miles here. i’m interested in the interesting and like to curate this semi-weekly newsletter for my friends and anyone else who wants to tune in. hoping you timed that GME buy right 😉.
🎧 what i’m listening to
👨🍳 Kitchen Swagger. You know that feeling when you’re cooking up your favorite dinner dish for a new special someone? Allow me to set the scene. They’re due to come over in a couple of hours. You’re running a little behind, but not by much. You know the dish so well that you didn’t need to make a grocery list or look at a recipe. You taste throughout, adding salt with the wild abandon you know will make the dish pop. You’re sipping wine. You don’t even know them that well, but you’re throwin’ DOWN in the kitchen. That’s this playlist. It’s seven hours and growing because you like to cook, and you don’t want this playlist ever to grow old.
What’s in it? Glad you asked. Everything from Bill Withers to Leon Bridges, Amy Winehouse to Erykah Badhu. I’ve got classics like the Beegees You Stepped Into My Life, throwbacks like Thinkin Bout you by Frank Ocean, and songs with guitar solos so legendary that only Tash Sultana could throw them down. Basically, it’s juicy hip hop, sweet soul, groovy jazz, bangin’ oldies, and some golden eccentricities.
And if you’re cooking solo tonight cause we still have this pandemic thing going on? Turn it UP.
🤯 what’s blowing my mind
The ice cream truck song is racist, and the Wutang Clan’s RZA composed a new ice cream truck song in August. How did I miss this?!
Basically, ‘Turkey in the Straw,’ the ice-cream truck jingle, was at one point heavily associated with minstrel shows, racist imagery, and lyrics. Good Humor, the sweets vendor, hit up RZA about making a new song and getting some sweet press, which RZA and Good Humor have since released and distributed for free to ice cream trucks globally.
There’s some controversy about the whole thing. Like there’s controversy about everything these days (except apparently for what’s to be done about Robinhood - Ted Cruz and AOC?!). But fun fact material doesn’t get worthier than this.
🤔 quote i’m enjoying
A friend shared this quote with me recently, and while I haven’t read her book, I’ve heard great things and love this image:
“But what are we so afraid of? It’s not as if we’re going to peer in those darker corners...and find a bunch of cockroaches. Fireflies love the dark too. There’s beauty in those places. But we have to look in there to see it.” - Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, Lori Gottlieb
h/t to my friends @E for the ice cream story, @C for the Ted Cruz retweet, and @A for the quote 🙏. thanks for reading. i appreciate you.
my best,
miles
PS. Have rare groove(s) I should be jamming to? A quote that’s moved you? A belly-aching video that the world needs to see but hasn’t yet? Reply to this email and send it my way! 🤩