On May 2, 1995, two events that would prove to be noteworthy parts of indie music history happened: Yo La Tengo released their album Electr-o-pura, and coincidentally, Lucy Dacus was born on the exact same day. Matador is gearing up to re-release the album for its 25th anniversary (on September 4), so they tapped Lucy Dacus (who is also signed to Matador) to cover the album’s penultimate track, “Tom Courtenay,” taking the song in a more intimate direction than the original.
In addition to her cover, Dacus also penned a lengthy essay about the album. In it, she explains her history with “Tom Courtenay,” saying of the song, “‘Tom Courtenay’ was the first Yo La Tengo song I learned on guitar. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew who Julie Christie was and loved the line, ‘As the music swells somehow stronger from adversity / our hero finds his inner peace.’ I didn’t know what the needle had to do with anything, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was like any good poem, leaving space for me, between images. Now, I think the song may be about obsession with media, equating the allure of the movies and movie stars to drug addiction. Who knows, that’s just my take.”
Watch Dacus perform her cover above, and read her essay below.
“I was born on May 2, 1995, the day that Electr-o-pura came out.
Fourteen years later, I started high school and made a new friend who wore a leather jacket and boots, who expressed confident opinions about music that I had never heard. I devoured every recommendation they gave me in an effort to align my tastes. I wanted to be cool, or at least not uncool. I found out about The Stooges, Philip Glass, and Sonic Youth through my effort to win their approval. I loved it all, and my parents hated every new discovery. Cool was loud.
One day my friend brought me a stack of CDs, all Yo La Tengo, and told me to take them home, listen to them, burn them, and return them. I did what I was told. I liked those records from the start, and more with every listen. I’d lay in bed listening to one of their records, pause the song I was listening to when I got too tired, then push play upon waking.
I remember my confusion upon listening to Electr-o-pura for the first time. I referenced the tracklist on the back of the CD so I could learn titles, but the printed song durations didn’t match up to what I was hearing. I wondered if there was some manufacturing error and I wasn’t hearing the songs I was supposed to hear. ‘Flying Lesson (Hot Chicken #1)’ is listed as lasting just over three minutes when it’s actually 6:42. ‘Blue Line Swinger’ says it’s 3:15, but actually clocks in at 9:18. I know now from looking into it that Yo La Tengo intentionally misprinted the times, trying to combat short attention spans, hoping they would trick people into giving those long songs a chance. It tricked me, though I’m a sucker for long songs anyways. It’s interesting to think about how this move couldn’t be pulled today in a world of digitized music. And if people had short attention spans then, how short are they now? All to say, I liked that they were playful.
What kept me coming back to Yo La Tengo was their understanding of moods. I listened to bands that knew anger, bands that knew sadness, but I didn’t know of any other bands that could express a full life’s range of moods the way they can. From song to song, the music was anxious, celebratory, sorrowful, content, confused, etc. And even when they got loud or dissonant, it never felt hostile. The sounds could be harsh, even ugly, but they were joyful. Some songs could make me cry, but they were gentle, not malevolent. I was taking on someone else’s tastes, and in the process, discovering my own.
‘Tom Courtenay’ was the first Yo La Tengo song I learned on guitar. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew who Julie Christie was and loved the line, ‘As the music swells somehow stronger from adversity / our hero finds his inner peace.’ I didn’t know what the needle had to do with anything, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was like any good poem, leaving space for me, between images. Now, I think the song may be about obsession with media, equating the allure of the movies and movie stars to drug addiction. Who knows, that’s just my take.
Eventually when Matador asked to sign me, the fact that Yo La Tengo is on their roster was a major component of my decision. They’ve been putting out great albums every couple of years for over three decades, experimenting and exploring with what seems to be an uncompromised creativity. That is worth celebrating, especially now, when any opportunity for celebration is a blessing. Happy 25th birthday to Electr-o-pura, and thanks for the music, Yo La Tengo.”
The Electr-o-pura rerelease is out 9/4 via Matador. Pre-order it here.
Tory Lanez hasn’t let the coronavirus outbreak stop him from building his following. For the past month, he’s utilized the power of social media to keep his name buzzing with his Quarantine Radio livestreams on Instagram, which boosted his barely-promoted mixtape, The New Toronto 3 to No. 1 on the BillboardTop R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart the week of its release. Now, he’s taking the show on the road — figuratively speaking — by joining the growing number of stars who have livestreamed their performances during the quarantine with his Social Distancing Tour.
