What to Read, Watch, and Listen to Over the Weekend...
Some Oldster-adjacent content for you. PLUS: "The Oldster Top 10," Cliff Chenfeld's monthly playlist of new songs for old ears.
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. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.
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I was shocked and heartbroken to learn of singer-songwriter Jill Sobule’s passing Thursday, in a house fire in Minneapolis. She was 66. I was a fan of her work, and loved her off-Broadway show F*ck 7th Grade so much I went to see it three times. I wrote about it here. Allyson McCabe was preparing to interview her for her “Late Nite Radio” series for Oldster. 💔
Happy Birthday to Barbra Streisand, who turned 83 last week. (Albumism) She’s got a new record coming out June 27th, The Secret of Life: Partners Vol. 2, which featuring her duets with James Taylor, Bob Dylan, Mariah Carey, Ariana Grande, Sting, and others.
“When we got here, we realized that the house hadn’t been touched in a hundred years. Every system, every fixture, faucet, and fireplace was ready to fail or had already failed. But it was magic.” - I’m late to Mayer Rus’s Architectural Digest interview with White Lotus and Righteous Gemstones actor Walton Goggins about the home he shares with writer-director wife Nadia Conners here in the Hudson Valley, plus his video tour of the place:
Jon Hamm Stealing Fancy Watches Is All I Need From Prestige TV - Chis Black at GQ, on Your Friends & Neighbors, a show I just started watching.
“In 1976, photographer Mary Ellen Mark embarked on an arduous, self-assigned project with sociologist Dr. Karen Folger Jacobs to document the lives of women living in the high-security, all-female wing of the Oregon State Hospital in the city of Salem.” - The above photo and the one at top are from “Mary Ellen Mark: Ward 81,” an incredible exhibit of the late photographer’s images of women in a psych ward, at Center for Photography of Woodstock’s new facility in Kingston, NY—up a few more days, through this Sunday, May 4th.
More photography: Once forgotten, a photographer of New York’s glittering downtown finally gets her due - at Good, Elyssa Goodman writes about “dearly Loved friends:” Photographs by Sheyla Baykal, 1965-1990” at the Soft Network Gallery in Manhattan through Saturday, May 10th.
Sheyla Baykal: Self Potrait, 1974. Thank you, Isabelle Eyman and Nicole Ziza Bauer, for including Oldster in “The Best Substacks for Creating a Meaningful Life” in Camille Styles magazine. 🙏🏼
Pulitzer winner Mary Schmich’s journey from newspapers to podcasts with ‘Division Street Revisited’ - at Nieman Storyboard, Marina Leigh writes about Oldster contributor Mark Armstrong’s recent podcast interview with Schmich.
Fran Lebowitz on Why Our Concept of “Now” Is Broken - and why “revenge is ‘horrible’ in politics but ‘totally satisfying’ in her personal life.” As told to Leah Chernikoff at Harper’s Bazaar.
“Should I Do Something to My Face?” - Oldster contributor Brooke Berman in Gloria.
How to be a Happy 85-Year-Old (Like Me) - Roger Rosenblatt in New York Times Opinion, with illustrations by Janik Söllner.
“everything i did to grow my perimenopausal hair back” - Jenn Romolini in extended scenes.
Stroke Hits Women Hardest—Here’s What You Can Do About It - Aileen Weintraub in Provoked.
I’m thrilled to have an essay in the forthcoming anthology, Midlife Private Parts, edited by Dina Alvarez and Patina with Dina Aronson , to be published by Regalo Press June 24th.
A great episode of Blake Pfeil’s award-winning podcast, Abandoned: All American Ruins, about falling asleep at movies, like his father.
To quell my anxiety about turning 60 in October, I’ve been reading The Guardian’s “A New Start After 60” series.
How Music Can Bridge Generational Differences - Marc Freedman and Trent Stamp in Greater Good.
“A trip with my father back to his native Belgrade brought history and memory to life.” - at Next Avenue, Hidden in Plain Sight author Julie Brill writes “An Unlikely Homecoming.”
Tee shirt, anyone? Here’s my dad on his 90th birthday last month, modeling his.
In case you missed it, there’s been a lot of great stuff in Oldster lately, like:Allyson McCabe’s “Late Nite Radio” interview with Suzanne Vega; Questionnaires from 94-year-old music producer Herb Bernstein and 64-year-old author/filmmaker Bridgett M. Davis; Diane Mehta’s essay, “Word Games,” about keeping her mind nimble by playing Scrabble and other games with her 21-year-old son; and my First-100-Days interview with policy expert Callie Freitag about what’s happening to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
How about you? Got any recs?
🚨And now it’s time to put some new music into old ears. 👂 Here’s the monthly Oldster Top 10 by Modern Sounds radio host Cliff Chenfeld: (PS Last August, at Oldster’s 3rd birthday party I played the Modern Sounds playlist and everyone loved it. Several guests asked me to share the Spotify link.)
Welcome to the Oldster Top 10, where we listen to hundreds of new songs each month to find some wonderful new tracks from noteworthy artists who may not have caught your attention. It’s hard to find the great new music amongst the tonnage, but we are here to make music discovery much easier for you. You can find all of these songs on the Modern Sounds playlist on Spotify. Enjoy!
Black Country, New Road – Besties – Inspired UK band is orchestral and ambitious with horns and harmonies on groovy song about taking a friendship to the next level.
Lord Huron – Nothing I Need – One of the best indie rock bands to emerge in recent years are back with another cinematic, evocative tune.
Alison Kraus and Union Station – Looks Like The End of The Road – She does great work with Robert Plant but Alison and the band’s first album in 14 years reminds you of how special she is on her own.
Merce Lemon – Backyard Lover – A singer-songwriter you should know who specializes in slow building, intense tunes that build to a crashing conclusion.
Cameron Winter – Nausicaä (Love Will Be Revealed) – The leader of rock outfit Geese (not Goose) has made a solo album “Heavy Metal” that is fresh, original, quirky and not heavy metal.
Bon Iver – Everything is Peaceful Love – Bon Iver is more soulful and happy than you would expect on his catchy new single and album.
Ben Bohmer – Rust – Ethereal, airy electronic journey from German Dj who did a standout set at Coachella last week.
Lucy Dacus – Ankles – boygenius member whose new solo album is sophisticated, sensuous, and mature.
Coco and Breezy – Sunday Best – Funky electronic groove from identical twin djs who can bring it live.
The Head and The Heart – Blue Embers – Sweet, comfortable Americana from reliable veteran group.
Hopefully this will keep us all from doomscrolling too much over the weekend. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.
Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I really couldn’t do this without you. 🙏 💝
-Sari
LOVE the pic of your dad in his Oldster T!
MEM's "Ward 81" is a powerful vision of lives lived with mental illness. May, being the month we consider those lives lived in the shadows, I encourage you to get there before it closes this Sunday May4th.
I recently launched my book #thepartsofhimikept in that space. It felt destined to be. Thank you Martha for documenting the lives we often turn away from.