SOUNDTRACK: KURSTIN x GROHL-“Sabotage” (The Hanukkah Sessions: Night One” December 10, 2020).
Producer Greg Kurstin (who I have not heard of) and Dave Grohl (who I have) decided that, rather than releasing a Christmas song this year, they would record eight covers of songs by Jewish artists and release them one each night for Hanukkah.
“With all the mishegas of 2020, @GregKurstin and I were kibbitzing about how we could make Hannukah extra-special this year. Festival of Lights?! How about a festival of tasty LICKS! So hold on to your tuchuses… We’ve got something special coming for your shayna punims. L’chaim!!”
The first night is a ripping version of Beastie Boys’ Sabotage.
As the only Rock and Roll Hall Of Famers with a lyric about kugel, we thought it would be a shanda to not kick off this party with New York’s (and Abraham’s) finest…known by some as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedenego, known by others as Ad-Rock, Mike D, and MCA…known by their Imas and Abbas as Adam Horovitz, Mike Diamond and Adam Yauch… Beastie Boys!
Kurstin plays synth (the bass is not quite as cool sounding as the original, but is otherwise pretty spot on).
Grohl plays drums and sings. The singing is hilarious because he does his best Beastie Boys vocal style, including a tinge of an accent.
The video is done in one take, including a moment where Grohl drops his drumstick (the video mockingly points this out). But he manages to get it back without any real damage to the song
This is a fantastic introduction to this enjoyable new tradition.
[READ: December 11, 2020] “Must be Peopled”
This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar. This is my fifth time reading the Calendar. I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable. Here’s what they say this year
You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America.
This year’s slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.
As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.
It’s December 11. David Burr Gerrard, author of The Epiphany Machine, kindly requests that you un-tag him from that photo.[Click the link to the H&O extras for the story].
This story was hilarious and dark at the same time. It was an opportunity to live out a perverse fantasy and then to see what doing so would send back your way.
The narrator says that he and Kate often joked about ranking friends’ baby pictures from cutest to ugliest.
I mean, who hasn’t?
Anyway, Kate has left the narrator, so he is now going to start ranking. Publicly.
He begins by saying “Maryanne Jameson is the curtest baby on my feed Congratulations, Maryanne!!!!”
Within seconds many people have liked the post–primarily Maryanne’s mom and her friends. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 