PicoBlog

I went to a tribute concert for Sinead O Connor this week at the City Winery and got to sit with her discography and reflect on her rebel spirit over the course of the night as different guests took the stage to cover her songs including Amanda Palmer and one of my all-time favorite musicians and collaborators Bilal. Bilal’s rendition of Just How You Said It Would B was eerie and brought back feelings I had the same week of her death.

Hey team, The line that’s stuck with me most from Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow — which I mostly loved — is one character’s grandmother saying: “Life is very long, unless it is not.” Which sort of encapsulates the themes of the entire book, and also feels like a bit of a truism, but also feels more meaningful and helpful the more I think about it. Because the thing is, life is long, for a lot of people in the modern world, and you actually might well have plenty of time to do and try all the things you want and talk to all the people you want as much as you want: but also, maybe you won’t, and you should probably act accordingly.

I monitor what’s happening out there—economics, technology, culture, climate—and write two notes on what catches my eye. The brief: interesting, provocative, resonant. With some analysis and context. Frequency: usually three times a week. No thanksncG1vNJzZmiipajBtcPOrZ%2Bippeoe7TBwayrmpubY7CwuY4%3D

Hello friends— Over the last couple of days, across a series of stolen moments before and after events, on walks and on the train, moving through the city now gray with fall cold, I have been revisiting the ending of The House of Mirth. Not just the beautiful moments at the close of the book, but the entire final movement of the novel, starting with Lily Bart’s brief attempt to climb back into a social world she’s been exiled from, her realization of the futility of this attempt, her joining the working classes as a milliner in training, her chemical dependence, the last encounters with suitors who previously pursued then jilted then pitied her, and the revelation of the vast indifferent machinery of the New York world of style and fashion.

Six years later, a resolution of a painful case.My interest in a little-reported court case in Maryland last week is both professional and personal, and I’d like to explain why. On February 16, the jury in a civil court determined that a Baltimore rabbi and educator, Shmuel Krawatsky, 47, committed sexual assault against one child and committed battery (harmful contact) against the other in 2015, when the children – 7 and 8 years old at the time – were in his charge.

Nov. 23, 2009. It was a stroke of irony befitting the band's dramatic lyricism. On Oct. 20, the day before platinum-selling San Marcos group Blue October was to launch the mental health-themed Pick Up the Phone Tour, the band's singer, Justin Furstenfeld, had a breakdown and ended up in a psychiatric ward. The monthlong tour, co-sponsored by the 1-800-SUICIDE hot line, was canceled except for the final dates this past weekend at Stubb's.

Ka's Counterprogramming By Ka (Jessica) Burbank Ka shares her unapologetically honest analyses on culture, politics, and economics. She equally draws on her formal education, life as a working class kid, and background as an organizer to outline revolutionary solutions to bring a better society. ncG1vNJzZmirpZfAta3CpGWcp51kjaytwa6pm5meoA%3D%3D

Kaytranada on a Friday is always the move. Grab some coffee, let’s vibe for a lil bit on today’s piece. Kai Cenat just had one of the most-watched live streams of his career last weekend, featuring Kevin Hart. Ironically, it was Kevin’s first livestream too, and he saw firsthand how powerful the world of streaming is, and how dedicated the fan base can be. Even if you weren’t on Twitch to see it, you could still get a feel for how fun the shenanigans of that night were.

There exists a false dichotomy between artists who push the envelope and artists who are torchbearers for tradition. On a crazy good new album called Orquídeas, Kali Uchis reminds us that the two things needn’t be mutually exclusive. She demonstrates casual mastery of contemporary trends in Latin music— the sonic, rhythmic, and attitudinal stances that have made stars like Bad Bunny some of the top draws of the streaming era— while also gesturing toward the kinds of folk idioms she might have inherited from her grandparents’ record collection.