Nobody is really 34 except me and George Santos

plus my new favorite song of all time

Quick one! Great recs! Formatting be damned!

I have a show at Hotel Cafe on February 8th

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Hello Sternal Journalists!

I keep thinking about George Santos, the guy who lied his way into congress. First of all, when I first saw a picture of him—

—I was like “that dude is my age as hell” and sure enough, he is not only 34. He was born less than a week before me.

That is very interesting to me because 34 is an age where everyone your age either looks three years younger or ten years older. So it’s rare to actually be so spot on with that instinct, and certainly rare to be so precise about it.

It’s also interesting because I think that with just a sliiiightly different set of instilled values or external circumstances, I could have been him. And maybe a tiny bit, in none of the bad ways, I was.

But that story, the story of GateKeeper Management, is one for next week. This week, just ponder my great observation about what 34 is like and check out these…

Recommendations!

Bless the Telephone. Song. This 1971 song by Labi Siffre, neither of whom (song nor singer) I had heard of until this week, is so good. I think it’s my new favorite song. It came on a Spotify radio rec from The Beatles’ Blackbird when I had just pulled into my garage and didn’t have the energy or will to do anything else, so I just reclined and sat there in the dark for a few minutes. It was exactly what I needed.

Babylon. Film. I’ve heard a lot of people say they loved the first two hours of this and hated the last hour. I enjoyed the whole thing. it’s a blast. It’s definitely worth seeing in theaters.

Runners High. Music Video. I had an idea for a music video where I’m just running towards the camera the whole time and, after a few minutes of googling, was excited to see that nobody had done this before. And then I go on TikTok and find these talented fuckers who beat me to it. They remind me a little of Raury, which is also a great rec.

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That’s all! Like I said, quick one, format-free. Have a quick and/or format-free week!

Love,

Julian