Tory posted a whole trailer featuring clips from previous live shows to promote the “tour,” complete with stage dives, balcony climbing, and phone screens lit up (remember when it used to be cigarette lighters?) to convey the high-energy vibe of his live concerts. How he’ll translate that to a livestream remains to be seen, but thanks to partner app Big Room, it’s likely he’ll have a bit more production value than the average living room concert. Naturally, Tory plans on conducting a live chat during the concert as well, because that may be the main draw of his livestreams on Instagram and he knows it.
The Social Distancing Tour will livestream on YouTube Friday, May 1 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET / 12am BST.
Travel needs to be about more than just a basic want, especially now. It needs to have meaning. At least that’s how The Explorers Club — a group founded in 1904 to support the scientific exploration of land, sea, air, and space through education, research, and travel — sees it. The club’s membership boasts the biggest names in science and exploration, from Jane Goodall to Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin to Sir Edmund Hillary, and Tenzing Norgay to James Cameron.
To help facilitate “traveling for more” amongst us mere mortals, The Explorers Club has teamed up with the Discovery Channel to offer the new “Explorers Club Discovery Expedition Grant.” The $1-million grant will allow would-be explorers to “explore in the pursuit of scientific understanding for the betterment of humanity and all life on Earth, and beyond,” according to The Explorers Club.
We’re sure you’re wondering, is this even open to the average curious traveler or is it for The Explorer Club members only? Per The Explorers Club: “You do not need to be a member to apply for the grant, however, applicants are welcome and encouraged to apply for membership.” The grant will be a yearly offering and winners will have Discovery Channel and its platforms to talk about their findings to help spread the word worldwide.
You’ll need to head over to The Explorers Club grant application page to submit a “pre-application.” Your pitch must include what real fieldwork you plan to do while working/traveling in the following fields: “Biological sciences, archaeology, anthropology, paleontology, earth sciences, ecology, and astronomy, as well as exploratory projects that reveal new knowledge about the planet and its inhabitants, including regions undergoing significant environmental or cultural change.”
You’ll also need a one-page pitch, three-minute video, a list of collaborators on the ground, letters of recommendation plus (a lot) more found here. This may seem like a lot, but they’re not just giving away $1-million without valid reasons and resources ready to make this worthwhile for all parties. Still, if your adventure dreams are huge, this is a great way to make them a reality.
Just like he did in the Eastern Conference during the 1990s, Michael Jordan is burning a pathway through the NBA zeitgeist on a weekly basis through new episodes of The Last Dance. The latest debate to flare up online comes from former teammates Craig Ehlo and Ron Harper over what the game plan was for Jordan’s infamous series-winning jump shot in the first round of the 1989 playoffs.
Ehlo is cemented in history as the man whose arms are splayed up beneath Jordan, and who’s standing in stunned disbelief in snapshots of Jordan’s famous celebratory leap. According to Harper, though, that’s not how it should have gone.
In the third installment of The Last Dance, Harper, who would go on to become a teammate of Jordan’s for the titular 1997-98 season, argued that he asked Cleveland head coach Lenny Wilkens if he could defend Jordan on the final play of the game rather than Ehlo. When Wilkens turned him down, Harper responded with a concise “f*ck this bullsh*t.’”
But in a new interview with Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, Ehlo says it was a “no-brainer” that he would guard Jordan in order to let Harper play help defense, which he was better at, and save his energy if the team needed him to shoot again the next time down the floor.
Then Ehlo takes it one step further: “Harp had never really talked about defense or guarding people. He wasn’t a bad defender, I will give him that much, but I think those years with the Bulls where he got those championships, he was definitely third or fourth fiddle, so all of a sudden he becomes this lockdown defender, apparently. I don’t really remember him during our time wanting to play defense that much. He kind of shocked me with those comments, saying he wanted to guard Michael.”
No one except the two men involved (and maybe Wilkens, who’d be fantastic to hear from on this) can know who said what in a playoff series 30-plus years ago. However, Ehlo had better length and mobility to contest what the Cavaliers knew would likely be a jumper, whereas Harper is more of a strongman on defense.
It’s easy for Harper to say now, based on how things played out, that he pleaded to defend Jordan all those years ago. But despite all the times this shot has been discussed by NBA fans since 1989, the question of whether it should have been Ehlo guarding Jordan never really comes up. That was his role on those Cavs teams, and it seems like maybe Harper’s frustration is what came through in The Last Dance, rather than a clear memory of history.
