Craig’s Pseudo-Ultimate Summer Songs Playlist
12 Tunes to Take with You on Your Summer Adventures
Dear Reader,
Surprisingly, I only heard from one reader in response to last week’s newsletter on gun violence in America. His letter, however, is well worth reproducing here:
“This is my once-a-year response to your Second Drafts posts. I so greatly appreciate the posts you have made, particularly how well thought-out they are. You do a great job of going beyond the surface to examine whatever topic you are writing about honestly and from multiple angles. In that vein, your conclusions are genuine and not just a regurgitation of one ‘tribe’ or another. Anyone that knows you would not be surprised by these observations, but I just wanted to again say ‘thank you.’
In that vein, I appreciated your article on gun violence. Here are a few of my musings:
I have been conceal-carrying regularly for the last 6 years or so. My motive is to have the best tool legally possible to protect those I love and work with, particularly children, from someone who would attempt to violently take their life. The chance that I will need to use such tool is very minuscule, but not zero.
I carry anywhere I am legally allowed to do so. In my state, I am not allowed to carry at the place where I spend most of my time, a K-8 school district. On the other hand, I have carried for 6 years at church while working with Kindergarten through High School students in a variety of contexts, including Sunday School, youth group, VBS, and various outings. To me, it makes no sense that I, as a trained person who carries a concealed weapon as a matter of lifestyle, am not allowed to carry in the place where it could make the most difference.
Of course, the concern is the possibility of students getting hold of a staff firearm. However, it is based on the misconception that a firearm would ever leave the physical body of the person carrying it. If one is conceal-carrying in a school setting, the firearm never leaves the person. The gun being left in a purse, bag, or desk drawer is a scenario that a trained person would never allow to happen. A handful of states currently allow school districts to choose to allow staff to conceal carry, some for several years now. I have never heard of an incident where a student was hurt as a result of this. (And if an incident had happened, I am sure it would be all over the news.)
Interesting thought [on biometrics]. However, there is a concern around reliability. Have you ever used Touch-ID on a smartphone to unlock it? When I used it on my phone, it worked about 90% of the time. If my finger was sweaty, it did not work well. I imagine that it would also not work very well if my finger was bloody. How about if the battery was dead? For a defensive firearm, it needs to work 100% of the time. 99% is not good enough to stake my life on. If biometrics become reliable enough that police officers, Secret Service, and the military trust it to use as their duty-weapon, then we can take another look at it.
Thanks for listening to my random ramblings. I guess I spilled all of this out to you, as I tend to keep a pretty low profile in regards to this topic due to its nature.”
All the gun owners I know share this same perspective: they take firearms seriously, they train regularly, and they don’t seek to draw attention to themselves while carrying. If people are going to bear arms (and the Supreme Court’s ruling yesterday affirmed that more—not fewer—people can under the Second Amendment), these are the kind of people I want doing so.
Agree or disagree, thanks for reading this week’s Second Drafts.
Craig
Programming Note: Still Time to Care Review This Saturday
For all paid subscribers, June’s book review will be on Greg Johnson’s book, Still Time to Care: What We Can Learn from the Church’s Failed Attempt to Cure Homosexuality. From the back cover:
“At the start of the gay rights movement in 1969, evangelicalism's leading voices cast a vision for gay people who turn to Jesus. It was C.S. Lewis, Billy Graham, Francis Schaeffer, and John Stott who were among the most respected leaders within theologically orthodox Protestantism. We see with them a positive pastoral approach toward gay people, an approach that viewed homosexuality as a fallen condition experienced by some Christians who needed care more than cure.
With the birth and rise of the ex-gay movement, the focus shifted from care to cure. As a result, there are an estimated 700,000 people alive today who underwent conversion therapy in the United States alone. Many of these patients were treated by faith-based, testimony-driven parachurch ministries centered on the ex-gay script. Despite the best of intentions, the movement ended with very troubling results. Yet the ex-gay movement died not because it had the wrong sex ethic. It died because it was founded on a practice that diminished the beauty of the gospel.
Yet even after the closure of the ex-gay umbrella organization Exodus International in 2013, the ex-gay script continues to walk about as the undead among us, pressuring people like me to say, ‘I used to be gay, but I'm not gay anymore. Now I'm just same-sex attracted.’
For orthodox Christians, the way forward is a path back to where we were forty years ago. It is time again to focus with our Neo-Evangelical fathers on care—not cure—for our non-straight sisters and brothers who are living lives of costly obedience to Jesus.
