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.
Summer’s almost over. Two weeks till Labour Day weekend. I’ve been working on some really interesting stuff for the fall, I can’t wait to share it with you. It’s been two years, and I’m finally good enough with WordPress that I don’t spend hours each week fighting with the website, and instead spend it making new stuff.
Montreal is amazing and you should go there. The best city in Canada and maybe North America. Walkable, full of history and amazing food, it’s like European Savannah.
Here are a couple of Bad Opinions inspired by the list of 25 best British and Irish Books of the Century below:
1) Kazuo Ishiguro is a good literary writer but a terrible science fiction writer. He dresses up unoriginal ideas in beautiful language and people believe he’s A Thinker. He’s the mirror-image Andy Weir.
2) Andy Weir stinks. He’s not a good writer, Project Hail Mary was awful. Like Ready Player One-calibre bad.
Got any of your own bad opinions?
Got something to share? Lay it on me. And now:
Off the blog: links you shouldn’t miss
Still pretty slow in the link factory, but here’s a few:
There’s some drama around a pretty big LGBTQ+ book prize in the UK. Turns out the guy who wrote The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is ‘gender critical’ (read: bigoted jerk), and thinks that the people that withdrew were bullied into it. Bless his heart.
The 25 best British and Irish novels of the Century: I love these lists. I got 8, kinda shocked that Tana French and Julian Barnes aren’t in there, I’m sure I’ll come with a few more surprising omissions. Henry Oliver has some too.
Speaking of Québec: the language police are hilarious. Here’s a funny article about how ‘Burgundy’ isn’t French enough for them. And one about a tiny English community gathers in an old Jail in Québec City.
Ode to a Freak Palace is great writing about a quirky apartment, that made me think of where I lived in my 20s.
Elvis named his estate “Graceland.” I named this apartment “Freak Palace,” because it’s the place where I have allowed myself to indulge my strangest whims and desires.
This is a sweet story about a Dan Pelzer, who read everything and tracked it all. When he died his family turned it into a website. It’s me!
“They would eat Bullseye candies and Pepsi and talk about life,” John Pelzer said, “and then he would go back to his apartment and read the remainder of the day.”
What got your attention this week? Got a hot take on something? Hit reply and let me know.
On the Blog
Reading:
All Music All Week:
Read the short story by Margaret Cahill. It’s great.
Major Labels is pretty great modern music history
The Sinead O’Connor memoir did not disappoint
This Woman’s Work: Essays on Music isn’t perfect, but it’s great.
The Shortlist: A zillion things on it this week. Go see them, I’m sure you’ll find a couple that connect. Hell, reading ‘em all could probably take up your whole Friday workday if you wanted it to. Here they are.
Got a short story? Send it my way
Listening:
We got a trio of women-led punk bands this week.
Industry Standard is one of the most fierce and interesting bands I’ve heard this year. No album out, but the singles just blew me away.
Bliss Foxx is a 90s throwback band, their album is less than 20 minutes long, but that means you can play it three times in an hour.
The lead singer/cofounder of QWAM is a horror theatre director(!) whose worlds collide on the band’s new record. Blazing stuff.
The Setlist: 2 hours of great music. Standout tracks from Hornet, Rosewater Park and People Mover.
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify.
What’s on your playlist? Send me your faves
Next week: Not sure what the cover story thing will be, and we’re kind of sleepwalking through the dog days of summer for another couple weeks. The new Catherine Lacey book (finally), and a couple of weird indie ones from my favourite bookshop pal. Music from Forth Wanderers, Cruel Sister and Flowers for the Dead, plus the new Winter record.
Thanks for being here.
-hugh
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