According to Substack analytics, my newsletter yesterday linking this terrific piece has sent over 1,000 folks here so far. I hope you get a bunch of new subscribers.
"All I wanted was some steak!" Indeed. A land of a million sleeper cells ready to fight over feelings, entitlement, and false beliefs. What happens to civil order when true shortages / scarcity happen? Whether it's consumables or national infrastructure circumstances, we're in a tight spot.
In the meantime...I'll buy a power generator so that when the power grid goes dark I can hunker down and cope with an endless buffet of Anthony Bourdain videos. Matt, do you have a favorite episode? While it's hard to pick a single favorite, Asturias Spain with Bourdain and Jose Andres is special.
Andres was a great episode, I agree. For some bizarre reason, I really liked the Newfoundland episode in his last season. He already seemed half out of gas, like he was winding down. But I loved everything about it. Also really liked the Montana episodes from the old show. Him interviewing Russ Chatham and Jim Harrison like a giddy schoolgirl. One of the reason I liked Bourdain so much is he liked so many of the right people. And those three are all dead now. Sigh.......
I too enjoyed the Newfoundland episode. Also a favorite was Bourdain and Eric Ripert in Marseille. One episode, I think it was Armenia, I haven't watched it since it aired, but Bourdain didn't seem right...like he was there but he wasn't there. His vibe was different, more melancholy than usual. It's strange to think a person talking on TV can have a lasting and profound effect on you. Bourdain changed my worldview. I have two pictures of Bourdain on my office walls at work. I'm glad to have a worldview shaped by Bourdain instead of, say, Tucker Carlson.
You force the cleverness in your writing too much; It was like having to read a college essay where the kid was too impressed with his own writing -way too much pseudo-philosophical “opininating”. This is only a reflection of the people involved in the fight and the voyeur that recorded it. It is not a mirror on the collective “we”.
You are full of surprises and the way you weave them together touches my soul. Golden Corral craziness, people who actually send feces in the mail (why is this legal?!), and then Frederick Buechner. Thanks.
Aren’t all our lives more fulfilled when people take the initiative to record crazy behaviors and share them so others can comment? (Sarcasm intended). Is this how civilization ends? (Although the Roman Empire ended without TikTok).
Agree that there's much more aggressive hostility on the lose these days. So many people seem perfectly willing to turn their rage lose at the slightest provocation. Am I the only one who noticed the Twitter handle of the OP? @TheJuggetnaut88. Or read the comments replying to the tweet, many of which were disrespectful and downright racist? I believe I have a pretty good idea about the point old juggernaut88 (obvious much, eh?) was making, and it had nothing to do with pointing out that there's a bunch of fighting mad people on the loose and everything to do with ridiculing a certain demographic, I guess so he can feel all superior or supremacist or something.
Okay, you quoted Buechner, so I subscribed. I hope you're happy now.
I have been pondering whether we as a culture are so angry because it's better to be angry than sad. If we're angry we feel like we have some power, but if we're sad, we're powerless, because nobody cares if we're sad.
Not to be a dick, or rather, specifically to be a dick, if you’re listening to an audiobook while taking a walk in the woods, you aren’t taking a walk in the woods properly. Also, Caravan is not Van’s greatest song. It’s great and the live version on The Last Waltz, in particular, is way up there, but for my money it’s Madame George or Into the Mystic (take 11). Hypnotic stuff.
I love you guys, but you must be drunk. (Nothing wrong with that - I love drunks, too) "Into the Mystic" is a tremendous song. No argument there. If any other artist recorded it, it would be the highlight of their catalog. But the last two minutes or so of Caravan contain a level of sublimity that is unrivaled in all of music. Dr. Johnny Fever understood this. Follow his lead.
De gustibus non est disputandum (another cliché), but second belongs to “And It Stoned Me.”
Incidentally I didn’t make it to the end of the sermon, but at my age taking moral inventory before Morpheus arrives would be a ticket to insomnia. I’m waiting for the Ambien to kick in, not long I hope.
