Cloister Commentary, Day 271: Don’t Worry! It’s 2020!

After awakening feeling human for a change, I set myself to a morning like I’m sure many have: attending to this-and-that missives that had accumulated on the kitchen table (pet vacc appointments, filter changes, like that). I also rescheduled an upcoming health appointment for next month–I have too much on my plate right now–wrote and mailed a dozen or so holiday cards, and sent tips to our two newspaper carriers.

Also, I kept a medical appointment. Due to a diagnosis of atrial flutter, I’d been sent for an echocardiogram last week but “flunked,” as my heart rate was too high and erratic to get decent image. So on my return visit yesterday, I again had an elevated and erratic heart rate but somehow the technician got a reading–she felt I actually was exhibiting atrial fibrillation. Wonderful. I’ve been tracking my heart rate with a handy cuff, and it’s been consistently normal, but the technician explained that such cuffs only tend to measure ventricular heart rate, not atrial. Now they tell me.

I was a little rattled when I got home, but settled down after I talked to Nicole, ate lunch, and hid in a book for a few hours. Nobody at the clinic seemed too concerned, so I guess I need to chill, at least for the moment. Right? I mean, after all…it’s 2020!

Streaming for Strivers:

Sassy, (relatively) easy on the vibrato, all the way there on the invention, aided by Zoot Sims.

Cloister Commentary, Day 270: Out of Gas

I have a pretty high tolerance for pain, but yesterday, as a result of using muscles that had been sprawled on my body’s couch for the last decade, I did some moaning and groaning. And napping. And shuffling around.

Also–I know I’m not alone in this, because it’s probably a common COVID-19 experience–I think I just ran out of emotional gas. Nicole’s care and presence, a nap, comfort food, and comfort reading (yep, reference books: Will Friedwald’s A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers, informative, funny, and strangely warming) helped a lot. I feel better this morning.

Streaming for Strivers:

Under Friedwald’s spell.

Cloister Commentary, Day 269: Crates of Vinyl and Clearasilled Zits

I’m helping a friend find homes for his vinyl collection, so I spent the morning going through the first two of four crates and doing some sorting. I had forgotten how heavy record crates were; I hadn’t moved any since I was in my forties, but damn! I’m feelin’ it as I thumb this out. Flipping through the stacks and seeing original vinyl copies of Hüsker Dü, The Replacements, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Johnny Thunders and more took me straight back to the days when those acts were the meat ‘n’ potatoes on our dinner table. Not that I don’t play them anymore, but, to paraphrase George Jones reflecting on Hank Williams, they were everything to us.

Later, Nicole and I celebrated a couple of bits of wonderful national news–couple of zits got Clearasilled–by treating ourselves to curbside dinner, a cocktail, “Whiskers R We,” and a Jimi Hendrix documentary/concert. We then lapsed into sleep smiling.

Streaming for Strivers:

All essential music’s been digitized, right? Wrong. Found this in my friend’s stacks, though I already have a copy of my own.

Cloister Commentary, Day 268: The Road Home

Road trip back from my mom’s–listened to Black Thought’s first two “Streams of Thought” EPs (strong stuff), then Robert Calvert’s Lucky Leif & The Longships and Hawkwind’s Quark, Strangeness & Charm (strange and wonderful stuff). Switched to Chiefs game for my last lap only to hear them in “we’ll-spot-you-some-points” mode.

I was glad to see Nicole. She fixed me a titanic grilled (pepper) cheese sandwich and some tomater soup, we had a couple beers, Zoomed with a couple of friends, poopity-popped some popcorn, and closed out the day with the documentary Fantastic Fungi. Serious food for thought, right there.

Streaming for Strivers:

This random selection from a stack of things I was curious about entertained and fascinated the hell out of me when I was on the road yesterday! It is a concept album (I think) both wacky and wry.

