Posted in Whathaveyou on July 14th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
There are three of the total 15 pieces streaming now from Brad Frye‘s first solo album, Reverberations From the American Southwest. Set to issue Aug. 7 through his own Desert Records label, the offering stands more in league with Frye‘s drone duo Droni Eye Omi than the desert-heavy doom rock of his main outfit Red Mesa, being comprised as it is of baritone-guitar adventures in open spaces, with field recordings and organic ambience threaded across the songs, as much as part of the music you’re hearing as anything running through an amplifier. The concept is right there in the title. Frye is speaking to and of the desert landscape. He calls it “a love letter to New Mexico,” and fair enough.
Kind of funny though that you could call the entire genre of desert rock ‘reverberations from the American Southwest’ and not be wrong. The individual pieces thus far posted are relatively short, but I think you can get a picture of the kind of immersion Frye is going for, so by all means, dive in. The following came from a Bandcamp update via the PR wire:
Hi everyone! Been a while since a Desert Records release announcement.
Excited to announce my debut solo album, ‘Reverberations from the American Southwest’.
In the spring of 2025, I set out to self-record my first solo album.
Armed with a Reverend baritone guitar, a Fender Champ tube amp, a solar powered generator, and a pedal board, I hiked out to remote locations around Albuquerque, NM.
I set up a Zoom H6 recorder to capture the ambient natural sounds of the New Mexican landscape. Birds, trains, rivers, wind, insects, and animals are heard throughout the songs.
Drone meets spaghetti western. Partially composed, but mostly improvised, this is hypnotic and mesmeric instrumental electric guitar music. 100% recorded outside in the high desert. A love letter to New Mexico.
Tracklisting: 1. Cactus Wrench 2. The Immense and Bloodslaked Waste 3. Ghosts Along the Bosque 4. The Raven Sees All 5. Merciless Sun 6. Celestial Skies 7. Three Gun 8. Desert Is As Desert Does 9. The Good, the Brad, and the Ugly 10. Crossing the Malpais 11. Drone of the Spotted Towhee 12. Temazcal 13. Stone Hut 14. Upon the Bones Cholla Cactus Sat Vultures 15. Gila
Releases August 7, 2026 on Desert Records.
Written, Performed, Recorded, and Produced by Brad Frye Guitar, Harmonica, and Field Recordings by Brad Frye Mixed by Ronaldo Baca at Orange Cat Studios Mastered by Alan F Jones at Laminal Audio Photos by Diego Pani
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 14th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
No, this single isn’t out yet, but I’m putting it here kind of as a note to myself ahead of the Aug. 5 release of “Lost Highway” and the subsequent Oct. 9 slating of Sacred Buzz‘s self-titled debut album on Sound Effect Records. The Berlin-based psych rockers made an impression with their 2024 Radio Radiation EP (review here), and there’s some continued garage-chic to their sound in the new song, which isn’t nearly as creepy as the David Lynch film for which it’s named, but I guess you’ll be able to hear that in a couple weeks, at which point presumably more info about the album will also be revealed.
So yeah, sorry for the “hey more to come” hype-type posting, but this is a cool band and I haven’t seen a ton about them around at this point, which if we’re being honest is part of the appeal, at least for me. And since I have nothing more to say at the moment without ripping on the very-online heavy underground hivemind, and that’s poor diplomacy even though I’ve already just done it, I’ll turn you over to the PR wire:
Sacred Buzz – “Lost Highway” – new single out August 5th
About the single:
“Lost Highway” captures the feeling of being on the run, hunted by something you can’t name, whether it lurks in the world around you or deep within your own mind. A driving krautrock rhythm is spiced with raw guitar and embellished by a brooding synthesizer. A fuzzy, phased-out riff between verses evokes a sense of being chased with nowhere to run, before it all culminates in a climax that sounds like a speeding car, screeching brakes, and the sudden end of the road. Inspired by dark ambience of Joy Division and fueled with mind-bending imagery of David Lynch, “Lost Highway“ channels the paranoia simmering beneath the daily grind of modern city life.
