2025 in reverse
stuff I dug, you dig?
A Few of My Favorite Things, the song goes. It’s great in winter. Coltrane version perhaps. I feel like I am playing at being a critic, journalist, or a philosopher with these posts. I want to do something with the creative spots of my brain, and these serve as an exercise of sorts. At least for now. If AI has its way we will all know the feeling of moot creative work in 2026. For me the key is to chase transcendence, Read, listen, pray and write and write and write, and pray.
I don’t remember ever feeling such despair with the times. The 90’s were fun, I’m not gonna lie. I get it. I know, I know. The Romans did this. The Nazis did that. Pol Pot had his time. We killed the buffalo. Trouble is always around. But, I was always a fan of my corner of the globe. I guess I was naive. “The basement always has a basement” has become my refrain. In the spirit of sharing positive things, I’m doing a year in review for this Substack.
Books
None of these are new books but they are books I read this year. I went on a Graham Greene tear. I considered over the summer writing a fake travel blog where I used Google Earth, Restaurant Reviews and Hotel Reviews to act like I was in Thailand, Mexico, Jamaica, Ireland, Iceland, and Singapore. Anywhere, but Nashville. But something about it seemed disingenuous and witless.
Graham Greene let me travel the Orient Express, have a drink in London, and go to Vietnam. His writing is accessible but you still experience depth. Not only did I travel the globe but I was back in a time before cell phones. I’d give all of these a recommendation but End of the Affair is the top because it is one of the most profound books about faith I’ve ever read.
The Orient Express,
The End of the Affair
The Quiet American
Graham Greene wikimediacommons
Ludwig Bedelman’s Hotel Splendide came to me organically. I tried to watch a Bourdain episode, I think it was a New York episode and he was drinking in a bar. Don’t worry, it gets more specific. On the wall of the bar was art by Ludwig Bedelman. Bourdain noted this art and mentioned his memoirs as the original tell all of the service industry. Days later, at the Public Library I spied a copy. What a charming delight. Loosely based, thinly veiled, picked your description of Bedelman working at the Ritz Carlton in the 1920’s. It might be the most fun I had reading all year. When I say, I tried to watch Bourdain, I should add to that, I still cannot make it through an episode without sad frustration.
I read two books about going to places that are not your home. It was trying to survive in one case, and trying to understand it in the other. The books were A Passage to India by EM Forester and All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. I really enjoyed both of these books. A Passage to India is about British occupation and India’s culture in the 1920’s. All the Pretty Horses I wrote about earlier this year and it’s a Romance that makes you think it’s a Western set along the US and Mexico border.
There are 75 Maigret books by George Simenon. The best one I read this year was Maigret Sets a Trap. I think I’ve read 14 of them all total. I hope to get a few more for Christmas. Maigret Sets a Trap has been turned into television a couple of times with Michael Gambon and Rowan Atkinson among others. Love Mr. Bean, but his Maigret was lackluster. Gambons’ is my favorite live action version. It’s not hard to see why Maigret Sets a Trap has been used so many times. It’s a great classic police drama in which Maigret gets help from the women on the force to capture a killer who is attacking women. Trying to set a trap, yes, he gets the Women on the Force to walk the streets at night with an army of Police waiting in cars to pounce.
Gambon as Maigret
I read two Ian Fleming books this year. Goldeneye was smashing. It might be my favorite Bond book though it’s been years since I read others so perhaps its recency bias at play. Goldeneye was a show stopper! It left me with no doubts as to how the Bond franchise became one of the most enduring. As well, I read Thrilling Cities, a series of articles Fleming wrote for The Sunday Times. Remember this is pre Instagram, shoot, it’s pre Lonely Planet! I read this when I was toying with a fake travel blog. He’s a bit of a Wolf. He’s a card shark. He likes nice suits. He likes good food.
I read some Hemingway because being in Florida always makes it happen. It’s fun to think everyone in the 1920’s was so eloquent about being bored and frustrated as they are in The Sun Also Rises. Again, the fake travel blog idea poked at me here with their travels around Europe. I wanted to go to Spain with them, drink in the afternoons and try my hand at fishing.
Sea of Tranquility came out in 2022 and was a perfect science fiction time warp novel that was like a perfect turkey sandwich. Nothing tearing your head off but no regrets. Erasure by Percival Everett is solid. Though his bickering against belief while he struggles with the nature of life and death is a bit, “He doth protest too much.”
A Drink With Shane MacGowan, is the Pogues poet giving hot takes on music, sex, drugs, violence, faith, all of it, oh yeah and Ireland. What a raging intellect. He likes Dub Music and Dorothy Parker. I love reading a conversation between two people who don’t look at the internet every time they disagree about something. They just take each other’s word for it and keep moving.
Future Books?
