Steel Wagstaff

Trying to do good things for good reasons

  • Mixtapes for Camille: 1990

    Mixtapes for Camille: 1990

    For most of the past decade, our Wagstaff family tradition has been to run a single, simple gift exchange for Christmas. Instead of buying presents, we draw one family member’s name and then make them a gift to be presented to them at next year’s Christmas. It’s been a great experience for everyone–we’ve all wasted less…

  • Found Mixtape from 2008

    Found Mixtape from 2008

    For the next several weeks, I’m going to be posting a new mixtape each week. Most of these were CD mixes that I made at some point in the past half dozen or so years. I don’t remember the occasion for this one, but I made it some time during the first year or two…

  • 100 Tracks [Best of September 2014]

    100 Tracks [Best of September 2014]

    Here’s a playlist of 100 songs I listened to and liked from the month of September. Some favorites from the month were Sarah Jaffe, The War on Drugs, Flume, Shad, Larry Gus’s Years Not Living, Eef Barzelay’s new Girls Come First EP, Snorri Helgason’s I’m Going to Put My Name On Your Door,  Tamikrest’s Chatma, Hammock’s Oblivion Hymns, Bellows’…

  • Cedar Dance Parties [Second 50]

    Cedar Dance Parties [Second 50]

    Most mornings, Cedar and I like to kick out the jams and dance it up. With special thanks to Bev Buretta, Nana C, Kevin Boettcher, Grandpa Bastian and others for sharing their suggestions, here are 50 songs we’ve recently listened to:

  • 80 Songs [Best of August 2014]

    80 Songs [Best of August 2014]

    Here are 80 songs that I listened to and liked in August 2014. Five plus hours of music. Very few artists with more than one track on this list–more akin to the old school mix tapes I used to make. Some favorites from the month: classic Louis Prima (listened to a lot with Cedar boy),…

  • Favorite Passages from Jonathan Wilson’s Inverting the Pyramid

    Favorite Passages from Jonathan Wilson’s Inverting the Pyramid

    In the past several years, I’ve become a full-fledged soccer fan. I’ve always followed (and played) sports, switching over the years from an interest in baseball to football to basketball and most recently, to soccer. It’s now the sport that I follow most closely, play most regularly for recreation, and read and think about most…

    ;

  • 175 Tracks [Best of July 2014]

    175 Tracks [Best of July 2014]

    July was a fantastic month for me, musically, by which I mean that I listened to a lot of great music. Some favorites from the month included Son Lux, Bahamas (Feist’s guitarist), Actual Wolf, Alex Bleeker & the Freaks, Sarah Jaffe’s Even Born Again, Laura Mvula’s Sing to the Moon, Glenn Jones’ My Garden State…

  • NBA Champions and Scoring Data: Further Reflections

    In the last post, I looked at a few statistical measures to get at just how exceptional the 2014 San Antonio Spurs were in relation to previous NBA champions, particularly in regards to their approach to scoring. By those measures, they had the least ‘top-heavy’ distribution of points of any NBA champion, and it wasn’t…

  • NBA Champions & Scoring Data: Some Initial Impressions about the 2014 Spurs

    NBA Champions & Scoring Data: Some Initial Impressions about the 2014 Spurs

    One of my personal/professional goals for this summer has been to learn how to work with and visualize data. I want to know how to make beautiful data visualizations, and tell interesting stories with the use of data. To that end, I’ve started working through some self-directed reading, and signed up for a couple of…

  • Cedar Dance Parties [First 50]

    Cedar Dance Parties [First 50]

    Just about every morning, while mom pumps, makes breakfast, and goes jogging, Cedar and I use part of our time together to kick out the jams and have a proper dance party. Some stuff he loves, some stuff he merely tolerates, but we always get his booty moving. Currently his favorite move is moving quickly…

  • 50 Tracks [Best of June 2014]