Dennis gets it. In any event, we’re arguing over which of this grumpy genius’s works of art is THE work of art. At least we seem to have reached the consensus that the man has otherworldly songwriting powers. I am always astonished when someone seems emotionally unaffected by his work. As a final olive branch, I should note that I danced with my daughter at her wedding to “Tupelo Honey”, I have a jar of Wewahitchka-sourced Tupelo Honey (fantastic shit, by the way) in my pantry, and a framed copy of the sheet music to “Tupelo Honey” on display in my living room. There. Now we can all be friends.
Matt, in the 1980s we made a film about a Black family called "A Singing Stream" that became the beginning of Folkstreams.net, a site 20 years in the making, that streams most of the old films about American Folklife for free. . A Singing Stream is emblematic of the idealism we had then, and our search and belief in the goodness of America. The central character is Bertha Landis, who was in her 80s when we made the film. Folkstreams is rich in this kind of material. https://www.folkstreams.net/films/singing-stream
I must thank you again for your writing and for introducing me to Frederick Beuchner......he took my breath away on this colder than usual day in Tucson. While deciding earlier today to isolate, read and do something constructive and alone, laundry, I mused about preferring aloneness today. I just didn't have the energy to engage, even with people I love and like, except, maybe by text or email. And then Reverend Beuchner was brought into my life......and I shall save this piece in my file name Matt Labash. Can you imagine that I have a file on my computer with pieces of yours that I return to time and again to be uplifted or smile or say "what the f.....is he thinking?"
Hesseman...You were good for what ails us. Thanks, Doc.
Matt Labash meetup at the Golden Corral? Make it happen.
As an aficionado, might I recommend the Squat'n'Gobble?
https://squatngobble.com
Great name for a restaurant. Or a brothel.
My mind's eye will never be quite the same.
According to Substack analytics, my newsletter yesterday linking this terrific piece has sent over 1,000 folks here so far. I hope you get a bunch of new subscribers.
Sorry, Bob - misunderstood. God bless you! And thanks for the plug......
God bless Drudge.
Gotta wait until they reopen the Chocolate Fountain.
Vis a vis The Golden Corral & Dinner Theater;
“You know, if you didn’t know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.” - Andrew Clyde
"All I wanted was some steak!" Indeed. A land of a million sleeper cells ready to fight over feelings, entitlement, and false beliefs. What happens to civil order when true shortages / scarcity happen? Whether it's consumables or national infrastructure circumstances, we're in a tight spot.
In the meantime...I'll buy a power generator so that when the power grid goes dark I can hunker down and cope with an endless buffet of Anthony Bourdain videos. Matt, do you have a favorite episode? While it's hard to pick a single favorite, Asturias Spain with Bourdain and Jose Andres is special.
Andres was a great episode, I agree. For some bizarre reason, I really liked the Newfoundland episode in his last season. He already seemed half out of gas, like he was winding down. But I loved everything about it. Also really liked the Montana episodes from the old show. Him interviewing Russ Chatham and Jim Harrison like a giddy schoolgirl. One of the reason I liked Bourdain so much is he liked so many of the right people. And those three are all dead now. Sigh.......
I too enjoyed the Newfoundland episode. Also a favorite was Bourdain and Eric Ripert in Marseille. One episode, I think it was Armenia, I haven't watched it since it aired, but Bourdain didn't seem right...like he was there but he wasn't there. His vibe was different, more melancholy than usual. It's strange to think a person talking on TV can have a lasting and profound effect on you. Bourdain changed my worldview. I have two pictures of Bourdain on my office walls at work. I'm glad to have a worldview shaped by Bourdain instead of, say, Tucker Carlson.
Thanks for the Johnny Fever Clip!!!!!
You force the cleverness in your writing too much; It was like having to read a college essay where the kid was too impressed with his own writing -way too much pseudo-philosophical “opininating”. This is only a reflection of the people involved in the fight and the voyeur that recorded it. It is not a mirror on the collective “we”.
That was too harsh, and I apologize. I just disagree with your thesis.
Mama June three knuckles deep in corn pudding … you captured the essence of Golden Corral perfectly in a single phrase.
Gods waiting room !
Another hilarious piece. Love your writing so much. Hope to live long enough to read your past writings as I only recently discovered you.
I hope you do, too!
