July 19: "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People and "Second Chance" by Peter Bjorn and John

Today we have two toe-tappers to add to your summer playlist.

Foster the People's tune came out much earlier in the year and is getting serious airplay in the GSD area. If you like Wilco and MGMT, we think you'll find this tune entirely groovable. We don't quite know the name of the sound technique applied to Mark Foster's voice--the bad audio technique? the am radio technique?--but we like the grittiness it adds to this otherwise pop-ish, catchy tune.

The other must-download song is another one that made its debut at the beginning of 2011. Peter Bjorn and John's song comes out of the gate cranking and gets the feet a-thumping because of one simple but critical instrument: the cowbell. It's amazing that more artists do not rock the cowbell in songs. Perhaps Will Ferrell's SNL skit somehow made the cowbell cliche, but that's hard to believe given how the cowbell always seems to take a song to the next level. [note: The only downside to "Second Chance" is that Budweiser is now featuring the song in a Bud Light Lime commercial. It diminishes the originality of the song, but it does not take away from its upbeat energy and likable lyrics.]

Get these two songs onto the iPod now, and if they remind you of any other recent songs, please let us know in a comment.

June 14: A Visit from the Goon Squad -- Jennifer Egan

Jennifer Egan first caught our eye when her short story "Safari" (read it here) appeared in the January 11 New Yorker. Imagine a modernized version of "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" with Forgetting Sarah Marshall's Aldous Snow thrown into the mix along with Lou (an aging record producer), Lou's young girlfriend Mindy, Lou's two children Rolph and Charlie from a previous marriage, Lou's travel agent, and, just for good measure, an actor named Dean and two lesbians, who are unattached to Lou's entourage. The result is an unpredictable escapade somewhere in the high grass of Kenya.

Much to our pleasure, Jennifer Egan's "Safari" re-appeared in Egan's 2010 novel, A Visit From the Goon Squad, which won the 2010 Pulitzer and National Book Critics' Award. Awards do not always ensure greatness and popular appeal, but Egan's novel is filled with satirical commentary on our pop/techno/material culture, inventive storytelling and characters whom you'll find sad, funny and complex.

Like Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, which won the Pulitzer in 2008, Goon Squad features a series of separate short stories linked through (mostly) two characters, Bennie Salazar and his secretary Sasha. (Don't say you weren't warned when suddenly you find yourself neck deep in novels featuring stand-alone shorts stories loosely connected through minor characters in the next few years.)

The two best stories--other than "Safari"--are the last two of the collection. The penultimate tale is told from Sasha's daughter Alison's point of view, and this twelve-year-old narrates the story of her family through Power Point slides.  Reading it feels like reading a graphic novel with shapes, arrows, bubbles, and graphs providing the visual component. In order to read the story, you have to turn the book sidewise to flip the pages. One wonders what the Kindle version requires the reader to do to experience this chapter.

The last story, which is brilliant, does pull several of the novel's characters together, but Egan's depiction of the near future is what is most exciting about the chapter. Egan envisions a world where text messaging--just called "T", as in, "I need to T someone now"--has widened the generational gap. Also, adults in her story no longer trust the Web or traditional advertising. The result is a new frontier for marketing in the form of micro-Payola. The high rollers of the social networking world--those with many friends on Facebook and lots of followers on Twitter--appear to be easily seduced with cash payments to promote presumably anything--concerts, restaurants, films, t.v. programs, books. Despite how close to home Egan's story hits to this particular blog, the story raises all kinds of questions about social media and the direction in which the Web is heading in the next few decades: Will we become as skeptical about websites as Egan presumes? Will we no longer trust bloggers? How powerful will social media high rollers (within sites) become?

Something about Egan's narrative in the final chapter rings so true that we may all look back to her novel as the definitive novel of the early 21st century. Perhaps it won't reach Gatsby (20s) or The Things They Carried (60s) status, but this novel is certainly on par with Bonfire of the Vanities (80s) as a definitive novel of its era.

