2024.07.DisappearingMoment
2024.07.DisappearingMoment
My favorite record review is about Slint’s Spiderland. Melody Maker ran it in 1991. Steve Albini wrote it.
I thought about that review when I decided to write about Stay Soft’s Don’t Leave the Feeling. It’s the most recent album to join my list of favorites.
I would like to stop writing about music. I don’t read about new artists or albums, and spend little time listening to newer releases. I don’t understand how music works.
It’s something of a dilemma. This newsletter is an inventory of my experiences. By design, it doesn’t have a section for music. When I spend a lot of time listening to music or thinking about it, I have to write about it on purpose.
I wrote about a Sarah Jarosz song, “Jaqueline,” in 2021. That piece shaped me as a writer.
I wrote about underrated albums seven times in 2023. I am a third of the way through that project. I get to learn another 86 albums and write about them.
I wrote about classical music a few months ago. I have more to say about the topics in that essay.
Now I’ve written about Jeana Master and Stay Soft.
I met Jeana in one of Beth’s yoga classes. I mentioned that I was a librarian so we talked about books. We realized we both like On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. I asked her about the band she’s in with our friend Joe. She mentioned a solo record she’d made with some accompaniment by her husband, Mike. I found it on Apple Music and haven’t stopped listening to it.
A few weeks ago, Beth and I saw her perform some of the songs in a backyard concert. Mike accompanied her. Their friend played cello. I knew the songs so well they felt like covers. It was her first time performing them for an audience.
I have no interest in most touring bands. Even records on smaller labels often feel cloying. My two favorite concerts in the last few years were Lung and Calexico, both in public parks, both free. My favorite albums from 2023 are Don’t Leave the Feeling and The Bret Tobias Set’s Pleaser Vol. 1. As with Jeana and Mike, Beth and I are friendly with Bret and his wife, Colette.
It’s satisfying to enjoy records made by people I know and like. If I’m listening to a record, and not lifting weights, it’s probably one of these two albums.
Welcome to July 2024’s Disappearing Moment, an inventory of my experiences. I hope you enjoy it.
Podcasts
- Beef (I Liked It): A history podcast. Each episode tells the story of a conflict. Everything about it is competent and nothing more.
- Tested (I Liked It): The topic matters and it’s timely: sex testing in sports. The interviews are great. I don’t love how it's narrated or produced.
Nerdy Software
(719) 266-2837. It fits the themes of this issue: music and the Philadelphia area.
Free Font
Olga Karpushina and Alexei Vanyashin designed Lora for Cyreal. It's open source and "conveys the mood of a modern day story or art essay."
Bougie Products
What metal straws are to smoothies, metal collar stays are to dress shirts. You can buy a few dozen for $10.
Personal Finance and Investing
Many auto insurers offer discounts for completing a defensive driving course. Save money and increase the likelihood of saving something far more important.
Reading
Zach B. Barrons, Victor Rodrigo‑Carranza, Montgomery Bertschy, and Wouter Hoogkamer , "The Fallacy of Single Trials” (I Liked It): Humans are terrible at repeating the same behaviors. Measuring that behavior is difficult, expensive, imprecise, and boring.
Katy Blumer, Kate Donahue, Katie Fritz, Kate Ivanovich, Katherine Lee, Katie Luo, Cathy Meng, and Katie Van Koevering, “An Abundance of Katherines: The Game Theory of Baby Naming” (A Personal Favorite): Peer review should select for wit. We would all read “the literature” if it made us laugh. On purpose, I mean. Not like it does now.
Percival Everett, Erasure (2011) (A Personal Favorite): Art justifies its instantiation and existence, in its world and ours. Narrator Sean Crisden and Erasure are dancer and dance. Satire and reality as continuum.
The Lancet Microbe (Editorial), “COVID-19 Origins: Plain Speaking Is Overdue” (Worth My Time): Plain language is welcoming. It is persuasive. This editorial is neither. Paste it into Hemingway or the Readability Scoring System. Egads!
Kliph Nesterof, The Comedians (2016) (I Liked It): Encyclopedic in scope and tone. The guy loves comedy and he loves research. Sometimes the good stories get in the way of a good story.
Dan McKinley, “Choose Boring Technology” (I Liked It): Google is capricious and untrustworthy. Its products are not proven. Anyone who relies on Google is a damfool.
Craig Pickering and John Kiely, “Do Non‐Responders to Exercise Exist—and If So, What Should We Do About Them?” (I Liked It): Joke them if they can’t take a fuck.
