The Enthusiasm Index: May 2

Hi. I’m Ryan. I’ve written about sports in a bunch of places and books about Bruce Springsteen and Jimmy Buffett. Now I’m writing this. It’s a newsletter about sports, music, travel and other things we enjoy. It’s called Portfolio of Enthusiasms, and because not every letter needs to be a 1,000-word essay, this is the first of what I imagine will be a semi-regular series called The Enthusiasm Index. It’s a quick run through things we dig, things we’re thinking about and things we’re looking forward to. Got something you dig, you’re thinking about and/or looking forward to? Hit the comments.

This week we’re enthusiastic about…

Owls, Omens, and Oracles: First, what a kick ass album title. Second, what a kick ass record. On it, the Jackson, Tennessee-born Valerie June (pictured above) implores us to get outside and touch some grass. Then maybe look around and try living a little? M. Ward produced this one, helping to pack it full of blues and rock and folk and gospel organ and the sweet, sweet sound of soul music, which always feels like summer. That’s nice here in a place where spring is coming on slow.

From the press materials: “This album is a radical statement to break with the skepticism, surveillance, and doom scrolling — let yourself celebrate your aliveness. Connect, weep, change, open.”

From the opening track, “Joy, Joy!”: “To seek the sun is often rough.” It can definitely be that, but it’s more manageable with something this warm and vibrant by your side. Beautiful record. June’s on tour starting next week.

Peter Buck on Warren Zevon: Back on Record Store Day, they reissued the Hindu Love Gods record Warren Zevon made with the guys from R.E.M. back in the late-1980s. It was a goofing-off-in-the-studio project that was eventually released because Zevon needed the money. They knocked out covers like “Mannish Boy” and Prince’s “Raspberry Beret.” Peter Buck talked at length about it recently with Vulture’s Devon Ivie. Buck’s memories are an interesting window into Zevon, who was a complicated and brilliant mess. Zevon would often call Buck in the middle of the night to talk about books:

“I learned a lot. I’d never read John D. MacDonald; now I own a whole bunch of John D. MacDonald books, and I understand how that writing influenced Warren. The woman I was with at the time was like, ‘Who the fuck are you talking to about books at five in the morning?’ There are certain friends you would never pick up the phone for after midnight. I would for Warren.”

Zevon is finally headed to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We’ll come back soon to him and his influence.

Follow-up questions: In this time of immense bad faith, do you know how many outrage cycles could be avoided if more people would simply challenge outrageous or outrageously vague statements with, “What do you mean by that?” Or, “Give me an example?”

You know what almost always works? “Why?” Ask why. “Why?” is pretty powerful.

Follow-up questions puncture so many conspiracy theories because conspiracy theories don’t make any sense. A great example of “Why?” in action: Bomani Jones on Shedeur Sanders, why it matters whether or not you’re an asshole, why the Colin Kaepernick comparisons suck, and why so much of all the outrage churned up during the NFL Draft didn’t make any sense.

“If you think the league was trying to send a message, why would the message be, You’re a fifth-round pick?” Bomani says. No. Sanders would be as unemployed in football as Kaepernick, if they were trying to make a statement. Which they weren’t.

The whole clip is smart, because the show is smart, because the host is smart as hell. Subscribe to his podcast, The Right Time with Bomani Jones.

The Detroit Tigers: Came from down 4-2 in the eighth last night in Anaheim to win 10-4. They’re aggressive. They play great defense. They’ve already won 20 games and that’s more wins than anyone else in the American League. Baseball is… fun? Baseball might be fun.

Corb and Hayes: Annoyingly, this tour didn’t make it to southeastern Michigan, but I imagine everyone who saw Hayes Carll and Corb Lund share stories and songs had an absolute blast. They’re old friends, they’re great live and their songs are top shelf. Hayes announced a new record recently. Corb posted this cover of Garth Brooks’ “Much Too Young (to Feel This Damn Old).”

Enjoy the weekend. And if you see anything here you dig (including Portfolio of Enthusiasms), share it with your friends.