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Here are 10 things I thought were worth sharing this week:
As I mentioned last week, spring has sprung in Austin, Texas. The bluebonnets are starting to pop! Maybe it’s not superbloom in Death Valley levels of excitement, but it’s my favorite time of year, and I try to savor it all I can. Central Texas is not “grand” — a place like this teaches you to really pay attention, track the subtle changes around you, and fire up your eyebeams to search for beauty.
Austin writer Christopher Brown published a spring dispatch that I think conveys some of the cognitive/spiritual dissonance you experience when you’re trying to process so much beauty and tragedy at the same time. (See item #4 in my letter “Leaving a paper trail” for an interesting encounter I had with Brown’s book A Natural History of Empty Lots.)
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, ’The Beatles did.’” — Kurt Vonnegut, Timequake
Listen: I had an absolute blast on Walter Martin Radio Hour talking about Paul McCartney. So much so that I followed it up with 2,000 words about McCartney’s creativity in 3 photographs.
Speaking of musicians with podcasts I love: On April 22, in Austin, Texas, I’m interviewing Hrishikesh Hirway onstage as part of the release show for his new album. You can get tickets here. Hrishi is also playing several SXSW shows and dates in other cities. (Interviewing such a good interviewer is going to require no small amount preparation on my part!)
I’m not doing anything official at SXSW, but I will be riding my bike around quite a bit. I have a few pieces of advice for visitors:
- Check out individual book stores and record stores for free events. First Light Books, for example, is hosting keynote speaker Tom Sachs tonight. End of an Ear — my favorite record store in town — is hosting a short reading and signing by Damon Krukowski next week. A new little shop downtown is TOMO mags — they’re hosting an Attensity!