Blooming peonies (I think?) in our backyard.

Hello Observers, from rainy Massachusetts, where we’re (Dad, Liam and me) playing two shows at MASS MoCA in honor of museum director Joe Thompson’s retirement. It’s strange but fun to be here in North Adams in a non-Solid Sound year — like being at home with none of your furniture in it. Maybe? Luckily, Solid Sound 2022 dates were just announced.

Here’s July’s OBSERVATIONS roundup. As always, the full month of posts is on the blog. These are my fave. Thanks for reading!

Observations

  • The contractors shaking their heads at the lumber prices at Menards. 6-7
  • The five sewer maintenance workers standing on, kneading, a big vacuum-sealed sac of cleaning goop, pattering around in little circles, bumping into each other in a low-energy rave. 6-10
  • The sawdust on the floor at the mouth of the saw’s dust control tube, like a stream of vomit. 6-11
  • The kid with tzi-tzi riding a Segway. 6-8
  • The landscape worker maneuvering a tall-ish tree into a hole by himself. 6-18
  • The mom cooking stovetop popcorn with her daughter and her nephew live, on TikTok, while Casey and I and a couple hundred other people looked on at their joy. 6-18
  • The mass ocean baptism, conducted by a youth pastor, also on TikTok live. 6-18
  • The stream of slightly iridescent algae dots flowing in a Lake Michigan harbor. 6-18
  • The skinny tree with a bulging pearish base. 6-20
  • Playing a drive-in show in Bridgeview, Illinois, while: the sun set behind the car-audience; a plane flew by in the cloudless sky; and a freight train accompanied us during “Love Is The King.” 6-4
  • Dad serenading the Great Lake Jumper on his 365th consecutive jump into Lake Michigan. 6-12
  • Mom’s collection of colorful Trimline telephones laid out next to each other, organized by cord length. 6-14
  • The slightly provocative, sly expression on Jesus’s face in a painting in a Catholic church’s banquet hall. 6-21
  • “Krishna Krishna,” a newly released track by Alice Coltrane. 6-25
  • “Ponta de Areia” by Wayne Shorter. Wow. 6-27
  • The hopeful suspicion that there is eloquence and ingenuity hiding beneath so many rocks, in quiet folks’ private ideas. 6-26

Please stay safe out there, and thank you for reading. See you next month!

Spencer

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