Midweek Cafe and Lounge, Vol. 218

One of the big hits from the monster REM LP Monster:

True story: I and my then fiancée got tickets for REM’s Monster tour. They were in our area the summer we were going to leave SoCal. Sonic Youth was the opening act. For me it would have been an evening of heaven. SY doing their experimental thing that was their trademark and REM dabbling a bit in SY’s territory. Bill Berry had an aneurism and the gig got cancelled. Thankfully, he recovered and was able to go back to performing a few months later. By the time that gig was rescheduled, we’d be long gone with no hope of coming back. Requesting the refund for those tickets was painful. It would have been great and we’d have had a great time. She’d have put up with my Sonic Youth thing and my admiration of REM’s then-latest LP, and she would have been treated to a few of REM’s earlier hits. Win-win, had it have been possible. Not to be. Life happens.

The bar’s open. If you wish, feel free to talk amongst yourselves. I have a lot going on at the moment.

Author: Don Durito

Left of center and lover of photography, music, pop culture, and life. Favorite quote - "There are no innocents. There are, however, different degrees of responsibility" (Lisbeth Salander, from Stieg Larsson's original Millennium Trilogy).

3 thoughts on “Midweek Cafe and Lounge, Vol. 218”

  1. One way I know we’re near the end of an AP Read is when tables run out of essays to read for their question, and must be trained on a new rubric for a new question. I actually enjoy that. I get to see what some of my peers have been scoring, and I get to spend some time learning the nuances of a new rubric, if only for a few hours. There was one year where my group of tables ran out of essays to grade for our assigned question right before lunch time on the last day. At first the idea was that we’d spend some time training on a new question and rubric just for the experience, and then we were simply waved off – told to enjoy an extended lunch break but come back just to make sure that there weren’t any loose exams floating around. Granted there was a burger joint not far away, and I had a great time with some friends. But I did wonder what we missed out on. I am a bit of a nerd like that. The last couple years, AP reads have been virtual. Next year, it looks like we’re going back to onsite w/a virtual option. I’m definitely going back to onsite. Part of it is that I’ve got friends I like to see, and that’s my one opportunity. Part of it is that there is just something about face to face communication for which there is no adequate substitute. Daily Zoom table meetings are great, and I am thankful for those. At least this year I got to see the faces and hear the voices of my table leader and tablemates. I was also thankful that we were able to make those not just business about how we were all doing, but a bit social as well. But it’s just a different vibe. I have my text group chat with some now long-term friends that’s been going on all week. But man, I miss seeing these folks in person. Next year…I hope.

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