“My life is about joy, it’s about happiness,” Bill Walton tells me, seconds after I introduce myself.
So began my 45-minute phone conversation with my lifelong hoops hero in advance of his Intergalactic Bike for Humanity event, benefitting victims of coronavirus and frontline healthcare workers. The ride — which was taken solo or even on exercise bikes, rather than in a massive group last weekend — ended up raising $100,000 for various charities. In classic Walton fashion, it also raised a whole ton of good vibes.
Depending on when you were born, you might need a little clarity on who exactly Bill Walton is. Two time NBA champion? Yup. A real-life legend of the hardwood? Absolutely. A seven-foot-tall redheaded icon of the counterculture? That too. He’s also a man who once appeared on ESPN wearing an Uncle Sam costume and saying “Marijuana should not be a schedule one drug.” A true original if ever there was one.
Through it all, Walton has been something of a modern philosopher who teaches by example and leads through action, bringing himself back from health disasters (Back From the Dead, as his autobiography is titled) 20 times throughout his 67-year lifetime. So how is he spending his time during the quarantine? Is he just sitting in his teepee listening to Jerry Garcia? No. I mean yes, he’s still listening to Jerry. For sure. And probably visiting the teepee. But he’s also doing something. He’s helping the people who need help the most. Raising money through his foundation thanks to more than 1,500 riders from all over the world.
His philosophy, though he’s never outright said it, (Walton eschews boxes and labels the way jam bands eschew three-minute song structures) is one of aggressive gratitude.
“I’m the lucky one,” he repeats during the call. “Just think about how lucky I am in my own life to have the parents that I did have, the childhood that I did have, the coaches that I had, the teachers that I had, the teams that I played for, and heroes and role models that I chose.”
Walton laughs when speaking of his college coach — perhaps the most famous coach in any sport ever.
“I thought everybody had a John Wooden,” Walton says. “Then I turned 21, joined the NBA, and everything changed.”
Wooden was also unflaggingly positive and solution-oriented. The coach would surely appreciate how his most eccentric superstar has refused to take the world’s current crisis sitting down. Despite the fact that Walton has also been affected by COVID-19.
“Everything in my life on the public side has all evaporated,” Walton explains. “I had the honor and privilege of working for ESPN, the Pac-12 Network, and I’m out there a lot on the corporate circuit … all that is gone. The deviation, the evaporation, the countless millions of jobs that have been lost. But this is the 21st time that I’ve had to start over and the first and only time that I’ve been healthy. So I’m ready to go.”
Though his first virtual bike ride is over, the Bike for Humanity rides on. And there will be more rides and more opportunities to give in the future. Walton makes it clear that he sees this as a new part of his larger mission.
“I was not the type of basketball player who waited. I was not waiting for the ball, waiting for the game, I was ready to get going,” Walton says. “So I’m not waiting now. I’m ready to go. I’m doing something about it. Bike for Humanity.”
On our call, Feeding America, Father Joe’s Villages, and Champions for Health all get shoutouts from Walton as organizations that would benefit from the funds he raised. He also highlights #GetUsPPE — a nonprofit working to get supplies to the frontline workers who need them most.
“This might be the most serious and daunting opponent and challenge we’ve ever faced,” Walton says. “We have no idea how this is going to play out and so, being a man of action, I say we gotta do something. First, we’re looking to get the health care professionals the equipment they need. Imagine going to a basketball game and there not having a ball. Imagine me broadcasting a game and not having a mic!”
“Dave Pasch might enjoy that,” I say, referencing Walton’s straight-laced, often seemingly-annoyed play-by-play partner. “But the rest of us wouldn’t.”
“He’s welcome to join our team,” Walton responds with a gravely chuckle. “This is a group of volunteers. A grassroots campaign that believes in the power and value of sports. Really, it’s about service. And that element of ‘what we can do to help?’”
Honor. Communal sacrifice. Discipline. Old fashioned ideas that — like making a sourdough starter — seem to be circling back around in these challenging times.
I mention a conversation I had with my cousin who told me that the self-isolating with his family had made him aware that he wasn’t living right pre-COVID. He was working too much, for too many long hours, and not spending enough time with his family. Like he had blinders on. All that’s changed now. Later, I tell Walton I’ve taken the lyric from a song of Lukas Nelson as my mantra — when he said “turn off the news and build a garden.”
