Five Bullets 7.12.24
Books, Music, Radio & more
Good Morning & Happy Friday!
We’ve got some cloudy and rainy weather this morning in New York City after a hot and humid week.
My week has been full of reading books, writing, and listening to lots of music, perfect for enjoying some downtime in the shade during the hotter hours of these summer days.
What are you reading, hearing, and seeing lately? What’s helping you? What’s inspiring you?
Bullets this week:
Books: If you’re still looking to dive into a summer read, the New York Times has compiled a list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. I was pleasantly surprised to see one of my favorites listed at number 81, John Jeremiah Sullivan’s Pulphead. Stephen King, Roxanne Gay, Karl Ove Knausgaard & more also shared their top 10.
Interview: Ira Glass Hears It All. Ira Glass, host of This American Life, talks about the show’s early days, staying creative with format and writing, the podcast boom & more. I’m a casual listener of the show but I always enjoy these behind-the-scenes discussions where listeners can get a better understanding of what goes into producing a show and how to keep audiences engaged.
Music:
Happy Birthday to Ringo Starr, one of my favorite drummers, who turned 84 on July 7th.
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s 26th album(!!!) is coming out in August and the band just dropped a new single. Just in time for their summer tour (with a pair of shows at Forest Hills Stadium).
Jazz fusion band Medeski Martin & Wood have a documentary coming out titled Not Not Jazz detailing the band’s history and recording a new album.
NYC: WNYC’s inaugural broadcast aired on July 8, 1924. In celebration of 100 years of WNYC you may hear historic radio clips while riding the subway including the Yankees’ 1927 World Series win, a story about the connection between WNYC and The Twilight Zone and a piece from 1963 about how WNYC helped the city set noise levels for ice-cream truck bells. Centennial programming and events will occur throughout the year. [Back in May, I helped WNYC and NYC Department of Records celebrate the centennial at Photoville].
Writing: I saw a post circulating somewhere on Substack Notes recently about Ernest Hemingway’s writing tips. Like his writing, his tips are just as minimal and powerful. Hemingway’s tip on stopping while you know what will happen next has been really helpful for me lately, by setting myself up for the following day so I can (hopefully) be productive by writing instead of sitting there and having no clue where to go next (though that still occurs plenty!).
That’s all for this week! I sure love getting this weekly list together. It gives me something to work on, to explore my interests, to learn more and share it with you.
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