Durf's Töp 15 Albums of 2021

Yeesh, what a year.  Yeah, I know, I say that pretty much every year, but this year I mean it.  In the span of really ten short months, the Durfette and I welcomed the Durfling 2, I got a promotion at work, the Durfette got a new job, we both decided we wanted to get the fuck out of Idaho, I got a new job, we sold our house, bought a new house, moved to Tennessee, and that's just off the top of my head.  It's been a year.  Not to mention that until shit got real bonkers around August/September, I managed to actually write something nearly every week for this her blog, which was a lot of fun.  I'd love to be able to tell you that Durf's Weekly Workout will make a triumphant return sometime soon, but I can't commit to that, and I just can't lie to you terrific folks.  The new job takes a lot of my time and energy, and I'm still trying to figure out how to make sure my family doesn't get shortchanged, and until I do, I need to do other things than tell you how wicked lifting to Suffering Hour is (it's pretty fuckin' wicked though).  But hopefully it will be back at some point.  But for now, let's talk about sixteen albums from this year that were phenomenal.  I listened to more music this year than potentially any year previous, so you know these sixteen are the choicest of choice cuts.  As always, the amount written about any album does not speak to my thoughts or feelings about it; that's what the numbers are for.

Durf's Weekly Workout # 20: June 11th, 2021

Things are finally, slowly starting to open back up after fifteen months of pandemic (I know, it feels like fifteen years).  The Durfette and I went golfing with her dad and his girlfriend when they were in town, and then we went to a local restaurant, sat on the patio, and had a glass of wine.  I went into the coffee shop that I stop in after grocery shopping, and didn't wear a mask as I picked up my americano to go.  We had friends over - in person - for a barbecue.  Major league sports are operating with full crowds, which may not be the best example, because they would have done that all last year if local governments hadn't forced them to put safety above profit.  We still have a ways to go (and it would certainly help if everyone got on board), but for now things are certainly trending back toward normalcy.  And the icing on that long-delayed cake has been trickling out of the baker's bag for the past couple of weeks: real, in-person, honest to Dio concert announcements.