The Thursday Dispatch - 16 October 2025
I’m still thinking about the death of D’Angelo earlier this week. His music has been playing frequently through my head. To be honest, it soothes me. He’ll continue living for a very long time, even if not physically.
Journalist/podcast Bomani Jones had a good point a couple of days ago. When it comes to athletes, if they have one or two off years, people will talk about what could have been. They hold it against them if they don’t perform at a consistent level year over year.
You never hear that with musicians. D’Angelo released three albums that arguably didn’t have any skippable tracks. For some, there were no skippable tracks. Jimi Hendrix also released three albums. In comparison, Stevie Wonder has released 23 albums, and Prince 39 (!!!), yet we hold these four artists all at a very high level. It didn’t matter that D’Angelo released three albums in a 19-year span and Prince released damn near an album a year over two decades. All highly revered.
It’s all a reminder that greatness is subjective. It’s why I don’t really hate on it anymore, even if I don’t agree with the measure. I’m not a Katy Perry fan, but I didn’t really bitch about it when she performed the Super Bowl halftime show. I’m also not going to complain when Taylor Swift someday performs that same halftime show. I get some folks (and by some I mean millions) put her in high regard and many of those same people may care less about D’Angelo. I like what I like and that’s what matters to me.
Weekly Photo
I haven’t really taken any photos in the past week, so since it’s fall, we’re going back to Seattle in 2017. This photo was taken in Denny Park in South Lake Union, right around the corner from my hotel.
This Past Week
Weekly Links
- Record Store Afternoons from August Morning - I’ve been thinking about analog formats a lot recently as well.
- Who needs a flying car when you have display: grid from Rach Smith’s Digital Garden - Rach has more patience for building websites that I do, though I used to, surprisingly when things were harder.
Songs in the Chaos
This is my weekly list of songs that either caught my attention or came to mind this past week. I post these throughout the week on a site called Crucial Tracks, where they’re also added to a playlist on Apple Music. Feel free to follow me on either space.
