Tennessee breather (with Patti Smith interludes)
Greetings from Tennessee!
I've retreated to the Volunteer State for a few days to hug relatives, roam cemeteries and marvel at just how much space I can get for my money. I'll return next week with a full-length newsletter; until then, I suggest you read Patti Smith's new book (I'm only 20 pages in, and I hope it never ends) and celebrate Lynda Barry, who had a pretty rad week. The fall air is thick with creative geniuses!
Here's my pale little hand, happy to be reunited with the Tennessee breeze. (I was hoping to bask in jacket weather this weekend, but it's supposed to be 94 degrees tomorrow, which is too dang hot to stroll through a corn maze.)
Waco, Texas-based reader Melissa G. (aka @misscellophane) sent this pic of three of her '80s Halloween costumes: Miss Piggy, a Cabbage Patch Kid and Boy George. "My mom always made my costumes from scratch," she says. "As a result, I won every costume contest as a kid and even won my family our first microwave!"
Send your nostalgic Halloween photos to whitmath@gmail.com, and I'll post a few next week.
Notable new releases:
TV: The TRANSPARENT finale arrives on Amazon (Sept. 27) ... Ryan Murphy's THE POLITICIAN debuts (Netflix, Sept. 27) ... Netflix releases STURGILL SIMPSON PRESENTS SOUND & FURY (Sept. 27) ... Woody Harrelson and Billie Eilish headline a new season of SNL (NBC, Sept. 28) ... Forest Whitaker stars in the new series GODFATHER OF HARLEM (Epix, Sept. 29) ... The excellent series SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS returns (Facebook Watch, Oct. 1) ... Brittany Snow and Timothy Hutton star in the new series ALMOST FAMILY (Fox, Oct. 2).
MOVIES: I'm eager to see Renee Zellweger as JUDY ... THE DEATH OF DICK LONG has murder and humor in small-town Alabama ... Meryl Streep stars in the Netflix movie THE LAUNDROMAT ... and ABOMINABLE delivers a kid-friendly Yeti.
MUSIC: This week's releases include new records from Sturgill Simpson, The New Pornographers, Tegan and Sara, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Steel Panther and Temples.
BIRTHDAYS:
Sept. 27: Wilford Brimley, Meat Loaf, Marc Maron, Carrie Brownstein, Sophie Crumb, Lil Wayne
Sept. 28: Brigitte Bardot, Janeane Garofalo, Moon Zappa, Joseph Arthur, Dita Von Teese, St. Vincent
Sept. 29: Jerry Lee Lewis, Les Claypool, Mackenzie Crook, Halsey
Sept. 30: Angie Dickinson, Marty Stuart, Eric Stoltz, Tony Hale, Ezra Miller
Oct. 1: Julie Andrews, Zach Galifianakis (pictured), Brie Larson
Oct. 2: Richard Hell, Annie Leibovitz, Sting, Joe Sacco, Gillian Welch
Oct. 3: Chubby Checker, Lindsey Buckingham, Greg Proops, Tommy Lee, Lena Headey
One of my favorite things at the Whitney Museum right now is this sculpture by Marisol, an artist who created lots of humorous and pop culture-inspired work, like this Andy Warhol sculpture and this Hugh Hefner sculpture that appeared on the cover of Time magazine. She had a fascinating life, so here's hoping someone out there is working on the biopic.
And so the rent became whiskey,
Email me all the livelong day at whitmath@gmail.com and leave me a text/voicemail at 929-515-1988. Also email for my mailing address or if you want to hire me as a writer/editor/speaker/shampooer. I'll get ya in a lather like nobody's business.
Like this newsletter? Forward it to friends! ! Find/tag me on Twitter & Instagram. If this got stuck in spam, try this. (And if you're still reading, I'll let you in on a secret: I just finished writing a play. If you have a big creative project you abandoned long ago, please allow me to believe in you.)
In a raspberry beret and sensible slacks,
Miss Amanda Jones
"It seems the brighter you are, the deeper the hole you get into." - Tuesday Weld
Don't forget to read my kids' book, WE MAKE COMICS, on getepic.com!