There is much more to Goon Squad than a plausible prediction of the future. There's delight in finding the character thread in each story--our little game of literary Where's Waldo--and many of Egan's stories are just plain hilarious. Get a copy of of Goon Squad--and, who knows?--you may be supporting GSD Selects.

July 12: US Women's Soccer Bandwagon

Let's just hope you tuned into the game on Sunday because the US Women's win over Brazil in a penalty kick shoot-out ranks up there in the list of all-time great games in US Soccer history for either the men's or women's team. The joy that rang out after Abby Wambach's late equalizer was as loud as the sounds of euphoric fans after Landon Donovan scored late against Algeria last year in the men's World Cup.

If you didn't see the game, read this article on ESPN.com, and watch the 4-minute plus highlight video on the right. GSD Selects advises you to get your fanny on the soccer bandwagon ASAP. Our staff loves good narratives, and the narrative of the US/Brazil game was downright fictional--plot twists aplenty, emerging villains, and not one but two heroes.

The US charged out of the gate and scored (on a Brazilian own goal) in the first two minutes. Slowly, Brazil started to assert itself, and the creativity the attacking players in yellow displayed led even the most objective observers to realize that a Brazil goal was inevitable.

Brazil got their earned equalizer on a penalty kick call in the 65th minute, but the storm of controversy that ensued ensured that referee Jacqui Melksham has refereed her last game at this year's World Cup. The penalty kick call was debatable as Marta literally flung her body at the ball--martial arts style--to reach it as it bounced toward the net. Had defender Rachel Buehler not touched Marta when Marta was in the air, Marta would not have landed on her feet given the Bruce Lee position she put her body in.

What happened next helped elevate the game to "instant classic" status. American Buehler was red-carded, and the US was down to 10 players. Brazilian Cristiane stepped up to take the penalty kick, and--yes!--Hope Solo calmly parried the ball past the post to preserve the US's slim one goal advantage.

Not so fast.

Villain referee Melksham inserted herself into the match again. In a decision that defied logic, Melksham declared that a US player had encroached on the play by crossing over the penalty box line before Cristiane took the penalty kick. The kick needed to be retaken.

[Note: This is a call I have never seen made at this high level in such an important match. In baseball, umpires routinely let middle infielders sweep their foot somewhere near the bag on double plays. It's a practice that has been going on for years. Imagine the firestorm of an umpire actually deciding that Derek Jeter didn't touch the base in game four of the 2011 World Series. Melksham's call was to the letter of the law, but it's never, EVER enforced at the highest levels of soccer because the encroaching player is out of sight of the kicker and not a part of the play.]

For the penalty re-kick, Marta stepped up to the line and Solo didn't have a chance. Now with the game tied and the US down a player, the best the US could do was hope to endure the final 25 minutes and 30 minutes of extra time to get to penalty kicks, where the US's superiority in the goal would give the Americans the advantage and the win.

The 10 players actually played better than the 11 did as the US began to employ a more flank-oriented attack. With speedy winter Megan Rapinoe in the game, the US started to assert itself in the front half of the field. The US managed to survive regulation but, like a panther, Marta struck when she curled a perfectly placed shot over the outstretched arms of Solo to give Brazil the 2-1 lead all but 2 minutes into the two fifteen minute extra sessions (fortunately international soccer does not use sudden death).

The US team stepped it up into desperation mode, and Brazil began to stick needles underneath the fingernails of US soccer fans as they began to rely heavily on the most despised tactics of soccer--feigning injury and deliberate time-wasting. Fans at the Dresden stadium and in US homes whistled and shook their fists at the villainous Brazilians and their unsporting deceit.

[Note: Had this been a men's game, the fans would have whistled their disapproval but their hearts wouldn't have been into it. Faking major injury and time-wasting are accepted in men's soccer, but women's soccer has been relatively clear of such boorish deception. What fan's reaction to Brazil's tactics says about gender role expectation is revealing. Read this article from the New York Times for more information about gender and "simulation" in soccer.]

