This Time It's Different
Summer's here, and I'm ready for it. Last year was weird, for obvious reasons, but it also felt like the first time we were allowed to feel a little more normal. We could hang out with friends in the park. I had no job, so I had infinite freedom. It was better than winter, but it wasn't really summer.
Now I have a new job. I am vaccinated. I am going to see more friends. I'm ready for a true summer, one that's a little messier.
I asked my friend Lana Schwartz to help me put together a mixtape for June, and she hit me with a theme so strong and specific that I honestly felt a lot of pressure to live up to her amazing song selections. I think we did a good job, and Lana (whose music taste I have always loved) speaks beautifully on why below.
Hope you enjoy.
And hey, if you like it, why not share the mix or this newsletter with a friend?
school's out for summer
Created in collaboration with Lana Schwartz for a better summer.
A few words from Lana:
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For me, summer has always been about excess. As we age and the idea of “summer break” becomes more and more of a distant memory, summer basically becomes a state of mind. For whatever reason, it feels as though summer brings out the best and worst in us: If there were ever a time to fuck your ex, or your roommate, or your ex’s roommate, it’s in the summer. We can’t go back in time, but we can - at least for a few months - prioritize our enjoyment of life over getting ahead. Make some memories, even if you might regret them later.
When I was making this playlist, I wanted to put some songs on there that echoed this maximalist feeling. “Too Much” by Carly Rae Jepsen speaks to this exactly, and I relate maybe too hard to the “all or nothing” sentiment she expresses here - ditto to “Oh No” by Softee. I’m far from a Taylor Swift stan, but even I can’t deny that “Cruel Summer” is a masterpiece (and as Charly Bliss has previously noted, just like when you take the JMZ, the bridge is the best part). And if we’re talking pop, that means I had to get some Rina Sawayama on there.
However, if summer is for doing stupid shit, that means there’s bound to be some fallout from it; a sense of sadness and longing - which is why you’ll find “Losing You” by Solange, “It Is What It Is” by Blood Orange, and “Ice Cream and Sunscreen” by British punk band Martha. While I hate to cast any stones as I do, in fact, live in a glass house, there’s a perverse thrill in the drama of being on-again off-again with someone who you know isn’t quite right for you but is around when you ask them to be. “Drunk II” encapsulates that perfectly.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, meme-style: Nostalgia is a disease/get well soon bitch. But even I can’t help but succumb to it in the summer. Sometimes when I walk around the neighborhood I have lived in for six years now, I feel my past and future selves collapsing in on each other, like there’s a glitch in the timeline. To honor this feeling, I’ve included some of my favorite nostalgic hits - “Beast of Burden”, “Free Fallin’”, “Hot Child in the City” - songs that remind me of being away at sleep away camp, where I spent 10 summers and had some of the best and worst times of my life.
When it gets to be 95 degrees out and you’re feeling reckless and you don’t know why, I call that Bob Seger Night Moves weather. Just something to keep in mind.
Stay safe out there - and have a bitchin’ summer.
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Love you all. Hope you enjoy!
Join Me: Mdou Moctar @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, Friday, Sep 10, 9:00 PM
I can't believe it but I have tickets to a concert. This newsletter started mainly to try to get friends to go to shows with me, hence "A Show Sometime," and that shortly turned into an impossibility with COVID. BUT, we are vaccinated, and we are going to watch this Nigerian guitar virtuoso absolutely shred.
They just released their new record Afrique Victime, and it's just terrific. Can't recommend it enough.
If anyone wants to join me, please let me know. I'm so unbelievably excited.
RIYL: African rhythms, face-melting guitar
Some Other Things Lana Loves
(that you might love too!)
Books:
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer - This is my favorite book, but it’s also on theme: The book follows six friends who meet at a sleep away camp in 1974 and follows them decades into the future. It’s about how the bonds you make with people with whom you only spend two months of the year with can be the most meaningful in your life - but it also speaks to how art and creativity flourish for the privileged.
St. Marks Is Dead by Ada Calhoun - This year has brought with it - once again - repeated pronouncements that New York City is “dead.” For a reminder that this is absolutely not the first time reports of this city’s death have been greatly exaggerated, I recommend checking out St. Marks Is Dead for a micro history of NYC and a reminder - one that I cannot stress enough - that this city is full of people ready to help if someone needs it.
Movies:
A good hangout movie - I’m a huge fan of a good hangout movie - the kind of movies where nothing really happens, but for a time, you get to watch a bunch of people enjoy themselves; if you feel like you’re transported to a different time or place for a little while, then that’s the mark of a good hangout movie. The Last Days of Disco (whatever Whit Stillman has been saying on Twitter these days aside), Dazed and Confused, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Friday, Walking and Talking - and while it’s a TV show and not a movie - I would also include the High Fidelity reboot on here.