Throughout music history, any popular style of music soon gets copied by many artists. Within any genre, there are groups that sound ridiculously similar (see Stone Temple Pearl Jam). So, when something new and fresh comes along, it is like a breath of fresh air that tears apart the music world.
In 2016, Lost Under Heaven released their debut album, Spiritual Songs for Lovers to Sing. The contrasting and complementary voices of Ebony Hoorn and Ellery James play against each other with a tension that runs throughout their music. Spiritual Songs are far from the candy-sweet genre of most love songs. The lyrics are filled with struggle and hope, while the music is unvarnished and raw. My favorite song on the album, $ORO, screams against the empty promises of capitalist consumerism.
I am a voracious music listener, always keeping my ear to the ground for what is new, and Spiritual Songs is easily one of my 10 favorite albums of all time.
It has been almost three years since this monumental album arrived. LUH’s follow up album was recorded a year and a half ago and finally released last week. While the first album was a large work to follow, the new album, Love Hates What You’ve Become, does not disappoint.
The album starts with the song Come, more produced than anything they have made, but
it gets things moving quickly. Ebony takes center stage on the next song, Bunny’s Blues, and she plays a more central role throughout this album. Black Sun Rising and Savage Messiah offer very deep, soulful, spiritual gifts. The song Love Hates What You’ve Become provides the perfect blend of emptiness and hope in intermingled voices. But my favorite song on the album is buried as the second to last track, Post Millennial Tension, that will leave you wondering whether you should embrace life or hide under the covers of a fallen world. The album concludes and is wrapped up in a dark bow with the great song, For the Wild, whose chorus illustrates the contrasts provided of this band, “Simmer down and stand up, For the wild, for the wild.”
If you need some music to kick the frozen malaise off your shoes, and get you moving on a gray January day, nothing is better than getting Lost Under Heaven.
minute. Folk/punk/singer-song/Australian female angst coupled with penetrating lyrics: “I’m so proud that half of me grew from you, the broken parts too.”
5. Ministry, Amerikant: Uncle Al provides the most attune soundtrack of political commentary of the year. The absurdity of the moment does result in powerful art.
Running increased mileage served me well. I ran in 11 events this year, the most I’ve ever done in a single year. I set a 5K PR and took first place in my age group at a 10K. There may have only been five people in my age group, but I’ll count it all the same. I also spent many hours at Columbus Metro Parks and on trails that fed my soul.
My primary spring race was the Playin’ Possum 50K. Possum events and the Possum community are the best. While I fell just short of my six hour goal on a hot day, Possums are not about finishing time or place, but about making friends, having fun, and supporting the special Olympics.
36. Bunny’s Blues, Lost Under Heaven: An appetizer while waiting for the new album in January, but I’ll take it.
23. Diet Gum, John Grant: Now with more raccoon proteins and life-affirming cockroach milk
16. Over and Over and Over, Jack White: Jack will get your lungs blowing
My intention when I woke up race morning was to run 50 miles. This same weekend, I had planned to run the Fall 50 in Wisconsin, but we were unable to make the trip. Rather than lose four months of training, i decided to create my own 50-mile route, using the Columbus Marathon for the first 26.2 and running back to and around Hilliard for the last 23.8.
to the end of the race and haven’t made a new friend, you are doing it wrong. About two miles in, I started talking with a woman running next to me. She was running her first half marathon on a dare. A few miles later I found out the dare came from my friend, Jonathan Flores, who she works with. There were 18,000 people on the course and the first person I talked to is a mutual friend. 
At my crew chief led stop, a fellow Possum known as Goat met me. Goat is a remarkable man who recently overcame a significant injury and successfully completed Hallucination 100. Goat ran with me for about the next 12 miles, keeping me laughing and entertaining me with his stories. 
Morgan recently completed the Hennepin Hundred in just over 21 hours. She is amazing and in a class beyond me. Yet, she was so supportive and complimentary of me. She kept saying, “you don’t look like someone who has run over 40 miles”. High praise from a high-end athlete. 
Michael and I ran the last two miles at a solid pace, finishing at the Beer Barrel. Jennifer, Erin, Wil, and Kye cheered. Cold beer and warm food waited for us. But I would have never savored this experience without the dozens of people who carried me on race day. The Possum community shined with its true colors, the church community rallied around me, and my friends and family fueled me with much more than potatoes and Tailwind. 
We stopped at three breweries along the way for dehydration, with special thanks to Sammie at Knotty Pine for opening up early for us (as we were ahead of schedule) and being gracious as we made a mess of the place.
Running might be the most individual of sports, but once again the running community proved that we can achieve things together that we can never do alone.
Bambara’s aptly titled 2018 album, “Shadow on Everything,” lays a foundation of depth from the opening song “Dark Circles”. Bambara’s music builds layers upon layers, complimented with a powerful beat. By the second song, “Doe-eyed girl” the album moves to full throttle, accelerating further on my favorite song “Monument” and continuing with “Wild Fires”. These songs would provide great adrenaline for a speed workout or the soundtrack for a 5K PR. As I listened to the album for the first time today, I was only trying to remain stretched out for a 