All the catcalling and hurled epithets must have woken up the soccer gods because a huge helping of Justice was served up for all to feast on. In the extra time--which was added on to the game for the stalling tactics--the US had time for one last mad dash up the field. The US backs dispossessed the Brazilian attacker in the defensive right corner, and then quickly moved the ball through the midfield and out to the waiting winger Megan Rapinoe. The Bleached Blonde Ball of Energy took one big touch down the field and whipped a long cross with her left foot to the far post.

Choosing to rush out of her goal and try to deflect the cross or stay at home and prepare to a make a save, the Brazilian keeper heedlessly went all-in and lost her chip stack. As the ball sailed over her fingertips, US forward Abby Wambach soared into the air, coiled her head and shoulders back, and uncorked the cleanest, purest driven head ball right by the post and into the back of the net.  Big Mo had swung completely around, and the penalty kick shoot-out almost felt like a formality as the US won 5-3 and inconceivably advanced to the semi-finals.

In the preview blog for this game, I wrote that ratings were not doing well for the US women and the 2012 World Cup.  That is clearly no longer the case. The team has once again become media darlings, and the US-Brazil game even claimed the lead story on Monday morning's Today Show. If the team can just get through France tomorrow (coverage starts on ESPN at 11:30 am), the ratings for the Sunday final could be through the roof.

There should be no guilt about getting on the bandwagon at this point. This a fun, attractive team to watch, and the determination the American women showed in the Brazil match was incredible. Get on board now--there are only five more days (hopefully) to take part in the magic of this team.

July 11: "Dirt Road Anthem" -- Jason Aldean

So you're sitting there cruising in the car and this upbeat, catchy country song called "Dirt Road Anthem" comes on the radio. All of sudden the singer, Jason Aldean, slides into a rap segment that is not the typical direction you're expecting from a C/W song. Suddenly you're tapping your foot because it's country, it's rap, and the lyrics make you think of an idyllic place where you wished you'd grown up. Also, it's such an odd combination--like peanut butter and bacon--that you're intrigued and think this Aldean guy may be onto something.



We at GSD love Jason Aldean's "Dirt Road Anthem," which is #4 on this week's Billboard Country Top 40. And we'd like to think Aldean is paving new ground with his country/rap hybrid but he's really at the back end of a list of singers who've gone down the hip hop/dirt road before. First, Aldean's hit is a remake of a Colt Ford/Brantley Gilbert song from 2008 (that's right, two years ago). (Colt Ford's story is fascinating in its own right as Ford, a.k.a. Jason Brown, is a former low level pro golfer from Athens, GA.)

Also, you could make a serious and legitimate case that the forerunners of the country/rap hybrid aren't from the 90s but go all the way back to the beginnings of hip hop with the legendary 1970s musicians C. W. McCall and Charlie Daniels.



C.W. McCall's "Convoy" is a classic hit from 1976 and a GSD Staff Fave. The popularity of this song proves that people from the mid-70s were still coming off a fairly robust late-60s/early-70s drug-induced high. Essentially, though, the song is a rap song with a low rent group of commercial background singers who carry the chorus. It was one of those niche songs that people purchased as a 45 and played on actual record players.



Charlie Daniels's song, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," hit #3 on the pop charts in 1979 and left an even more indelible mark than "Convoy." Unlike McCoy, Daniels was no one-hit wonder and enjoyed a long music career, playing thousands of State Fairs around the country well into the 1990s.

So go on and get Aldean's hit onto the iPod, and if the spirit moves you, pick up "Convoy" and "Devil Went Down to Georgia" to pay homage to the true pioneers of new country music.

June 10: Women's World Cup Soccer -- 11:45 a.m. on ESPN

In 1999, Brandi Chastain struck home the final penalty kick, giving the US Women's Soccer team the world title.

At the time, the team completely stole the hearts of the country--40 million people tuned in to watch the final game--and Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, and Chastain earned far more than their allotted 15 minutes. The 1999 World Cup victory validated Title IX, advanced the game of soccer as an exciting spectator sport for the casual sports fan, and perpetuated the arrogant notion that the US produces the most attractive, most talented female athletes in the world.