About the upcoming LP:
The album spans 8 tracks across 42 minutes – moving through post-punk, kraut-rock, and psychedelic rock. It was recorded at Monoton Studio (Berlin), mixed by Pablo Thiermann (Chicos de Nazca), and mastered by Pete Maher (Fuzz Club, Bella Union, EMI). The artwork is created by Ardneks, a prolific Indonesian artist known for working with Barcelona Psych Fest 2026, Kikagaku Moyo, Night Beats and Khruangbin. The vinyl pressing of 400 copies (black, colored, and special editions) will be released 9th October 2026 and distributed across EU, UK, and US through Sound Effect Records’ partners. A support tour follows in October–December 2026.
Dead Meadow‘s new collection, Foundlings, is out July 31 on Heavy Psych Sounds. And of course, with a release compiling seven songs from different recordings sessions between 2002 and 2024, there are always going to be variances in sound even before you get to different personnel involved — drummers Mark Laughlin and Stephen McCarty mostly trade off, but it’s Steve Kille, who passed away in 2024, on bass and Jason Simon on guitar and vocals throughout — but considering it’s Dead Meadow, you’re never not going to have a flow, and sure enough, as “Lost to Light” (premiering below) from the sessions of 2025’s Voyager to Voyager (review here) opens and shifts into the light-touch shuffle of “Nobody Home,” the fuzzy, ‘gazey-hazy vibe is on lock and it stays that way across the somewhat perfunctory 40-minute span.
I say ‘perfunctory’ because obviously the intention with Foundlings is to assemble something to sell to Dead Meadow‘s established fanbase, so they hit that mark, but — especially in the case of this band — that doesn’t mean the only thing they have to offer is fodder for completists. The ultra-eased roll of “Everything is Goin’ On,” originally from 2003’s Shivering King and Others and here taken from a 2002 ‘Committee to Keep Music Evil Session,’ makes a whole world in its early low end, following the centerpiece take on The Beatles‘ “Tomorrow Never Knows” tracked eight years ago because time is an illusion anyway and if you’re here, you might as well keep warm.
Yeah, there are stark-ish changes in sound, as from the uptempo “Nobody Home” to the more foreboding Powell St. John cover “Kingdom of Heaven,” or the later fuzz-march/cymbal wash of “Everything is Goin’ On” — which if you believe in riff worship should have you building an altar; or, you know, starting a band — rumbling out ahead of their take on “No Quarter,” bringing new spaciousness to the Led Zeppelin classic.
The loss of Kille continues to resonate, particularly as he recorded some of this material in addition to playing on all of it. As Dead Meadow have moved forward, they’ve given due homage to Kille‘s importance in the band, and it’s not explicitly stated on the record, but that’s part of what’s being summarized in Foundlings as well through recordings spanning more than two decades. He was and remains an important part of the band, and grief takes (1:) multiple forms, and (2:) time. His loss is an inevitable part of the story here.
Nonetheless, soothing as they are, “Lost to Light” as the opener demonstrates the undercurrent that runs through Dead Meadow songs when they want it to, and the way Foundlings is set up, it draws the listener further in with “Nobody Home” and the jammy “Kingdom of Heaven” following, “Tomorrow Never Knows” — which, honestly, is worth the price of admission on its own — leading to the side B plunge with “Everything is Goin’ On” and “No Quarter” ahead of the ambient finale “From the Children of Planet Earth,” which finishes with the sample of Nick Sagan (son of Carl) that went out with the Voyager probe in 1977 greeting future alien travelers, the song an otherwise instrumental landing point as much as you can ‘land’ while floating in zero-gravity.
