Author: Brent Evans

morning babble / Friday 04-07-23

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!

This past week – 29 years ago – we lost Kurt Cobain. On that same dreaded date of April 5th – we lost Layne Staley 21 years ago.

Happier news – this past week, I did enjoy one of the new drinks at Dunkin called the Caramel Chocolate Cold Brew. Oh – it’s good. BUT – I ordered it that one day and then I went into the store to order it again the next day.

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!

• Michigan’s Greta Van Fleet have announced that they have a new album – Starcatcher – coming out this summer. To be specific: July 21st. That’s far. Don’t worry today we get one of the album’s singles called “Meeting the Master” (clip)

• Earlier in the summer – June 2nd – actually, that’s still considered Spring, isn’t it? Eh – anything after Memorial Day is Summer. Anyway, Mr. Ben Harper has a full album drop on 6/2 called Wide Open Light, but today we get one of the new songs AND it’s a duet with Jack Johnson. Song is called “Yard Sale.” (clip)

• A surprise new song last night from Drake called “Search & Rescue” (clip) Within the track, there’s audio of Kim Kardashian talking about her relationship with ex-husband Kanye West in the E! series finale of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” in 2021. “I didn’t come this far, just to come this far and not be happy, remember that,” she says in the sample. Don’t read it Brent, play it (clip)

• You know the drill by now with every new full moon this year, we get another song from Mr. Peter Gabriel. For the month of April, it’s called i/o and is described as “A song about the interconnectedness of everything”

• Other New Music: 20th Anniversary of Meteora from Linkin Park is out – over 5 hours of music – clear out the schedule for the rest of the day, I got some music to listen to. // The Talbott Brothers have a 7-song album that actually came out last Friday called Stripped from Studio Space Camp – I’m mad I missed that just over the name of the album. Really enjoy their chill sound though. Be sure to give them a listen. // Lastly, Jonas Brothers have a new song about “Waffle House” – zero references to bacon though (clip)

Thank you 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:
“Focus on the step in front of you, not the entire staircase.” – by someone

morning babble / Monday 04-03-23

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!

What’s wrong with this world today . . . I’ll get to that in a second.

Happy Monday! Glad to get that April Fools Weekend done. Social Media all confusing – Chick-Fil-A open on Sundays . . . let’s go! They’re not.

I’ll tell you one thing that has happened which I wish was a joke. No more cream cheese at Dunkin locations. That’s a tragedy. (pix) That’s my favorite bagel concoction from them. Everything Bagel – toasted – with cream cheese and then I get a side of Snackin’ Bacon. At home, I level out the cream cheese and place the Snackin’ Bacon on top.

GOAL SETTING MONDAY & REVIEW –

Talking about setting up some goals and knocking them down – just for the week

I had a possible “quote of the day” that sent me down a rabbit hole – “Positive obsession is a gift, not a behavior to be suppressed.” I wanted to know who said it. So – I “googled” it. BUT – I couldn’t find the person to be quoted.

I did find a blog post from one my favorite authors – Austin Kleon – from St. Patty’s Day, two years ago in 2021. Click here for the posting – “You have to be obsessed.”

He writes about another author – Octavia E Butler – and one of her essays that is titled “Positive Obsession”. He quotes her as saying “Obsession can be a useful tool if it’s positive obsession.”

Within another essay about persistence from Butler, Kleon highlights the quote from her: “Forget talent. If you have it, fine. Use it. If you don’t have it, it doesn’t matter. As habit is more dependable than inspiration, continued learning is more dependable than talent.”

Just get back at it / Set a goal and go for it / Keep Going!

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

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“If you don’t have a dream, there is no way to make one come true.” – by Steven Tyler

morning babble / Friday 03-31-23

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!

Last day of March – a fourth of the year is done. How are them goals coming along – more on that on Monday.

My own Skippy jar.

Anyway – before the new music. I must say I’ve been struggling lately – just staying “up” and “happy.” Some work stuff hasn’t been too much fun. BUT – music – the music of Sam Cooke I have latched onto nightly in my house library.

So much so that the song came on in the car – “Wonderful World” and I declared “Don’t touch. Let this play.” He immediately thought – ahhh, you love Animal House. The song can be heard in the famous lunchroom scene of the 1978 classic, Animal House. (clip)

That’s not why. Music always plays a “pick me up role” for myself. (clip)

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!

