Permanent Waves V2 #11
Potty Mouth (soon), ArtButMakeItSports, Freaks and Geeks and, as always, good music
Today…
OK, Shinny didn’t get done. I’ll start it tonight - I’m still trying to determine the format and structure, and I’m not totally sold on the name (Shinny is old slang for pick-up or road hockey). It’ll be a biweekly newsletter will focus on the greatest sport in the world, and its place in the arts. So, instead, we’ll be bringing you another edition of Potty Mouth this evening. Yay!
Person of Interest: ArtButMakeItSports - I don’t know how it works, or how he/she does it. This newsletter is incredible - the writer takes a current sports highlight photograph or screenshot and finds an equivalent fine art piece which closely (or more) matches the composition of the photo. Like this:
That’s just one from a series on the last post here. Click on the account’s About page - you’ll find merch, archives, highlights, and most importantly, ways to financially support the work. Absolutely amazing stuff! Seek them out – it’s worth your time.
Cool Thing: Freaks and Geeks - Yesterday, I listened to a new podcast from the Ringer gang, Stick The Landing, in which Andy Greenwald and a guest discuss TV series finales. The conversation regarding this legendary late 90’s one season series was a total joy. Joanna Robinson (the guest on this episode) was at Vanity Fair when this was published, and I cannot recommend the show, the podcast or the Vanity Fair oral history highly enough. I may interrupt my Letterkenny rewatch to revisit this one.
Band o’the day: The B-52s - (link to the artist’s main online hub)
November 27, 1982. The four of us (all 17 at the time) finally got permission to take a road trip to Orlando from Clearwater to the see the Who on their “final” tour. Somehow we secured a motel and drove Larry’s car to the Tangerine Bowl (now Camping World Stadium). From ConcertArchives.org: “Presented by Schlitz. Ticket price was $15.75, including tax. Opening acts The B-52's and Joan Jett assaulted by half-full cups and shoes and booed off stage early in their sets. Very tough crowd, and marijuana smoke was thick and heavy everywhere!” All of that is true. By the time Joan Jett left the stage, the crowd was drunk, stoned, angry and impatient. We left our floor seats and moved to higher ground in a surprisingly intelligent maneuver to stay safe.
Anyway, the B52s weren’t really on my radar at the time. I knew Rock Lobster and I think I saw them on Saturday Night Live. At some point, I had a girlfriend who had the album, and over time, I was drawn to the sheer goofiness of their music, which eventually grew to admiration. The second album, with Private Idaho, was a fine follow up. I forgot about them until the summer of ‘89 when Love Shack was completely inescapable. I’m including them here simply due to fond memories and that cool surf guitar. Every once in a while, I’ll throw on the debut album and recall that I remember the B-52s in Orlando than more than the Who’s performance. Wild stuff, man:
If you’re new here, welcome! Here at Permanent Waves, I write a little blurb about every single band and solo artist in my Spotify Artist list. This newsletter will also serve as a journal, documenting each step of creating a more purposeful life with commitments to ideas and projects I have bored all of my friends with over the past half decade. The last few years have been a blur, and I’m starting this year by working on the discipline to make the things in my head real, or at least attempt to see if they can eventually walk on their own.
See you soon!