So yeah, it’s off-album tracks and odds and ends, and no doubt the band have accumulated enough of them over the last nearly-three decades that Foundlings could be a series if they wanted it to, but while it might be a fan-piece rather than a place for newcomers to start — there are so many arguments on where to begin with this band that thinking about it makes my head feel like it’s going to explode, so I’ll just say start at the start and work your way up — there’s still a richness to the sound that is signature to Dead Meadow, and a fluid procession between the songs that gives an album-style impression. You will never doubt what band you’re listening to while hearing it, but between the covers and jams and the experimental edge with which they top it off, Foundlings captures more range than it might at first appear.
“Lost to Light” premieres on the player below, followed by more from the PR wire.
Featuring the core lineup of guitarist and vocalist Jason Simon and late bassist Steve Kille, with drum duties split between Mark Laughlin and Stephen McCarty, Foundlings compiles material recorded between 2002 and 2024. Highlights include a rendition of Powell St. John’s “Kingdom of Heaven” (from the Sonic Cathedral sessions), a take on The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” (from The Nothing They Need sessions), and a version of Led Zeppelin’s “No Quarter” originally cut for a Cleopatra Records tribute, alongside originals drawn from the Voyager to Voyager album recording sessions, a EarthQuaker Devices session, and a Committee to Keep Music Evil session recorded with Anton Newcombe and Rob Campanella (The Brian Jonestown Massacre).
Foundlings is poised to be essential listening for both long-time devotees and new converts. It arrives as the band continues to cement a legacy defined by fearless exploration.
TRACKLIST: 1. Lost To Light (2023 Voyager to Voyager sessions) 2. Nobody Home (2022 Earthquaker Devices Session) 3. Kingdom Of Heaven (Powell St. John cover) (2010 at The Psychedelic Sounds of Sonic Cathedral) 4. Tomorrow Never Knows (The Beatles cover) (2017 The Nothing They Need sessions) 5. Everything’s Goin’ On (2002 Committee to Keep Music Evil Sessions) 6. No Quarter (Led Zeppelin cover) (2017 Cleopatra Records Led Zeppelin tribute) 7. From The Children Of Planet Earth (2024 Voyager to Voyager sessions)
DEAD MEADOW on “Foundlings” Jason Simon – guitar, vocals, organ Steve Kille – bass (recording tracks 3, 4, 6) Mark Laughlin – drums (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 7) Stephen McCarty – drums (tracks 3, 5) and organ (track 5)
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 13th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
Granted, we already knew Sasquatch would be at Mojave Experience 2027 from their hey-we’re-back announcement last week, but I’ve been doing these Mojave Experience updates with two bands at a time, and it didn’t seem fair to leave Sasquatch out just because I talked about them elsewhere. The L.A. trio are joined in this announcement by desert rock progenitors Fatso Jetson, who are an inevitability when it comes to just about anything in the genre/landscape. That is to say, you probably could do a desert-rock-minded festival in Southern California without having them take part at some point or other, but it would be ill-advised.
I really, really want to be at this next March, and I’m going to do my darnedest to make that happen. I was bummed to not see the inaugural edition this past Spring, and with the lineup they’re assembling for 2027, it feels very much like somewhere I need to go.
From social media:
Mojave Experience – March 19–21, 2027
Fatso Jetson
Some bands become part of a scene. Others help create it.
Fatso Jetson has spent more than three decades carving out a sound that could only have come from the desert. Formed in Palm Desert in the mid-‘90s by Mario Lalli, their music has never followed trends or stayed inside the lines. It is restless, heavy, unpredictable, and deeply rooted in the landscape that gave birth to desert rock.
Their influence reaches far beyond their own records. Generations of musicians have drawn from the path they helped open, making Fatso Jetson one of the most respected and enduring names to come out of the Coachella Valley.
There are bands you listen to. Then there are bands you experience.
The desert has always remembered their name. This March, Fatso Jetson returns to where the dust still speaks.
Sasquatch
There are bands that stay in motion, and there are bands that leave an imprint, even in their absence.
