Hiya Friends. Sending a warm welcome to new subscribers. Thanks so much for taking the time to read my musings on aging, life, toast, and what not. I’m thrilled you’re here. This week I’m sending out a quick round-up of a few fun things I’ve enjoyed of late.
THE OPEN ROAD
I’m not a Spotify subscriber, but I like to pretend I’m Sean Connery and pronounce the name of the aforementioned streamer in his sexy Scottish way . . . SHHHPOTIFY.
As many of you know, I’m old school, and still listen to music on the platform formerly known as Itunes. But as a younger person, I discovered new music via the car radio. Back in the early aughts, I tuned the dial to KCRW on Sunday nights for Gary Calimar’s show called The Open Road. His playlist served as the perfect soundtrack to tool around Los Angeles past towering palm trees, art deco buildings, billboards, and strip malls. Gary played all my favorite old songs and introduced me to tons of new music too. I was sad when the show ended in 2018, but LA loves a sequel, and I just found out that Gary has revived The Open Road at 88.5/The SoCal Sound. Spoiler alert: It’s still the best! Last week’s show featured songs by Simon & Garfunkle, boygenius, Joni Mitchell, Booker T & The MGs, Tame Impala, Elvis Costello, The Beths, The Lemon Twigs, Suzanne Vega, and more. Highly recommend. Tune in for archived shows or listen live on Sunday nights from 5pm to 7pm PST: The Open Road.
JUST CAN’T GET ENOUGH
Since we’re on the subject of when I was a younger person, can you believe I only paid $13.50 to see Depeche Mode in 1985? I looked up ticket prices for their upcoming tour and, before taxes and fees, a nosebleed seat is going for $87, which is really more like $100 at checkout. How do kids buy their own concert tix now? Sad. ICYMI: Depeche Mode released a new album on 3.23 and there was a very moving article about the remaining members of the band—Martin Gore and Dave Gahan—in the New York Times. (⬅️This is a gift link so you should be able to read it even if you don’t subscribe.) Fans of the band know that these two guys never really got on well, and it was usually Martin and Andy Fletcher against Dave. Since Andy’s untimely death last year, at age 60, Martin and Dave have had to communicate sans middleman and it’s proved very cathartic.
An excerpt: If you have ever been between 15 and 17 years old, alienated, and a little bit in love with your own sadness, a part of you will never stop being that way; no one who goes through a Depeche Mode phase ever quite outgrows it.
So true, right?
ROYAL TEENS IN CHARGE
My friend, Jeff recommended that I check out the new PBS dramatic series, Marie Antoinette and we’re loving it over here. It’s a high-quality production with a great cast. James Purefoy is excellent as “Papa Roi” a.k.a., Louis XV, and Emilia Schüle is a simply adorable as “Toinette.” It’s crazy to think that she and Louis XVI were barely teenagers when they became Queen and King. I think about what I was like at that age and it makes me laugh to imagine my friends and I running anything, let alone a country. Also, watching historical productions always makes me so incredibly grateful for modern medicine. Big ups to all the scientists and doctors who 86’d leeches as the cure for everything.
HEARTWARMING STORY ALERT
My friend, Barak sent me this link because he knows I ❤️ multigenerational friendship stories. In this essay, What have I, a 93-year-old lox slicer, done to deserve all this? Len Berk, the lox slicer at Zabars, shares a heartwarming tale about meeting a super fan. An excerpt below.
“You’re Len, right?” he said.
“Yup, that’s me,” I replied.
“My significant other, Janie Press, read the article about you in the New York Post, the article that tells about how you returned to Zabar’s after a forced two-year COVID layoff,” he said. “She’s putting on a cabaret show called Retire? Who’s Got Time!?! and she would like to invite you.”
Okay, that’s it for this week. If you end up checking out any of these recommendations, let me know what you think. I always love your feedback and comments. xoxo