This has been one hell of a ride, reality. I get it, we humans are tough and can take whatever God/Satan/Medical Emergencies/Baphomet can throw at us. But man, these last 9 to 10 days have been pitching some seriously dangerous fast balls at my head and landing quite a few of them. I’m not going through atom bombs dropping around me, or the Great Depression(well…), or starvation. But it doesn’t matter what age you are or how old your kids are, when you see them in pain you’re in pain. That part of being a parent never gets easier. Not even going through 18 years of illnesses, emotional and mental distress, or just watching them go through the cruelty adolescence and the teen years can offer up; if your child is suffering then you’re suffering.
My wife can compartmentalize during those times, so she comes across as the more tempered one during this stuff. She can keep it together. Then once we’ve passed the storm and things get back to normal she can let it go and collapse in exhaustion, both physical and emotional. I feel like a live wire during those times. I’m in a barely controlled panic and want to wring someone’s neck until they fix my kid. I wear it on my face. But once things perk up I’m great at the post-trauma; cleaning up the house, getting food, cooking dinner, and making sure the meds are understood and taken properly.
Our daughter stayed at the hospital this week for two nights and we found out she was having a Colitis flare-up. That was where her pain and vomiting was coming from. She stayed Tuesday thru Thursday and got out yesterday afternoon. Thankfully she’s back at 100%, she even looks refreshed. Color back in her face and she even said she hasn’t felt this good in awhile. So she may have been dealing with the Colitis for longer than we thought. She gets to go back to work tomorrow, which she’s thrilled about. We’ve also decided that it’d be best if her and Celeste move back home for awhile. Not worry about rent and utilities and groceries(that she barely ate anyways.) This way she can live rent-free and start putting money away. She’s gonna have some medical bills, as well as starting to pay on her student loan which will start next year. This way she can just concentrate on her work and getting better(and faster) styling hair. The quicker she gets the higher her pay rate goes up.
We’ve got a big room downstairs she can use as her space. It’s big enough for her bed, dresser, desk, as well as even set up her couch so it can almost be like a mini-apartment. It was my old music studio, so it’s also got acoustic foam on the walls. Very quiet in there.
She moved out when she was 19 and never took a little quiet time after high school to just work and live at home. It would be different if she had a friend she could split rent with, but all of her friends are moving or are living with their significant others. It’s a lonely situation, especially being 30 minutes from us. This way she can go out with friends if she wants and Celeste will be here with us. No need to ask for dog sitters or boarding the pooch.
Our son and his girlfriend are moving out two weeks from today. Going to Indianapolis where his girlfriend will finish her degree in ASL, while he’ll get a job and work. So once they’re moved out we’ll move our daughter and Celeste in. It’s going to be a pretty crazy couple weeks, but hopefully it’s the good kind and not the kind we just experienced.
It’s always kind of strange when I don’t regularly write. I feel like that place in my brain gets a little atrophied when I go several days with no writing. Like I forget how to. Writing album reviews becomes like a chore; like I don’t know where to even start. But as soon as I sit down, open the laptop, and put my fingers to the keys something always comes out. I’m not sure how much I’ve actually written over the last two weeks, but it hasn’t been much. Figured I’d go over a couple albums I’ve picked up recently. Catch you up on the new tunes that have been playing on the stereo when I wasn’t in a hospital room panicking.
Makaya McCraven: Where We Come From (CHICAGOxLONDON Mixtape)
Makaya McCraven has become one of my absolute favorite artists, jazz or otherwise, in recent years. Where We Come From(CHICAGOxLONDON Mixtape) is a perfect example of what he does best, taking improvised live recordings and cutting/pasting them into something that more resembles a hip hop producer. J Dilla and Madlib experimenting vibes, but still keeping that live feel intact. This one is great for fans of both cutting edge jazz and instrumental hip hop albums.
Antoni Maiovvi : Psychonaut
I’ve been a fan of Antoni Maiovvi since I bought the split EP he did with Slasher Film Festival Strategy. He’s expanded his sound greatly over the years, releasing alt/college rock as Jason Priest, post-punk bangers with Ye Gods, and has scored some great indie flicks as well. Maiovvi can do it all. Psychonaut has Maiovvi in blistering form, giving us dark techno/post-punk jams in the vein of early Cure, The Soft Moon, and New Order, all with a visceral live feel.
Sankofa : Masters of the In Between
Sankofa, aka Stephen Eric Bryden, is the Midwest’s biggest hip hop secret. An elementary school teacher, family man by day and a hip hop legend at night when the kids go to sleep and he lays down some of the sickest rhymes you’ll hear in his makeshift recording booth be it in the closet or in the laundry room. He’s built a small army of collaborators/friends with producers and fellow rappers all in the underground/indie hip hop community. His latest is Masters of the In Between and it’s a smoking slab of wax…literally. He put this one out on super limited vinyl and of course I had to buy a copy.
Rival Consoles : Landscape from Memory
Ryan Lee West came into my listening world back in 2015 with Rival Consoles’ excellent album Persona. He makes electronic music that can feel very movement-oriented, but it always has a intricate quality to the production. The rhythms feel organic, as if the percussion can be touched; tactile and ephemeral. And he always fills his music with melody and a kind of mystery as well. He’s one of my absolute favorite electronic producers/composers. His Landscape from Memory comes out of a kind of writer’s block. West was having a hard time locking in, and it all sort of clicked when he came across the track “Catherine’, dedicated to his partner. From there the floodgates opened and before he knew it there was a brand new classic Rival Consoles LP.
Rival Consoles also hold a pretty special place with me because Persona was an album that both my son and I were fans of. My son was 10 when this came out and was just starting to get into listening to music. He’d make playlists on our Amazon Music account and Persona was one we would spin a lot while at home cooking or playing with action figures or Bey Blades. It was a pivotal record that I think opened the door for him to really start exploring music on his own.
So hopefully we’re back in the groove over here at Complex Distractions headquarters. I want to get back to music and the regular roll of life. Here’s to that, folks. Here’s to that.
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