Wasn’t there a news moment a few months ago that mused on how much men think about Rome. In our house, it’s my wife. She’s all about the Greeks and the Romans. I asked for two books on Rome for Christmas. Maybe I’ll get them.
On the new book front, Lawrence Osborne and James Ellroy, my two favorite writers, both have books out in 2026.
Movies
I saw two movies in the theater this year.
F1-
I wanted to go see Mission Impossible The Final Reckoning but the 8th installment of Tom Cruise saving the world couldn’t get me off the couch. Brad Pitt and race cars could. It was a perfect movie. Great sets. Great clothes. Great sounds. Great accents! Kerry Condon and Sara Niles both bring so much verve. The “Whole Lotta Love” scene might be my favorite in the film. And yes, despite the song title, the scene takes place on a racetrack. I’d be remiss not to mention Javier Bardem.
The other time I went to the movies was One Battle After Another. I’ve seen this movie blasted by the left and blasted by the right. I’ve seen it called filth, racist, and misguided. I feel like this movie is the best summation of 2025 in real time. The soundtrack is how I feel on a day to day basis.
Ghetto Pat and Perfidia Beverly Hills are screw loose activists. At their worst they bomb politicians they disagree with, rob banks and in the act kill bank guards. On the other side the Christmas Adventurers are caricatures of racism. They kill and arrest with no legal process, kidnap and detain people, and oh yeah, instigate riots. Whew. Nobody looks good.
But sometimes in a movie, there are characters in movies that you just want to hang out with. You need a friend, like THAT GUY. Sergio St. Carlos played Benicio Del Toro is that guy in One Battle. Ghetto Pat by mid movie is in over his head and think what you will of his bomb making past: he is just trying to save his daughter’s life. No questions asked. Sergio St Carlos, AKA Sensei, is there for him. The stretch of film with Ghetto Pat and Sensei is my favorite buddy adventure since Once Upon a Time in Hollywood with Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio. Wear your seatbelt for the middle part of the movie.
Pat on the Left, Sensei on the Right
Home Movies-Movies, I saw at home. Duh.
Thunderbolts was the most recent Marvel movie I saw. Have there been others? Not sure. Florence Pugh is always easy to watch and fun to listen to, especially her Russian accented Yelena Bulova. David Harbour’s Red Guardian, “So full, so filled” line is one that echoes in my head. I liked the first two thirds of the movie a-lot. I’m totally down with a Bad News Bears version of The Avengers.
After the start up the movie sort of broke down. While I appreciated the metaphor of depression and a black inkwell with the Black Widow entering the Void to rescue Bob, the action of it as a culmination of the movie was just too much as a battle scene. CGI seems to be the only way Marvel can resolve a film and I’m finally tired of it.
Mission Impossible 8 I spent the first hour wishing it would end. However, once it kicked in I enjoyed the ride. The submarine scene was pure tension. The airplane scene was a nail biter. However, I can’t remember how it ended. Did Ethan Hunt live? I don’t know! To be clear, I am a big fan of the series and Tom Cruises’ movie moxie.
I re-watched Coffee and Cigarettes and Dead Man, both by Jim Jarmusch this year. Dead Man holds up really well. Coffee is magic. Tom Waits and Iggy Pop justifying a cigarette is pure life and comedy.
My daughter and I watched the first seasons of X-Files. I remember when it was on originally but I wasn’t interested in it then. I was out of high school and doing community college and making music. TV wasn’t interesting to me. Movies and records were. But now, I can’t get enough of cryptid, spooky, tin hat wearing, conspiracy fodder.
Food
I ate a lot of Apple slices with Tajin.
El Cortado remains my choice of coffee. I try to get it once a week at Soy Cubano or Tempo. Both are perfect.
Alebrije and Maiz de la Vida both have outstanding Mole. After years of no place in Nashville having a great option, it’s nice to have two when you get the craving.
Athletic -I drank a lot of non alcoholic beer this year. Sometimes I think I’m done with booze but then someone asks, “Have you tried this Whiskey?”
Can you live on Fish Dip? I certainly tried when I was in Fort Pierce. The local market had its own mix. I had to pace myself.
Tinned Fish-I know it’s a trend but I started a few years ago and am glad to see more choices in the market here.
Fort Pierce Florida Fresh Fish Market. Look at that blue sky.
Best Trip
Riding a train is one of life’s pleasures. We took The Brightline from West Palm down to Miami. We read. We watched the trees and tried to spot Iguanas. Our stop was Miami. A day in Miami never feels like a waste. I know, I know. I’m fully aware it would eat me alive. I do not have that kind of money or nerve. I’m one hit and run or carjacking gun in my face away from never going back. And I am aware that when I say Miami most people think of girls in bikinis dancing on Instagram to Reggaeton.