• If you’re a Tyler, the Creator fan, then today is like Christmas for you. This past Monday, he tweeted out: “CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST WAS THE FIRST ALBUM I MADE WITH ALOT OF SONGS THAT DIDNT MAKE THE FINAL CUT. SOME OF THOSE SONGS I REALLY LOVE, AND KNEW THEY WOULD NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY, SO IVE DECIDED TO PUT A FEW OF THEM OUT.” So, basically, he is releasing a bunch of songs that were tossed aside during the sessions for his Call Me If You Get Lost album from 2021. The new collection is: Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale. Also released this week was one of those singles as a video. This is “Dogtooth” (clip)

• I realize that I’ve talked about this one a lot – like 4 singles were released prior to today’s full album drop. I’m talking about boygenius and their new album called: the record. As I mentioned before, I know I’m certainly not the target for this album, but clearly something magical is happening with this trio as a group and I can definitely hear that. The latest single being pushed through on Spotify is called “Cool About It” (clip)

• Darius Rucker aka “Hootie” (Hootie clip) has a new single out. When asked what the song is about, he said: ““it’s a song about that time when you’re sitting at home with your significant other or girlfriend or wife or boyfriend or husband or whatever, and you know it’s time. It’s time to get down to business. That’s what that song’s all about.” Very nice – game on! The name of the song is “Fires Don’t Start Themselves.” (clip) Again – that’s Dairus Rucker who is putting the final touches on his 7th solo album called Carolyn’s Boy in honor of his late mother. The album art is a portrait of her. In an interview, “I wanted to name the record Carolyn’s Boy because Mom never got to see any of my success,” Rucker offered in the interview. “She died before any of this happened, so it’s just another homage to the greatest woman I’ve ever known.”

Cecil

• (clip) Other New Music: The White Stripes album from 2003 -, Elephant – has been released as a special edition 20th anniversary album. There is a ton of live cuts on here. The double-vinyl package arrives April 21st. I just received my pre-shipment label info – nothing “in transit” quite yet.

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

Remember – it’s an April Fool’s Day weekend. Don’t get fooled!

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

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Always smile, life isn’t full of reasons to smile, but your smile itself is a reason for others to smile too!” – by that person who said it first (unknown)

morning babble / Monday 03-27-23

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!

Welcome to National Scribble Day (show book) and yes, I’m also 50 now.

Proof of being 50 – I got this in the mail. (show AARP) I’ve been asked – “Do you feel 50?” And – I don’t. I’m feeling some age – most definitely. But not the age of 50. (clip)

I went down an odd rabbit hole for music this past Saturday night. (clip) For some reason, I just noticed all the recent albums from G. Love & Special Sauce. Like – one from last year, 2021, 2020, 2017, 2015. But you see what bums me out – I’m all into new music and I obviously missed out on those albums from last year and the year before.

From G. Love, it triggered the memory of Jimmie’s Chicken Shack (clip), back in the day, I was all over this band. My favorite album being from 1997. Now, their most recent album was from 2008. But then, I looked closer. They just released a new single “Simple Concept” – back on the 15th . . . not even 2 weeks ago. Totally NOT on my radar. (clip).

Lastly, for music reminiscing, this song popped up in my search for all this other music (clip) Does anyone remember that song? Listen again. (clip) That was “Groovy Train” from the band – The Farm, which was probably my last CD purchased of that type of late 80s / early 90s sound. Goes hand in hand with EMF (clip) Jesus Jones (clip) and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin (clip). After that, I really changed by tune more to Rock and the Grunge Sound (clip).

Whew – that was a musical smorgasbord from a true Generation Xer.

So, I’m definitely 50 and grabbing onto some memories here and that’s okay, right?

I’m looking forward to all the upcoming memories to make.

So, it’s Monday and I typically talk about setting up goals on Monday and then knocking them down the rest of the week. I’m doing my timing blocks, because I’ve got some things that I need to get done. But – I think a good goal overall to always continue – go make some memories.

By the way, if you want to get me something for my Birthday . . . get me subscribers. Have someone you know to sign up on YouTube – now, that’s assuming you have already done the good deed yourself. To everyone though – I say “Thank You!”

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

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“A new broom can sweep the floor, but an old broom knows where the dirt is.” – by Paul Mooney

morning babble / Friday 03-24-23

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!

This time last week, I was on a plane out of here. Don’t miss the lines and all the waiting. What did I learn – Vacationing takes practice. So, I need to do more of it.

Hey – I turn 50 on Monday – so, I’m declaring this my birthday weekend. What have I received so far? Well, I wife did find Skippy Reduced Fat Creamy PB. I enjoy the taste of the Reduced Fat.

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!

• Ed Sheeran is taking on the hardest moments of his life on Subtract‘s lead single, “Eyes Closed” and yes, he’s got a video (clip) The album, out in early May, is his final LP of a set of records named after mathematical symbols.

• New album arrived today from Depeche Mode. We already got the 1st released single “Ghosts Again”, but the next one that they are pushing is “My Cosmos is Mine” (clip). This is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band’s 15th studio album – it’s called Memento Mori.

