Hello! Here is the weekly roundup. Thanks to all the new paid subscribers who signed up after the NYC guide went out. There’s more to come in the coming weeks, but for now, if you can pay for a subscription, it really helps me build this up.
Welcome to the time of year when I listen to Charlie Parker’s version of “Summertime” multiple times a day. I walk outside and I immediately start to sweat. The fall previews will begin in the next few days and I’ll just stare at them, wondering how anybody could tease me like that since the cooler weather isn’t going to be here for a long time.
This summer has been strange. Am I right about that? All the stuff we’ve grown used to, plus the few days when the east coast was blanketed with smoke, but also it has just felt quiet and lazy even though people seem like they’re getting back out. The thing is that we have almost three years right behind us, most of which we couldn’t go out or see people, so it feels like we’re still getting used to each other again, not to mention the psychic toll of….everything. I think it’s the apprehension I’ve been picking up on. But, then again, the summer always makes me a little uncomfortable. People get weird this time of year, and I just start counting the days until it’s over.
Melt Reads
Like In-N-Out when I visit L.A. or a stop at my favorite hot dog spot in Chicago, fish and chips in the U.K. is just a thing I expect will happen during any trip I take across the pond. But even iconic chippies are having a hard time staying open, and there’s something incredibly sad about that to me.
Read: “A funeral for fish and chips: why are Britain’s chippies disappearing?” by Tom Lamont at the Guardian
I love when Dave Holmes graces us with some thoughts on music. His latest is a look at the “weirdest years in music,” 1989 and 1990. He calls it the Diet Slice era and I really can’t hate that name.
Read: “The Two Weirdest Years in Music” by Dave Holmes at Esquire
Sinéad O’Connor’s passing this week hit a lot of people hard, so there was no shortage of tributes for the singer. For my money, I always go with Amanda Petrusich’s take first in most music matters.
Read: “The Unapologetic Brilliance of Sinéad O’Connor” by Amanda Petrusich at The New Yorker
Melt Stuff
I’ve been reading The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune by Alexander Stille. 10/10 highly suggest it if reading about a real sex cult on the Upper West Side in the 1970s sounds appealing to you. It’s pretty much all I want to read about. If you were into docs like Wild Wild Country or The Source Family, then this is a book you should pick up.
I think Only NY maybe was out of their lox shirts, but they seem to have plenty right now. People are always mentioning it to me, I think it’s great, one of the best shirts they’ve done.
The Aimé Leon Dore sale was this last week and it’s mostly cleared out by now, but they have a few of these waxed country hats left, and they’re perfect for autumn, which, as you can tell if you’ve made it this far, is basically all I’m waiting for right now.