With warmth and humor as well as original research, Still Time to Care will chart the path forward for our churches and ministries in providing care. It will provide guidance for the gay person who hears the gospel and finds themselves smitten by the life-giving call of Jesus. Woven throughout the book will be Richard Lovelace’s 1978 call for a ‘double repentance’ in which gay Christians repent of their homosexual sins and the church repents of its homophobia—putting on display for all the power of the gospel.”
Not a paid subscriber? $5/month gets you access to all book reviews and podcasts.
Hot Takes
“Supreme Court Rules Maine's Tuition Assistance Program Must Cover Religious Schools” - Another big decision that came out of the Supreme Court earlier this week had to do with school choice.
Believe it or not, Montana got the ball rolling on this two years ago when SCOTUS ruled that “Montana Can’t Exclude Religious Schools From Scholarship Program.” Now the Court has taken the next step:
“By a 6-3 vote along ideological lines, the court opened the door further for those seeking taxpayer funding for religious schools. In its clearest statement to date, the court said that if a state uses taxpayer money to pay for students attending nonreligious private schools, it must also use taxpayer funds to pay for attendance at religious schools. For all practical purposes, the decision thus invalidates provisions in 37 state constitutions that ban the direct or indirect use of taxpayer money in religious schools.”
Over the years, I’ve written at some length as well as recorded a podcast two months on much of this, so I’ll refrain from being redundant here. The good news is that parents and some powers that be are finally acknowledging the unhelpful and unlawful monopoly that the federal government has had on education in this country. If the goal is to truly teach and train up an educated citizenry in our pluralistic society, then fund the students and not the systems and let parents make the best decisions about where their kids best learn.
“Lawsuit Claims Amazon Using Alexa to Target Ads at Customers” - I’m shocked—shocked!—at the possibility that Amazon’s in-home hardware might be listening in on conversations to do more than play requested music and answer random questions.
“A new lawsuit alleges the popular speaking assistant included in the Seattle-based tech giant's Echo and other smart speakers is collecting voice data from unwitting customers that Amazon then uses to target ads at them.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle last week, seeks certification as a class action that, if approved, potentially could include millions of smart speaker customers as plaintiffs. It claims that while Amazon has long denied using Alexa as a proxy for targeted advertising, the company essentially acknowledged it does so in response to a press inquiry about a recent academic research paper that came to the same conclusion.”
What’s interesting in all this is that Amazon is basically fessing up to the allegation:
“In response to a report by The Register about the research, an Amazon spokesperson denied the findings, but stated: ‘If you ask Alexa to order paper towels or to play a song on Amazon Music, the record of that purchase or song play may inform relevant ads shown on Amazon or other sites where Amazon places ads.’”
Hmmm. I wonder what else Alexa might be all ears on?
Twenty years ago, we worried about the government bugging our homes; these days, it’s Big Tech we should be watching, and yet we’re inviting them in to watch and listen to us like they were family. Remember: if something’s free, you (and your data) are the product being sold. Might it be time to show Alexa to the door?
Craig’s Pseudo-Ultimate Summer Songs Playlist
In honor of the Summer Solstice earlier this week (sorry, Memorial Day weekend, but it takes until mid-June for it to feel like summer here in Montana), I’ve put together Craig’s Pseudo-Ultimate Summer Songs Playlist.
Here’s the great thing about living (for now) in a democracy: you don’t have to agree with my picks; if you don’t like them, you can curate your own! In fact, through the magic/curse of Spotify, you can cherry pick your favorite summer songs apart from any album context so as to create your very own list, just like I did.
Now for the rule-keepers in the readership, here are my criteria for the summer song list (because people love to write songs about summer, I had to have some boundaries):
The song has to have the word “summer” in the title or in the lyrics.
The song has to be relatively wholesome (people sure sing a lot about doing not-so-wholesome things during summer—I’m looking at you, Grease soundtrack).
The song has to have a past personal story of summer interaction to go with it.
So, with no further adieu, lather on the suntan lotion, fire up the grill, and pull out the old boombox for some retrolicious tunage. Enjoy!
The Songs (in no Particular Order or Preference)
“Summertime”—George and Ira Gershwin
It’s one of the most covered tunes in history (recorded over 25,000 times), so we’ve got to give props to this old lullaby from the opera Porgy & Bess. One of the first songs from a show that got me interested in the musical form of storytelling, just listening to it will cause you to feel the humidity of the Deep South and start sweating.