But to me it’s a place where I can see art and then look out the window and see a jungle. The sea is there with Pirates of a sort. The Caribbean is there with all the cultures of Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and of course, Cuba. Besides that, Old Florida and its Wild West eccentricities, that new Florida is eroding out, speak to me. Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, and Zora Neal Hurston are there with the cigar smoke of an espresso.
And the trees? I love Palm Trees. My blood pressure drops when I see them. The sound of the ocean. The birds and the crazy lizards that are probably invasive all make me feel like I am in a church of nature.
From my sketchbook
We had great food every trip to Miami.
Tinta y Cafe is a Cuban Cafe built into an old house or office. Lined with books it gives off a bohemian cafe shop vibe. If Versailles is the Grandmother, then this is the Niece with tattoos. Locals would probably tell me I’m wrong but I stick by it.
Zak the Baker is a special breakfast. Great eggs and all that but olives and labneh make you feel like you are somewhere else. The latkes are crisp and tasty. We went twice this year. On the second trip, they gave us a bag of bagels to take home because they remembered we traveled from Tennessee. I saw a news story about them this year where they accepted Mangos as payment. That’s the type of stuff that charms my spirit.
12A Buoy in Fort Pierce is a gem on display. Old school, Old Florida, seafood and brews, sitting right against the bay where fishing boats come in. Palm trees, pelicans, and stray cats. None of it is for show. There are so many places in Fort Pierce that make a Mahi sandwich, blackened that tastes right on.
Music-I am always listening to something it seems. I couldn’t tell you all what I listen to, I just like music. But fortunately, or unfortunately, our data mining overlords can tell you exactly what I listened to in 2025.
Nils Frahm - Paris, I played the song “Right Right Right” more than any song this year. I love the grouchy synths. I love the spacey beats. I love the almost R&B feel and Tron overtones.
Jeff Parker - The Way Out of East, I listened to a load of International Anthem releases this year. Oddly, this was one of my favorite work out records. No, it’s not the Norse Death Metal that most gym rats play. It’s groove based jazz with smokey flavors. IA people, you need a subscription service.
Natalia LaFourcade - Cancionera, is a lush trip. “Cocos en la Playa!” What a song. When the background singers come in this is the street I want to live on. The harp on “El Paloma y la Negra” ah stop me! Could I retire to Mexico? No. I know that world is closed to me but it’s fun to listen to these songs and dream.
LALOM- Live at Thalia I played this while driving to Florida, in Florida, and pretty much any time in the car in the warm months. Great guitar playing and swinging rhythm. Not too fancy, not too dry.
Viagra Boys - Viagr Aboys Not since LCD Soundsystem has a band grabbed the “late middle aged ramblings” of life for me. I continue to be surprised at how VB keeps going and making new statements. I wore out the video for “Man Made of Meat” when it came out. I think I sang “Uno II” almost everyday to myself for weeks after it came out. My friend Joe saw them at Coachella and I watched the live feed. We texted during the show. There was probably a time delay but it was surreal, technology made fun. We watched Glass Beams together as well. Together, in a way. I saw the VB a year or two ago on their tour for Cave World. They were loose fun and then kind of a drag but that tracks.
Honorable mentions. Charlie Parker (any of the Afro Cuban stuff), Dizzy Gillespie (Night in Tunisia is my jam), John Coltrane, Aftca Getetchew Mekurya, Estonian Philharmonic & Paul Hiller, Beethoven, Floating Points & Pharaoh Sanders, Laura Cannell for Winter, Augustus Pablo for summer.
One song hit repeat a lot this year. “We Will Not Be Lovers” by The Waterboys. It’s got an insistent fiddle line. It’s got a tight up rock beat. It’s got a reverbed out guitar loop. But the thing about it is the bass. The bass sounds like the player just picked up the instrument when they walked in the room and then they almost dropped it. And it’s perfect.
I always think I’ve heard the final song that will stop me in my tracks. Somehow I missed “This Must Be the Place” by The Talking Heads until about 2012 or so? Last year I discovered this song and it sends me. Lord have mercy, what a song. And in this song, Lord have mercy, what a verse.
“Now the world’s full of trouble
Everybody’s scared
The landlords are frowning
Cupboards are bare
People are scrambling
Like dogs for a share
It’s cruel and it’s hard
But it’s nothing compared to what we do to each other.”
I released a record this year. It was fun to track it but then once released I picked it apart and felt I could have done better. I think 5-6 people bought it. Some friends said some nice things. I hope they liked it. I appreciate it if you gave it a moment.
2026 is coming up. Is Ai Dick Clark going to ring in the new year? I’ve got some books to read next year. I might try to write a novel. I have 3 ideas. Maybe I’ll pick at my banjo. Maybe I’ll make it back to Florida. For now, it’s cold and dark and not even January.