So, 2022, can we talk?
After the strange events of the past year, this one has started off with a bang, too
On New Year’s Day last year, 2021 said to 2020, “Hold my beer.”
I posted a variation of that statement to Facebook — yes, I still use Facebook, though not as regularly as I once did — just before midnight last Saturday. I thought my quip — plus the picture at the top of this essay — was appropriate as we ended one of the weirdest years in memory.
That dubious achievement could be based on 2021’s first 20 days alone, between the January 6 insurrection, COVID surges, and Bernie Sanders and the mitten meme. Add to that the various variants, vaccines, mask debates, calamitous school board meetings, frothing over critical race theory, and the deaths of White, John Madden, and Stephen Sondheim in a single month.
Actually, calling 2021 “weird” is something of an understatement.
Sadly, 2022 is seamlessly picking up where the past 12 months left off. Winter, always a tough time for our nation’s senior citizens, has claimed Sidney Poitier and Peter Bogdanovich this week alone. Meanwhile, the news cycle has been filled with variations on more of the same, with Omicron, the Jan. 6 anniversary, and climate change dominating the headlines.
In 24 hours, starting on Jan. 2, we went from temperatures in the 60s to the 20s. By week’s end, two snows had dumped more of the wet stuff in our area than we had in 2020 and 2021 combined.
And let’s not forget Antonio Brown, the talented but troubled wide receiver who shed his jersey and pads and walked off the field during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers-New York Jets last Sunday. The only reason Brown was still on the field was because of his Hall of Fame quality talent; his troubles meant that his future is in jeopardy after leaving his fourth team in four years. The story has only become more muddled over the past week, as everything seems to do these days.
I used to be excited when Steve Jobs ended his presentations at Apple with the phrase, “And one more thing…” 2022 doesn’t need to pick up where Jobs left off.
And in other news…
On a less pessimistic note, since we last connected via this format two weeks ago, my cameras — the professional one and the iPhone — have been out quite a bit. Since December 27, six albums have been posted to Facebook that focus on:
New Year’s Eve Sunrise Above the Clouds
Snowstorm in Old Town Alexandria
Visiting Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience
A Morning (Mostly) in Rural Virginia
And, finally… my first concert of the new year: Tommy Stinson performing solo at the Pearl Street Warehouse in Washington, D.C.
If you haven’t seen them, you can get to the each of these albums by clicking on the link above the photo. (You don’t have to be on Facebook to view them.) I hope you’ll take a look.
While you’re at it, please go to my review of Stinson’s show in “The Music Diaries” section of this blog. Given his ties to The Replacements, I’ve also included a bonus “Weekend Flashback” on the group’s reunion show at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, N.Y. The show is special to me for a number of reasons, and it helps explain why I love to shoot and write about music so much.
And that’s it for this week. I leave you with the hope that 2022 takes its foot off of our collective throats.