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2 Shows in New York this week:
Monday 3/20 8PM. Stand Up NY Pop-Up @ ArtHouse Hotel. $25. Opening for Eli Leonard (Curb Your Enthusiasm) in his solo show, Good Showbiz. His show is VERY funny and VERY unique. And he is VERY letting me do 15-20 minutes to open so it’s gonna be a real hoot. If you’re even vaguely considering this, trust me. It will be worth it.
Friday 3/24 10:15PM. Cult Comedy @ St. Marks Comedy Club. This one will also be very fun. I haven’t gotten the lineup yet so I can’t gush specifically as I did about Eli above, but I did this show a few months ago and it was both fun and funny. And when I was starting to perform my second song, a guy turned to his girlfriend in the front row and said “He’s doing another one?” He was actually very nice afterwards, but it was a funny moment.
Hello, Sternal Journalists!
I did not do the math on what a 6am flight means in terms of the time one must get to the airport when I booked this flight for tomorrow, so this will be a quick one. And in a turducken of things that are anathema to me (40% certainty that was correct use of anathema), I am going to ADAPT a TIKTOK that I did earlier today.
Here is the rant, as posted on Instagram. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t make sense, but to be very honest, I’ve had some reels taking off on Instagram and that always forces me to post more than I want to or should.
But it came from a real thought I had while running up Sunset earlier this week. The Sunset Strip—a strip of the very long Sunset Boulevard that is home to places like The Chateau Marmont, the Viper Room, the literal office space for the realtors who sell Sunset on “Selling Sunset”—is what people outside of LA tend to think all LA is like. It’s a unique balance of trash and wealth, high class and gaudiness, beautiful people and people who really, really want to be beautiful people.
And that’s silly because a majority of LA is very much not like that, and I think if you had to rank neighborhoods that represent all of LA, it wouldn’t crack the top half. But it’s also silly because it actually is what everyone thinks it is.
It’s like everyone there is cosplaying the 2005 VMAs. Everyone can afford anything they want to wear, but a lot of people are still wearing Von Dutch hats. And I love that because it means that if people want to visit LA and get the fake LA experience, there’s a place you can actually go for that. And it’s real. I can’t decide whether it’s the realest fake place on earth or the fakest real place, and I’m glad it’s not actually the whole city, but I love that it’s part of it.
Recommendations
Okay, I really gotta go to bed so I’m not giving you long write-ups of each of these. Just trust me that they are all really bringing me joy this week:
Slipping Into Darkness. Music Video. Hit-Boy and The Alchemist rapping over each others beats.(!!!!).
A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again. Essay. This David Foster Wallace essay about going on a cruise is a banger. You can find it in the essay collection of the same name.
The Creative Act. Book. Definitely more on this in the future, but this Rick Rubin book on creativity is incredible.
Packing two days before leaving. Activity. I packed yesterday and I’m still going to bed six hours before my flight. Can you imagine if I waited until tonight?? But seriously, I had a moment tonight where I clocked that I wasn’t stressed about packing and how much better it felt. Hard to replicate, but if I can do it, so can you!
Much love to all! And thank you to Sternal Journalist Hunter who described the SternJourn as doing a great job of “hiding the pill in the burrito.” Here is a picture of the 20005 VMAs:
Julian