[Landline] You want it darker?
No, not really!
Friends,
Things are dark but other things aren’t. So, in regards to the latter…
I am grateful to Raymond Foye for coaxing this absolutely mindwiping book recommendation out of Harry Smith/Sun Ra/Miles Davis/Billie Holiday/etc biographer John Szwed during their recent (fantastic) conversation:
Grateful to whoever scanned and uploaded this book, as it's out of print. Rich in chuckles—and, of course, pathos too. Weird Americana, in text and photos. Incredible piece of book-length journalism.
Speaking of weird Americana, extremely psychedelic cartoonist Brian Blomerth occasionally releases t-shirts — they’re all great, but this recent “PA Dutch Gabber/Barn Stars”1 one dazzled my eye:
Looks like they’re all sold out but maybe if enough of us bug dude, he’ll do another run…? I have no idea! In any event, go forth and enjoy his website, and get on his email list so you can know when he’s dropping stuff like this.
Speaking of psychedelia, the new instrumental duo album ‘Foreign Smokes’ by Bill MacKay and Cooper Crain (recording as ‘BCMC’) has been my primary current listening since October 8. Stillness and beauty.
Check out the full album here: youtube // buy it here: bandcamp
Grateful to the late Peter Lamborn Wilson for his 2016 book Heresies: Anarchist Memoirs, Anarchist Art, which I’ve recently been reading, which turned me on to a great American philosopher/humorist/author/playwright/etc I’d never previously heard of:
Turns out different editions of Don Marquis (1878-1937)’s wonderful Archie and Mehitabel collections are pretty easy to come by; I’m getting them all through the public library. And the deeply out-of-print The Almost Perfect State (1927) is findable online. Your mileage may vary but I’m finding it full of (yes) chuckles and weirdly timely/timeless wisdom, as well as inspirational verse, like this:
Speaking of chuckles and wisdom…
Finally….Maybe, like me, you know doomscrolling is…diverting?…but also not good for you. You want to kick the habit but it’s hard: fear of being missing out on being bummed out, or something.
Possibly, just possibly, the way out of this sick cycle, or at least a way forward, is to accept the will to scroll—but let it be scrolling thru new work by stand-up comics.
Friends, I’ve been trying this technique and it is working. Turns out dark humor is better than no humor at all, and other kinds of humor are also helpful. In my younger days I was lucky enough to have friends who were funny people: Chris Pellitteri in high school, Marc “Ed” Dyen in my freshman year in the dorms at UCLA, Peter Alberts in the Arthur magazine/Atwater years of the ‘00s. And others too. These people made/make life better—because they had to. They had to make other people laugh, it’s what they got off on. What simple and beautiful thing—a truly mutually beneficial exchange between performer and audience, going on all the time, whether or not there’s a stage around and money changing hands and so on. Fantastic!
Watching instagram videos of funny people isn’t a perfect substitute for that day-to-day friendship with a relentlessly funny person. It can’t be. But on the other hand, you do get to see a wide range of people and perspectives, anytime you need it. This can be a tremendous consolation in shitshow times like the present.
I can’t figure out how to embed playable instagram clips in substack emails, so go here to see what I’ve gathered. I’m not a comedy aficionado2, so I don’t have an idea, really, how well known these folks are. Maybe they’re huge, maybe they’re obscure, maybe they’re a well known cult taste—I don’t know! They just made me laugh. Maybe they’ll do the same for you. And if you have tips/links for others, please pass ‘em on to the rest of by commenting using the button below. Thanks!
Laughing to keep from crying,
Jay Babcock
Arizona
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Go here for “HEX SIGNS & BARN STARS OF SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA,” a 57-minute presentation by Patrick J. Donmoyer, author of Hex Signs: Myth and Meaning in Pennsylvania Dutch Barn Stars, on youtube: https://www.pagerman.org/folklife-presentations/barn-star-presentation/
I should look into this pursuit.
Substack doesn’t let writers offer subscriptions below $5/month, which is unfortunate. If I could offer this thing at $1/month, I would! For what it’s worth, a year-long sub is cheaper, and cuts down on transaction costs, so if you can swing that, thank you. Paying subscribers get the occasional Landline Special. (Material from Landline Specials eventually gets integrated in the free-to-all, public Landline, so that no one ends up being left out cuz they’re short on cash.)
Don Marquis’ “A Motto for the Wall” reminds me of the Gotthold Ephraim Lessing quote “Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy.” Always been a favorite quote/life motto/affirmation since I read it as the epigraph to Paul Lafargue’s The Right to Be Lazy.
dear Jay: may i recommend the app SelfControl? i'm locked out of social media and nytimes.com except on Tuesdays. because doomscrolling. because compulsive can go bad.