Cloister Commentary, Day 267: Movie Marathon with Mom

The vaccine is being shipped out. Frontline workers to be vaccinated early this week. May this operation be a success…. (I’m not up for an exclamation point yet.)

Yesterday, Jane and I launched a movie / TV marathon. She awakened feeling great (she was very talkative) and suggested we watch The Godfather! She’d never seen Part II, so we watched that as well, though we decided to wait for the release of Coppola’s re-edit of Part III. You know, those first two are pretty decent movies…

After some Mexican curbside deliciousness (I do love Acambaro’s enchiladas banderas), we resumed with a chunk of Springsteen on Broadway–she had to listen to him being blasted on my stereo when I was a teen, and she pronounced him good–and an episode of her favorite investigative series Vera. That show is complicated!

We closed with SNL, since Bruce was the musical guest; neither of us had heard of the guest host. Mom loves Weekend Update, and we struggled through a series of subpar sketches to get to it. A surprise appearance by Dr. Weknowdis made it all worth it. Springsteen: he performed joyfully but left me unmoved. Mom had no comment.

I didn’t read a page but it didn’t matter!

Streaming for Strivers:

Adios, Mr. Pride.

Cloister Commentary, Day 266: Three Gifts

Helped Mom yesterday deal with some arthritic pain. We had a great experience with health professionals here in Monett: a quick and clear diagnosis, and treatment that was fairly immediately effective. I’m very thankful for frontline workers. Very.

We received a visit from longtime family friend Phyllis Garrett. She regularly checks on Mom, and since I’m normally over three hours away, that is a comfort. Phyllis’ love, concern, and good humor is a gift.

After lasagna and salad, we watched two productions I was skeptical about: Hillbilly Elegy and (a few episodes of) Schitt’s Creek. The book from which the former was adapted was a best seller, but a few reviews I’d read convinced me to skip it (I read What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia instead). Nicole and I had previously sampled the latter (Catherine O’Hara? Chris Elliott? Eugene Levy? How could it miss?) and were left somewhat cold. However, enthusiastic urging by our friends Frank and Rebecca Wimer-Pisano and my suspicion Mom would be interested prompted me to give both a whirl–and we very much enjoyed them! Maybe the movie improved on the book, though judging from the first three episodes of the comedy series, it needs a little more Chris Elliott.

Streaming for Strivers:

Last notes before bed last night.

Cloister Commentary, Day 265: Undone

It is hard to write these on the road (so to speak). I’m out of my routine, and, because I prefer to write via smartphone–I have my reasons–it can seem to those unaware of my mission that I’m simply phone-obsessed and messaging obsessively and mindlessly. Thus, like today, I feel late, late, to a very important date.

My mom and I had pork loin, mac and cheese, and salad for dinner, then binged the entire Amazon Prime Series The Undoing. It was suspenseful and grizzled Hugh Grant is an amusing sight, but I was distracted constantly by Nicole Kidman’s complete inability to keep her Australian accent in check. Why couldn’t her character just have spoken that way? The movie felt no reason to explain why Grant’s character was English. It was embarrassing, but the Monett Margaritas (aka “The Basquiats”–did you know when Jean-Michel was in Europe he relentlessly tried to teach bartenders how to make them?) allowed me to just regard them with humor.

Nicole sent me pics of her kitchen projects. That really helped me not miss her.

One of my favorite little routines of the pandemic has come at the suggestion of my former student and current good friend Nathan Ferguson. Every Friday, we trade Apple Music recommendations via IM, with a brief explanation and / or justification. I spent some enjoyable moments last night plotting what I’d send him today. He’s sent me to some cool stuff, plus he’s just smart. I’ve come to the conclusion he was too quiet when he was in my classroom and needed to have held my feet to the fire more frequently. As teachers, though, we can’t have everything.

Streaming for Survivors:

A man can dream. I’m ready. I’ve been ready.

