Reading, Watching

Often I am embarrassed to just love stuff rather than offer critical analyses of the things I read and watch. But fuck it. Here are some things I just love:

New Books

Manijeh Moradian This Flame Within: Iranian Revolutionaries in the United States (Duke UP, 2023)

This wonderful book examines the history of the left wing of the Iranian diaspora in the U.S., developing a theory of revolutionary affect in the process. Moradian is a wonderful writer and interviewer who combines analytic sophistication with an unusal kind of political and intellectual generosity. The book reminds me of Verónica Gago’s Feminist International—it draws on a specific history to consider the future of the global left from a feminist, queer transnational perspective.

Neferti Tadiar, Remaindered Life (Duke UP, 2022)

This stunningly brilliant book will break your brain and open your mind. Tadiar focuses on the life-making practices of migrant domestic and service workers, refugees, criminalized communities and dispossessed indigenous people to develop a theory of the surplus-making work of global capitalism. She adds a consideration of Global South artists and filmmakers to illuminate the ways of living that offer new possibilities.

Recently Discovered Podcasts

Talk Art with Russell Tovey and Robert Diament

The London-based actor and gallerist interview artists and curators for insights into the contemporary art scene. They also talk to friends, actors, musicians, journalists and other art-appreciators. The fabulous thing about this podcast is that it does not assume a high level of knowledge of the art world, yet the hosts do not dumb down their discourse to a pedagogical level either, They cover a broad range of art makers and practices, esepcially featuring women, queers and artists of color. The show is smart, funny and highly informative as it enjoyably skewers the pretentions of much art talk.

Couched

This is a podcast series of conversations between psychoanalysts and cultural figures with a lot to say about politics, social justics, art and the quest for sanity in a scary world. Recent episodes include “All Together Now: Reflections on the Covid-19 Pandemic” with Ken Corbett and Judith Butler, “Decolonizing Psychoanalysis: Intesections of the Interior and Exterior” with Lara Sheehi and Gail Lewis, and “Exposing Transphobic Legacies, Embracing Trans Life” with Jules Gill-Peterson and Avgi Saketopoulou.

Missed Performance

Pamela Sneed’s Juke Joint

I missed this! Sneed’s performance at the Park Avenue Armory was sold out, but I finagled a ticket and then couldn’t go. But I read all the reviews and listened to my friends raving, and I’m hoping it’s going to be produced again soon. Sneed’s performance is a tribute cabaret for legendary blues artist Big Mama Thornton. Playwright Stew also premiered a cabaret about the legacy of the juke joint at the Armory, and then staged a dialogue with Sneed. Watch for the return of these performances…….

Must See Television

Somebody Somewhere

Season 2 of this Bridget Everett vehicle just started and the show is … just … everything. I have been a fan of Everett’s raunchy cabaret performances for years, and then she goes and does something like this! The show reverses the usual cliche of the urban sophisticate returning home to the heartland, learning to appreciate the bumkins left behind. Instead, this show sticks to the mundane rhythm of family love and conflict, grief, friendship, failure, heartbreak, and the ordinariness of everyday queer life. The ensemble cast features the NYC downtown trans darling Murray Hill, and the gloriously talented Jeff Hiller.

Rediscovered Film

Chevela

I saw this amazing documentary when it premiered in 2017. I just rewatched it and appreciated it even more than during my first viewing. Following the life of Costa Rican/Mexican singer Chavela Vargas, the film mixes her widely famous interpretations of traditional ranchera with interviews and found footage. Vargas, a masculine presenting queer woman, is a complex subject and a difficult subject for documentarians Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi. They did not make an art film, this is a fairly conventional documentary. But they do an impressive job of showing us the stunning impact of Vargas’ performances, the barriers she faced in a male-dominated world, her own struggles with alcoholism and violence. The resulting film is “about” much more than Vargas’ legacy, but it makes its points with subtle power. And I had forgotten the role of Pedro Almodovar in relaunching Vargas’ career after years lost to alcoholism. Another ode to queer friendship ….