No. 42: Beaches, beats, B-52's, Bill Murray.
Ooh, who designed your fanny pack?
After a week at my parents' house surrounded by fancy vehicles and decorative birds, I'm now back in Brooklyn, daydreaming of a kiddie pool filled with gelato. (Would I sit in it? Would I eat it? WHY NOT BOTH?)
A few recs for you and your lovers/cousins/nemeses:
What I'm into right now:
BOOKS: A friend of mine recommended Alan Arkin's memoir, AN IMPROVISED LIFE, and I blazed through it in a couple days. It's not a new book, but it's ideal for vacation/summer reading, since it's only about 200 pages and so breezily written the chapters fly by. Rather than giving us a standard autobio, Arkin takes a more zen approach, sprinkling anecdotes with deeper observations about acting and an artist's life. (It opens with a great Madeline Kahn story. You can read the first couple chapters for free right here.)
YOUTUBE: Watching Stephen Colbert perform "This Year" with The Mountain Goats fills my heart. Look at the sheer joy on his face! Rock 'n' roll will never die.
TRAILER: Seeing Renee Zellweger play Judy Garland is just the drug I need right now. (Have you seen that Judy/Barbara Walters interview from 1967? It's incredible that she was only in her mid-40s. A hard life takes a toll.)
MUSIC: Peter Murphy is doing a long residency at New York's Le Poisson Rouge, where each night he'll play one of his solo albums. He's also doing a David Bowie night and a Bauhaus night and, oh, which show do I see?
READING: The New York Times has a good interactive feature about the B-52's. And Zach Schonfeld at The Ringer dug into whatever happened to Sufjan Stevens' ambitious project to record albums about all 50 states.
PODCASTS: Earios is launching tons of women-created podcasts, including shows from Feist and Margaret Cho. I'm running out of listening hours!
SUMMAH SPORTSWEAR: Not only has the WHO CHARTED? podcast delivered great eps lately, host Howard Kremer has some new "Have a Summah!" T-shirts for sale, including gear with lobsters, sharks and other critters.
KIDS' STUFF: Thank goodness for PBS KIDS at the Alamo this summer. If you live near an Alamo theater, check the schedule for super-cheap tix to all-ages screenings of PBS fare.
IN NYC? On July 21 I'll be at Quimby's Bookstore in Williamsburg, Brooklyn! Come see me interview Jon Chattman, editor of the new book MOVING FOREWORD. I'll also be reading my essay from the book, along with cool, funny people like Simeon Goodson and Brittany Brave. We'll have a time.
AND HEY: Support me on Patreon at ANY LEVEL, and you'll get instant access to my exclusive list of 99 graphic novel recommendations. Thanks to everyone who has contributed!
And YOU recommend:
MUSIC: Herman has been watching full sets from Glastonbury 2019 on YouTube: The Killers' set includes an encore of "You Were Always On My Mind" (with Pet Shop Boys) and "This Charming Man" (with Johnny Marr). Vampire Weekend plays "a good mix of new and older songs."
COMICS: Jed just read AHOY Comics' SECOND COMING #1, "which sees Jesus sent to Earth by God to learn how to act from a superhero. (This is a gross simplification, but that's the basic idea.)" He adds, "The book moved from Vertigo Comics to AHOY after some protests of the comic before it even hit newsstands. Judging from the issue, while it's a satire, it's really concerned about empathy for our fellow humans, and I'm excited to see what comes next in the series."
TV: A reader who identified himself as "Freddie 'Boom Boom' Washington" called the hotline to say he's digging WYNONNA EARP, "the Western version of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER."
MORE COMICS: Thanks to everyone who has said nice thing about my 99 comics recs on Patreon. Chris says it sparked him to pick up Jem, Syllabus and My Favorite Thing is Monsters.
AND HEY: Don't forget you can share your recs anytime at 929-515-1988, where I try to leave a new outgoing message every day. Email me at whitmath@gmail.com. I'll put your suggestions in a future newsletter!
Releases worth noting:
TV/STREAMING:
- QUEER EYE is back again (Netflix, July 19);
- Ditto for COMEDIANS IN CARS GETTING COFFEE (Netflix, July 19);
- Chicago-set comedy SOUTH SIDE premieres (Comedy Central, July 24);
- THE GREAT HACK will make you wanna toss your phone in the toilet (Netflix, July 24);
- And Katee Sackhoff stars in the new sci-fi series ANOTHER LIFE (Netflix, July 25).
IN THEATERS (OUT JULY 19):
- THE LION KING stops being polite and starts getting real;
- Delve into the doc DAVID CROSBY: REMEMBER MY NAME;
- Ooh, the French romantic farce A FAITHFUL MAN looks right up my alley;
- And SUPERVIZED tells the story of superheroes in a retirement home.
NEW BOOKS:
- Gimme gimme WARHOL ON BASQUIAT: THE ICONIC RELATIONSHIP TOLD IN ANDY WARHOL'S WORDS AND PICTURES.
RAD BIRTHDAYS:
July 19: Brian May, Atom Egoyan, Campbell Scott, Benedict Cumberbatch
July 20: Cormac McCarthy, Diana Rigg, Judy Chicago, Carlos Santana, Stone Gossard (pictured), Josh Holloway, Sandra Oh
July 21: Cat Stevens (Yusef Islam), Charlotte Gainsbourg, Rory Culkin, Juno Temple
July 22: Tom Robbins, Alex Trebek, George Clinton, Albert Brooks, S.E. Hinton, Willem Dafoe, Emily Saliers, John Leguizamo, Brian Chippendale, Rufus Wainwright
July 23: Martin Gore, Woody Harrelson, Slash, Alison Krauss, Marlon Wayans, Sandeep Parikh
July 24: Ruth Buzzi, Gallagher, Michael Richards, Lynda Carter, Gus Van Sant, Kadeem Hardison, Colleen Doran, Patty Jenkins, Summer Glau, Elisabeth Moss, Anna Paquin
July 25: Iman, Thurston Moore, Illeana Douglas
Have you called my pop-culture hotline lately? If you have a recommendation or just wanna hear my latest outgoing message, dial 929-515-1988. (And yes, this is lil' me, enjoying what appears to be the Best Christmas Ever with a new Fisher-Price record player and a Mork & Mindy T-shirt.)
Now I wanna be your [noun],
I love hearing from you! Reach me via email (whitmath@gmail) or text/voicemail (929-515-1988). Email if you wanna send me stuff or hire me as a writer/speaker/welder.
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Like the sun through the blinds,
Mr. Tastee
"I will wear tights even if it's 100 degrees outside. Tights are my safety blanket."
- Zooey Deschanel
Read my kids' book, WE MAKE COMICS on the kids' digital platform getepic.com. Also, check out my humor essay in the book MOVING FOREWORD, and see me read from it July 21 at Quimby's Bookstore in Brooklyn!