This, on Hannah Arendt and the perils of making her an icon rather than wrestling with what she thought and wrote, is very good.

My favorite records of 2025. More detail will come in my annual playlists in a week or two: screenofdistance.com/2025/12/01/b...

that’s it. that’s the dynamic that was on the tip of my tongue

Had a great conversation with choreographer Doug Varone about a program he and his troupe bring to the Wex this Friday that spans work almost 40 years old and world premieres. My article for @colsunderground.bsky.social: columbusunderground.com/dance-previe...

Wrote about Todd Snider, East Nashville and how the more things change, the more they change. www.dontrocktheinbox.com/something-go...

Todd Snider, your songwriting and stories are forever burned into my psyche. Whether it was the good times in my life or the bad, you were always there. The songs and stories will forever bring me a smile and a tear. Wherever you are, I hope you find that peace and know you are loved. ☮️♥️🏴

Throwback Thursday: ten years ago Let's Anime looked at the anime fandom scene of 1985 with this article, illustrated with actual 1985 high school yearbook photos starring, among other aliens, idol singers, and students, a future Academy Award winning actress! letsanime.blogspot.com/2015/10/clas...

Had a terrific conversation with Marion Ramirez and Ojeya Cruz Banks about their dance piece Mareas/Tides playing @wexarts.bsky.social Wednesday and wrote it up as a piece for @colsunderground.bsky.social: columbusunderground.com/dance-previe...

Thanks to the phrase somehow congealing in a conversation with @jtreppel.bsky.social, we have concluded that Mental Herpes would be the perfect band name for a terrible funk rock act in 1993, presumably opening for the Limbomaniacs or something.

Completely accurate.

I was already a hard AI-skeptic but this cements my long suspicion that there is no feasible path to anything close to return on invested capital for these data centers. Tech would need 15 to 25 times current AI revenues within the next 2-3 years just to break even. Not financially viable.

Because it's playing on the restaurant background - all deference to Dinah Washington - whoever tried to ameliorate the original cocaine reference with a repetition of champagne when champagne was THE LAST COUPLET feels doddering, like you're visiting your grandfather who's not entirely there.

"I can't say what I think should happen to thieves like this.” @404media.co asked me what I thought about this shit. www.404media.co/ai-generated...

Please report this fucking AI slop. Goddamnit. www.amazon.com/KALEB-HORTON...

If listening to "If Loving You Is Wrong" on the dual CD jukebox with @fonzette.bsky.social while ice literally falls off my bottle of beer at Alex's Tavern is wrong... I love you, Memphis.

Fascinating must-read thread. And yes, donate to support Paulina Borsook, who tried to warn everyone.

“Minimalism’s iron grip on reality is not honest or articulate. It’s a manifestation of a world that is actually out of control. The iPhone screams chaos at us, but it looks clean and perfect. It’s the ideal delivery device for madness.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Someday I will be able to walk into this Cleveland establishment without singing the applicable lines from "Amphetamine" by Rocket From the Tombs, but today is not that day. @fonzette.bsky.social

Yuuuuup. Also, I don't give a shit if some of the worst people in the world think I am being performative or am virtue signaling. Fuck 'em. They don't get to tell me how to be. Anyway, trans rights are human rights, y'all. It's not complicated.

An early-season contender for "most anticipated" theatrical experience of the Fall coming to @wexarts.bsky.social this week.

I have just seen an item described in a catalogue as having "an antique snaffle bar" and I honestly don't care what it is because the word snaffle is incredible

Strong thread that reminds me how lucky I was to grow up near Houston, with both a solid album-rock station that sometimes played entire new records AND a Pacifica station that aired avant-garde classical music, extreme metal, hardcore punk, local acoustic music, hip hop, leftist politics, and more.

“Since about one year ago, many people have begun to think everything on ChatGPT is correct,” Vallata said. “It is not a tool for mountain advice, for routes, or for planning.”

