I ❤️the idea of an Album Club that is similar to a Book Club. @thomascostello.bsky.social chatted with @lewisalex10.bsky.social and Zachariah Thompson (The Scatter Joy Project) about the kickoff event where @boniverwi.bsky.social 'SABLE, fABLE' is the featured album.

@thomascostello.bsky.social gets the low down on 'The Album Club,' a new music listening experience and conversation in Columbus columbuscalling.com/the-album-cl...

the wonderful @lewisalex10.bsky.social wrote compellingly and personally about the nuggets, with nikola jokic as our modern day atlas, and lessons from his 90-year-old grandmother

Your links for the weekend:

I dreamed of being on ESPN as a kid. I wanted to be like Stuart Scott n dem. I thought that dream was over. So, seeing an essay I wrote not only on the ESPN app but the top story on the app is surreal to say the least.

For my Andscape debut, I wrote about nine-time All Star Russell Westbrook teaming up with Nikola Jokic to lead the Denver Nuggets to joy.

I wanna give @lewisalex10.bsky.social his flowers bc I’ve known him from the other app for a while now and he’s admittedly the first Ohioan I ever knew lol and a damn good writer (while the world’s most deserving Nuggets fan) who just had his work push notified from the ESPN app lfg king!

“Since Miller’s death in 2018, mid-Januaries feel a touch chillier.” — @craigsj.bsky.social

We don’t just deserve more; we are more. We hurt. We love. We cry. We dance. We are more wide-ranging than the restrictions we’ve been handed.

For my first newsletter essay of 2025, I wrote about Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well, turning 30, and learning to get over myself. It includes an audio voiceover, so feel free to read or listen along. Hope you enjoy & share it with someone special.

I need space in my life to make art I’m proud of

ALL Haymarket Books are 40% off through January 3rd!

I’m proud of me. I hope you’re proud of you.

Brittany Howard on winning her first Grammy: “I felt this immense sense that my life was never going to be the same again. And I appreciated that, and it gave me the inspiration to keep making music.”

“Drake’s career serves as a reminder that true artistry requires more than technical skill and commercial success; it demands vulnerability, evolution, and a willingness to confront uncomfortable truths.”

“Once upon a time, they were just boys who really needed someone to hold their hands, but in order to be tricked into believing they were impenetrable, they were damned to fists instead.” — Robert Jones Jr.

“… sharing what we love is dangerous, it is vulnerable, it is like baring your neck, or your belly, and it reveals that, in some ways, we are all commonly tender.” — Ross Gay

Online interactions can lead to deeper offline relationships

My grandma loves me, I’m never going to fail

Feels Like Home turns two today. When I started this newsletter on a whim at the end of 2022, I had no idea I’d be sitting here today publishing my words to more than 1,300 subscribers.

I know myself enough to know what my best work requires.

I don’t feel the constant need to compare art or artists’ either… I’m an “and” instead of “or” guy when it comes to that. I do agree that art such as albums, films, or books often boils down to preference and bias more than overall quality and execution. Everything isn’t for EVERYONE.

“The nature of this art is lonely: the writer puts forth a vision and hopes some other person will carry it forward; yet writers, like all people, need other humans.” — Nikki Giovanni

I write so that we might see ourselves as part of a collective

I know where I can be, but I’m going to do it on my time in my way.

I’m a sharer of resources and loves. If I think you’d enjoy something or find it helpful, it’s coming your way.

“… noticing what we love in common, and studying that, might help us survive. It’s why I think of joy, which gets us to love, as being a practice of survival.“ — Ross Gay

My latest Columbus Underground story profiles KMB, a producer and DJ from the north side of Columbus, Ohio who has been making original songs since he was 10 years old. We discussed how he started making music and the Jaden Smith album that fell through that paved the way for an upcoming project.

Everywhere I’ve been prepared me for where I am. Everything I’ve done prepared me for what I’m doing. Nothing is wasted.

SHOW ME YOUR SPOTIFY WRAPPED

On Spotify Wrapped Eve, I present you my 32 favorite albums of 2024. So many wonderful projects dropped this year, and it was a joy to reflect on the ones I loved most.

Shoutout to all my drive-by carnivores

Such an incredible critique

I partnered with my dear friend Abby's Books & Crannies (IG: @booksandcrannies2023) to create a list of bookstores throughout Ohio! I'll put them in a thread here as they drop. Starting with my home, Columbus. ♥️

For (614) Magazine’s December issue, I spoke with Columbus, Ohio photographer Kate Sweeney about her portrait work and focus on healing and feeling safe within our bodies.

Loved GNX by my brother Kendrick, amazing album

“It was simple math, if he made it, that mean I made it”

Crazy scary spooky hilarious

Your purpose on earth is not to argue with people who intentionally want to misunderstand you

It doesn’t serve me to overcomplicate things

Insane run

Peyton Watson with the three for the Nuggets lead? LA stand up! #NBASky

Rewatching Kendrick’s performance from The Pop Out, and him and Jay Rock walking Ab-Soul across the stage is so tender. An image of how our people carry and keep us.

I’m curious about continuing to cultivate the things that make me me. The stories that keep me alive. The belief that another word is possible—if we show up for one another and fight for it. I believe our lineage can be one of care.

I’m quickly approaching my third listen of Kendrick’s album, but today’s newsletter is free for everyone. It includes a playlist of 60+ songs I’ve enjoyed over the past few weeks, 10 years of Camp Flog Gnaw, and some words on the Nazis who marched through my city of Columbus, Ohio.

LaMelo Ball is so fun to watch

29 years ago today, Stevie Wonder released Natural Wonder. For Hanif Abdurraqib’s music archival project 68to05, I wrote about the live album and how my mother’s love for music shaped mine.

“Enjoy what you already, and actually, enjoy is the message.”

NWSL championship TV details Saturday: 90-minute pregame show begins at 6:30 pm ET on CBS Sports Golazo Network. CBS and Paramount+ pick up the show at 7:30. Match is listed as an 8 pm start. Kickoff: 8:14 pm ET. Trophy presentation on CBS/Paramount+. Postgame show: CBSGN.