Listen:
Would it be a better story if I actually talked to Chris Cuthbert? Maybe, I'm not sure. Sometimes a good lament is as good as a good conversation, and who knows how awkward it might have been had I accepted the invitation in his eyes to say hello? It went how it went.
I should have talked to him.
Alas, what good is regret in this case? It still makes a good story, and I'll think of it every time I hear the excellent Cuthbert call an NHL game (which I'm hearing more and more these days as lockdown has me locked down indeed in my basement, banging around restored weights and watching Habs games for the first time in a few years).
It's a bit of a hodgepodge again today, but hey, life is a hodgepodge a lot of the time. I'm making recommendations about The Queen's Gambit (a compelling Netflix series that makes me think of glories and frustrations on the Nuketown Call of Duty map - see below), and the Coogan/Brydon "Trip" movies, which I absolutely love (also see below). We need good distractions these days. I humbly submit those two offerings for fans of compelling drama and very clever comedy.
And, of course, the music reigns supreme. The great emotional leveler. The balm. The safe place. The release. My commitment to listening and sharing new music has inspired two Spotify playlists. The first is the Indie Out There playlist, which features some indie and independent (genre vs. classification) artists that I like and hope you will too. The other is the Referenced On The Pod list, which is where I'll gather some of the music we talk about on the show so you have a one-stop-shop to sample it all. Check it out for everything from Edison Lighthouse to Pacman Fever!
I'll include the Indie list below for your reference. Subscribe on Spotify to keep up with new additions when I make them, and if you know of artists I should check out either for playlists or the Spinnin' segment - or you have questions or comments - drop me a line and let me know!
Hope you're well, kids. Stay busy, keep breathing, laugh when you can, cry if you need to, and listen to good music, starting with the following.
The action on Nuketown:
And one of my very favourite scenes from the original Trip movie: