art men making friends
Welcome to Hella Immaculate, I love you.
I’m Dave, a comedian + abolitionist organizer with perfect taste. This newsletter is my version of an alt-weekly: existential-y words up top plus links to what I’m watching and learning, a weekly fundraiser, and a piece of music to (re)consider.
We can make a world of vital art free of corporate dorks by directly supporting artists. Joining my Patreon is the best way to support me. Pay what you think the revolution is worth.
Anxiety on blast this week, so no treatise here. Just a sweet story and a question.
Remember Oui Ennui, the electronic musician I had on my podcast who got COVID then started releasing an album a month every Bandcamp Friday, and he recommended me a bunch of sci-fi books I actually started reading?
We’re becoming friends.
He said really nice things to me about This Is Your Afterlife after he did it. Then, a couple weeks back, he hit me up saying he liked doing the podcast, which was just talking, so if I wanted to talk, recorded or not, that would be cool, or whatever. And now we’re texting!
And holy shit, the butterflies. Everyone knows making adult friendships is hard, but life decided to crank the difficulty up to 99 by adding a socially isolating pandemic into the equation and making the guy I’m trying to befriend one of the coolest guys on the planet. You might think I’m exaggerating, but when I gushed to my friend Sarah, she looked him up, took a beat, and was like, “Oh, he’s cool.”
Hopefully this story of post-35-year-old art men making friends gives you a little relief this week.
Here’s my question. I’m pretty committed to making this an actual and not just artistically productive friendship, BUT if Oui and I were to record additional conversations… are you interested? If so, what would you want them to be about? Any particular subject/idea/theme? What about format? Would they form an offshoot in the This Is Your Afterlife feed, or a whole new thing? Patreon bonuses or public consumables?
If this sparks any ideas, reply or comment, and I’ll hit you back.
THIS IS MY PODCAST, THIS IS YOUR AFTERLIFE
My guest: Vicko Alvarez, activist, comic artist, organizer, and chief of staff for Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (Alderwoman, aka city council member, of Chicago’s 33rd Ward)
We covered: the police killing of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, community grief, individual dreams, aiming to be replaceable, the first time her mom said “I love you”
Extended version on Patreon: “Basically My Family with Vicko Alvarez”
THEY’RE JUST, LIKE, MY SUGGESTIONS, MAN
Donate to Die Jim Crow Records’ (DJC) and the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers’ (UMAW) gear drive to support incarcerated musicians. You can donate instruments, or you can donate money to cover shipping
I donated $10. Reply with what you donate, and I’ll report our total next week.
Celebrate! Last week, we donated $40 to GoodKids MadCity to provide on-the-ground support to people protesting for Adam Toledo and all victims of police violence.
MAY I PLAY YOU A SOUND?
On Sunday, I watched Sambizanga—a haunting movie by Sarah Maldoror about the struggle for Angolan liberation—with a bunch of communists on Twitch. And looking at that sentence, I’m just like, “What the fuck is my life?”
I told Oui about it, and he gave me this recommendation.
Check out an album called Independência by Teta Lando. It’s about the Angolan revolution. Sung in Portuguese and influenced by Brazilian MPB, which is of course the music of the black/slave population of Brazil which was also colonized by the Portuguese. Incredible ouroboros of culture/art/protest/liberation/life.
Here’s the album opener. I don’t know what FNLA stands for, but MPLA is the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, so I assume the lyrics are more intense than the summer-y, BBQ-friendly music suggests. But man, what a warm, communal party track. And since Oui recommended it, who knows, maybe it’ll be… our song.
Or whatever,
DM