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The energy palpably shifted as soon as Hamilton Leithauser started playing āA 1000 Timesā last night. And what a thing it is, to share space with a bunch of people you donāt know being moved by the same perfect piece of music.
The last time I heard this song live, I went alone to see him play in DC. It was 2017, I was very single, and feeling a bit despondent about the state of the world (living in DC during that period was just hard). What a wild form of time travel it is to see him so many years later in Chicago with my husband sitting next to me! Little lonesome heartbroken Sandy would have loved to know that everything was going to be okay. And that, my friends, is the magic of music. It transports us, unlocks portals, connects us to people we donāt know, moves us, tells stories, and creates a mood.
If youāre looking for a good entry to Hamilton Leithauser, I highly recommend his album with Rostam Batmanglij titled āI Had A Dream That You Were Mineā. Not a single song is worth skipping.
Mar 2, 2025
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24 hrs since i first saw hozier live after 10 years of holding his work close to my heart and i can say everything was worth it 10x over. i was at peace, i cried, i laughed, i danced. i let his art take on meaning in my life, i felt catharsis through it. iāll never meet him, i donāt want to. iām simply thankful for the invitation to engage with his art.
Nov 19, 2024
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It was 4AM and I was in the home of two complete strangers, a French Canadian couple Iād met at a bar earlier that night. Initially I thought maybe they were angling for some sick sex experiment to spice up their marriage but it turns out they just wanted someone to do cocaine and talk Israel-Palestine with. I was only interested in one of those things though. I was about to go home but made one request before I left. I asked kindly if the man in capri pants, drinking a red stripe with his feet up and playing edm from a Bluetooth speaker connected to his phone would put on one song for me, Madonnaās āWhat It Feels Like for a Girl.ā He shrugged and put it on and they went back to talking about how Israel was actually super fun or whatever and I quietly got up and started dancing. This must have surprised them because pretty soon they stopped talking and watched with horror forming on their faces. The song ended and I asked for a cigarette for the road. As far as I was concerned these people hadnāt done enough for me. Free cocaine and cigarettes were the least they could do considering the show Iād just put on for them. I donāt remember exactly how I got home, no train route from that neighborhood to mine that would make sense and no record of an Uber, but I made it home nonetheless and awoke the next day in my bed feeling pretty stupid about the whole ordeal. Nights like that make me sad, make me feel irresponsible and reckless, like I need to value my life more. I was feeling regretful and somber, I had a slight headache and if I wanted to I could cry on command, so I was in the ideal state to be seeing Mark Kozelek (red house painters, sun kil moon), one of my absolute heroes, that night at the Roxy.
Jan 15, 2024
I saw Adam Green three nights ago, and Jonathan Richman last night. The sheer joy both of these guy had on stage was enchanting and contagious. Iāve never laughed so much at a concert as I did at both of these shows. Never before felt someone keep the whole room smiling uncontrollably all night. They both share a very genuine appreciation for their fans, have very idiosyncratic dance moves, and seemed to be having even more fun than we were, somehow.
It was an accidental good-vibes double feature for me.Ā Ā
Also Johanna Sternberg opened for Adam and she was great and also so so sweet.
Hereās āFriends of Mineā^
Mar 10, 2024
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i canceled my Spotify account over the summer and have spent the last few months rebuilding my digital music library on a refurbished iPod Touch. reading critiques of the app (and itās enshittification), i realized i wasnāt even sure of my own musical tastes and preferences. i had stopped picking for myself, stopped seeking out new music, ceasing to know how to choose what i wanted or articulate what i like.
breaking free from the algorithm has been such a joy! iām borrowing gobs of music from the library, rebuilding my old playlists, and consuming more music than i have in years. and better yet, my data isnāt being tracked by Spotify and i own whatās in my personal library. further, my receptors are more open when iām out in the world exposed to music, searching for recommendations in an organic way.
Jan 16, 2025
iāve been trying to articulate why i enjoy this space so much. yes, the UX is reminiscent of Tumblr and the early days of the internet. and thereās genuine sincerity and vulnerability on here that makes it feel really cozy and real, which i havenāt felt online in at least a decade.
but i think whatās undergirding my love of this space is how anti-capitalist it feels. most of the recs everyone shares are vibe-checks, quality of life shifts, meditations and offers, music and movies, just plain good art. i donāt feel compelled to buy anything when i come here. i feel excited and pumped to be a cheerleader, find connection, find common ground. and FWIW the recs iāve shared that have gotten the most traction are my suggestions for leading a less capitalistic / consumerist life (quitting Amazon, getting off of Spotify, building community to take care of you and your things).
all of this is to say, i love it here and i love you guys.
Feb 7, 2025
hear me outāthis one might feel impossible, but i quit purchasing items on Amazon in 2018 and cancelled my GoodReads account shortly after.
i did some serious reflection and realized iād become super reliant upon, and frankly, quite used to the instant gratification of purchasing something and knowing iād have it within a day. thatās not normal. the labor practices, economics, and environmental impacts of getting what you want from the internet delivered quickly and right to your door are skewed. i was filling a void in myself with mindless purchases.
iām aware that they service a huge swath of the internet (Amazon Web Services), own Whole Foods and Abe Books, and will likely take over more businesses we like and rely on. weaning off and avoiding entirely is very very hard, but it can also be a measured decision. that said, i know that it is a privilege to abstain from Amazon. i am able bodied, i donāt have kids, i have access to a car, i live in an urban environment with access to a lot of stuff at my fingertips. but making the choice to break out of the Amazon loop has ultimately been better for my pocketbook and better for my relationship to these mega-tech-companies that have their fingers in everything.
in contrast, iām becoming more interested in alternate economies, like bartering and sharing. i love the idea of having commonly shared tools and items (tool libraries are very cool). we donāt need to own it all, we have each other.
interested in exploring more? the zine pictured below is a great start, and summarizes a much larger book by the same author on how to resist the leviathan that is Amazon.
Jan 22, 2025