Adam and the Ants + Garret Linn
My friend, Garret Linn, sent the below to me earlier this week. I don’t think I’ve seen Garret in decades. I was very glad to hear from him.At some point...
another melodrama of consent, the war of naming the problem
I wouldn’t give you two posts in two days unless there was some urgency. And there is—this week only, you can see John Akomfrah’s remarkable 1986 film essay,...
the number, another summer
If these cop cars had been going west on Flatbush in 1989, the drivers would have been looking into my living room. I lived at 76 6th Avenue, right above...
five minutes, June 3 2020
Alice Coltrane + Stephen Vitiello
This fifteen-minute film was made by St. Clair Bourne for a segment of National Education Television’s Black Journal television program. From the Smithsonian...
David Grubbs
(Photo by David Grubbs of postcards he sent to his readers. “For the book launch I offered to send a chatty—or gossipy, if desired—postcard from my personal...
Tuesday, May 26 2020
I just looked at a photo of sushi. I mean that I looked at an iPhone photo of our quarantine splurge meal, from last week, like it was a baby rhino. It was...
Jennifer + Jenny + Dave
What is that band in the park playing? Subscribe now
Wednesday, May 20 2020
Our own Joe Levy hit us with a Little Richard banger in Rolling Stone today.He was different, born that way: His right leg was shorter than the left. He...
Ogmios + cars + London
What is the opposite of road rage? Zen motoring, it turns out. A London rapper named Ogmios is putting up big numbers in lockdown with his ASMR narration of...
New York + Berlin
A five-minute audio message from the window.Subscribe now
Florian + Richard + escape velocity
After Florian Schneider died, I could only think of one person who might have met him. I emailed Ryuichi Sakamoto and asked if he had. The answer was yes:it...
meditation + not paying writers + trees
A new audio message! Meditation, cheapskates, birds, history! Five minutes!(Drawing by Sam Morrison.)Subscribe now
old + new
If you want to know what’s been going on since this Substack started, here’s a grip of posts:ghost towns: dub, politics, 1981, and Englandbicycles + rats +...
Michael Moriarty + The New-York Ghost + Alan Licht + Loren Mazzacane Connors + Vashti Bunyan
Q: The Winged Serpent (1982) gives us the pre-digital Manhattan of pay phones and wall clocks. Director Larry Cohen gives us pre-workout masters like Michael...
one year + Ema + my roommate
Four minutes of connection on a Sunday. News of an anniversary and a movie and a college memory. Also, the cop corona tape busts in—don’t miss it. Subscribe now
ghost towns
On October 10, 1980, Margaret Thatcher delivered a speech to the Conservative Party, something of a Top Ten hit for her followers. She spoke about repaying...
lizards + drones
I didn’t expect any quarantine art to be good: Maybe work done during this time, sure, but nothing reflecting on quarantine itself. Wrong. I love all three...
infection + confusion
Can a novel celebrate infection? Richard Matheson thought so, and that book is called I Am Legend. First published in 1954, it’s been the source material for...
why won't joggers wear gloves or masks
Staying in touch with six minutes of audio. Subscribe now