thanks so much forever

“Gary Panter has been up to so much shit over the past three decades it is literally crazy”

super friend crush on gary panter, who played for us this past weekend, he was an inspiration. he looks fierce in his photos but he was gentle and kind and open, especially for someone so famous (among comic nerds). in his talk to the high school art class, he reiterated the necessity for joy in one’s life, which is easy to forget.

cool things

• friends getting into bronzer
• dan’s chubby baby
• free pizza for lunch

if you’re happy

from ann friedman’s article “Why I’m Glad I Quit New York at Age 24”:

When I describe my West Coast existence (sunshine! avocados! etc.) to some New Yorkers, they acknowledge that they really like California, too, but could never move there because they’d get too “soft.” At first this confused me, but after hearing it a few times, I’ve come to believe that a lot of people equate comfort with complacency, calmness with laziness. If you’re happy, you’re not working hard enough. You’ve stopped striving.

the struggle is that damn real

from roxane gay:

Sometimes, when the world is too much or not enough, I look at pictures of my nieces who are very cute little babies. Here is my niece P, having a rough day. When I see this picture I laugh not because she’s unhappy but because I understand how frustrated you have to be to get to the point where you just cry into the door because the mean people won’t let you go outside to do outside things on a sunny island. I just want to tell her, “Yes girl. The struggle is that damn real.”

bill, redux

Bury me in wood
And I will splinter

smog, “say valley maker,” from a river ain’t too much to love

like a kid

today i had an awesome lunch with this awesome guy, artist and musician gary panter. he asked how old i was, i said 39, he said, but you seem like a kid.

good for what ails you

revisiting this, killing me. getting into character (“we are out trying to have a nice day looking at furniture”). the best part is that we thought we wouldn’t be recognized (immediately). we are idiot geniuses.

bill callahan, the blues, tiredness

david ostrowski

listening to bill callahan’s new record. not sure about it yet. have the blues tonight. think it’s just tiredness, stress, not sleeping great.

defining the smallest aspect of life that gives you pleasure

Bill Callahan by Hanly Banks

article about bill callahan in spin:

The music, however, represented a clear break for Callahan. With the introduction of fingerpicking (a development that has made for fluid, far less claustrophobic arrangements) and a newfound respect for his voice (whose increasing richness lends every song an immediate sense of gravity), his recordings began to favor clarity and detail. While his output was once marked by obfuscation both sonic and aesthetic, his work now bears a polish and calm belied only by willful lyrical abstraction. “It’s partially about defining things,” he says of his writing now. “Defining the smallest little aspect of life that gives you pleasure.”

Callahan, predictably, is more modest. “My first records are integral because I made them, you know, and I’m going to learn from those mistakes,” he says. “I can’t wait until I write a masterpiece. I have to make a bunch of mediocre things first. I think they get a little better each time. That’s just the way that I work — in steps.”

defining the smallest little aspect of life that gives you pleasure. a bunch of mediocre things leading to something better.

denim on denim on denim on denim

(via into the gloss)