Art, Drums, Pandemic, David Lee Roth, Tennis Guy
These aren't song titles on a prog-rock album. They're indicators of items in this newsletter.
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Oh yeah art.
I like television programs.
Well, I like good ones.
Okay, not necessarily true. I like some very bad ones.
But I pay attention to ones that I heard are good and I usually give them a shot. USUALLY. I had heard that Station Eleven was really good but then I heard that it was about a deadly pandemic that comes out of nowhere and kills almost everyone in the world.
And I’m all NOPE
I’m all, I was all, I’ve been through QUITE ENOUGH pandemic hoo-ha thank you very much.
Recently, I found myself traveling and with nothing else to do one night, I decided to give it a shot. And right away…. I REGRETTED DOING SO.
Because it opens with basically the first night of a flu going around and beginning to cause a whole lot of problems. Children separated from parents. Sudden inexplicable deaths.
I held on because the acting was excellent and the writing was good.
And soon I was so glad that I held in and now I’m completely hooked. About seven episodes deep AND DON’T TELL ME HOW IT ENDS.
So did I love it despite it being about a pandemic? Despite the pandemic we’re going through that cost me my job and caused so much stress?
No. I love it BECAUSE it’s about those things. It’s a familiar experience - sorta - that we can then separate from and see it turned around and spun and held a different way so we can examine it. It’s getting off the surface of the earth and seeing the terrain in a way we never have. Or maybe seeing Mars.
That’s what art is and does. I feel better having watched as much as I have.
Think of the most outer-ring sleepy suburb you can think of
I was always amazed that one of the punkiest, hardest hitting drummers in all of 90s music was from Marysville, Washington. Patty Schemel from Hole, that is. Seattle, sure, that would make sense. Olympia? Very musically progressive city. Aberdeen or Hoquiam? So dark and scary and gloomy that Kurt Cobain being from there and his music is enriched by seeing those places.
But Marysville? That’s a little farm town (not so little anymore) that we stopped at for burgers on drives up to Bellingham or Vancouver, BC, when I was a kid.
Anyway, Patty’s from Marysville and may be one of the biggest names to come out of there, along with Larry Christenson who played for the Phillies.
Anyway, one of the most famous residents of Marysville is my guest on Monday. And she never pitched for the Phillies.
Things I have in common with Patty:
From the Pacific Northwest, have been in bands, got geeked out on punk as a teenager.
Things we don’t have in common:
Her band headlined festivals while mine was lucky to draw a dozen people, I never descended into a heroin and crack nightmare of a life.
Tune in!
Also, goddamn this is a good song:
As if rising temperatures weren’t bad enough
Now there’s evidence that hot weather leads to more mental health problems. Great!
The analysis of medical records from millions of US citizens showed an average 8% rise in the rate of emergency hospital visits on days when the temperature was in the top 5% of those recorded across the decade-long study.
The effect was seen for almost all mental health conditions, including stress, mood and anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, self-harm, and substance use disorders. The frequency of extreme temperatures is being driven up by the climate crisis, and the researchers said their work could help mental health services predict and prepare for times of greater need.
Now you can talk about this during the summer and you can say you read it somewhere. Here. You read it here. Right here.
Crazy From the Heat is David Lee Roth’s EP and book. He likes that title!
David Lee Roth was Van Halen’s only singer ever.
I love him.
Mental illness can affect anyone. Mental illness can affect anyone. Mental illness can affect anyone. Mental illness can affect anyone. Mental illness can affect anyone. Mental illness can affect anyone. Mental illness can affect anyone. Mental illness can affect anyone. Mental illness can affect anyone.
Including very successful tennis pro Nick Krygios, who opened up about it recently.
"Most would assume I was doing OK mentally or enjoying my life ... it was one of my darkest periods," Kyrgios wrote on Instagram, accompanied by a picture of him at training.
"If you look closely, on my right arm you can see my self harm.
"I was having suicidal thoughts and was literally struggling to get out of bed, let alone play in front of millions.
"I was lonely, depressed, negative, abusing alcohol, drugs, pushed away family & friends.”
Major depression doesn’t care how much money you have or how famous you are. It only wants to destroy you.