    50 Tracks [Best of June 2014]

    Here are 50 songs that I listened to and liked in June 2014. Dug back into Aden (a fairly obscure band I liked as a freshman in college, and hadn’t listened to in more than a decade!–fronted by Phil Gramm’s son, no less), really enjoyed Julie Doiron’s So Many Days record and Mutual Benefit’s Love’s…

  • Best of April/May 2014

    Best of April/May 2014

    Here’s a 6+ hour playlist of songs I listened to and liked in April and May of 2014. Was on paternity leave for a big chunk of this time, getting to know a new being, and away from new music on my computer. It was so worth it. Favorites from this period included Clap! Clap!,…

  • 100 Songs [Best of March 2014]

    100 Songs [Best of March 2014]

    It’s been a while since I last posted (our son was born in March!), but I’m back with a hundred songs I listened to and liked in March 2014. A pretty good mix of longtime favorites like Advance Base, The Very Best, Here We Go Magic (Luke Temple), San Fermin, Angel Olson, Vance Joy, Nightmares…

  • 100 Songs [Best of February 2014]

    100 Songs [Best of February 2014]

    Here are 100 songs I listened to and liked in February 2014. A little less variety than in previous months, perhaps. Representing a few groups/albums pretty heavily. I was most excited about Beck’s new Morning Phase album, and also listened to a lot of Willy Mason, Paul Simon, Ana Tijoux, Luke Temple, Goldfrapp, J Roddy…

  • 3 Hours [Best of January 2014]

    3 Hours [Best of January 2014]

    In January I listened to a lot of new music. Most of the artists in this month’s playlist are represented by just one song, but some favorite records from the month included Rogue Wave’s Nightingale Floors album, and Simon White’s Silver Silver and Yakiimo albums. This playlist clocks in at just about 3 hours. Enjoy!

  • 60 Tracks [Best of December 2013]

    60 Tracks [Best of December 2013]

    December of this past year was a mild one for me, musically. Not a lot of new discoveries, really, but I listened to a lot of old favorites: Andrew Bird, Damien Jurado, Bob Dylan, the Wainwrights.

  • 100 Tracks [Best of November 2013]

    100 Tracks [Best of November 2013]

    Here are 100 tracks that I listened to and enjoyed in November 2013. I was into a lot of mellow, acoustic guitar music this month–lots of John Fahey and the Derek Trucks Band–things like that. I remember really enjoying Beth Orton’s Sugaring Season and Mason Jennings’ Always Been records, listening to a lot of Richard…

  • 200 Track Supermix [Best of October 2013]

    200 Track Supermix [Best of October 2013]

    October was a good music month for me, and as evidence, I submit the following: 200 of my favorite songs from that month. Stuff I was really into in October: Advance Base (I totally fell in love with his A Shut In’s Prayer record), Tom Brosseau, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, Matthew E. White’s…

  • 55 Tracks [Best of September 2013]

    55 Tracks [Best of September 2013]

    In September I remember listening to a few artists and albums pretty heavily: Ghostpoet’s Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam, Frazey Ford’s Obadiah, Eleanor Friedberger’s Personal Record, Baths’ Obsidian, Nathaniel Rateliff’s Falling Faster Than You Can Run, Mika’s The Origin of Love, Efterklang’s Magic Chairs, The Duckworth Lewis Method’s cricket concept album Sticky Wickets, J…

  • 75 More Songs [Best of August 2013]

    75 More Songs [Best of August 2013]

    Here are some songs I listened to and liked in August 2013. Heavy on Alexi Murdoch, Al Green, Emmy the Great, Guy Clark, Fiona Apple, The Lone Bellow, Sea Wolf, and Townes Van Zandt. Weird month–must have been because I was turning 31? In any case, Enjoy!

About the Author

Hi, I’m Steel Wagstaff. I’m the product manager for Pressbooks, a Canadian company making open source book publishing software.

I live in Eugene, Oregon with my wife, Laurel Bastian, and our elementary-school aged son.

I love poetry, music, libraries, reading, playing pickup soccer, & eating vegetarian food.

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