Good morning good morning. Hello. Hi. How are you? Greetings from Chatham County, NC for the last time this year. We head to Boston tomorrow. Very exciting.

RIP to war photographer Peter Arnett. Congratulations and thanks to the four Republican house members who crossed the aisle to sign a discharge petition to force a vote on Obamacare extensions. No thanks and disgust to NC Rep Don Davis and his Democratic compatriots who crossed the aisle to pass a bill defunding trans health care. I have talked to that dude on the phone a few times. Hope he calls again soon looking for money so I can ream him out.

Thank you for all your kind words about yesterday’s post. I always feel a little overwhelmed after I write about depression, because so many old friends drop a line in check in on me, which is absolutely great and 100% why, when you are depressed, you should tell someone. But it does get a little overwhelming. However, the number of people that write in and tell me that it feels good to know they are not alone makes it all worth it. It is pretty much why I do it. Long ago, I resolved I was not going to suffer my depression in silence, and if I could write about it I could probably help people. Also has the added bonus of helping to describe the whole experience to my wife, since I am absolutely terrible about communicating with her while in the throes of it.

Been trying for, oh, over a decade now, and the act of capturing depression in writing still feels… well let’s just say I am still along way off from capturing it. Or maybe that’s not even what I’m going for anymore.

Anyway, feeling much better today. Very excited about Boston. Man I love that town.

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We are listening to the new Nick Cave live album this morning, Live God and it is pretty good. I mean, Nick is still a beast live. I regret that the classic lineup(s) of the Bad Seeds are no longer a thing. And just this morning I was doing the important parenting work and educating my daughter on Conway Savage’s amazing voice, especially his backing vocal on “When I First Came to Town” off of Henry’s Dream. But this current version of the Bad Seeds is still a pretty monstrous, effective live outfit. The versions of the oldies on this album – “Papa Won’t Leave you Henry” (so weird that’s an oldie now), “Tupelo,” “Red Right Hand,” and “From her to Eternity” — are every bit as good as the versions on Live Seeds and it is great to hear some of these “mid period” Bad Seeds tracks live — like “O Children” and “Into My Arms.” Not a bad live outing at all. Might actually buy this thing on vinyl after all.

We have six hours left on this “To Investigate” playlist, in order to have it cleared out by the end of the year so we can begin 2026 off of Spotify. I spent a significant amount of time yesterday with the amazing app SongShift, moving playlists off of Spotify. However, mid process, I did suddenly reconsider my whole approach, question my solution for getting off Spotify. I need to do some experiments today in the car to confirm some assumptions that, I just realized, may not be true. Don’t worry, we will have a whole long GMHHAY entry just about this topic in early 2026.

The Music Hall of Williamsburg is closing. This is very sad. This is the venue where we had our wedding. It’s also the venue where I saw, god, so many shows. We lived a block away. Jarvis Cocker, The Hold Steady, Hot Chip, Godspeed you Black Emperor (twice? I think it was Godspeed Doug and I saw where we bought that Crass book?), The Afghan Whigs with Usher, Crime and the City Solution, Dean Wareham does Galaxie 500, Frightened Rabbit, Japandroids, Low (twice), Mogwai (who recorded the show for a live album), Phosphorescent (who recorded the show for a live album too), Saint Etienne, Qui, Medicine, Stars, Ted Leo. So much.

And, of course, I got to play there in my band with Annie, and Aug and Craig. For my wedding. Amazing sound, excellent sound crew, just fantastic. A+ would recommend.

One time I saw Active Child there, then went to Glasslands to see Hayden, then went to 285 Kent to see Xeno and Oaklander all in one night, what night, what a night. They are all gone now. Never mind MHOW’s predecessor, North Sixth, which was an amazing outpost of live music in the old Williamsburg when things were still (somewhat) sketch.

RIP.

Congratulations to the Lumbee tribe for being on the cusp of achieving recognition as an official Federally recognized tribe. The bill has passed the house and senate and Trump will be signing it soon. I mean, you never know with him but it’s part of the NDAA and he has repeatedly expressed his support, so. Fingers crossed. Thus ends a more than 130-year effort to achieve recognition. Very happy for them. The Lumbee are somewhat unique in that they are a tribe of refugees — they came together later, just before the Civil War, from the remnants of tribes that we had, well, previously destroyed. As well as some fugitive slaves mixed in. This has sparked some protest from other Carolina tribes who say they are not a real tribe with a continuous and consistent ancestry, but, well, so what. They’re a real tribe now and I am happy for them.

Last night after Gymanastics we drove 40 minutes west to Siler City to go to the school district Science Fair awards and finals, where Jane received an honorable mention in the county for her science fair entry. Her friend won first place for all the K-3 students in the district, and our friend’s kid — who Jane knew as a baby, whose mom was in our birthing class, also won Honorable Mention. The awards for K-3 were given out first, so this means we knew three of the first awards given out I felt like a real member of the community, yo.

And you can imagine what a proud parent I was when, after the show, the assistant superintendent congratulated us in the parking lot for having a kid who is a great artist and a scientist, since he had attended both the science fair and the recognition for her art award she had achieved at the School Board meeting on Monday. Dude remembered, I am impressed.

Of course none of this stopped her from being a manic hyper pill in the evening, refusing to do her teeth and whatnot. Emma washed her hands of it so I went up and did bedtime and I was firm but so kind and patient and she said all the horrible things about how I should not be allowed in her room ever, but also said she loved me and I was nice and didn’t want me to leave the bedroom, so, you know. Win some lose some. It was all pretty cute for a manic rebellion, and who could blame her, man. She is on a winning streak. Girl loves attention. She kinda belongs on a stage, it pains me to admit. Not a shred of stage fright, and she can charm a crowd, that one.

I am a proud papa.

Shoegaze playlist today. All new shit except The Boo Radleys, who got a recent re-appraisal in Pitchfork, good for them. Thank you Jes for the Mary Onettes recommendation they are great. Man there is so much good shoegaze out there these days. Does Hatchie count? I hadn’t thought so but saw a review calling her shoegaze and you know what? I’ll roll with it. It is a great record.

I may or may not write tomorrow, TBD. Not sure who’s driving when. I sometimes write my drive-day entries in advance but have too much to do today doubt I’ll get to that. BUT I WILL TRY. LOVE YOU.