Lamp-posts and charm destruction • The Goodfellas of Ice Skating movies • The R&B-ification of Country music • Fuzzy slipper piano performance • Wasp sting triage • Sardine Museum

Aggressive charm destruction. First, it was the switch to white light LEDs outside my house. Then, it was the retrofitting of the historic street lamps at our neighborhood park. They removed the acorn-shaped glass bulbs and replaced them with mismatched LED hardware.

Apparently, the city of Chicago is aggressively eliminating the charm of city evenings.

I get it. LEDs are more energy efficient. Better lighting is directly related to less crime. But, we don’t have to live on streets that feel like dental work could happen at any moment. Right? 6-8000 kelvin is a bright, harsh light. Warming the light to a more natural, coffeehouse glow of 3-5,000 kelvin would transform the street’s tone from clinical to comfortable. 

The retrofitted streetlights above are particularly egregious. I don’t think we need to force heritage status on lamp-posts, but installing square hardware where organic shaped glass fitting once stood seems like an architectural crime. Is no one paying attention? 

How does one report an urban design incident? 311? Help me out.

I, Tonya is the Goodfellas of ice skating movies. This scene in particular, is riveting. The needle drop and sound design during Tonya Harding’s attempt at the triple axel is one of cinema’s finest moments. I found myself rooting for the anti-hero.  

Attacked by wasps. In the event that you find yourself swarmed by wasps, there is a protocol. First: run away. Second: protect bare skin with any material you can find. Do not jump in water. The wasps will just wait for you to emerge. Find a car or go inside, if possible. Wasps can swarm, chemically communicate with one another, and track their victims. 

It’s wasp season people. 

Playing a Steinway in fuzzy slippers. His real name is Jason Beck, born in Montreal, and he goes by the deliberately questionable name of Chilly Gonzales (the last name is a childhood reference to Gonzo, the muppet). He’s a producer and pianist who has worked with Drake, Peaches, Daft Punk. He’s a Guinness book world record holder for playing the piano for 22 hours straight. He counts Chico Marx, Franz Liszt, and Burt Bacharach among his influences. During college, he was a piano man at a Montreal bar. If you want to hear what Weezer would sound like in the style of Erik Satie, sample the above. I’m not really sure what to make of his character, but he’s something of a Zelig (or maybe an Andy Kaufmann?) of music production.

The coastal maine Sardine Museum is selling these great posters. If you know me, you know my fondness for tinned fish. Healthy, sustainable, great packaging. I was glad to see that a sardine museum exists and even more pleased to see that Smithereen farms has created a poster dedicated to this excellent food product. 

The R&B-ification of country music. Country and R&B have a long lineage of influencing and counter-influencing one another (see Ray Charles Modern Sounds in Country). But the integration of samples using older country music, a la hip hop and soul music, seems like a new trend to me. In this example, Sam Hunt samples Webb Pierce’s classic There Stands the Glass. Ostensibly this is a country song. The singer’s image, the lyrics, the vocals signal country, but the rhythm and production is far more R&B.

I can’t say I really like this song, but I do find it weird and interesting. I think Beyonce’s interpolation of Patsy Cline’s I Fall to Pieces in Sweet Honey Buckin is far more successful, but personally, I’m always glad to hear an exchange across genres.

From the back of a Harry Belafonte vinyl record — “You can buy today, without fear of obsolescence in the future.” 

A bold claim. 

—Michael Neault • Chicago • August • written in the early hours • Reply to this email with your notes