“I love Lukas,” Walton says. “I’ve had the pleasure of being with him in a very spiritual and casual setting and what a great job Willie has done with him, what a great guy.”
Later in the conversation — in which I ask exactly four questions total — Walton offers this gem: “What we learn from tragedy, what we learn for adversity is really the true definition of who we are is what happens when the ball bounces the other way. And it really has done that now, so as we try to build a better tomorrow we’re also seeing a lot of goodness out there. A lot of kindness.”
Getty Image
If Walton was looking for someone to be energized by his words about solidarity, community, and sacrifice, he found it in me. As I mentioned, Bill Walton is my inspiration. Literally. He inspired me to take Toni Morrison’s sage advice and write the book I wanted to read. A book genre that did not exist. A mystery thriller based on two college basketball announcers who seem to annoy the sh*t out of each other.
Yes, I’m talking about a book where basketball legend Bill Walton and his play-by-play partner Dave Pasch solve deadly serious mysteries. But in a funny, absurdist way. I called this mystery series, aptly, The Bill Walton Mysteries. Book one, Friend of the Devil, came out last year. Book two, Fire on the Mountain, was released the week that the NBA season was canceled.
At some point in our conversation, I know I have to share this information.
“To be clear Bill, I am the guy who spent the last two years writing two mystery books starring you and Dave Pasch.” I say, as we discuss John Wooden. “I don’t know if you’ve heard about them or not.”
“I have heard and I am flattered and honored,” Walton responds, giving my life its creative highpoint in just a few words.
Emboldened and drawn to connect the threads that we’d been discussing back to the larger pandemic, I ask Walton how he deals with fear.
“I have learned, over the course of the last 50 years, that when you’re afraid, when you’re scared, that is an emotion of what you’re thinking and feeling,” Walton says. “And our bravery, our courage, our confidence comes from work. From activity and action. So when I wake up in the middle of the night and I’m just sitting there waiting and waiting and I’m starting to get scared and I lose my confidence. Get to work. Get up and do something! I always look for a possibility where I can make a positive contribution, where I can help move the world forward to a better place, and then I’m always trying to live a life in service to others. So when COVID-19 decimated the world, I looked back toward the path that I’ve used, in all my times starting over.”
“What’s that?” I ask.
“One, what’s the goal?” he says. “Identify the goal, the dream, the vision. Two, pick a teacher, pick a leader. Three, join a team. Four, immerse yourself in the culture of the team. Five, build your personal foundation and then live a life of honor, sacrifice, and discipline because that’s what makes a group’s work successful.”
Honor. Sacrifice. Discipline. Exactly the qualities that I saw in him that I felt would make him a great detective.
As for the virtual playlist on his bike ride, Walton gives an appropriately Bill Walton answer.
“I know the healing power of music,” Walton says. “I listen to music all the time, I have a gigantic collection and it’s on all my devices and wherever I am it’s always on shuffle. It’s amazing how the shuffle … which is just a thing. But the shuffle knows. Shuffle knows what you need.”
“And there’s so much sadness right now, and none of us got to say goodbye or thank you to John Prine, but the shuffle knows and the shuffle goes,” Walton adds, “and when it gets to the one that it wants me to hear sometimes I’ll just push repeat and it kind drives my wife nuts because I’ll leave it on repeat for sometimes three or four days, some times a week, sometimes a couple weeks. And the last one that I had on repeat was Jerry. Singing ‘Like A Road Leading Home.’ I can find it if you‘ve got a minute, unless you have to be somewhere.”
He plays the song over the phone. And recites the lyrics slowly, like a prayer or a benediction.
When the road gets too long And you run all out of song The pain gets too much For you to bear Turn around, turn around Turn around and I’ll be there Like a road, like a road leading home When the gray clouds start to blow You need someplace to go When you want some company That really cares Turn around, turn around Like a road, like a road leading home Like a road, like a road leading home …
“I’m the luckiest guy in the world,” Walton says as the eight-minute song winds down. And then, a few minutes later, “We will get by, we will survive, we are Bike for Humanity.”
Perhaps it was listening to my hero listen to his hero or Walton’s overall warmth and service-based nature, but I left the call believing in the power of the positivity he passed my way. And felt like it could perhaps help heal us. Like it might help lead us home.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
