The most alive I've ever been.

Friends and neighbors ... 60 Playlists for 60 Years.

2026 Playlist

The Arbiter - Bryce Pinkham and the Company of CHESS

NUEVAYoL (Live at Super Bowl LX) - Bad Bunny

The Great Divide - Noah Kahan

drop dead - Olivia Rodrigo

Dopamine - Robyn

Dry Spell - Kasey Musgraves

Dance No More - Harry Styles

Stampede - Genesis Owusu

Punk Rocky - A$AP Rocky

Yep, we saw Chess on Broadway at the end of last year and it was a good time, but most of what I really loved about it is not to be found on the original cast recording. Pinkham is a gas but he's not the best singer which is evidenced in this recording. The thing is, on stage that's part of the joke -- Me? The Narrator? I get a song? Oh, my!

I'd really like them to make available the single The Arbiter (I Know the Score) performed by Björn Skifs, a re-recording of the concept album version that includes a third verse:

As you settle down behind your pawns, power passes to me

You can play like Fischer, Karpov, Euwe, and Tal combined

I won't mind; please feel free

They all thought they were "the big fromage", but they don't have my clout

I control the match; I start it, I can call it off

Kasparov found that out

Distance: 3.1 miles

Duration: 27:20
Pace: 8:49

Audition month. End of season. Beginning of new things. One day we will move beyond oh who am I kidding, that day will never come. Rather, let us embrace the generosity of now. My family, our home, our cats. Health, privilege, time.

And I can still run. This will not always be so.

Route: Forest Hill Loop
Temperature: 58°
Climate: just beautiful 
Mood: all right

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 165 lbs. (-0-)

It takes 1/3 of a year to do the annual playlists, so "this year's list" doesn't represent the entire year, and yet. Pretty hot, right?

Also, I heard Olivia Rodrigo's new single drop dead for the first time on SNL just last night.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes

What's next?

We walked around in circles singing.

Such a squalid little ending.

From the jump, the recent revival of Chess falls into a trap, as the Arbiter educates the audience of young people about the Cold War, which he describes as a battle between COMMUNISM and ...

DEMOCRACY.

Yep. Not Capitalism. Democracy. That may have been how we described it at the time, but the Arbiter exists out of time, a modern narrator making contemporary references and wisecracks. My own kids would be like, uh. No. 

Distance: 3 miles

Duration: 25:41 

Christians had long recognized the problem. The most radically inclined, those who thought of themselves as most fully awakened to the truth, wanted to cancel the whole of pagan culture. 

In order to be cleansed and to feel safe, they had to discard the inherited works of art, literature, and philosophy. Those works were indelibly stained, and they corrupted those who came under their spell. To teach them to the young and impressionable was unconscionable. 

It was time, in the name of the redemption paid for by the blood of the Savior, to smash the idols once and for all. "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" one of the most radical asked.

- "Dark Renaissance" by Stephen Greenblatt (p. 39)

Route: rec center
Temperature: 14°
Climate: sunny & freezing
Mood: all right

1984 Playlist

The Deal (No Deal) - Murray Head, Tommy Körberg & Elaine Paige from "Chess"

Where Do the Boys Go? (157 BPM) - Men Without Hats

Birdmad Girl - The Cure

Too Late for Goodbyes - Julian Lennon

Train Running Low on Soul Coal - XTC

Robert De Niro’s Waiting - Bananarama

Dancing With Tears in My Eyes - Ultravox

In My House - Mary Jane Girls

Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weight: 160 lbs. (-0-)

I have been sneezing for three days straight. The wife thinks it's cancer.

She hates it when I say things like that.

Planks: yes
Push-ups: yes

Sit-Ups: yes