America

I

I know a couple who have achieved the American Dream. Trust me, if you knew what they’ve been through you would think wow, they should make this into a movie. It’s got an arc and everything. Trials and tribulations, interesting characters, plot twists. Some different locations - it would need a decent budget. I’m very happy for them and I think they are happy for themselves. In real life, it’s difficult to let the story sustain you. You mostly compare yourself to where you are now rather than the hard times. I came back from a serious mental illness but I don’t really compare myself to what I was in the ward. The same for the couple, they probably don’t compare themselves to pre-America times, more just to where they were last week or their current friends etc. The trick is not to compare yourself at all and just live, but that’s a very hard thing to do.

II

Watching the Zeppelin movie and winning the World Cup with England on Champ Man coincided in my brain last night and led me to the idea of writing about a World Cup of Music. It’ll be old school so only 16 teams qualify and then they have to play each other to see who wins. So who qualifies? Let’s leave out singer-songwriters like Dylan and Young. I might do that separately. 

The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, Fugazi, Pavement, The Silver Jews, Creedence, Led Zeppelin. That’s my quarter-finals lineup. 

ChatGPT randomized the order so the fixtures are:

1. Pavement v Led Zeppelin

2. The Velvet Underground v CCR

3. The Beatles v Fugazi

4. The Rolling Stones v The Silver Jews

and the semis is

Pavement v The Velvet Underground

Fugazi v The Silver Jews

the final is The Velvet Underground v The Silver Jews and The Silver Jews wins.

So yeah, The Silver Jews is the best band ever. Well done.