The Monthly Missive #60
Plus-size dancers. Resisting optimisation. You'll never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you.
Eight years ago this month, I decided to start sending out a newsletter collating links to things on the internet that I’d found interesting.1 It’s been fun (and mortifying) to look back through them and see how my interests have changed with the seasons of my life. Whether you’ve been here since then or have signed up more recently, thanks for opening these little Missives in a very noisy world. Here’s to at least 40 more.
Writing
I’ve done some quick write-ups for the fantastic Melbourne record label/music community Spirit Level, taken from their Future of Music talks. You can read one about music NFTs or one about the mental health crisis facing musicians based on the fantastic book Can Music Make You Sick?
Reading
Ironically, I’m trying to spend less time on the internet at the moment.
As New Zealand emerges from pandemic isolation, citizens are queuing up to leave”
Batsh*t moments in Australian politics. If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.
Why are musicians meant to be miserable on tour to break even?
Watching
Last year, Lizzo was on the hunt for additional dancers to join her troupe of back-up dancers known as the Big Grrrls. She asked the usual agencies for plus-size dancers and was unimpressed when they told her that they didn’t have a single plus-size woman on their books. She put a call out on social media and the result is the Amazon show Watch Out For The Big Grrls, where Lizzo plucks more than a dozen hopefuls off social media and auditions them for the group. This isn’t your standard reality TV show though — Lizzo refuses to bully the contestants and doesn’t stick to the usual cadence of “evicting” a contestant every episode. It’s a really joyful watch and is a wonderful example of using this kind of show to showcase talent, teamwork and genuinely trying your best to improve. The preview below is edited in a really classic reality TV way and isn’t really representative of how lovely the actual show is.
I also really enjoyed the final season of Killing Eve, but I think my partner and I might be the only people in the world who feel that way. What can I say, being a professional assassin is a deadly job.
Listening
Liar Liar, a true-crime podcast about Melissa Caddick, the shonky financial adviser whose foot washed up on the NSW coast last year.
Normal Gossip, a podcast with people sharing juicy gossip from random anonymous people.
Speaking of gossip: I love Fleetwood Mac because they combine two of my greatest pleasures: classic songwriting and the hearing about other people’s messy interpersonal drama2. I only recently discovered the story around the Rumours b-side Silver Springs and this performance of it for their live recording, The Dance. Great song, powerful performance, great theatre.
#1 from April 2014. Some of the language has aged like milk, but my thoughts on taking career and housing advice from my elders and having children of my own haven’t changed. That EP I put out had some of my best songs on it and the cover of that zine is a picture of the Bogey Hole in Newcastle. When I took it I hoped I’d end up living here one day. Dreams can come true!
It’s my most toxic trait.