Between the Reels: April 2026

What makes a good cover? You might as well be asking, what makes a good remake. It has to take the source material and render it near unrecognizable. A new coat of flesh on the skeleton. Some of these songs I find the original to be as good as the cover, and some I find the cover to be superior.

Bridge Over Troubled Water by Roberta Flack (Simon and Garfunkel)

The whole album has a Sunday driving feel to it. This song in particular has gospel music shining through like light through a stained-glass window. When I first heard the Roberta Flack cover, it wasn't a single window, it was an entire cathedral of them. What Simon and Garfunkel helped start, Flack embellishes with her backing choir, piano melody and soulful voice to bring it all on home.

Avalanche by Aimee Mann (Leonard Cohen)

The theme song to a riveting true crime doc I'll Be Gone In the Dark. The opening chords remind me of spiders crawling across a wooden floor in the dark. Leonard's song is a goosebump raiser and this cover is somehow more eerie.

One by Aimee Mann (Three Dog Night)

Another beautifully rendered cover from Aimee. This time for the film Magnolia. This version feels more wistful than the original. Inseparable from the feeling the introduction of our cast of characters gives you.

(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction by Devo (The Rolling Stones)

A complete deconstruction of the Stones song and building back up with Devo DNA. This is what a cover should sound like. Devo manages to change the aesthetic sensibilities of a 60's pop song into those of the 80's.

Across the Universe by Fiona Apple (The Beatles)

One of the very first Beatles songs I was addicted to. Fiona's smile as the chaos abounds around her as if to say "If we can achieve inner peace, nothing around us can hurt us".

Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon by Urge Overkill (Neil Diamond)

To be played right after you win a trophy for dancing at Jack Rabbit Slims and before you find a baggie of cocaine in your dance partner's coat pocket. Like many on this list, I first heard it in a movie. Urge Overkill updates the Diamond classic with 90's attitude.

People Are Strange by Echo and the Bunnymen (The Doors)

I have to thank The Lost Boys for introducing me to this cover. I can't listen to it without thinking of amusement parks. And mohawks.

White Wedding by Roland S. Howard (Billy Idol)

Producer: Hey could you make this sound like Billy Idol's song was found in an alley next to a dumpster? You know, that bedraggled, weary look after you were kicked out of a bar for starting a fight.

Roland: I'm your guy!

Immigrant Song by Karen O, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Led Zeppelin)

First teased with one of the sharply edited trailers, Reznor gives the Zeppelin song an industrial makeover. Complete with Karen O's Plant-like vocals. When we finally heard the whole thing, it played alongside what I consider Fincher's best opening credit sequence since Se7en.

Where Did You Sleep At Night by Nirvana (Leadbelly)

Of the 90's grunge bands, Alice In Chains was the one that always had my heart. Maybe because they weren't entirely grunge. But what is? Nirvana was a band with a fresh sound for teenagers waiting for a new idol after they became sick of their parent's big hair and jean jacket wardrobe. Record labels took advantage. I don't count myself as a fan insomuch as throwing them on regularly. But if I'm going be honest, the vocal performance here from Kurt is the best he's done and proof he was the real deal.

Dear Prudence by Siouxsie and the Banshees (The Beatles)

My favorite cover of a Beatles song and I love the original dearly. While it doesn't quite surpass the original, Siouxsie gives it a new life entrenched in 80's goth pop.

Sinnerman by 16 Horsepower (Nina Simone)

16 Horsepower are one of those hidden treasures of the 90s. A band who feel like they crawled out of a Flannery O'Conner or Harry Crews Southern Gothic novel.

April 7, 2026

Had a dream where my mother was lying face down on the lawn in front of my house. I walk toward her and turned her over and she was completely still. I tried pounding on her chest to bring her back to life. I screamed. My brother was standing at the top of the stairs in shock.

I woke up at 7:44 am with the knowledge my alarm will go off at 8. I couldn't get back to sleep. The voice of my brother in the kitchen prompted me to get out of bed. He was talking to my mother.

Every morning my routine is the same.

The routine is coffee.

First, I fill an electric kettle with 540 grams of water. The recipe calls for 500 but I use 40 extra grams to wet the paper filter. Or otherwise, the coffee has a papery taste to it. Then I measure out 30 grams of beans and throw them in the grinder. I wait until the kettle is at 194 degrees and then I wet the paper filter and grind the beans.

I dump the grounds into the filter which sits snug in a V60. I tare the measuring device and start a timer. I start to spiral pour until I reach 60 grams on the scale. Double the amount of coffee. This is called the bloom stage. Where all the CO2 in the coffee is released. I wait until the timer hits 45 seconds to do a second spiral pour. When I reach 300 grams, I stop. When the timer reaches 2 minutes, I make my final pour until I reach the goal of 500 grams. I watch the water draw down into the grams and my end time is 3:12. Anything over 3 minutes is my intended goal. Some drawdowns are faster than others. Some are slower. Especially if the beans are from Ethiopia. Reason being they are smaller so the finer the grind the slower the water absorption.

At 8:07 I take a shower.

I get out, put on fresh clothes and ask my brother if he wants to continue watching Breaking Bad. He says yes. We sit down in my room to watch the second episode of the final season, titled Buried. My brother tenses at the fight between Marie and Skylar as Marie attempts to take baby Holly.

8:45

I go to Great Clips down the street to get my hair cut. There is no one there so I don't have to wait. The barber is sitting in one of the chairs waiting for a customer. She has green hair, tattoos and glasses. Usually when I'm at the barber the talking veers in the direction of where I work, if I have plans for the rest of the day, etc. Standard questions to pass the time. All of which were asked. Only when it came to passing the time, I brought up how I liked to read. She too was a reader. This caused me to become excited. Anytime I talk to a reader, there is a lot to talk about. So the conversation lasted for the entire haircut. Something that doesn't happen often. I was finished around 9 and left.

9:06

When I got home, I watched The Man Who Wasn't There. The Coen Brothers movie about a barber in the 1940s who suspects his wife is cheating on him. It leads him down a path of blackmail and murder. I recently got the Criterion 4K and watching it revealed how crisp and beautiful Roger Deakins' black and white cinematography is.

12:45

I went to Cooper Hawk in Oak Lawn to grab something to eat. The hostess sat me in the bar area at a raised table. The waitress, Vanessa, came over and took my order. I got the Spaghetti and Meatballs. Can't go wrong with a classic. I doomscrolled on my phone. Letting myself fall down worst-case scenario rabbit holes with every headline, meme and news report. The worst of which dealt with nuclear weapons.

There was a birthday at a table and the lady at the end of the bar mentioned how she was an Aries. The guest sitting at the table by the birthday girl mentioned how they were born on March 30.

The check came and I left.

2:12

Arrived at the Alsip Merionette Park Library with the intention of reading Kanley Stubrick by Mike Kleine. Purchased it because it was acclaimed book from a small press and I try to support small presses as much as I can. Plus it was a play on the name of my favorite director. The premise: A girl loses her shoe and the guy she lives with starts calling their friends to see if they know anything about the missing shoe. Some of them have theories, others don't seem to care. Then the girl herself disappears and the guy goes looking for her.

A vague fucking premise if there ever was one. But enough to hang a slim, experimental, 100-page novel on.

Halfway through the book I had the urge to scream at the top of my lungs in the middle of the library.

The experience of the book felt dream like. Where the landscape of the text became smaller and more ephemeral as it went on. Time and space are fluid.