This month’s list combines the least interesting aspects of fan fiction, fantasy football, and Sudoku. Then multiplies the stupidity by a hundred.

Which demonstrates that I am human. Give us an instinctive behavior and we will complicate and pervert it. Moving our bodies. Making objects digestible. Marking our surroundings. Procreation. Clothing. Domiciles. Travel. Creating and listening to sounds.

What justifies this exercise is that it helped me listen to music in a different way. I heard new things in my favorite songs. I fell in love with songs that I might never have heard.

The Rules for a 3 x 3 x 26:

1. You have to love the song. Enough to hear it a lot and not feel bored.
2. You have to want to hear a band that you love cover the song. In this instance, the band that I love is Car Seat Headrest (CSH). I like a lot of their originals and I also like their covers.
3. The band might want to cover it. That is, if they had the first pick on A.V. Undercover, each song could be their selection. When choosing covers, CSH selects familiar songs that you wouldn’t expect them to cover. They have a great covers-only EP, MADLO: Influences. They also do a wonderful job with Talking Heads’ “This Must Be the Place” and “Cross-Eyed and Painless.” When they performed Live on KEXP, they incorporated the Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane” into “Cosmic Hero,” and Them’s “Gloria” into “Connect the Dots.”
4. As many women- or LGBTQ-coded bands as possible. As always, for every exercise.
5. Bonus points if the song reads differently now than when it was recorded. Maybe it’s the lyrics. Maybe it’s something about the musicians.
6. Avoid instrumentals.
7. Pick 78 songs by 78 different bands. Exactly three songs start with each letter (three that start with A, three that start with B, etc.). Exactly three bands whose names start with each letter. For example, Unrest’s “Can’t Sit Still” counts as “C” for song name and “U” for band name. If that’s one song on your list, as it is on mine, you need another 77 for your 3 x 3 x 26.

These rules are arbitrary. I made them up as I was making this month’s list.

Welcome to April 2026’s Disappearing Moment, an inventory of my experiences. I hope you enjoy it.

Podcast

The End of Sport (I Liked It): No surprise: the Marxist hosts have no skill or interest in asking questions. The guests are the ones worth keeping in this podcast.

Bougie Products

Table top plug-in dimmers for dimmable LED, halogen, and incandescent bulbs. Beth and I live by lamp light. Thank you, Adam, for improving our lives.

Personal Finance and Investing

We are having solar panels installed, which is complex and confusing. The nonprofit Solar United Neighbors helped us for free and without conflict of interest.

Reading

Terry Bisson, “Bears Discover Fire” (A Personal Favorite): Only one this month because I hope you will follow this link and read this story. I do not want to stop thinking about it.

This Month I Learned

Everyone is a theorist. If you don’t understand what models they use for activities that matter to them, ask different questions.

Received Wisdom

“I’m tempted to try to say something profound and esoteric, and I guess here it is: Housing is good. People need somewhere to live.”

Survey

Last month I asked you to vote on a new section for this newsletter. There were eight votes:

• Five for “This Month I Learned”
• Two for “Received Wisdom”
• One for “An Email Message That I Didn’t Send.”

A few people suggested a catch all. That idea has merit.

These are new names I came up with for that sort of thing. You can also vote for last month’s winner.

To see the survey and respond to it, you have to subscribe via email and answer it through an email interface.

