Transmission 08 | 09.25.25
The last threads of summer to the first cracks of fall: Art, Music and R3SP3CT.
Friends,
For the last twenty years, the approach of autumn has been announced by the first acorns dropping from the oak trees out front of our house. It starts in mid-August, earlier and far less subtle than the other signs of the season. Like warning shots, they hit the wood decking with a crack that jolts the psyche and catches me off guard–even after all these years. Those first sporadic hits build slowly, joined by the other familiar harbingers—and before you know it, we’ve cut to (and into) the pumpkin pie.
Cued by those first warning shots, we hit the road in late August and were lucky enough to attend the opening of Sandeep Johal’s new show, To Be Something More at the Kelowna Art Gallery. It was a special occasion to see Sandeep bring this powerful collection of fresh work to her hometown and for it to be embraced and celebrated by the Kelowna community along with a solid posse of friends, family and fellow artists who made the trip from elsewhere. If you happen to be in the area, be sure to check it out during its run. I believe it makes its way to Vancouver in the next while too—be on the lookout.
Thanks to all who came out to the opening of A Soft Geometry last week, either in person or supporting from afar. It was a great night surrounded by beautiful work and delightful people. The love was most certainly felt. There will be a segment with Tristesse and Toby on CBC’s North by Northwest with Margaret Gallagher coming up soon; listen up!
Input
Input was on shuffle mode over the summer. I can’t say I went too deep on anything for long but kept moving and kept the receivers open.
Watching: One of my favourite recent screenings was Matt Wolf’s Pee-Wee as Himself. I’ve been a fan of Paul Reubens since catching his first HBO special on pirated satellite TV, as a kid. I saw Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure in the theatre, never missed an episode of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse (remarkable for a teenager on Saturday mornings), and later had the VHS(!) box set. I was excited for a documentary—and doubly so knowing it was in Wolf’s hands, whose Wild Combination and Teenage I’d loved.
I remember when Reubens was arrested in 1991, having this sudden sense of wonder about who that person really was. Hard to pin the feeling, but it was probably my first real glimpse of the split between Pee-Wee and his creator/operator. The film brings that complexity into focus: a celebration of how wild, curious, mischievous, and hilarious Reubens was. An invaluable record of a great artist of our time—always subversive and bursting with invention; both a fluent performer and a world-builder with a gift for assembling unique talent.1
I enjoyed the film in a way similar to how I enjoyed Judd Apatow’s The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling. On a similar tip, a new doc called John Candy: I Like Me is on the near horizon and I’ll definitely be checking that out.
The NYT released their “100 Best Movies of the Century” back in June—a follow-up to last year’s book list. When I’m faced with “the best” lists of anything in art, I’m already ready to scrap—but that’s the primary purpose of these things: discovery and debate. What’s good about these 21st-century lists is we’re not up against all of history—just the last 25 years. Still a lot, it turns out, but graspable because it’s finite and we’re evaluating the work within its own time.
As with any big NYT project, the production value is great, and it’s fun to see how they stacked things. I also love that they run a reader’s choice list alongside, so you can track where they align and where they don’t. I’m sure we’ll be using it to fuel some of our movie nights.
Reading: I know there is some kind of Anthony Bourdain bio-pic in the works which may be primarily a coming-of-age picture (and I WILL be watching that, no doubt) but as I read fellow chef (and Bourdain bestie) Eric Ripert’s 32 Yolks: From My Mother's Table to Working the Line, I kept thinking this is a film. So many rich characters and scenes just ripe for the screen. Kind of Heart of Darkness meets Chef—except you don’t get the levity payoff of Chef because he cuts the story just as he approaches success.2
I’m only in the first half but I’m going to go ahead and vouch for Irish Canadian author Joanna Pocock’s Greyhound anyway. Pocock retraces a journey she first made by Greyhound bus back 2006 and beautifully balances reflections on the changes in herself, the places she’s returning to and the broader world around her, both drawing from history and the now. Given the road book and travel writing generally has been male dominated since its emergence in the mid 20th Century, it’s great to see Pocock taking space and expanding that shelf.
Listening: Podcasts remain a steady part of my diet. One of the best I’ve discovered this year is Time Sensitive. Hosted by Spencer Bailey and Andrew Zuckerman, it focuses on “long-form conversations with leading minds about their life and work through the lens of time.” Unlike a lot of what’s circulating out there, Time Sensitive is impeccable in its research, guest selection, conversations and presentation of supporting material on their website. These are A+ Students.
With a large back catalog of episodes including artist Maira Kalman; writers, Lucy Sante and Jelani Cobb; designer Peter Saville; architect John Pawson; creator, Leonard Koren; Chefs Ruthie Rogers, Eric Ripert, Thomas Keller…honestly it goes on and on. I highly recommend if the long-form convo is your jam too.
In a previous transmission, I wrote about how we listen to music these days and how tricky things are in a world where music appears to run like water. Since then, my thinking on which streaming service is the best bet has evolved. We set fire to our family Spotify subscription a few months back (zero regrets) and, for the most part, we’re on Apple Music. I’m still using Qobuz, but mainly for sessions where I sit down with a full record front to back. If you’re interested in my comparison of the best options right now, I wrote a bit more here.
Some other bits in rotation over the last while: How To Live With A Phantom by Shintaro Sakamoto.3 Is there anyone cooler than Andre 3000? Another spacious conversation with Rick Rubin suggests to me there probably isn’t. Also: Djrum’s recent Under Tangled Silence. Ariel Kalma’s An Evolutionary Music (Original Recordings: 1972–1979) and Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist’s Alfredo 2 (+ revisiting the first one.)
The fall brings so many options for seeing and hearing things out and we’ve got a couple of things on deck for early October. Longtime personal fave Nosaj Thing will be at Fortune touring a collaborative release with Montréal’s Jacques Greene. Later that week we’ll be seeing our friend Scott (Loscil) performing with Julianna Barwick at the Rio Theatre as part of VIFF. Looking forward to taking the headphones off and getting out there for some vivid sound and vision.
Last week a big bunch of us gathered at Fortune to celebrate the life of a legendary creative force, Calvin Yu (aka Micro, R3SP3CT) It’s rough to lose that light, but heartening to see the amount of warmth created by humans just showing up for a friend. Calvin, we salute you!
It’s reminded me (once again) that we just never know when that last hang, that last call, that last text is going to be. Honour and inhabit those moments.
Until next time.
✌️❤️
Including Mark Mothersbaugh who scored all those Playhouse episodes, formerly of DEVO who there is also a pretty good new documentary on. ↩
à la Patti Smith’s Just Kids or Bob Dylan’s Chronicles: Volume One. ↩
Shout out to my neighbour Phil! ↩