For nearly twenty-five years, Sasquatch have carried the torch for heavy rock out of Los Angeles, forging a sound built on thick riffs, blues undercurrents, and the kind of songwriting that feels timeless rather than tied to any moment. From their debut through IV to Maneuvers and Fever Fantasy, their catalog has remained a constant presence for those drawn to the deeper corners of the underground.
It has been nearly three years since Sasquatch last stepped onto a stage. Long enough for the dust to settle. Long enough for the call to return to grow louder.
Now the silence breaks.
When Sasquatch arrives at Mojave Experience 2027, it marks the return of a band whose sound has traveled far and waited patiently for the right place to surface once again.
Artists Playing: Red Fang Fatso Jetson Sasquatch Brant Bjork Trio Big Scenic Nowhere Heavy Temple Yawning Balch Unida Sons of Arrakis 20 Watt Tombstone
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 13th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
I pieced together the following release info for the new split from Illinois’ Erosions and Las Vegas’ Psalms from the website of Space Goat Records, which is a new imprint the background of which you can read below. Of note, obviously, is that the label’s concept is around putting out splits and nothing else. No albums. Like, “Hey man, that record’s only got one band on it? Get it outta here!” I can’t think of another imprint to give that approach a shot, and it’s interesting. I wonder if, as time goes on, they’ll be able to resist the full-LP temptation.
Psalms and Erosions both had releases out last year and you’ll find them below. I don’t have a release date for the split as yet, but preorders are up now through Space Goat Records, and there’s a bit of a manifesto on their site as well if you’re up for digging further. The cover art and preliminaries follow. As a text note, I changed one “begin” to “began” because, you know, cruel passage of time and all that:
Preorders Are Live for Erosions / Psalm!
Space Goat Records is proud to announce the preorder launch of its very first release: Erosions / Psalm, a limited-edition split LP featuring Erosions on Side A and Psalm on Side B. Created for fans of the heavy underground, this collector-quality vinyl marks the beginning of a new label dedicated to premium, limited-run releases with exceptional packaging. The album is $35 plus shipping, and preorders began Friday exclusively atspacegoatrecords.com. Don’t miss your chance to own the inaugural release from Space Goat Records and help us launch something truly special.
Space Goat Records is a new independent record label forged in the molten heart of the heavy underground. Founded by Jason Doome of Grand Rapids Doomfest and Sean Brooks of The Heavy Underground Farm Report and HUFR FEST, Space Goat Records exists to celebrate collaboration, community, and raw creative force that defines doom, stoner, sludge, psych, and all corners of the riff-driven underground. Space Goat Records is dedicated to limited-edition split vinyl releases. Premium packaging, collector-quality pressings, and unforgettable riffs unite exceptional bands from the doom, stoner, sludge, and psychedelic underground—one exclusive release at a time.
This is not about mass production. This is about meaningful production.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 13th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
I haven’t heard every band on this bill and I won’t pretend otherwise. Stylistic diversity is part of what Somergloom does and always has been, but the Boston-based (or at least Boston-adjacent) four-dayer dark arts outing has always brought a thoughtful approach to its curation, and 2026 pushes this further with the likes of Dropdead and Junius — whose brand new album is streaming at the bottom of this post, along with the new Guhts single — headlining and Hiroe and Eight Foot Manchild, Gloomlurker (who no doubt will feel right at home) and others included. None of the individual days has more than five bands, so it’s doable if you’re as old-ass as I am, but if you value seeing something maybe you don’t see all the time at an underground fest, the info follows in blue text.
Fresh off the PR wire:
Somergloom Festival Returns for Year 6 at Crystal Ballroom and Deep Cuts
Somergloom Festival enters its sixth year of doom and gloom with an ambitious lineup celebrating legendary contributions to the New England underground scene. Formed in 2021 on the heels of the pandemic and a year without shows, Somergloom’s mission is to bring together a diverse lineup of artists from the underground heavy and dark music scenes in New England and beyond. From its early years in a parking lot, to local breweries and Somerville’s Arts at the Armory, Somergloom finds its home for year six at Crystal Ballroom in Somerville and Deep Cuts in Medford for the second year.
