This is a new feature where I am just going to go through some of the books, movies, video games, bands and experiences that bring me joy. Hopefully this will give me an easy topic to write about on days where I am struggling and will give me an excuse to think about things that make me happy, which is rarely a bad thing, except of course when I am trying to do my impression of a melancholic early 20th century decadent dandy.
With that being said, my first favorite thing is a person. I was introduced to Frank Turner by my friends Sammy and Annie the summer after high school before I moved back to Oregon. The British singer-songwriter is too saccharine for some, but as I am an extremely corny man I love him. There were several times when as a lonely and depressed 19 year old driving across the St. John’s bridge at 1:00 am from my job at the grocery store that Frank Turner unironically saved me and yeah, thats silly but it’s also true.
I have not listened to Frank (is it ok if I call him Frank?) in several years. In general these days I listen to podcasts more then music and bizarrely have found myself gravitating towards YouTube fantasy ambient music when I do need some tunes (a post for another day). But recently a younger guy at work started singing some lyrics from one of Frank’s songs and we got to talking about him. I then discovered a stash of my old music which included Love Ire and Song (2009) and England Keep My Bones (2011). Today on my run I put all my old music on shuffle and grimaced whenever a non FT song came on. So now as I write this I am listening to one of the most important songs from my adolescence, a song that I listened to on those nights when I contemplated letting go of the wheel of my 2005 Mitsubishi Galant and plunging into the Willamette, Reasons Not to Be an Idiot. Silly? Saccharine? Sure but still here. Thanks, Frank.
Electric Absalom 