“School’s Out”—Alice Cooper
You can’t really have summer without school being out. I never knew what to make of Alice Cooper (nor do I still), but I remember the first time I heard the chorus of this song (which happened to correspond with a last day of school one year) and I thought it was glorious. Just don’t ask me to explain the verses.
“Cruel Summer”—Bananarama
Apart from being a popular soundtrack tune in the 1984 movie Karate Kid, Bananarama’s song was also a favorite song to play on vinyl during my 8-hour summer (yes, 8-hour) Saturday DJ shift at WBBA-FM in Pike County, IL, when I was 16.
“Surfin’ USA”—The Beach Boys
It’s hard to make a list of summer songs without including The Beach Boys, so this one will serve as their token tune. The story? As a result of the past year’s surfing research, I now know where most of the beaches named in the song are.
“Summer Breeze”—Seals and Crofts
This song came out in 1972 when I was all of one year old, but it’s somehow one of the earliest summer songs I remember. Nice little tune about a man coming home from work and appreciating what (and who) he finds there.
“Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days Of Summer”—Nat King Cole
This one makes the list because Megan has always been a big Nat King Cole fan and is the one who got me hooked on his music. Definitely one to add to the playlist for any Mad Men-themed backyard barbecues if you want to pretend you’re Donald Draper.
“Summer of ‘69”—Bryan Adams
If you’re a child of the ‘80s, this one needs no introduction. Adams’ song has everything anyone who has aspired to form a band, fall in love, and live happily ever after has experienced. Comes complete with retro reflection and regret built in.
“Summer Wind”—Frank Sinatra
Besides being the soundtrack for one of my favorite baseball moments ever with a very young Chloe Dunham, you can’t beat Ol’ Blue Eyes (who was my Grandmother Dunham’s absolute favorite) when it comes to singing about summer. Just a great song written by Johnny Mercer and friends.
“The Boys of Summer”—Don Henley
A more sedated tune lamenting the winding down of the season of summer and an accompanying love affair. This was another favorite from my DJ days, when I would sometimes dream about what life might have been like growing up on a beach instead of a farm. I still really like the song (and I’ve always liked the seagulls).
“Saturday in the Park”—Chicago
I’m fudging on this one a bit as the song technically doesn’t have “summer” in the title or lyrics, but it mentions the Fourth of July several times, so I’m going to make an exception. One of my favorite Chicago tunes (there are many) with one of the first grooviest piano licks I ever wanted to learn.
“Holiday Road”—Lindsey Buckingham
Another tune that does not have “summer” in it, but it’s the official song for National Lampoon’s Vacation (which takes place in the summer) so it counts. A fun pop tune to kick off a road trip, particularly if your trips tend to go like Clark W. Griswold’s…or ours.
“Endless Summer Nights”—Richard Marx
When it came to pop music, Richard Marx owned 1987, and this was one of his big hits that summer. Another retrospective summer heartbreak song, this one got all kinds of air time on my show (and every other one across the country). Oh, the angst.
So, there you have it: Craig’s Pseudo-Ultimate Summer Songs Playlist. Obviously, there are a lot more (and even better) tunes that are summer favorites (yours and mine), but for the criteria chosen, these are my top offerings. If you get motivated and have nothing else to do this summer, make your own list and send it my way.
Bonus Track
Because I forgot to post it when school was out, I’ll throw this one in as a bonus track. Get you some Three Beat Slide!
Post(erity): “U2: A Memoir”
Each week, I choose a post from the past apropos of something in the newsletter.
Speaking of summer soundtracks, this week’s Post(erity) post, “U2: A Memoir,” chronicles how and when I first “met” the band and how their music has served as a soundtrack to much of my life. An excerpt:
“I remember being 16 in 1987 and standing in the middle of multiple four-foot-high stacks of black Joshua Tree LPs in a music store in Munich, Germany. People were going absolutely nuts to get their hands on the albums, but as I had not yet made the band's acquaintance, I just stood and watched for a while, wondering who these guys were and why they seemed to mean so much to my European counterparts. Finally touched by the madness, I bought a cassette and brought it back with me to the States. That was all it took.”
Read the whole post; then, for the follow-up to the story, read this (brief) post.
Fresh & Random Linkage
“How and Why Do American Couples Argue?” - This was a pretty fascinating article to read, especially since Megan and I never argue about anything.
“NBA's 3-Point Revolution: How 1 Shot Is Changing the Game” - Other than the title sounding 25 years out of date, an interesting piece for basketball fans.
And posted without comment (other than this guy needs way more to do):
Until next time.