I’ve just begun reading the novel Middlesex and only 50 pages in, I can’t recommend it enough. Written by Jeffrey Eugenides, who also penned “The Virgin Suicides,” the book details a Greek family’s idiosyncracies while living in Detriot, Michigan during the 1960’s. The novel is narrated by its main character – a girl by the name of Calliope and without giving too much away, Calliope isn’t really sure who she is. Eugenides has a very interesting writing style and his prose, especially in describing the small eccentricities and habits of a Greek family, dredge up many images of my own family (one side Greek) while I was growing up. Very entertaining!
One of the big news items of yesterday was the privately manned space-flight, which peaked at 62 miles above the Earth and came gliding down and landed without incident, the first such ride that didn’t cost you and I any taxpayer dollars. This is fascinating stuff. Let me say this though – I can’t imagine I would have volunteered to be the first one to do it! Holy crap. Supposedly they have 100 people (civilians) signed up to do this at $40K a pop. The people who are running this are also on the verge of qualifying for a $10 million dollar award if they successfully launch 3 people in similar fashion. Tell you what, I can’t imagine how amazing it would be to see a portion of Earth from 60-plus miles high. I’d have to wear my goggles, though.
I’ve really been enjoying Brigham’s Peppermint Stick ice cream lately. It’s a wonder I’m not 300 lbs with all the ice cream I eat. The latest weigh in had me at 177, though, 8 lbs less than six months ago. That’s what happens when you pick up ice hockey again.
Finally, they cancelled Lollapalooza. Concert tours get cancelled all the time, but this one, to me, drives the final nail into progressive music as I know it. This was the first time in a while that they had a very interesting and impressive lineup. There was a time 10 years ago when Lollapalooza was it, a true representation of left-of-the-dial acts and great talent and this was as close as I’ve seen to that since around ’94. It was a great feeling to go to the first two tours back in the early 1990’s and share that with a swelling of like-minded people. It’s just not the case any more. Music has been splintered, sorted, segmented and Clear-Channeled so much now that its incredibly difficult to put a multi-act tour together like that. RIP. I’m still discovering a slew of great new music through friends and publications, but that extra “oomph” I had for it in ’90s is gone for me. Long gone.
Song now playing: The Undertones – “Teenage Kicks”