This Year...

 Now that I think about it 2019 was not all that good a year. There were things that happened including my mom passing away at 95 years old. Then 2020 came along and Cathy's dad declined, passed away at 88 years old all while the pandemic was hitting. 2021 has been off to a bumpy start with numerous people I know contracting covid, including myself and then this past week Texas was hit with a severe winter storm. It was not the worst thing that could have happened if you like camping but it knocked out power and water to many homes. Although some things made us sad there were also triumphs, births and other milestones and if you consider that in some parts of the world today a child starved to death and a village was strafed by a helicopter gunship things have not been all that bad this year. 

In fact all this brings me to a song by the band The Mountain Goats. If you don't know them and the central member is John Darnielle. I have seen the band twice. Once was in Chicago at the Riviera Theater and once at the old famous but now demolished for a parking lot Houston venue (I have also been to the famous FitzGerald's venue in Chicago) Fitzgerald's. If you are a fan of emotional, driving low-fi boom box (at least the early stuff was recorded this way) mostly acoustic songs about relationships and life this is the band for you. 

I have a zip drive plugged into my car. On that drive there are 19 Mountain Goats albums. They were downloaded from the old emusic service we used to subscribe to by Cathy. He's one of her guys and with 19 cds playing at random among the other 5000 songs stored on this medium you do not hardly make a trip anywhere without hearing some Mountain Goats. He's become one of my guys also. 

The song that has stuck in my head the past several years is called "This Year." The main line is "I'm going to make it through this year if it kills me." I picked this cut because it showcases the fine backing musicians that I have seen at each show. It's also the first I have seen of Darnielle with long hair. 

That's the way I feel, the way we all should feel. If you like the Mountain Goats I suggest the albums "All Hail West Texas" and Tallahassee." They just might get you through this year.