – it’s over . . . for now.

This is what I wrote on January 2nd:

What’s the big overall goal? Countdown to Exit Plan. By the end of the year, I don’t want to have to be on the road anymore for my business. I intend to very much be a part of the company and know that I have a lot of work ahead with the ideas that I want and need to implement. But – I want to be doing more and this past year was a hard lesson learned, I hit some lows that I don’t think a lot of people really know that I hit. I missed some events for my kids that really crushed me inside. I don’t like being sent the pictures. I want to be taking the pictures. Like I said, I was unhappy and I’m out to change all that. So, I invite you all along again as I’ll tell my story, my mini milestones on the journey to Morning Babble’s Countdown to Exit Plan.

Beginning of the year – these were my “other” goals:

Some other random goals for the year:

1. Finish writing my book! Confessions of a Workaholic
2. More readings of my shorts – I call them each: Droplet of Life
3. Weekly Newsletter beginning in March
4. Guitar Lessons with my daughter
5. Monthly 3-Day Fasts – yup, I’m doing it again
6. Create my own Journal
7. Put together a charity called “Hold my Doll” to help fight for gender equality
8. Podcast?
9. Outside weekend adventures with the family – biking, walking, whatevers. Get outside!
10. Breathe and just keep moving it all forward. All while – “Enjoying the Now”

Please subscribe on YouTube and spread the Babble wherever you can – Thank you!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“It’s better to do less than you hoped than to do nothing at all.” – by James Clear