My Tiny Desk Contest Top Shelf episode about my favorite contestants will be airing April 10th at 3pm ET. I got to hang with Felix Contreras of NPR Alt Latino and had a great time, join us here to see our choice entries and share your favs in the chat!
Dearest Reader,
How are you? I wonder if you feel the tides turning as I do. The shock of defeat shaken off and focus returning to our shared vision of the future. Thank you to every person who attended a protest yesterday. Here’s a photo of a Dandelion greens salad for no reason other than it’s really pretty.
This week I drove out to Aurora, IL to see my absolute star of a friend Ann Delaney perform in the musical Spelling Bee at the Copley Theater. It’s running til April 27th so I highly suggest grabbing tickets if you live in the Chicago area. It is a hilarious and heart warming show. Thanks to Ann I’ve been experiencing more musical theater, and it’s becoming an antidote to much of my digital world despair. On the drive out there, I thought about us all barreling towards this oncoming collision with AI, how heavy the anxiety that hangs in the air. None of us quite sure what society will look like after this massive and inevitable shift in our world. I can only hope a reaction will be widespread recognition of our need for live music and theater. Pretty hopeful considering basically everything I read says the future is going to be VERY, VERY BAD. :(
When I was sitting in that theater, I felt a visceral response to the layered, booming harmonies, a body wide sensation welling up tears in awe. It’s a wonder to take in these sounds, sung by human beings right in front of me, all unique in the life that brought them to this moment, yet brought together by a gnawing desire to create, to be goofy, to get on stage and give people a show. This is Church to me. I feel this at a poetry reading, a punk show at a DIY space, standing side stage watching my friends play their songs to a sold out audience, stopping in my tracks to watch a really good street performer, or in a theater in Aurora.
What I’m Watching, Reading, Listening to
I am reading Stag Dance by Torrey Peters and I just cannot even get into how good it is. I am gonna have to revisit to sing her praises. She’s one of the best, it’s that’s simple. I am reading this collection of stories slowly because I cannot handle it ending. I want her writing to live with me on the daily.
The brilliant Walt McClements put out a new record On a Painted Ocean. Walt is family and I stay his super fan, check out this gorgeous new work of his!
I watched Anora finally and it deserves the hype. I know there’s a lot of chatter about Demi was robbed and while I have not yet seen the Substance, I want to say Mikey Madison DID THAT SHIT. She put her whole entire being into this role and I would have 10000% believed she just is this character and not acting. When she appears on the screen I instantly felt like we just met in the women’s bathroom and are now best friends. This is a girl who will get into a bar fight for you, this is MY GIRL. That kind of relatability is magic. Shout out to the real life dancers & sex workers out there, I fucking love yall.
Last night I sang with Bright Eyes at the Salt Shed, it was bitter sweet considering we won’t get that chance again for a long while. I am gonna miss dancing around like a bunch of kids singing Dreaming by Blondie, one of the best songs of all time. Here’s a video of us all on tour last month, maybe in Little Rock?
I already miss singing Lua with Conor, so I thought what better song for me to cover for the month of April. Paying subscribers get that home recording and my playlist for the month. The theme- April in Love. It’s spring time babes, go be human, never mind the robots.
don’t take any shit
xo alynda mariposa segarra xo