Charles P. Pierce, “How Presidents Past Deceived the American People About Their Health” (Worth My Time). Peter Sagal brings out the best in everyone. He could make carpet seem funny.
Peter Salmon, “Paper Trails” (I Liked It): A friend inherited her mother’s diaries. Her mother warned her not to read them. What would you do in her situation?
Vegan Cheesesteaks
I was inspired by Jim Pappas and his Philadelphia Cheesesteak Adventure. Jim eats the meats. I’m keeping it cruelty-free.
- 2 Street Pub, South Philadelphia, PA (Call them or check social media to see if they’re open. They don’t have a website.)
- Algorithm Vegan Grill, Queen Village, Philadelphia, PA (Call them or check social media to see if they’re open. They don’t have a website.)
- All the Way Live, Germantown, Philadelphia, PA
- Boardwalk Vegan, Havertown, PA
- Bourbon & Branch, Queen Village, Philadelphia, PA
- Campo’s, Old City and South Philadelphia (Citizen’s Bank Ballpark), Philadelphia, PA
- Cedar Point, Fishtown, Philadelphia, PA
- Cheezy Vegan, Woodlyn, PA
- Cinder Bar, Clarksboro and Williamstown, NJ
- Colonial Diner, Woodbury, NJ
- Dar’s Steaks, Haddon Township, NJ
- Ed’s Buffalo Wings & Pizza, West Philadelphia, PA
- Evan’s Pizza, West Philadelphia, PA
- Front Street Cafe, Fishtown, Philadelphia, PA
- F.U.N. Kitchen, Bridesburg, Philadelphia, PA (pick up and delivery only)
- Good Dog Bar Center City, Philadelphia, PA, and Atlantic City, NJ
- Goodbeet, Haddon Township, NJ
- Greens and Grains, Voorhees, NJ, and other New Jersey locations, and South Philadelphia (Citizen’s Bank Ballpark), Philadelphia, PA
- Hibiscus Cafe, West Philadelphia, PA
- HipCityVeg, Center City, Philadelphia, PA (two locations), and Ardmore, PA
- Interstate Draft House, Fishtown, Philadelphia, PA
- Jacobs Northwest(and a food truck, Brotherly Love), North Philadelphia, PA
- Joe’s Steaks, Fishtown, Philadelphia, PA
- Luhv Vegan Deli, Center City (Reading Terminal Market), Philadelphia, PA
- Monk’s Cafe, Center City, Philadelphia, PA
- Monster Vegan, Center City, Philadelphia, PA
- Morning Glory Diner, Queen Village, Philadelphia, PA (Call them or check social media to see if they’re open. Their website isn’t working.)
- Nipotina, South Philadelphia, PA
- Nourish, Fishtown, Philadelphia, PA
- Olga’s Diner, Marlton, NJ
- Philly Steak, Center City (Comcast Center), Philadelphia, PA
- Pizza Plus, South Philadelphia and West Philadelphia, PA
- Planted Plate, Princeton, NJ
- The Pop Shop, Collingswood, NJ
- P.O.P.E (Pub on Passyunk East), South Philadelphia, PA (Call them or check social media to see if they’re open. Their website isn’t working.)
- Primary Plant Based, Fishtown, Philadelphia, PA
- Sabrina’s Cafe, Collingswood, NJ, and Philadelphia (four locations) and Wynnewood, PA
- Taste Cheesesteak Bar, Center City, Philadelphia, PA
- The Tasty, South Philadelphia, PA
- Tattooed Mom, Queen Village, Philadelphia, PA
- Tin Can Bar, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA
- Tony Baloney’s, Atlantic City and Margate, NJ
- Triangle Tavern, South Philadelphia, PA
- Vegan Momma, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA (delivery only)
- Vegan Pizza Planet, Center City, Philadelphia, PA (delivery only)
- Vegan Vibes, East Falls, Philadelphia, PA
- Veganish, Fairmount, Philadelphia, PA
- Vegans Are Us, Vineland, NJ (Call them or check social media to see if they’re open. Their website isn’t working.)
- Volstead, Manayunk, Philadelphia, PA
- Wilson’s Secret Sauce, Upper Darby, PA
Thank you for spending a few moments with me. I appreciate you and look forward to corresponding again next month.
Brett
Want to discuss any of the topics in this newsletter or anything else with other Disappearing Moment readers? Please sign up for Perpetual August. I think it might be fun.
No large language models were used in the production of the Disappearing Moment newsletter or website (inspired by RFC 9518 Appendix A ¶ 4 and Tantek Çelik).