Friday Fixations

What I’m into right now

Happy Friday, my fellow suffering beings. Each week, I share two things I’m digging right now (books, TV shows, movies, music, and the like) plus one online video of nearly zero cultural merit.

• Billy Joel: And So It Goes, on HBO Max. Growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s, Billy Joel was always around, crooning in the backdrop. He never achieved the emotional salience for me of, say, the Stones or the Beatles. Sure, I liked a few of his tunes, but he just seemed like a regular dude with a knack for songwriting. There wasn’t much mystique. I would’ve freaked out if I had gotten the opportunity to hang out with Jagger, Richards, McCartney, or Lennon. But Billy Joel? He felt like one of my Jewish uncles.

  Watching this excellent two-part documentary confirmed some of my suspicions. Joel really is just a regular dude from Long Island. But what I’d overlooked was the sheer scale—the towering achievement—of his body of work. This guy was writing hits in the ‘70s, the ‘80s, all the way up into the ‘90s, when he walked away from pop music at the age of 42. The film also surfaced parts of his personal story I hadn’t known: the depression, the alcoholism, the suicide attempt, the fraught relationship with his father. Plus, of course, the many highly publicized divorces. Highly recommend.

  

• The Phoenician Scheme: Every Wes Anderson movie is a delight. Some more than others, of course. Does this one rise to the level of Rushmore or The Royal Tenenbaums? No. Did I enjoy every minute of it nonetheless? Yes.

  

• Dad goals.

• Oh, one more thing… On Sunday, September 21st from 1-5pm ET, join me and Leslie Booker at the New York Insight Meditation Center in NYC as we lead a workshop titled, “Heavily Meditated – The Dharma of Depression + Anxiety.” This event is both in-person and online. Sign up here.

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