• Last week, Linkin Park’s single “Lost” claimed #1 on the Mediabase alternative and active rock radio charts. It was great hearing Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington voices on a track together. We all hoped for more and actually get another one today: “Fighting Myself.” (clip) Linkin Park is celebrating the 20th Anniversary of their 2003 album – Meteora with a special 20 year edition that’s due out on April 7th. Both those previously unreleased songs will be on that album.

• Emmaline’s new EP – Retro Kind of Love is now available on all music sites. Who’s Emmaline? (clip) That’s just one of the songs called “First Time.” She’s an incredible artist that I’ve been fortunate enough to see twice in Philly at the South Jazz Kitchen on Broad Street. Delicious food and uber-talented jazz musicians like Emmaline. I’m ready for her to visit there again.

• Other new music: the band, Grouplove, announced their next new album: I Want It All Right Now – due out on July 7th. // With the 3rd new moon this year, we get a 3rd new song from Peter Gabriel – “Playing for Time” / Lastly, we get a song that really rocks out from Lyell – it’s called “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” (clip)

Thank you 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:
“When life leaves us blind, love keeps us kind.” – by Chester Bennington

morning babble / Monday 03-20-23

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!

Checked something off my Bucket List – nothing too fancy – but, I finally got a drink brought to me while on the beach.
Sadly, I’ve never had that until now.

GOAL SETTING MONDAY & REVIEW –

It’s Monday – when I like to talk about setting up some goals and then knocking ’em down.

“Make it a good day” / Couple weeks ago, I talked about holding the door for someone. At my nearby Dunkin – that happens numerous times and gives me hope for humanity.

However, prior to our trip, we had to go to DC in order to get our passports updated. I realize that the job these people have can’t be a good one and they undoubtedly deal with a bunch of wingnuts. BUT – it’s the purposeful animosity that is already present along with the setting you up for failure. We dealt with two separate mush mouths who were visibly frustrated when we were like, “What?” . . . or I believe my wife said, “I’m sorry but excuse me?” They were mad at the start and then they set us up to get even madder. Now – enough of the negative talk.

Later – my wife and I had to kill some time because the little blue book that they were going to create for us was going to take 4 hours!

(clip)

So, we went to a nice restaurant for some lunch and our waitress had amazing energy and truly enjoyed her vibe. My wife and I truly needed that. At the end, we obviously tipped her well for the good job that she did, but I also asked her back to the table at the end of it all and went on to say, “Thanks for being you today. My wife and I really needed what you were sending off. Keep that vibe going.”

So, yes – hold doors for people, but when someone is doing a good job, be sure to let them know. Too often, the only time we speak up is to complain. Go forth and compliment.

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

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Remember that a good plan should resemble a movie script.” – by Ray Dalio

morning babble / Friday 03-17-23

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 St. Patty’s Day! Couple green cards. Also, a year ago, my daughter tried catching herself or our household – a leprechaun

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!

• This past week Lana Del Ray released the opening track from her upcoming album – Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd – the name of the song: “The Grants.” (clip) We already got “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd” and “A&W.” Full album drop is next Friday (3/24). She reminds me a lot of Taylor Swift in the amount of music she continues to release for her fans. Just non-stop.

• And speaking of Taylor Swift – she released some more new music . . . or previously unreleased music – 4 songs in total. “Eyes Open (Taylor’s Version)”; “Safe & Sound (Taylor’s Version),” featuring Joy Williams and John Paul White from The Civil Wars; “If This Was a Movie (Taylor’s Version)”; and “All of the Girls You Loved Before.” That last one has apparently never been heard before. Left off of the Lover album back in 2019?

• Today, we get a new album from that Irish band, U2. Album is called Songs of Surrender and includes 40 tracks. New songs? Not really. The band has re-recorded 40 songs from across their back catalogue with new arrangements. I immediately went to one of my favorite songs by the band (clip) That’s “Where the Streets Have No Name.” I’m still working my way through it all.

• Last April, I talked about this band – 100 gecs – They released a song that was titled “Doritos & Fritos.” (clip) Interesting video. By the way, the band that got their name from a spray paint job on a brick wall – 100 gecs. Anyway – it was a fun song. At the time, we didn’t know when we would be getting their upcoming album called 10000 gecs. But – today we do. It’s today. 10 songs.

• Other new music: my man – Ayron Jones – came out with another single. Slowly building towards another album. This song is called “Blood in the Water”

Thank you 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:
“My heroes are the ones who survived doing it wrong, who made mistakes, but recovered from them.” – by Bono (that U2 singing dude)

morning babble / Monday 03-13-23

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!

