Making it happen. That’s what we do here at the Tune-Up. We make things happen. We also use our powers of analysis, persuasion, and charm to convince others that no only do we know what’s up, but that others should follow our lead. And, we drink cocktails on city rooftops. Thought leaders, thing-happen-makers, cocktail-drinkers. How very soignée.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l32MY29h3k
To equate using a thin wooden stick to hit a tiny ball traveling at 102 miles an hour with faith, one might very well need some sort of higher power’s help to hit a home run. These three minutes of gospel awesomeness might do the trick.
Baseball is my favorite professional sport. “Why,” I hear you reluctantly mutter? Because it’s easy to understand and doesn’t have the homicidal undertones that football and hockey have. I’m also the most familiar with it, having played Little League and collected baseball cards as a kid.
The other major reason I love baseball is the awesome modern addition of the walk-up song – aka, the song that plays when a batter steps up to the plate. I’ve had the same conversation for years with friends and family about what the perfect walk-up song would be, but I hate having to pick one.
WAIT OMG I HAVE A BLOG NOW. HAH. Welcome to Walk-Up Week, Part 1: The Non-Ironic Version. (Part 2 will take place in a few months after my Minnesota Twins have once again blown their chances at the Series, probably after losing, again, to the Tigers or the White Sox, and I think baseball is a hateful and idiotic sport with which I wish to have no association.) We begin the week with “Seventeen Years,” by Ratatat. This is a song for that batter with a consistent record of pasting the ball high over the left field wall, but, being a little older than most, is only brought out when his* skills are absolutely imperative.
*His. It’s always his. Oh well.
Sorry I’ve been AWOL the past two days, Tune-Up fans; life, man. I promise not to leave you in the lurch again. To make up for it, put on this groovin’ track from Jon Batiste and Stay Human.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAHNf4puTyg
Robin Williams, 1951-2014
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1- 800-273-8255
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baQ8mOi1oIw
The first full week after being away from D.C. for almost two and the immediate wheels-down-at-DCA thought still remains. It’s like a fusion of Plato’s Cave and the twist at the end of “The Sixth Sense:” I see tweaked-out, type-A, overachieving anxiety-balls. I have a much better understanding of why people say that D.C. is a bubble. I kind of knew that while I’ve been here for the past decade, but now it’s even more obvious. I still love my “funny little town,” but dudes. Seriously. Chill.
Today, for reasons not yet disclosable, I feel like a total badass. Also, by a wonderful turn of serendipity, many good friends of mine are also feeling like total badasses – buying houses, getting selected for incredible jobs, sticking it to the man, etc. We be boomin’. Have a rad Friday, Tune-Up fans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhyhP_5VfKM
Oh it is so on right now. Your plucky heroine is in full battle rattle* today (St. John’s knit sheath, 4″ snakeskin stilettos, graduated pearl necklace, eat it*). I have a long-overdue throw-down with a local self-styled tough** and I’ve been waiting a mighty long time. Yankette Smash!
*Yes, I know that’s a dated and lame phrase.
**Hey, Glass House, don’t you judge how I pump myself up. At least it’s not Cheetos and Tang.
***I am fully aware this is one of those moments that Me In Twenty Years will look back on, and with a knowing chuckle, mutter, “God, I was so dramatic when I was a kid.” Shut up, MITY. No one cares.
Gosh, it’s just swell to be back in the office. Can you guess my favorite part of being back from a long vacation? Digging out my inbox. It’s the greatest ever. I came back to an inexplicably large three-figure number of emails. It took more than an hour to sort, and then another hour to figure out what actually mattered and what didn’t. I had to create an Outlook folder called, “New messages to deal with.” I’m really not an important person at all – no one has to keep me in any loop of any kind – and yet, so many people did. It mentioned my dismay to my Dad. “Go go gadget tragic computer failure that erases your inbox,” he replied. Genius idea.
This is the second single off of alt-J’s forthcoming album, being released next month. According to the band, this is the least alt-J-y song ever. (For a point of comparison, search for alt-J in the search bar on the left hand side of your screen and play “Taro,” the song I posted a few months ago. Different, right?) According to me, it’s absolutely, completely, foot-stomingly awesome. The tone of the song is a mild break from the classic funk music I tend to play on Fridays, but the sassiness of the guitar lick tipped the scales in its favor. It just slays me. This will probably be my remainder-of-summer 2014 song. Happy Friday, Tune Sharks.
—
Well your left hand’s free
And your right’s in a grip
With another left hand
Watch his right hand slip
Towards his gun, oh no
I tackle weeds just so the moon buggers nibble
A right hand grip on his Colt single-action army
Well your left hand’s free
And your right’s in a grip
With another left hand
Watch his right hand slip
Towards his gun, oh no
N-E-O, O-M-G, gee whiz
Girl you’re the one for me
Though your man’s bigger than I am
All my days he disagrees, oh no
Well my left hand’s free
Well my left hand’s free
Hey shady baby I’m hot
Like the prodigal son
Pick a battle eenie meenie miney moe
Hey flower you’re the chosen one
Well your left hand’s free
Well my left hand’s free [x4]
Oh no
The Daily Tune-Up 