Well, well, well, if it isn’t Friday again (when I begin writing this it is, it might be Saturday by the time I send it, life is a highway) (update: it’s Sunday now, my bad). This week I celebrated my 44th birthday. I believe this is the age The Cut called “the first great aging cliff” or something (don’t know, happy for you or sorry that happened but didn’t read the piece). Being old is a choice. You know what ages you? Writing stupid articles about aging cliffs.
On the day, I took a morning swim at El Matador beach in Malibu with my friend Issy, followed by a lunch of crab cakes and fries at Neptune’s Net (where I procured some absolutely phenomenal Dali-ass sandals courtesy of Issy), followed by a trip to my favorite designer vintage store in Los Angeles, Replika, where I did a small amount of damage that we don’t need to discuss in detail here. (Should I do a round up of all my go-to vintage spots in LA? Does anyone want that? Or just RAWK music?).
I closed out the big Tuesday with a dinner of Goop Kitchen and Taco Bell (everyone always asks so my order is: Crunchwrap Supreme sub beans for meat, Mexican Pizza, and if it’s my birthday, Nachos Bell Grande) with some Vueve with a few of my girls. I finally finished filming all the Madonna month content (I hope you’ve been listening/enjoying) and while I probably needed to check into hospital, this was a good salve in the meantime.
I also accidentally went on a press tour this past week? It was an absolute thrill and honor to be featured in the No Bad Days LA It-Girl Index (no longer an LA It-Girl, not yet an LA It-Woman) where I share my LA essentials for beauty, repairs, groceries, and more, plus my dream LA date. I was also featured in one of my other favorite Substacks, Health Gossip, where I got to talk about some of my favorite things: food, spirituality, and going to bed at 9:30pm. As if that wasn’t enough (embarrassment of riches/that’s enough please go away I’m sick of your fucking face/voice/existence) I got to list out my loves and hates for Dream Baby Press and gab for two hours with one of my favorite podcasters Dan Allegretto, who is on here as Dial #DAN Editorial.
And lastly (sorry! SORRY), the incredible Miranda Sawyer wrote up Bandsplain and our Madonna Month programming for The Observer (!!!!) getting me every so slightly closer to my goal of becoming England-famous so that I can finally move there and find my toothy husband, eat Gregg’s once a week, and very slowly develop the Madge accent. I’ll be honest as much as I love attention (and I really love attention) after doing any interview I feel absolute full beat clown make-up and tend to spiral for days :) Anyway now I need to not be perceived for three full weeks/shoot my phone.
Also whispers: a reminder that I’m chatting with my friend, the brilliant author Mary H.K. Choi at the LA stop on her book tour for her fantastic new book Pool House. It’s at Skylight Books on 6/11 and you can get advance tickets HERE.
Okay here are the seven things I loved this past week (besides TALKING ABOUT MYSELF apparently):
A SONG
I feel like I haven’t talked about Badvril, a San Francisco based band with a backwoods Washington State sensibility that was seemingly custom made in a lab to suit my exact musical sensibilities - floaty, lush, narcotic, sludgy perfection. (Have you ever taken a lot of Klonopin, but in a beautiful way not a dark way? No me neither). If you’ve ever ordered a custom playlist from me, chances are high I’ve included a Badvril song on there. They have a new album called Lethal coming out soon (not to be a bitch but I’ve heard it all and it’s truly wonderful). The latest single, “Push It Down,” came out the day after my birthday (thank you Baddies) and I’ve had it pretty much on repeat all week as I attempt a single seven day period of bohemian layabout cosplay. Bliss!
