Author: Pete Wheeler

Categories
Music

2025 Albums: A Retrospective

As always, we here at FTL are proud to ring in the New Year with a fantastic wrap up of some of the best music to come out in the past year. This year, like so many before, Greg Habeeb has compiled an excellent and eclectic mix of recommendations that truly captures the dynamic spirit of 2025.

Like so many fans of this masthead, I anxiously looked forward to this year’s blog, and, on my first reading, found myself nodding along in agreement: Getting Killed has been top-10 list bait since it dropped in September; Bleeds has been on heavy rotation for me and anyone else listening to 107.1 The Peak; and I truly believe that Hayley Williams’ Ego Death is going to be a defining album for aging millennials for the next decade.1 

But while reading this list always engenders a warm and fuzzy feeling of companionship for our fellow man, all of this firm agreement is not what drives engagement here at For The Love. Instead, it is time to take part in the time-honored internet tradition of manufacturing beef to chase clout.

So, with that in mind, I, Pete Wheeler, the clear-headed, true lover of indie-rock, alt-country, and Americana/folk, do firmly and totally disavow and condemn Greg Habeeb, and all of his followers who enjoy a slightly different flavor of indie-rock, alt-country, and Americana/folk. You and all of your readers are splitters! 

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Categories
Football

Do You Believe in Life After, Love?

(AP Photo/Melissa Tamez)

Ah yes, the first Sunday after the Super Bowl. For 23 weeks straight, we’ve punched in at the content factory like clockwork for a few hours of mindless entertainment each weekend – whether we were watching actually good sports, celebrating our Italian (American) heritage, or enjoying the free word association beat-style poetry of Tony Romo. 

But today, after finishing up our trips to the farmer’s market and walking our dogs, there is a Scott Hanson shaped hole in the middle of our afternoon. At least four long hours to fill, and the knowledge that there will be many more such Sundays to slog through in the months to come. (For The Love does not acknowledge the existence of the newly formed UFL).

This weekend, the other shoe finally drops. We’ve felt it coming for some time now. The first day back to work after Christmas and New Years is a shock to the system, yes, but at least playoff football is around the corner – hell, that is right in the middle of Bowl Season if you are into that kind of thing.

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Categories
Miscellaneous Musings

Confessions of a Plastic Paddy

Christy Moore is a living legend. For five decades now, Christy has been a leading voice in the Irish Folk scene, guiding the genre through a renaissance and reinvention. In 2007, he was named the Greatest Living Musician by RTE, and since then he has put out five new albums. An indefatigable legend at that. 

So, during this special time of year, as people across the country are scrambling to put on some Real Irish MusicTM during their pre-games and pub crawls, I think it’s a good time to talk about Christy and his music. But, before we get there, we’ll have to talk about the proverbial green elephant in the room: the Irish.

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Categories
movies + tv

The Real Housewives of New York City is a Modern Tragic Masterpiece

PART I: “I Never Feel Guilty About Being Privileged” 

Over the last few years, there’s been a growing interest in “Dead Malls.” These abandoned shopping centers have become immensely popular in some corners of the internet. There’s something about the photos and videos of these places – something slightly off-putting, but also evocative and nostalgic. But a Dead Mall is more than just some empty stores; it’s a physical manifestation of a past way of life, a past way of thinking, past hopes, dreams, and aspirations.

They’ve taken everything from us! (John Arehart / Shutterstock.com)

Dead Malls require us to confront a change in perspective – our change of perspective. In a Dead Mall, the glitzy, exciting, “anything is possible” attitude of the 80s seems a lifetime away. These places hold no promise now. The building may be mostly the same. But something has changed. We have changed.

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Categories
Music

Julien Baker Bodyslams Me into Depression

PHOTO CREDIT: Amber J Davis, Nashville Scene

We are truly living through the golden age of sad music.

Ever since Bon Iver made crying in a cabin sexy again, young artists have been tripping over themselves to bare their hearts and spread the Big Sad™ to listeners worldwide. The last decade and a half has seen the woe-is-me musical movement pop up all over, with artists like Drake and Billie Eilish flexing their Feelings all the way to the top of the charts. But the biggest scene for saddies has always been the indie scene. 

And no indie musician has been better at making people sadder than Julien Baker.

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Categories
movies + tv

Palm Springs, Groundhog Day, and the Year of the Plague

I am an unabashed supporter of Groundhog Day. I’m a Punxsutawney truther; I would follow that furry little hog to hell and back if his shadow told me to. So as a lover of all things Groundhog Day, it’s no surprise that I would take some time to wax poetic with you, dear reader, about 1993 classic film Groundhog Day, as well as the recent reimagining of the classic infinite time loop situation, Palm Springs. 

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Categories
Music

An Ode to Shanties

The guy who invented sea shanties, probably.

I had a friend text me a few weeks back asking “Pete, what do you think of Sea Shanty TikTok?” As a longtime lover of the shanty, the question was well warranted. I’ve gotten some version of this meme sent to me, unironically, every year for four years straight during Spotify Wrapped season. So what happens when your niche interests explode into internet superstardom? Let’s explore the journey of the humble shanty.

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Categories
Movie Review

More Like Citizen LAME, Wait Where Are You Going?

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but a lot of people think that Citizen Kane is a good movie. Hailed by critics as one of the best movies of all time, Citizen Kane has held a pretty comfortable spot at the head of the film canon for quite some time now. But, unlike some of the truly masterful films of our times like Hot Rod, I had never actually seen, nor even met someone who had seen, this lauded film. So I decided to do some digging and see what all this fuss was about. 

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