Injury Update and Music News

First, an injury update--it's better, but it's not good. Monday I actually used a cane to get to work (my wife has had two hip replacements and one knee replacement, so we have all the orthopedic equipment you could ever want). By the end of the day the cane wasn't necessary, but I was still hobbling around. Today I can almost walk with a normal gait, but not quite. Still quite a bit of pain, but it does seem to get better every day. Next week I have my annual physical so if it is not significantly better by then I will ask my doctor for his advice. I'm hopeful I can get back out walking in another week, but I also don't want to push too hard and prolong the recovery.

On the music front, I have great news and sad news.

The sad news is that Sleater-Kinney is on "indefinite hiatus." Their album The Woods was one of my favorites from last year (and is widely considered to be their best). I've bought a couple of their other albums (I really like One Beat, too) since I first heard The Woods. They've been making music for almost 20 years but I just discovered them, and now they are going to break up! There's some great running/walking music on this CD, so have a listen.

The great news is that I have a new love, Murder by Death. Their new album, In Bocca al Lupo, is amazing--guitars, drums and a cello create a really ominous, sometimes melancholy sometimes sinister mood. There are pirate sea shanties, prison songs, songs about broken families and murders. A lot of reviewers have compared the album to Johnny Cash (probably because of the themes) but stylistically I think it is much closer to the work of Tom Waits, my favorite artist of all time and my adoptive father (well, not yet, but I'm trying). Some of the songs remind me of the wonderful innovations of Rain Dogs or Swordfishtrombones.

Anyway, if you like Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Camper Van Beethoven, Johnny Cash, try this album out. It's GREAT!

Have fun!