Welcome Distractions
New music, book reviews, short stories and more from blog this week
Plus lots of links to other good stuff that didn’t get there (yet)
Hi! You’re here! Thank you.
July’s always the slowest month of the year for new music. The whole world is on vacation, bands are touring and playing festivals, and there better things to do than read (or write) my website.
For me, this week was all work. I’m chasing a project that could be transformative for my little business, and earning the work is a ton of effort. But you’re not here to read about my day job. Let’s talk about artsy things.
This was Patricia Highsmith week. She wound up being a much more interesting and complicated character than I expected. This piece in the New York Times is good portrait of her, and this one reviews a documentary that tells a different story. I’m gonna track down the film.
Last weekend I saw three local bands play in a tiny venue in Toronto: Superstar Crush, Meteor Heist and Days on Parade. Tickets were $15, and each band’s set was incredible. There wasn’t a better deal in town. It got me mourning the alt-weekly newspapers in Toronto years ago - Now Magazine and Eye Weekly were where I used to find show listings and reviews.
Then Sunday morning I caught a link to a piece in The Atlantic by Gabriel Kahane: A Love Letter to Music Listings. Must be something in the water. The loss of those alt-weeklies is certainly related to the closing of small venues.
What can be done? I wish I had the time and social ties to propose a solution. Smarter and more connected people than me have tried. Like Kahane, I’m patchworking my answers with Instagram and a handful of apps, but it takes work. How do you do it?
Anyway, thanks for hanging around, you’re the best.
Got something to share? Lay it on me. And now:
Off the blog: links you shouldn’t miss
Patricia Highsmith profile in the NY Times that makes her seem like a tough cookie. This review of a documentary about her is a little more generous. This article in Yale Review has a firsthand account of her last days.
Pixel Grip gets Anthony Fantano: last week I wrote about Travis Scott sampling the Chicago band without credit. Now the biggest music YouTuber is on their side. That’s gotta juice the streams.
Curate your own newspaper with RSS: Molly White writes better than I do about why you should use RSS. It’s the best.
Sometimes a great headline is all you need:
The Booker Longlist is out. I’ve read exactly one book on it. The Booker Prize website is amazing as always, and The Guardian has some analysis. More on this next week.
This article in Slate on Marshall McLuhan and Peter Thiel is excellent. I’m thinking about doing a culture writer week with books by McLuhan, Neil Postman and Jaron Lanier (or maybe Nicholas Carr?). At any rate, read the link:
The point of the story “is not that people are prone to fall in love with their own images but that people fall in love with extensions of themselves which they are convinced are not extensions of themselves,” resulting in “the idolatry of technology as involving a psychic numbness.”
The SHuSH series about Bloomsbury is out from behind the paywall, and an absolute must-read. The story of that publisher is wilder than fiction.
A Love Letter to Music Listings is a great piece in the Atlantic about something I think about all the time. It used to be so easy to find great local shows.
Much Rewind is a new YouTube channel that will appeal to Canadians of a certain vintage. It’s featuring old interviews from the long-dead TV channel.
What got your attention this week? Got a hot take on something? Hit reply and let me know.
On the Blog
Reading:
Patricia Highsmith Week :
Strangers on a Train was surprisingly not as great as I’d been led to expect. The film was even worse.
The Talented Mr. Ripley was better, and made me see what it was about Highsmith that people loved. And the film gave us this stone classic.
The Price of Salt was the best of the bunch, and she didn’t even own up to writing it for almost 40 years.
The Shortlist: Nine stories: Patricia Highsmith, Emily Rinkema, Sarah Lynn Hurd, Antheia, Kip Knott, X.C. Atkins, Claire Gallagher, Cate McGowan, and Ella Mae. Read them here.
Got a short story? Send it my way
Listening:
Fortitude Valley’s new record Part of the Problem, Baby is flawless summer power-pop, and Laura Kovic’s Backstory is the perfect accompaniment.
The second record from Retail Drugs, rECKless dRIVing is challenging, lo-fi no-wave from the guy from Laveda. It’s excellent, but it’s a commitment.
The Setlist: 2 hours of great music, this is one of my favourites of 2025.. Standout tracks from Kali Horse, Industry Standard and Carne.
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify.
What’s on your playlist? Send me your faves
Next week: New music! I’ve slacked off for the past few weeks, but there are new records from Warburton, Mall Goth and Westside Cowboy, plus probably a few more.
Thanks for being here!
-hugh
Copyright (C) " target="_blank">unsubscribe