The most common feedback I got on the recent two part Bandsplain episode on Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses was not about how fantastic it was (though we did get many of those, thank you) or about how delightful guest John Niven’s dry heaving sort of laugh is (it is delightful, also I once had a guest who will remain unnamed who insisted on pulling away from the mic every time she laughed at my jokes which I considered violence) but about Tea. More specifically, about the exact meaning of Tea in the context of Northern England, in the context of Manchester, in the context of Shaun Ryder and Ian Brown enjoying their Tea at the local McDonald’s at the same time every day (so tender!).
I felt we did a decent job defining exactly what Tea meant, but I also don’t listen to the final podcasts because what happens after I turn off my mic is none of my business. So in the spirit of honoring Tea (I learned that it’s capitalized when you’re referring to the meal and not the beverage) here is a clear and concise breakdown from Salford (Saul-ford) listener John Barben:
Of course I am a journalist so I had a few follow up questions…
It does help John. Thank you. And congratulations on marrying up.
So to recap: Tea is basically early dinner for working class people, dinner is lunch, and supper is something small you may or may not eat after Tea later at night if you’re still hungry. Whereas upper class people have breakfast, lunch, high tea, and dinner. I love these people!!!
god I see what you do for other people…
ETC:
It was a fab week for cover songs. The soundtrack to the second season of the Sharon Horgan show Bad Sisters with music by PJ Harvey and Tim Phillips came out Friday and it includes this incredible cover of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart Again.”
Plus 070 Shake put out her new album Petrichor and casually slipped in a cover of Tim Buckley’s “Song To The Siren” with one Courtney fucking Love on it and in my opinion it is very very good. Courtney sounds so good and it’s a good cover - faithful enough to honor the source material but with enough of the covering artist’s personality and newer sonic textures to make it something of its own. Melissa Auf Der Mar is on this song too. This makes me really really desperately want that Courtney Love solo album to come out already. I’ve heard a few of the songs and they’re incredible…real third act shit…we need this as a society Courtney please.
I have an ongoing playlist of my favorite cover songs that isn’t quite ready for public consumption but maybe I will soon do a whole email about that, should you want it. This one was a recent discovery that deeply pleased me.
The Pope movie (Conclave) is the best movie I’ve seen all year (so what if I’ve only seen like four movies this year). Make sure you go to like a 3pm screening in a theater full of senior citizens. I’d actually like to see it again in a retirement community’s screening room. I think movies about religion and god are coming back in a big way and it’s my hunch we’ll see way more next year. I also have a theory that people are going to start returning to church in bigger and bigger numbers due to peak loneliness and isolation and yearning for offline community, but there’s way more to say about that than fits in an etc bullet point. (We have had some false starts with “cool churches” sure, but I’m doubling down on this). Also - should I interview the monk who listens to Bandsplain about it for this newsletter?
Speaking of the newsletter, might fuck around and make a gift guide again this year…might even fuck around further and make some cool AND fun changes here for the new year…maybe even start some subscriber chats…provide some subscriber perks…it’s also possible I’m delusional off the luteal and none of this will happen…you’ll have just have to wait and see I guess.
Lastly, if you’re in LA, I’m reading at an event celebrating the release of The Slicks: Ambition, Autobiography, and Abundance in Sylvia Plath and Taylor Swift by Maggie Nelson (!!!!!!!) this Monday November 18th (aka tomorrow) at The Poetic Research Bureau along with Maggie, Alba Jones, Harry Dodge, and Seth Bogart. I am reading something new I did for my friend Josh’s book about YouTube comments and also something I’ve read like five times already because I barely write anything besides google docs anymore. Come through.