I'm sorry dawg I don't really care how lonely I am I'm not talking to the fucking text generator that makes you insane I'd rather go crazy the old fashioned way (complete lack of meaningful social interaction)

The very very lovely Sloppy Heads are bringing gentle uplift and swelling bliss on a cooling BK evening—what a beautiful night here at @mamatriedbk.bsky.social.

yup, this is why we started anime conventions, to get the chance to force people into non-compete clauses, that's what fandom is all about, telling people what they can and cannot do. Sure

On the 9th anniversary of dear friend Marie Arsenault's death, toasting her with bands she booked for Twangfest (JC Brooks might have been the offshoot Beat & Soul) on the jukebox.

The whole concept of calling a person a "genius" has always seemed like a horrible mistake. It should be a word for what people do, not what they are.

for many of the worst people in our politics, the only real belief they have is that it should be illegal for us not to like them

I had to spend two and a half years fighting a frivolous lawsuit that was a direct result of Bollea v. Gawker. And that lawsuit massively decreased our capability to do what we do, so I take issue with one of Hulk Hogan's lawyers claiming that Bollea v. Gawker had no impact on journalism

I've talked at length about weekly listings opening up whole worlds for me, both in my city and any time traveling; their absence is a big part of why I started "Hey, Fred." @gabrielkahane.bsky.social writes a beautiful tribute to the form at the Atlantic: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

What 4 perfect albums came out when you were 21? #MusicSky

As more journalists are driven out of their jobs, I keep hearing this drumbeat of "it's ok -- they can start their own newsletter or publication." Some can. But becoming your own business is a huge job, and will eliminate many talented reporters from the public sphere. Here's why. (1/5)

Tim Barnes’ Lost Words and Noumena aquariumdrunkard.com/2025/07/11/t... Lost Words and Noumena are vital musical statements and, most of all, a testament to the deep-rooted values held by this corner of the experimental music world: community, connection, and, most of all, friendship.

The essential listening guide to Bruce Springsteen's 'Tracks II: The Lost Albums' by Caryn Rose www.npr.org/2025/06/17/n...

So far the most amusing (as opposed to horrible) thing in the new Netflix Trainweck episode on American Apparel is the montage music that is almost exactly but not quite MGMT’s “Kids.”

Leading off with an extremely rare Sovines set today (and ample opportunity to catch the terrific-looking Scott Woods/Hanif Abdurraqib talk before if you don't have friends in the bands playing earlier at Bobo), a weekend packed full of great options: richardsanford.substack.com/p/hey-fred-0...

Well, Columbus sucks because you suck, but this is def the #2 reason

Even when everything is terrible, some fantastic options for beauty and connection this week: richardsanford.substack.com/p/hey-fred-0...

#MusicChallenge #ArtistFave15 Wu-Tang Clan, Day 1. The beginning of this challenge is me finally convincing myself/friends to buy a ticket for their show. Unranked, will definitely include solo albums/etc. Let's start with where I was hooked. Wu-Tang Clan - "Triumph" youtu.be/cPRKsKwEdUQ?...

A preview I wrote for @colsunderground.bsky.social about one of my favorite annual events, the Columbus Black Theatre Festival: columbusunderground.com/the-columbus...

THE BELL JAR HARD ❌ It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York EASY ✅ That summer was sizzling, and so were the Rosenbergs

Reminder to all Origins folks: annual Char Bar Tradition this evening! Some of it may look boarded up but back open for business fully for the last couple of months. Anne and I will be rolling in 930 ish.

I think the frame of not obeying in advance is exactly the way to think about it. As with so many other things, the vector is going in a bad direction. But slowing it down makes a huge difference in protecting real people right now.

I answered this already, but I have another one...

"I’m not a jazz musician, and I’m not a classical musician. I’m a professional student who has spent his whole lifetime trying to evolve." Happy 80th birthday to Anthony Braxton, a prodigious, profound creative artist and an indisputably great American composer.

Excellent selection of cultural options in the next week: https://richardsanford.substack.com/p/hey-fred-0605-06112025

A Playlist of songs that wouldn't let me go last month and blurbs recollecting on a few artists who passed since I wrote the last one: https://richardsanford.substack.com/p/i-came-home-and-put-the-record-on-bba?r=semv