You are full of surprises and the way you weave them together touches my soul. Golden Corral craziness, people who actually send feces in the mail (why is this legal?!), and then Frederick Buechner. Thanks.
Aren’t all our lives more fulfilled when people take the initiative to record crazy behaviors and share them so others can comment? (Sarcasm intended). Is this how civilization ends? (Although the Roman Empire ended without TikTok).
Agree that there's much more aggressive hostility on the lose these days. So many people seem perfectly willing to turn their rage lose at the slightest provocation. Am I the only one who noticed the Twitter handle of the OP? @TheJuggetnaut88. Or read the comments replying to the tweet, many of which were disrespectful and downright racist? I believe I have a pretty good idea about the point old juggernaut88 (obvious much, eh?) was making, and it had nothing to do with pointing out that there's a bunch of fighting mad people on the loose and everything to do with ridiculing a certain demographic, I guess so he can feel all superior or supremacist or something.
Two rules I live by. Don’t eat at Golden Corral .and IHOP after 10 pm on weekends
Okay, you quoted Buechner, so I subscribed. I hope you're happy now.
I have been pondering whether we as a culture are so angry because it's better to be angry than sad. If we're angry we feel like we have some power, but if we're sad, we're powerless, because nobody cares if we're sad.
I am happy! Thanks, Deb. Good observation about anger v. sadness.
I’ve said this same thing a lot recently. I do think we confuse anger and sadness.
Not to be a dick, or rather, specifically to be a dick, if you’re listening to an audiobook while taking a walk in the woods, you aren’t taking a walk in the woods properly. Also, Caravan is not Van’s greatest song. It’s great and the live version on The Last Waltz, in particular, is way up there, but for my money it’s Madame George or Into the Mystic (take 11). Hypnotic stuff.
I love you guys, but you must be drunk. (Nothing wrong with that - I love drunks, too) "Into the Mystic" is a tremendous song. No argument there. If any other artist recorded it, it would be the highlight of their catalog. But the last two minutes or so of Caravan contain a level of sublimity that is unrivaled in all of music. Dr. Johnny Fever understood this. Follow his lead.
Into the Mystic is correct.
See my answer above, Dennis. But "Tupelo Honey" is the only close second place.
De gustibus non est disputandum (another cliché), but second belongs to “And It Stoned Me.”
Incidentally I didn’t make it to the end of the sermon, but at my age taking moral inventory before Morpheus arrives would be a ticket to insomnia. I’m waiting for the Ambien to kick in, not long I hope.
Dennis gets it. In any event, we’re arguing over which of this grumpy genius’s works of art is THE work of art. At least we seem to have reached the consensus that the man has otherworldly songwriting powers. I am always astonished when someone seems emotionally unaffected by his work. As a final olive branch, I should note that I danced with my daughter at her wedding to “Tupelo Honey”, I have a jar of Wewahitchka-sourced Tupelo Honey (fantastic shit, by the way) in my pantry, and a framed copy of the sheet music to “Tupelo Honey” on display in my living room. There. Now we can all be friends.
Matt, in the 1980s we made a film about a Black family called "A Singing Stream" that became the beginning of Folkstreams.net, a site 20 years in the making, that streams most of the old films about American Folklife for free. . A Singing Stream is emblematic of the idealism we had then, and our search and belief in the goodness of America. The central character is Bertha Landis, who was in her 80s when we made the film. Folkstreams is rich in this kind of material. https://www.folkstreams.net/films/singing-stream
Great, Tom. My oldest son is a gospel head. Will make sure to send this his way, he'll love it.
I must thank you again for your writing and for introducing me to Frederick Beuchner......he took my breath away on this colder than usual day in Tucson. While deciding earlier today to isolate, read and do something constructive and alone, laundry, I mused about preferring aloneness today. I just didn't have the energy to engage, even with people I love and like, except, maybe by text or email. And then Reverend Beuchner was brought into my life......and I shall save this piece in my file name Matt Labash. Can you imagine that I have a file on my computer with pieces of yours that I return to time and again to be uplifted or smile or say "what the f.....is he thinking?"
Many thanks and hope your weather improves.
Very sweet. Thanks, Jessica.