In 2011, the storyline is not quite the same. Fan complacency has set in--people think that the women's team is a shoe-in to win even though the US Senior National team hasn't even made the finals since 1999 (3rd place finishes in 2004 and 2007). Despite ESPN's best efforts, the buzz around the women's team just hasn't been there. Four million people watched the US's first game, but the US could be bounced well before the bandwagon even gets rolling.

The most recognizable faces are the aging Abby Wambaugh and goalkeeper Hope Solo, who was unceremoniously pulled from her starting job before the semi-final game of the 2007 and sulked openly about the decision. Solo's petulance appeared to have been justified, as the team got shellacked in the semis, losing 4-0 to Brazil.

The Hope Solo story is really what makes Sunday's quarterfinal game compelling. Who else does the US play on Sunday but Brazil. And this time Hope Solo is without question the #1 goalkeeper in the world. Brazil features the dazzlingly skillful Marta, who will test the suddenly shaky back line who gave up two goals to Sweden in a loss in the final group stage game. The US was hoping to avoid Brazil in the quarters, but the Sweden loss ensured the earlier than expected showdown. Brazil is flashy but not strong defensively; the US is athletic and hard-working.

Here's why you should watch:

1. Hope Solo
2. Marta
3. Megan Rapinoe

Get excited if Rapinoe starts or enters the game. She is a bleach-blond dynamo who gave the team a huge spark as a substitute against Columbia in the US's second game. Watch for her again this Sunday in a similar role, especially if the US needs a goal late.

A loss on Sunday will be considered by the US players, media, fans, and the US Soccer Federation to be a disaster. The US will play with urgency and should be able to expose Brazil's lack of organization on defense, but Brazil has the individual skill to send the US packing.

July 8: Spirit in the Night -- Bruce Springsteen

Recently, the NPR Music podcast featured listener suggestions about great summer songs. Weezer's "Islands in the Sun" ended the podcast, but other gems showed up such as Dylan's 1965 hit "Like a Rolling Stone" and the classically psychedelic "Maggot Brain" by Funkadelic (even if you don't listen to the whole song, at the very least take a close listen to the intro). This got one GSD Staffer thinking about his favorite summer song.

Bruce Springsteen's "Spirit in the Night" is a summer song for the ages. Perhaps it doesn't promote the best values (drinking, drugging, the late-night-all-right, general recklessness), but the carefree spirit of the song--summer's wonderful potential and its dangerouse pitfalls--is what summer is all about. The song tells the story of six friends who road-trip out to a favorite summer stomping ground and let the night take its own unpredictable course. Some get lucky, some get hurt, but it's one of those nights that these friends will talk about well into their adult lives. Springsteen is at his best telling these kinds of middle American narratives through his own hip vernacular ("Janey's fingers were in my cake..."; "We danced all night to a soul fairy band..."), and Clarence Clemons's signature sax sets the soulfully funky theme of the song.

Other summer songs capture the spirit of the free-and-easy living of summer--Katy Perry's "California Gurls" and "Summer Lover" by Justin Timberlake come to mind--but few singers have Springsteen's ability to capture a spirit and bring the characters in his narrative to life so clearly. The outcomes of some of the characters in the song have prevented "Spirit of the Night" from becoming a true summertime anthem, but the mixture of freedom and danger he shows us in the song defines the allure of summer.

Welcome to GSD Selects!

There's more to life than chasing winter storms. Not much more, mind you, but when the high pressure sets in and the long-range forecast looks sparse, we at GSD love to occupy our time with popular culture of all kinds--music, films, books, TV, websites, and just about anything else that entertains us and enlightens us.

Each week (sometimes more) the GSD Staff will select something that ought to pique your fancy. It might be an old movie worth re-watching. It could be a new, off-the-beaten path song for your iPod. Maybe it's a YouTube clip that you just have to see to believe. The beauty of the selections will (hopefully) be their unpredictability.

Feel free to comment on our picks and offer your own suggestions. We look forward to reading your thoughts.