5 Distractions You Need This Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving marks the start of the holiday season, which for many of us means extra time to kill. This time last year, we were blessed with Peter Jackson’s 3-part, 8-hour Beatles mega-documentary Get Back to wile away the hours. With no similar streaming event to keep us captivated in 2022, we made a quick list of other things we might do over the next four days.
1. GO TO A MOVIE
The much-anticipated documentary, based on the superb book by Lizzy Goodman, Meet Me In the Bathroom chronicles the New York hipster rock scene that exploded at the turn of the Millennium. Focused mainly on the axis of The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol (with TV on the Radio, The Rapture and LCD Soundsystem also getting some screen time), the film version lacks the intimacy and nuance of the oral history, despite all of the interview audio being taken from the source. But it is a fun throwback to the last time rock bands mattered in the zeitgeist, if not on the charts.
2. READ A BOOK
The Philosophy of Modern Song by Bob Dylan
This collection of “essays” by the musical bard is purported to update the great American songbook by including everything from Santana to Ricky Nelson (and even the decidedly British songwriter Elvis Costello). Fans of Dylan’s memoir Chronicles - Volume 1 will recognize the written style, but the real treat is in discovering far-from-obvious songs like Willy Nelson and Merle Haggard’s version of Townes Van Zandt’s “Poncho and Lefty” with its utterly perplexing 70s songcraft meets 80s style production, complete with an intro that sounds like an alternate take of the theme song to Bosom Buddies.
3. LISTEN TO A PODCAST
Electronically Yours - Martyn Ware
If you secretly wish that all of Meet Me in the Bathroom was about DFA, then you’re probably inclined to enjoy this podcast by original Human League and Heaven 17 member Martyn Ware. For 115 episodes, Ware has chatted with the sort of familiar-if-not-famous electronic music practitioners that James Murphy made his career on. Featuring everyone from Fatboy Slim to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Ware keeps the conversation casual.
4. START YOUR HOLIDAY SHOPPING
Of course, the true holiday tradition in our late-stage capitalist culture is shopping. If you need a gift for that niece or nephew that’s cooler than you were at their age, check out the selection of clothes and collectible at the always well curated Ghostly International store. Your kin doesn’t have to be fan of the label’s wonderful music releases to appreciate the charm of a limited edition Gustavo Eandi disposable camera (how do you get the 35mm film developed?) or the flare of the Ghostly x Liquuid Sky zip tote bag.
5. STREAM IN SECRET
If you’re truly trapped by your family this weekend and can’t duck out for a few hours of peace and media consumption, at least you can watch the latest edition of the long-running NPR Tiny Desk series featuring Santigold during an extended bathroom break.