3 x 3 x 26: CSH

• ABC, Many Happy Returns: From the first mix tape that Beth made for me.
• ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Will You Smile Again for Me: The song I most wish I could have seen performed live when it was first released.
• Arcade Fire, Une Année Sans Lumière: Loved this album. Didn't like any others by Arcade Fire.
• Blondie, X Offender: When Debbie Harry's readings are good, they are really fucking good.
• David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust: It was this song or "Quicksand." I went with the more popular song rather than the one I like better.
• Buzzcocks, A Different Kind of Tension: Filed under Artist Name B, Song Name A. Which is right, even if it's not correct.
• Can, Vitamin C: From Pedro Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces.
• Cars, Bye Bye Love: One of three songs that inspired this list.
• Cat Power, Nude as the News: Hat tip, Spank Radio.
• Death, Politicians in My Eyes: Hat tip, Crimetown podcast.
• Dinosaur, Jr.,They Always Come: Half of the tracks on this album were finalists to make this list.
• Duran Duran, Ordinary World: The second of the three songs that inspired this list.
• Echo & The Bunneymen, The Killing Moon: While I don't believe in guilty pleasures, there are some songs I take so much pleasure in that it makes me feel guilty (1 of 3).
• Electronic, Tighten Up: Bernie!
• Erasure, Sometimes: One of those songs that I've known a long time and heard differently because of this exercise.
• The Fall, L.A.: I see you, Leon, even if I'm not supposed to link to your website.
• Feelies, The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness: Anticipates "Nervous Young Inhumans." New Jersey, yo.
• Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1: It'd be tragic if those evil robots win.
• Gang of Four, Damaged Goods: There are a few songs on this album that could have made the cut.
• Garbage, Queer: I forgot about this song. I'm glad I found it again.
• Go-Go's, Our Lips Are Sealed: Then you'll ask, "What can I do?", and there will be no answer. And eventually you will shut up.
• Helium, XXX: Recorded by Adam Lasus, who also recorded the first two Trolleyvox albums (Beth was the Trolleyvox vocalist).
• Hole, Violet: I'm on the waitlist for Melissa Auf der Maur’s memoir. I wonder how I'll feel about Hole after reading it.
• Hop Along, The Knock: One of three songs on this list that might be my favorite song.
• IDLES, Grace: Hat tip, Mike Monteiro. "No King!"
• Interpol, The Heinrich Maneuver: I think I'm supposed to like Interpol more than I do, so I probably will one day.
• INXS, Don’t Change: When I added this song to the list, maybe 15 songs in, I knew I could get to at least 26 songs.
• Jawbreaker, Chesterfield King: Hat tip, Chas.
• Jesus and Mary Chain, Just Like Honey: While I don't believe in guilty pleasures, there are some songs I take so much pleasure in that it makes me feel guilty (2 of 3).
• Joy Division, New Dawn Fades: Bernie! Bernie!
• Kinks, Life Goes On: The third of three songs that inspired this list.
• Kitchens of Distinction, Prize: Hat tip, Jayson Laub.
• Knife, Heartbeats: Sharing different heartbeats in one night.
• Jens Lekman, Maple Leaves: Hat tip, Andrew Chalfen, via Beth Filla.
• Libertines, Up the Bracket: Every time I listen to the Libertines, I wonder why I don't listen to the Libertines more often.
• The Like, June Gloom: Hat tip, Lessa.
• FJ McMahon, Early Blue: One of a dozen or so songs on our pre-bedtime Wash and Brush playlist.
• Minutemen, The Glory of Man: Such a good song that it can be difficult to listen to another song after this one.
• Missing Persons, Walking in L.A.: Hollywood makes me wanna puke.
• Neutral Milk Hotel, Naomi: One of three songs on this list that might be my favorite song.
• New Order, Regret: Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!
• New York Dolls, Lonely Planet Boy: For a while, the world forgot that the Dolls fucking rocked. I'm glad we remembered.
• Oceanator, I Would Find You: Can you cover a song without covering it? Feels like "Sweater Weather" with its earnest, earnest longing.
• Okkervil River, Unless It Kicks: Our cat Suki loved Okkervil River. Also the whistling in "Young Folks."
• Orange Juice, Rip It Up: Beth and I fell in love, in part, to Orange Juice lead singer Edwyn Collins's third record, Gorgeous George.
• Pavement, Zürich Is Stained: Stephen Malkmus really harnessed the acerbic talk-singing of Lou Reed with post-punk influences such as Wire and The Fall.
• Liz Phair, X-Ray Man: This is what happens when your first album is a sensation. It felt good to pick a Whip-Smart song.
• Prince, When You Were Mine: How many people have been as good at anything as Prince was at a dozen things?
• Q and Not U, Soft Pyramids: Getting to know this song was enough to justify the exercise (1 of 4).
• Quarterflash, Find Another Fool: They originally released their first hit single, "Harden My Heart," before changing their band name from Seafood Mama.
• Quasi, You Fucked Yourself: D-I-V-O-R-C-E.
• Raincoats, Fairy Tale in the Supermarket: Getting to know this song was enough to justify the exercise (2 of 4).
• R.E.M., King of Birds: One of the R.E.M.ist songs, in the good way that R.E.M. could R.E.M. when it still believed that R.E.M.ing was enough.
• Roxy Music, Virginia Plain: Hat tip, Chas.
• Sebadoh, Magnet’s Coil: Nobody wants another mirror on their fears. I guess that's all you are to me.
• Elliott Smith, Junk Bond Trader: I like to imagine that it's an homage to Camile Paglia. It probably isn’t.
• Spoon, Quincy Punk Episode: I really like Spoon’s first four records and can't listen to anything after those first four. It's not the usual pattern for me.
• Tame Impala, Feels Like We Only Go Backwards: While I don't believe in guilty pleasures, there are some songs I take so much pleasure in that it makes me feel guilty (3 of 3).
• Television, Elevation: Beat out "Venus," which says something. One helluva song.
• TV on the Radio, Quartz: Another chance to promote “My Unhurried Legacy.”
• Undertones, You’ve Got My Number (Why Don’t You Use It!): Delivers what it claims on the tin. What else do you want?
• Unrest, Can't Sit Still: We named two of our cats, littermate sisters, after Unrest songs (Isabel and Suki).
• Unwound, Pure Pain Sugar: There were more opening bands than I was expecting so I left before Unwound went on, officially ending my youth.
• Sharon Van Etten, Serpents: One of three songs on this list that might be my favorite song.
• Velvet Underground, Oh! Sweet Nothin’: Hat tip, Chas.
• Verlaines, Death and the Maiden: Hat tip, Chas.
• Wire, Ex Lion Tamer: Stay glued to your TV set.
• World Party, Is It Like Today?: A Bonfilla Household Favorite.
• Wrens, Boys You Won’t: New Jersey, yo, yo.
• X, Around My Heart: My friend Paul used to play this song on repeat at top volume.
• Xiu Xiu, I Luv the Valley OH!: Getting to know this song was enough to justify the exercise (3 of 4).
• xx, Replica: I hadn't listened to the xx before this project. I'm glad that I spent time with their music.
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Zero: When you make "Maps," everything gets compared to "Maps." Otherwise, this could have been their signature hit.
• Young Fresh Fellows, This Little Mystery: NRBQ didn't work, so I included a Young Fresh Fellows song instead.
• Yuck, Get Away: Getting to know this song was enough to justify the exercise (4 of 4).
• Zeni Giva, Angel: Obligatory Albini track. Requiescat FM Steve.
• Zombies, Care of Cell 44: One of the weirdest songs in music history. I refuse to learn its back story.
• ZZ Top, Heard It on the X: ...calling the user a "radical leftist" who was "gleefully celebrating the tragic deaths of white kids in the recent Texas flash floods".

My thanks to Chas, the person most responsible for my becoming a librarian. He has also done more than anyone else to direct me to music that I love. He let me talk him into helping when I started this project. Then he had the good sense to back away without making any sudden movements. The many errors in judgement and alphabetization are mine alone.

Thank you for spending a few moments with me. I appreciate you and look forward to corresponding again next month.

Brett

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