Dear Kay,
This week’s picks are field-tested entertainments for the avid knitter. After all, this is the goal of Lazy Sunday: get your knit on.
To Watch
It is safe to say that nobody likes a fully committed knitting video more than we do. Katy Perry, you have met your match. Stephen West, you have our undying admiration.
Podcasts
Alec Baldwin is that combination of wonderful and awful, depending on the kind of day he’s having. His WNYC podcast Here’s the Thing is Baldwin at his most lucid. Here he is with cartoonist Roz Chast. Food for thought: The New Yorker rejects 90 percent of her submissions. Dozens of other conversations to knit to—Chris Rock will be my next pick.
Knitter Lori sends along “Squirrel Cop,” from NPR’s This American Life. The cop telling the story is so great.
Two Bands to Know
Oh, the fruits of Parents Weekend. Great to see the boy, even better to get hot music tips from my son and his roommates. The boys in Grays Middle are giving Mama Shayne an education in what to listen to.
Band Number 1: Vulfpeck. They are so, so crazy talented. Out of Ann Arbor and some mystical nether-region of awesomeness, they are the funkiest, soulfulest band I’ve heard in ages.
Here is “Funky Duck,” featuring a killer singer, Antwaun Stanley. Stanley is a speech pathologist when he’s not singing these totally amazing improvisations.
Another great song: “1612” is the passcode to his heart.
The Wall Street Journal reviewed their new album, “Thrill of the Pack,” which they produced for $10,000.
Band Number 2: Margarine. Wicked smart band from the Boston area. One of them is David’s roommate, Alasdair MacKenzie (top right!), who is encyclopedic about music (Beatles and Beach Boys among many others). You hear it in what they’re creating.
I don’t get how they can create music this textured and complex and simple all at once. So creative and inspiring to me.
[bandcamp width=400 height=472 album=1194361659 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 artwork=small]
Like both bands on Facebook. Or Bandcamp. Or Spotify. Or iTunes. Or whatever it is the kids are using these days.
Love,
Ann
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That Strphen West video is awesome. Totally changed the vibe on my morning walk with the dogs!!
Thanks Ann! I think I will be singing “1612” all day. Only makes sense since I’ve been singing the Stephen West song since I heard it last week. Glad to see you back blogging.
I feel exactly the same way about Alec Baldwin. Thanks for reminding me about Here’s The Thing – I haven’t listened to that in ages!
Only heard West’s so far. Thank you!! He’s too funny. You & Ksy have your work cut out fur your next youtube (or whatever it is you KooL gals post things on thee days.)
ANN
How could you miss this watch & listen that came out of CMAs in Nashville this week! Ok, I’m obsessed with it.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ADuUQT_fPCw
Just as good as Squirrel Cop is another classic This American Life, the first segment of “Fiasco” about a production of Peter Pan – dangerous to listen to while driving because tears of laughter may cloud your vision!
Thanks for the music links – Antwaun Stanley & Vulfpeck are pretty amazing, and three songs in at least, Margarine seems like perfect Sunday morning music. Music + knitting, this day is really shaping up!
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Thanks so much for the music! Love love love that Antwuan. Margarine’s good, too. I’d like to hear their next cd. They’ll settle in a bit more.
If for no other reason than the Stephen West video, I’m so grateful for your return to blogging!
OMG that West video.
Made my day with this. THANKs.
Still not getting no stinkin’ notification of new posts…so I have to endure the agony of checking the blog daily. Trying again.
Hi Michele! Thanks for checking in. I see your email in the newsletter list, which we haven’t activated yet by actually sending a newsletter. (We’re looking to launch the newsletter before long.) If you’d like a new post notification for every time we post, just click the “Notify me of new posts by email” option that appears in the Leave a Comment window. I’m not seeing your email in the new posts list, so if you’ve already signed up, might be good to try it again–and let me know if you don’t start getting new post notification!
Having a very MDK Sunday. Just cast on 276 stitches using the great tip in the post about Honeycowl while listening to Alec interview Roz. Thanks for the tip and link. So happy that you’re back to blogging.
Love you gals. So glad that Clara alerted us to your blog.
P.S. I made Absorba, the Great as a wedding gift two or three years ago for a friends son’s wedding. It never got to them (left in my car riding around in package for months) so I eventually gave it to my mom. SHE LOVES IT! She told me, “You know that bathmat you gave me? The one you never got to David and his wife? It’s the best bath mat ever. Ohhh yes!” So, I’m making another one for my neice…………..who got married the end of August. We’ll see who REALLY ends up with that one. 🙂
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Thanks for sharing the video
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Haven’t made it past the West fun squad yet. I’m a big fan of the zany fun and wild creativity that West brings to the knitting world. He is a force. Also a big fan of Chast, whose book on her aging parents is a must for those of us dealing with the same. And, needless to say, I’m a big fan of you two, but like someone else in this thread, I have been unable to make the notification thingie work, despite signing up twice now. (sad, whiny face here). Not a biggie, cuz I have you in my bookmarks, but thought you might like to know.
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Stephen West’s video is Awesome! Thanks, Ann, for turning us on to it.
LoveDiane
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ANN IT IS 2 A.M. AND I AM LISTENING TO ALL THE VULFPECKZ ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?
(The young people are better than the old people. I know it has always been so, but it still is a shocking realization. Thank David for me.)
put it in my pocket put it in my pocket
UH OH
xoxoxo
Thanks for keeping me “hip.”
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Thanks for the music recommendations. Loving Vulfpeck!
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🙂
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Thanks for everything!
I’ve been in a long recovery mode and your website and posts, etc. have given me the yearning for when I can knit again. Thanks ladies!