Catching Up With Culture
and remembering Christine McVie & Bernadette Mayer, and more
I’m listening to music I missed in 2022, culled from year-end lists, at the same time pondering how much time I spend trying to catch up to culture instead of steeping in it. Most days music is a bombardment. Promotional e-mails. Artist direct messages. Vinyl in the mail. The same for books. Lately I lose time searching out titles that a best books list recommended that look interesting.
When overwhelmed, I think about what I loved this year. Bands like Horsegirl with their almost limitless potential. Writers like Morgan Talty, Jonathan Escoffery, and Talia Lakshmi Kolluri erupting unto the literary scene with exciting prose. Then I pick up a novel from my TBR pile, head to the backyard, and focus on one piece of art at a time.
Then I can start working on my 2023 “best of” lists (actually, I already have).
Largehearted Likes
Year-end music lists - This week two of my favorite music websites, The Quietus and Gorilla Vs. Bear, released their albums of the year lists. The music on these lists soundtrack my winter as I catch up on what I’ve missed (often while reading 2022 books I slept on as well).
Atlanta - Donald Glover’s television series is one of this century’s greatest artistic achievements. Innovative and insightful, every episode is a gem.
Vinyl - Almost 11 years ago I moved to Brooklyn from Birmingham. In accepting the lack of space in NYC apartments, I sold my turntable and 99% of my vinyl. Recently my partner bought a new turntable, and I am once again enjoying the ritual of listening to vinyl.
North Coast Brewing Old Rasputin Stout - One of the first stouts I ever loved is now available in pint cans. Strong and smooth, perfect for winter sipping by the firepit.
Our Solo smokeless firepit - The weather is getting colder, but we are still enjoying our backyard. The firepit (and the clear plastic bubble tent we are putting up this weekend) bring a little bit of the great outdoors to north Brooklyn.
Proof that I have loved beer for a long time.
Musicians’ favorite music of 2022 at BrooklynVegan - One of my favorite year-end features from an eclectic group of artists.
Christine McVie - Most of the world can be split into Stevie Nicks fans and Christine McVie fans. I am firmly among the latter group.
Toddlers reading on the train - A three-year old on his mother’s lap was reading a picture book next to me on the subway this week. He pointed to my book, then his, and said, “Mine has pictures.” Then he recommended Pete the Cat and Thomas the Tank Engine. I smiled all morning.
Largehearted Links
New Directions remembered poet Bernadette Mayer
We share in the sorrow of all who loved Bernadette and take comfort in the beautiful work she left for us—her new book came out just weeks ago—and take courage from her radical human gestures. We remember her inimitable laughter and love for oysters as we return to our favorite poems.
I think as time has gone on, my awakening as a human being in my life and in myself has happened alongside—and is totally integrated with—my process of growing and awakening as a writer, and that’s really reflected in my craft.
By its simplest definition, Solarpunk is a literary and art movement which imagines what the future could look like if the human species were actually to succeed in solving the major challenges associated with global warming, from reducing global emissions to overcoming capitalist economic growth as the primary motor of human society.
The Great British Baking Show’s Prue Leith on books and reading
I reread “The Warden,” by Anthony Trollope. It’s been my favorite book for half my life. I love all those Victorian writers like Dickens, Thackeray, the Brontë sisters, but Trollope is, I think, the best.
Rosecrans Baldwin’s essay on friendship, soccer, and loss
Grief is lawless. Grief is the worst hitchhiker. Grief gets in your car, rides in the backseat, watches you smugly in the rearview mirror. Where are you going? How much farther? It doesn’t answer. Then, when you’re not looking, it wrenches forward and grabs the wheel.
Storefront Church & Phoebe Bridgers’ cover of Low’s “Words”
Last Week’s Largehearted Boy Features:
A. J. Bermudez's Playlist for Her Story Collection "Stories No One Hopes Are about Them"
Meg Howrey's Playlist for Her Novel "They're Going to Love You"
Favorite Poetry Collections of 2022
Favorite Short Fiction Collections of 2022
The Largehearted Boy List of Online "Best of 2022" Book Lists