This year’s lineup celebrates the vibrant and increasingly diversifying underground heavy music community, with artists from Boston’s own doom scene sharing the bill with established and emerging artists. This intriguing interplay of sounds and artistic approaches is something audiences can only experience at this kind of multi-day festival, with an opportunity to experience 18 bands over 4 days.
DAILY LINEUP
Thursday 8/6 Deep Cuts
The Outlourdes Magnatar Through a Glass, Darkly Swamphead
Friday 8/7 Crystal Ballroom
Dropdead Miracle Blood Severed Boy K.O. Queen Unhinged
Saturday 8/8 Crystal Ballroom
Junius Planning For Burial Hiroe Ballast Gloomlurker
Sunday 8/9 Deep Cuts
Eight Foot Manchild GUHTS Hemlok Spirit Hotel
A collaboration of Somergloom founder and Artistic Director Stephen LoVerme and Executive Producer JJ Gonson of ONCE Somerville, Somergloom’s curatorial approach showcases the richness of the heavy music scene, centering around music that is introspective, creatively ambitious, and evoking a melancholic quality that we like to call “gloom.”
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 13th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
The emotive melody comes forward on “Drifters on a Quiet Stream,” which is the second single from Besvärjelsen‘s out-next-month new album, Till Glömskan Ad Oblivionem, and a classic-style heavy now-we’re-talking-about-feelings ballad. Messy as that can be — feelings, that is — the Swedish atmospheric heavy rockers bring clarity amid the slow roll and evocative piano. Drummer Erik Bäckwall cites Elton John as an influence in the PR wire info below, and yeah, fair enough, but there’s no question Besvärjelsen are working in their own context, and Lea Amling Alazam‘s contemplative vocal highlights the human element amid the lush arrangement.
If you never believed there could be more than one kind of ‘heavy,’ “Drifters on a Quiet Stream” argues effectively otherwise. It and the first single “Didn’t Come to Party” are down at the bottom of this post. Have at it:
BESVÄRJELSEN reveal lyric video power ballad ‘Drifters on a Quiet Stream’ taken from forthcoming new album “Till Glömskan Ad Oblivionem”!
Swedish forest rockers BESVÄRJELSEN unveil the beautiful lyric video ‘Drifters on a Quiet Stream’. This power ballad comes in watercolour style with images bearing strange fruit as inspired by the album cover of their forthcoming third full-length “Till Glömskan Ad Oblivionem” (Swedish and Latin for: “Into Oblivion”).
“Till Glömskan Ad Oblivionem” is scheduled for release on August 28, 2026, via Magnetic Eye Records. The album is available for pre-order here: https://spkr.store/collections/besvarjelsen
BESVÄRJELSEN comment: “‘Drifters on a Quiet Stream’ had the working title ‘Elton’ as Elton John was one of the musical inspirations for this song”, drummer Erik Bäckwall reveals. “The intro and main riff was originally intended to be a part of another song. When I got our former bass player Johan to listen to the riff, he rather advised me to create a completely new song from this part. I am really glad now that I did that.”
Lea Amling Alazam adds: “This track explores the ever-present companion of the self – the voice that follows you through life, both to comfort and to critique”, the vocalist explains. “It is the quiet presence on your shoulder. When writing those lyrics, I revisited an old notebook and found a phrase I had once scribbled down: ‘…my ghost and I’. I’m not sure where I first came across this idea, but it stayed with me. It felt like a beautiful and honest way to describe living alongside your own anxiety, and I knew from the start that I wanted to build something around it.”
