Time once again for a grab bag breakdown of things I’ve been engaging with lately:

Yes, I’m talking about the network medical drama and anchor of NBC’s “Must See TV” lineup in the ‘90s. Think about it, we had Friends, Seinfeld, and Mad About You getting us all warmed up in prime time so that ER could bring it on home at 10. We were eating good back then. My television watching patterns are erratic and sometimes mysterious even to myself - I am often allergic to any show that has really established itself in the zeitgeist and been recommended to me by too many people. I have also been lacking the patience to wade through an entire season or series as of late. I had enough people in my life say they really enjoyed watching The Pitt (the emergency-room-set procedural on HBO Max that was by all accounts supposed to be a sequel to ER until the estate of Michael Crichton was like “ummm, $$$$$$, please”) that medical dramas were on my mind. Procedurals in general seem to…. well, I was going to say “be popular right now”, but they are always popular. We love watching a show where people are good at their jobs; there is a comfort to that formula and it is understandable why people might be seeking out that comfort at this particular time where everything is going to shit.

Instead of watching The Pitt, I decided to kick the tires on ER. I remember the show being on throughout most of my childhood, but it was never one I took a particular interest in, even in my early adolescent heyday of watching network television. I think I may have watched the last episode when it aired in 2009 just because it was a big cultural moment, but other than that I just knew it as the launchpad for George Clooney’s career. I am churning through the second season, and I have to say this thing rocks the house. It is oddly refreshing (and almost quaint?) to watch a show that was made in an era and for a format where the general operating principle was to have interesting things happen at regular intervals so that people would keep watching and not change the channel. The ensemble cast is great, and I have some stray ER thoughts:

The Nugget is a set of cushions (foldable rectangular base, foldable rectangular cushions, triangular prism pillows) that can be assembled into a kid sized couch and reconfigured in myriad ways to make an indoor playhouse type of structure.  I was introduced to the Nugget by my niece and nephews (all aged 5 and under) and over my visits with them, we have busted that sucker out to build a fort on occasion.  This is a very simple but well made product and I cannot believe somebody didn't capitalize on this idea a long time ago.  I would have gone hog wild in my fort making if I had access to these kinds of resources as a child.  I loved making a fort back in the day, and the Nugget can provide the kind of base structural integrity that I could never achieve back then.  One might think the net benefit of this would be that I had to develop creativity and ingenuity to compensate, but no; like a shitty contractor you pay under the table, I would try to jerry rig a quick solution that ultimately looked like shit and would collapse if you sneezed or dared to move a load-bearing stack of popup books.  

My real praise for the Nugget has nothing to do with its fort-building attributes.  I have little jokes, games, and bits that I like to do with the kids on a recurring basis and the one that is the hands down unqualified hit is laying down, grabbing the young'n under the arms and, with some guidance and control, letting them jump up and down on / butt slam my stomach while I howl and groan in exaggerated pain.  Let me tell you, this thing works - they laugh like they are watching Richard Pryor at the Apollo.  On my most recent visit however, I realized that the older ones are starting to get big enough that my pained groans will soon no longer be exaggerated.  It was a real "they grow up so fast" wistful moment combined with genuine concern for my own health because I know I'd probably subject myself to minor internal bleeding just in the interest of getting a laugh from the kids.  Well, the base cushion of the Nugget is just big enough for me to lie down underneath it and let them jump and pound away to their heart's content while I just lay there, laughter ringing in my ears, wallowing in my lack of personal dignity.  Those cushions are going to stave off organ damage for at least a few years, so “Jump on Uncle Rod” can continue unabated.

To some, this might set off some alarm bells, probably because being into the reigning king of the jam bands, Phish, is something you get into as a teenager or in college and it remains a big part of your personality and taste from there on out. And so for a fellow in his 30s to start dipping his toe might seem like a sign of crisis, but I disagree.

Every now and then I will make it a little project to try to dig in on or examine some band or musician that I had never really reckoned with. I think I took an honest crack at the Grateful Dead a few years ago and it just didn’t take. The “seemingly high barrier to entry prolific band” that I do like is King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, and I remember when Fishing for Fishies came out, I thought “this must be what it feels like to enjoy the Grateful Dead”. A lot of the jam band stuff elided me, but I read a nice profile of Phish frontman Trey Anastasio recently that gave me the inspiration to give it a go with those nice men from Vermont.

In order to not overwhelm myself, I started with Phish’s studio albums, several of which I really liked and kept in regular rotation for the better part of two months. I think this is a somewhat heretical stance among the hardcore fans, but I don’t really care. Billy Breathes is a good record. Based on my experiences with Phish fans, I think they wouldn’t care, and if they did and took objection, I could easily get rid of them by making up a lie about how someone was giving away free whippits around the corner. I am just now starting to vibe with the live recordings and the jammier shit, and I’m trying real hard not to be annoying about it. So far I find I dig the more soaring, “traditional” rock songs with a good jam, Harry Hood, Slave to the Traffic Light, etc.

I tried some at a softball game and thought it was really good. I should have figured out what brand it was because I’ve bought a few different kinds and none of them are as tasty as the one I have in mind. The mango slices are a little too thick and there isn’t enough chili to give some heat to complement the sweet. Please reach out if you have a preferred brand of dried mango with chili. Its such a healthy snack and a lot of fun to eat. Speaking of softball, I’ve also been chewing sunflower seeds in the home a bit. They can be an impolite food what with all the spitting, so the privacy is a plus.

This two part documentary on the Piano Man himself was a delight to me. While I am a strong Springsteen partisan, I grew up with a deep and abiding love for the other side of the Tri-State Area popular rock musical coin, Billy Joel. As a kid, I loved so many of his songs, but I distinctly remember holing up in my bedroom with a copy of The Essential Billy Joel CD set and listening to the songs “Captain Jack” and “Goodnight Saigon” over and over. These long, driving ballads about heroin-addiction-induced ennui and the horrors of the Vietnam War, respectively, fascinated and entranced me. I have to imagine this was deeply disconcerting for any other member of my household who bore witness to this.

There is a moment in this doc that I can’t stop thinking about. One is when they cover all of Joel’s drunk driving incidents, and he declares in the present day, “I never had a DUI, so fuck you.” I think I did a spit take and started laughing, but then I got reflective. First off, when he says “so fuck you”, his gaze shoots upwards as though he’s saying it to God. Second, I think he is telling the truth - those car crashes were on Long Island, where Billy Joel is from, and what Long Island cop is going to arrest Billy Joel?

Ok, I will admit I probably could have extended the ER stuff into a full thing, but there are like a zillion more episodes to go, so we shall see!