A BOOK
If I were braver and perhaps a touch less the child of Middle Eastern immigrants I would have liked to live my life more like Eve Babitz, the patron saint of too smart for their own good LA party girls with wicked tongues and dirty mouths and a taste for hanging around with artists and musicians. Every time I re-read Fast Days, Slow Company, arguably her masterpiece, I’m inspired to live a more visceral life (and to also write that life down somewhere). Babitz died in 2021, and now Too L.A., a new book of her (mostly) unsent letters to the likes of Joseph Heller, Steve Martin, and Annie Leibowitz is out via New York Review of Books. These letters (and some journal entries) not only showcase her joyfully discerning world view and her excellent twists of language, but also are chock full of fabulous little details about the world of 70s Los Angeles. Mentions of Jim Morrison, Gene Clark, Gram Parsons (an absolute lout according to Eve!), and more had me stopping every ten minutes to side quest. One of the best is a letter about a day spent with Francie Schwartz, another fun time girl most well known as one of Paul McCartney’s girlfriends. Francie wrote a book about her life called Body Count (can you EVEN with that title) that you can’t get for less than like $350 online though it exists in totality on the Internet Archive and I will be printing that bitch out and reading it next. Anyway HIGHLY recommend Too L.A..
A SKINCARE PRODUCT
Every so often, for various reasons, I fall off of using Biologique Recherche products (I run out, they’re annoyingly expensive, they’re slightly difficult to procure, my last giant VAT-free haul from Paris burned in a fire, etc) but whenever I make my way back, I’m reminded that unfortunately they really are that bitch. Maybe not every single product (there are like 2 million), and you definitely probably don’t need the suite of forty items they will recommend to you, but like one or two right ones can really change the course of your life. (I also really enjoy that they’re so French they have products specifically for smokers). Anyway for me, it’s the newish Creme M.E.C which they call “the skin sculptor” that is “clinically proven to improve skin remodeling by +25%* and increase plumpness by +22%*, in 56 days.” I don’t know about that all that since I’ve only been using it about a week but as a woman of oily skin experience who is also 44 (they don’t tell you that you’ll one day get to this incredibly blessed place where your skin is both sagging AND breaking out still, probably because you would lose the will to go on) I find it to be the ideal texture and moisturizing/barrier protecting without clogging my pores. It is in classic BR fashion, annoyingly expensive, but a little really does go a long way and I’ve finally forced myself to start using that adorable little spatula to apply it sparingly. My skin has been looking visibly better since I’ve been using it so do with that information what you will (and once again, fuck you and your “big aging cliff”).
A TV SHOW
Everybody is (rightfully) raving about Widow’s Bay, the new Apple TV show from creator Katie Dippold (Parks and Rec alumni and creator of maybe my most favorite tweet of all time) and I have been loving it too, but the show I actually want to recommend is a touch more Yasi-coded. It’s a British crime drama called Legends starring Steve Coogan (check) set in 1990 (check check) with an absolutely god-tier set of needle drops and song inclusions (CHECK MATE). In the very first episode, you will hear Cocteau Twins, The Stone Roses, and Jesus and Mary Chain (like are you kidding me mate). By the time “Hallelujah” (CLUB MIX!) by Happy Mondays drops in episode 2, I was ready to propose to this television program. It’s also just really fucking good - it’s about customs agents who go undercover to infiltrate Britain’s most dangerous drug gangs to stop the growing heroin trade that’s destroying the country’s youth. Based on an untold true story! Run don’t walk babe.
The Tweet in question:
A PODCAST
You’re probably already up on the show that Touché Amoré frontman Jeremy Bolm hosts, The First Ever Podcast. But this latest episode with my girl Bre Morell of Temple of Angels and Crushed and one of the best Bandsplain episodes (Massive Attack) is such a good listen, not only because her voice is so soothing.
Also if you follow me on IG or Letterboxd you know that I found Sheep Detectives to be an absolutely breathtaking film so you should see that too if you need the cockles of your heart warmed back up.
See you next week xx
i was looking at the 36 hr in LA piece from NYT and it seemed like a snooze. i will be in LA next month + would love yasi’s guide to thrift stores at least if not also record stores bars restaurants coffee shops. pls influence me queen 🙏🏻
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