The Distract-O-Matic at Your Service...
What to watch, read, and listen to, to drown out the news. An Oldster Magazine Friday Link Roundup.
I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a link roundup like this one.
“Mel Brooks Turns 98: Newly Minted Peabody Winner Not Stopping, with Spaceballs Sequel in the Works.” - Inspiring! At People, Tommy McArdle reports.
Mel Brooks in June at the Peabody Awards, where he received a career achievement award. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images “Mavis Staples Is an American Institution. She’s Not Done Singing Yet.” - a profile by Grayson Haver Currin in The New York Times.
“She yelled at Woody Allen in her 60s, earned an Oscar nod in her 80s, and at 94, has her first starring role.” - I enjoyed Rachel Handler’s NYMag/Vulture profile of actress Jane Squibb—currently starring in Thelma, about a nonagenarian who seeks revenge against an internet scammer. It’s in theaters now, and will be streaming later in July.
“My kid diary has lengthened my life just as surely as rolling back my biological age would have, and it has done so without ab crunches, pushups, or erection monitoring.” - In The New Yorker, David Owen writes, “How to Live Forever.”
I’m adding to my watch list Let the Canary Sing, a Paramount + documentary about 70-year-old Cyndi Lauper, who will launch her farewell tour this fall.
I enjoyed this piece by
about what happened when she went ocean swimming with her best friend of 61 years.I love Pan Cooke’s sweet comic about a surprise kidney donation:
In a comment on last Friday’s Open Thread about going gray, filmmaker
told me about the forthcoming documentary she’s currently editing, Your Roots Are Showing. I look forward to it.And, perfect timing: a day after that post ran, my hairdresser Kathleen Hildenbrand made this handy video to help determine if you’ll like how you look with gray hair. (Of course, go gray or don’t go gray if you want to, regardless.)
Here I am in Kathleen’s chair in April. She’s a genius, specializing in razor cuts. Go see her at Creature of Habit Hair Studio in Catskill, NY…
🎙️Yesterday, at 62, my husband,
, put out Independence Day, a digital recording of four songs he’s been working on for many years — while contending with the demands of work and life, not to mention self-doubt and inertia. (Like so many of us.) He pushed through it all, and now it’s here, and I’m so proud of him. Brian was in a number of bands in his 20s and 30s (and he worked in recording studios like Electric Lady), but this is his first solo effort. He recorded it in our attic with musician friends Ross Rice (keys), Eric Parker (drums), Mark Lerner (bass), and Alan Macaluso (guitars). I love it so much. Give it a listen on Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon Music, or Spotify:WKNY’s Jimmy Buff played the title track yesterday afternoon. This was Brian’s reaction to hearing himself on the radio for the first time, in a lineup that included songs by Bruce Springsteen and James Taylor:
That’s all I’ve got. Hope you have a great weekend. Thank you, as always, for reading, commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support. 🙏 I appreciate it!
-Sari
I'm sorry, but that's the cutest Brian I've ever seen...Such joy. Congratulations!
This is great!!! Thanks for all the oldster news