My Debut Column: Or Should I Say Patient Zero?
William Bauer walks to school on a foggy morning. Photo by William Bauer
Hello, and welcome to Dear Reader, a new (and hopefully weekly) column (wish me luck!). Here, you get to experience William’s witticisms, hear about events around town, read song reviews, and more. I’m asking for your support, so if you have songs you want me to review, events that you want me to attend (or that you have a review for), please email me at baue0649+dearreader@d.umn.edu. Let me know what you want to know about! As for this week:
UMD Theatre has performances of Macbeth, which you can catch Oct. 2, 3, 7, 8, 9 and 10 at 7:30 pm, or Oct. 4 and 10 (ASL Performance) at 2 pm. It’s a Shakespeare adaptation that UMD Theatre is sure to blow out of the park. For UMD students, show up before showtime and grab rush tickets for free!
Come cheer on runners at the Grand Traverse, Oct. 3rd! Starting in Esko, participants will take the Superior Hiking Trail into Duluth and end at Fitger’s.
Also Oct. 3rd: Boulderathon! Participants meet in the morning at Spirit Mountain Grand Avenue Chalet, then disperse to Duluth crags to boulder. Ely's Peak Tunnel and the Haines Rd/40th Ave W and Skyline Parkway intersection will have aid stations and probably some good viewing.
Let me know what’s going on next week!
For the meat of this edition, though, someone special dropped some new music!
After listening to TLOS again, I embarked on the encore songs. Of course, I used my noise-cancelling headphones on a quite loud volume for the full experience. Despite some self-proclaimed “fans” hating on the new music, the true Swifties have nothing but praise. My resident Swiftie expert Sam loved all of the songs, noting, per an @american_heart Instagram post, that Pink Clouding is the right tempo for Hands-Only CPR.
As a casual enjoyer, I did like the music. I listened in order (as one does) and I have some thoughts on each.
Patient Zero, which I originally thought was going to be the only song getting reviewed here, got a music video too. I loved the violin start. Swift, of course, has another excellent, lyrical composition here. Next, Cleveland was one of my favorites. Though reports from the internet disagree, I thought it was a bop. The vibes, the near misses with profanity, the playful lyricism: I quite enjoyed it! Pink Clouding I was kind of confused about, not going to lie, but I liked the rhythm and sound of the song. Once my Swiftie expert Sam explained the reference, I got it. For those that don’t know, pink clouding was explained to me as the high of getting off of an addiction or relationship before the withdrawals kick in. Finally, Babylon also floated my boat. I liked the vibes and the history we got in this song.
That’s all for this week. PLEASE let me know what I should talk about next! Send me an email at baue0649+dearreader@d.umn.edu to suggest anything.
Cheers!