Cloister Commentary, Day 264: Essential Missions

With great care and forethought, I reluctantly left Nicole and our feline team yesterday morning to hit the road for two out-of-town visits. This is not the greatest time to be venturing out, but some missions are essential and I’m taking the fewest possible risks.

On my familiar highway chain–70 to 63 to 54 to 5 to 44–I jammed to some relatively new music I’d not yet heard, three rap albums that dazzled me by serengeti (with help from Greg the Deerhoof drummer), Backxwash (hear below), Bktherula. I thought I was fatigued by the first MC’s set-up (I’ve long been a fan, and almost snagged him for a free show at Hickman High School)–I was wrong; the second MC simply stunned me with her aggressive delivery and strong worldview (we’ll call it); the sonics of the third MC’s album (Nirvana). The morning was one of my favorite musical experiences of this calendar year, and you may not like critics, but they DO care–and I got the tips from a goodun.

My first visit was with one of my lifelong best friends, a former housemate and (once) bandmate, and a stellar groomsman, Mike Rayhill. We talked Ebo Taylor and Fela, Taysom Hill and Patrick Mahomes, fatherhood and fathers, public and social parochial education, and cruelty and love. We also ate six delicious Taco Bell tacos.

My second visit was with my mom, with whom I’ll be staying for a few days. I helped her with a Zoom church business meeting, we enjoyed pork loin and baked potatoes, and took in a sweet and fun movie, The Fishermen’s Friends, which I’d seen before but she needed to see (thanks again, Clay). It’s recommended to fishermen, friends, and lovers of sea shanties.

Streaming for Strivers:

Been awhile since a rap album has injected my body and mind with pure caffeine like this record by Backxwash.

Cloister Commentary, Day 263: A Toast to Lynda Jo

On yesterday’s day of the year, December 8, we always take time to remember Nicole’s mom Lynda Jo Evers. She passed away on that day in 2013 after a difficult but heroic battle with Stage 4 glioblastoma. What we usually do is do something she loved to do: go out to Les Bourgeois Bistro and get a riverside window or catch a movie in her wheelhouse, for example. But these are not the days for those. We simply sat at the kitchen table after Nicole finished teaching and drank an Old Fashioned toast to her. That cocktail was her favorite, and her daughter mixed up maybe the best one I ever tasted. We miss that woman deeply. She was hard-working (she was a nurse and had just retired), kind, accepting, very funny–and she had her politics straight.

Streaming for Strivers:

I was sipping my drink and browsing through a reference book (that’s how I relax) when I realized I needed to catch up with this master singer. Would you care to join me? There are a few instrumentals on this album, but the band’s sharp.

Cloister Commentary, Day 262: That’s the Way I Remember Her Best

Nicole enjoys memorizing classic poems, and last night she asked me to test her on Longfellow’s “Psalm of Life”–she nailed everything, including the quality of the reading. If you don’t know it, you should look it up: it’s one of the good ones. Anyway, she told me Bob Dylan’s “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” is next on this list–a worthy challenge–and we traded our Top 5 Dylan songs. Nicole didn’t even know about yesterday’s news: that Dylan had sold the rights to all his songs so far to Universal for $300 million. That triggered an evening of reading and browsing to the tune of those Top Fives, among them “Every Grain of Sand,” “Visions of Johanna,” “High Water,” “Only a Pawn in Their Game”–and “Girl from the North Country,” much loved by Nicole’s mom Lynda Jo, who passed away seven years ago today. I find it interesting how spontaneous choices frequently lead us to where we really need to be.

In other news, I had to do a sleep study, so Nicole helped me get outfitted so as not to screw that up. Her very pretty face smiling as she straightened my nasal and oral cannulas helped ease my anxiety about having a black box strapped to my chest, plastic tubes wrapped around me, and sensors in my nose and mouth. Thinking about that helped me actually sleep six hours, despite cat distractions.

Streaming for Strivers:

One of the great unsung Dylan tributes. Maria’s more than “Midnight at the Oasis.”