Recorded by Andreas Baier & Marcus Lindqvist at Glashuset, Ludvika (SE) Mix & mastering by Karl Daniel Lidén at Tri-Lamb Audio Studios, Solna (SE) Cover art by Björn Olars Layout by Erik Bäckwall
Guest musicians Fred Burman (SATAN TAKES A HOLIDAY) – lead & backing vocals on ‘Accelerating Hearts’ & backing vocals on ‘Didn’t Come to Party’ Pelle Andersson (LOWRIDER) – organ on ‘Black Wave’
Line-up Lea Amling Alazam – vocals Staffan Vinrot – guitars, vocals (& accordion, violin, keys, keyed fiddle) Andreas Bajer – guitars, vocals Erik Bäckwall – drums Marcus Lindqvist – bass
It was a surprise to dig back and find it’s been a decade since Swedish fuzzy, jammy, bluesy heavy psych rockers Asteroid released 2016’s III (review here), but there’s no arguing with the math. The seven-song/36-minute long-player was issued Fuzzorama — the label run by Truckfighters which had also stood behind their 2006 split with Blowback (discussed here), their 2007 self-titled debut (discussed here) and its follow-up, 2010’s II (discussed here, review here) — and six years after the LP before it, III felt like a gift, not the least because the band returned from a hiatus to make it.
The Örebro-based trio — guitarist/vocalist Robin Hirse, bassist/vocalist Johannes Nilsson at the core, with drummer Elvis Campbell on the recording, but in and out of the band over their time; he was replaced by Jimmi Kolscheen shortly after III was made — had always had vibe on their side. Sweetly, organically melodic, warm in tone and mellow but not staid of groove, they had evolved from the more straight-ahead songs of their debut by the time they got around to the third album, but always kept the spirit of not overdoing it, of mellow-hangs and letting the depth in their approach speak for itself. III could be a fuzzy shuffle as in “Til’ Dawn,” or a swinging shove as in “Them Calling,” and it boasts what might be the outright heaviest moment the band ever had in centerpiece “Wolf and Snake,” but everywhere they went in sound, they brought a sense of casual (stoned) class and of live performance that couldn’t help but draw the songs together. Across all three records, but especially as the material got more complex over time, the latter would be one of their greatest assets as a group.
But it’s not like they were keeping secrets in terms of methodology. Tone, melody and songwriting were the foundations of the magic, brought together with a marked chemistry that, listening back to III now, can’t help but bring a smile to my face, whether it’s the chill in the pulled lead notes of opener “Pale Moon,” which comes in so smoothly around its fading-in drums, or the more direct, organ-y sound wrought in the subsequent “Last Days,” which I still think might be a waltz in its start-stop verse, but moves fluidly into a fuller-fuzzed crescendo without giving up its easy pace to do it.
Among Asteroid‘s releases, III was the most atmospheric and the most engaging on a level of mood, and even something as simple-seeming as an upward-strummed accent in “Til’ Dawn” proved effective in making a standout moment. That is to say, they could grab you with an overarching nod or with a minute detail, sprawl out a jam or dig into the procession of a verse, but there was always going to be something to both distinguish each track from its surroundings and add to the front-to-back flow of the record. And as they grew, III was arguably (to wit, here’s me arguing it) the most vibrant demonstration of character they would manifest, though that’s not to take away from either of the LPs preceding it.
“Wolf and Snake,” in addition to being the heaviest here on balance, is also the longest inclusion at six and a half minutes. With a bluesier vocal, a shredder of a fuzz solo and a vibrant, jammy sensibility, it’s an obvious highlight, but as much for the feeling of reach in terms of the band’s overall progression and their blend of psychedelia and more esoteric elements. 10 years later, it’s a sentimental listen — which is true of the album across the span, admittedly — but from the mellow outset through the shove and into the aforementioned apex and comedown, it’s also a masterpiece, perhaps in part because the band never built on it on another release.