Two weeks until 50 – yikes. But let’s talk about something that is relative to a lot of people right now – Daylight Savings Time – Never really a fun time on the first Monday after that dreadful “time-suck” of a weekend. It will all be better by Friday. Just not today.

Today, I should find out if I have a torn labrum or a torn rotator cuff. So the solutions will either be physical therapy OR surgery & then physical therapy. You know the fear of it being a rotator cuff besides – OUCH. Not being able to carry my little girl to bed when she falls asleep. She’s getting bigger and I don’t have too many more of those moments. That’s upsetting me the most. Yeah – old! Again – I’ll be 50 in 2 weeks

(clip)

You know what never gets old. Taking clothes out of the dryer and putting them on right away. Anyway – the Oscars happened and nobody got hurt this year – just egos. I have to admit I didn’t watch. I read up on them this morning. What distracted me? Well, recently my kid’s school put on the show – Mama Mia. In turn, we have had a lot of shows at our house for Mama Mia.

(clip)

GOAL SETTING MONDAY & REVIEW –

Accomplishments –

Ouch – rough week last week

Week ahead –

Get back at it!

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

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Many goals ended by ‘I wish’ – change to ‘I want’.” – by someone

morning babble / Friday 03-10-23

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!

Music is my happy place. I’m just going to begin with that and hold to that throughout today and the weekend. I thrive off the happiness of others. Sometimes that hurts me. As the great Phil Collins sung at the beginning of this babble, always get both sides of the story.

Need some happy music! (clip)

Alright – soapbox GONE! I’m fasting . . . . still. I did NOT begin my typical 3-Day Fast on Monday night. I pushed it to Tuesday night, which means I’m fasting all day Friday – well, at least until 4:56pm. And then – look out. The joy of food and beverage will be felt!

I am looking forward to doing my paperwork day today with a clear mind. That always occurs for me after the 2-day mark of my fasts. I truly enjoy the laser focus that I experience on Day 3 and hope to put it to good use.

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!

• For the first time in 3 years, the ultra-talented Miley Cyrus has released a new album and it’s called Endless Summer Vacation. Full drop – 13 songs, nearly 45 minutes of music. Brandi Carlile on “Thousand Miles” and Sia on “Muddy Feet.” Being a Sia fan, I immediately went to that song this morning (clip) And – that’s all that I can play of that song. It’s an angry song and understandably so. It’s about someone cheating on somebody. Anyway, I’m excited for the whole album especially after that first release of “Flowers”

• Last December, Death Cab for Cutie wanted to release an acoustic version of “Pepper” and they eventually did on February 3rd. However, when they went into the studio during that holiday filled month, they were enjoying themselves a bit much and kept going. They did an entire acoustic version of their album – Asphalt Meadows – the entire thing is out today. Here’s a taste of the album with their song “I Miss Strangers.” (clip)

• The Scream franchise is still alive in case you didn’t know. Scream VI is in theatres now. I really wasn’t too aware of this mainly because horror movies terrify me. Try to make me watch a scary film – You win! Whatever you want. I need to be held. ANYWAY – there’s a soundtrack that came along with this new flick and I saw a name that grabbed my attention: Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda along with Kailee Morgue (clip) I really hope Shinoda keeps giving us more new music. Love that guy.

• Other new music – Another new moon, another new song from Peter Gabriel. This one is called “Playing for Time” as he slowly builds to the release of his first full album in 21 years. (clip) // The White Stripes will reissue their 2003 album, Elephant, on March 31 for its 20th anniversary. The double-vinyl package is out April 21. Being a member of Jack White’s Third Man Records – I believe that I’ll be getting this early. (clip)

Thank you 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:
“No matter what yesterday was like, birds always start the new day with a song” – by Emmalyn Kelly

morning babble / Monday 03-06-23

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!

The Monday after my wife’s birthday weekend . . . we had so much food, I feel swollen.

We even had a Charcuterie Board last night – whew.

I ran outside Saturday on the trails – felt horrible. Did a weigh-in this morning and was not happy about that – definitely off my game there. I’ve gotten away from my routine of weigh-ins on Monday and Friday mornings.

GOAL SETTING MONDAY & REVIEW –

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

Accomplishments –

1st Draft of my book is done / Anxiously awaiting for Cecil to trudge through it. He’s not answering my calls. Is it bad that I called right away after the drop-off? I was still in his driveway. “What do you think?”

Week ahead –

More timing blocks

Video – Brand Mysticism – Deep Dive – via Steve Grasse / Punk rock style to marketing

Journal – I need to get mine to print. At least for me to give a run through. In fact – that’s my goal by the end of the year. Is to do a trial of my layout and see what I think.

Shorts – last one I posted was last March / There are four shorts up there – Click here

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

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself” – by Leo Tolstoy