On the record, it’s followed by “Silver and Gold,” which redirects from the relative heft and centers vocal harmonies from Hirse and Nilsson over quiet guitar, and even in its volume swell, it maintains a folkish presence, likewise gorgeous and functional to give listeners a breath between “Wolf and Snake” and “Them Calling,” which is a sweeping sing-along hook surrounding by choice vibe, darker in tone but no less fluid or engrossing. The lyrics, “Now I stand at the gates of hell/Waiting for you to arrive/I hear them calling, calling for me/And I want you here by my side,” stand among the most memorable on III, which is saying something in itself, and the instrumental push that accompanies is low enough to stand up to “Wolf and Snake” without trying to do the same thing; an airier solo in the back half is more psych-tinged and thus makes the turnaround to the final chorus all the more satisfying.
That turn and arrival-at-peak leaves “Mr. Strange” somewhat hanging on its own at the end of the album, but a clear strum and ’70s groove topped with a duly soulful vocal make themselves welcome. It’s reminiscent of the first two records as well in its jammy takeoff and “Whoa-oh-oh” hook, though the way they again brought the song back from its headed-out bridge is one more confirmation of the growth in their project. They finished riding that groove out with a last cymbal wash and then it was over, short at 36 minutes but wanting nothing in terms of how the band used that time.
I was lucky enough to see Asteroid on a couple occasions, the last of which was at Høstsabbat 2018 (review here) in Oslo, which was also a reemergence from a hiatus. So far as I know they played Truckfighters Fuzz Festival in 2021, and were slated to tour with Truckfighters and Greenleaf in early 2022, though I’m honestly not sure if that happened, given both pandemic and the instability of the band by then. It’s kind of sad that in the 10 years since this record came out, Asteroid weren’t there to ascend to headliner status as they seemed primed to do, and that they didn’t get to continue to evolve from this point to whatever might have come next, but I’ve also learned to never say never. Speaking as a fan, a return at any point would be welcome.
As always, I hope you enjoy.
—
Another week. We still don’t know where The Pecan is going to go to school in the Fall. We had a district-needs-to-cover-its-ass meeting with a place I wouldn’t send her to if they paid me to do it yesterday, and that was more needless bullshit, and in the meantime, the school I actually want to send her to has gone AWOL in getting back to us. No doubt everybody’s busy, no doubt everybody has real-life stuff in addition to their job, no doubt everybody involved is ADHD AF, I’m just sick of jumping through hoops and want to get something, anything, ever, settled once and for all. Not this week, apparently.
We had big storms last weekend. The Patient Mrs., The Pecan and I were in Connecticut last weekend for the 4th of July at her mom’s place on the shoreline, and it was just too hot. There’s no insulation there, no A/C, and it became a question of survival, so we split. But we were on the way home, coming across the (still new in my mind) Tappan Zee Bridge with the Colgera theme from Tears of the Kingdom playing at high volume and streaks of lightning shooting from cloud to cloud — friggin’ epic, in other words — and when we got back, there was no power. Neighbors lost trees, and there’s still debris around, but we went to a local hotel for the night and came back the next morning after checkout to find the lights back on. A miracle. We’re headed back north today, complete with my mother-in-law’s dog, who is staying with us again for like two weeks and remains a pain in the ass.
I’m complaining, in complainy spirits I guess. Big change. But I’m getting through the day, thinking about starting to go swimming on the regular, like, for exercise, again, which when I can find a place to do it I always enjoy. The gym down the way is all cops, but there’s a couple hotels that do memberships, and honestly what I’m looking for is a place I can go do laps without other people. If that’s a local hotel at 6AM, that suits me pretty well, actually.
We head north again in like an hour from when I’m writing, need to pack clothes, food, the Switch, etc. I haven’t done a Zelda update in a bit and I haven’t had time to play much, so there you go, but I’m sporadically enjoying The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales when The Pecan isn’t on the Switch 2 and I have an opportunity to play. It’s oldschool and fun and light and the characters say nice things to each other. Cozy and feels like a kids game for middle-aged weirdos. Again, suits me pretty well.
I’m getting the side-eye from The Patient Mrs., so am going to leave it there and do what I need to to get out before traffic starts to build. Have a great and safe weekend. We’re into summer now. Don’t forget to hydrate.
