June Worthwhile Stuff

📚 Books
The Honk and Holler Opening Soon, Billie Letts: This is a lovely little small town story, chock full of eccentric characters creating family out of friends and then sharing joys and hardships as they come. It reminded a lot of Robert James Waller’s books - literary comfort food. (In case you were wondering, yes, Billie Letts is Tracy Letts’ mom.) Bonus: beautiful cover art by Wendell Minor.

🎶 Music
"Born Singer" and "Yet to Come", BTS: These two new songs from BTS's recent anthology album are instant earworms, even though they are only half in English. "Born Singer" is a perfect balance of BTS two main strengths: harmonies and raps. "Yet To Come" feels extremely personal and is a perfect expression of the group's current mindset as they simultaneously look back over the past nine years and navigate how to move forward while balancing their personal passions with being in the world's most popular music group.

"Blue Hour", TXT: I heard this song playing in a store and could immediately tell it was K-Pop. Turns out TXT is from the same label as BTS. I love this song's joyful, bubblegum sound that puts me in a good mood any time I listen to it.


🎤 🎭 Performance
Kenny Loggins & Christopher Cross: I won tickets to this SiriusXM "Yacht Rock the Boat" show which was literally on boat cruising the Hudson river from 41st street to the Battery. Even though it was a very busy week at work, I couldn't turn down the opportunity to see Christopher Cross and Kenny Loggins ON. A. BOAT. Despite the fact the the deck with the stage was sweltering and it took my friend & me 45 minutes to get off the boat at the end of the night, this was a completely amazing experience. Christopher Cross was as chill as ever, and Kenny Loggins is a force. He sounds fantastic (thanks to some recent singing lessons, per his new memoir) and his band is super talented and enthusiastic. Kenny played a tight ten-song set list that included his biggest hits from L&M to his 80s soundtrack hits to his 90s resurgence. I was mere feet away from Kenny, which, combined with the enthusiasm of the crowd and the heat of the evening, created a dream-like, pinch-me experience. Going to a Kenny Loggins club show on a boat is not something I’ll soon forget. 

Happy Birthday Doug: I am always in awe of a good one-man show, in which an actor can convincingly and clearly embody many different characters. It is no surprise that Drew Droege (the man who brought us Chloë) is especially adept at this theatre format. I am not especially familiar with the taxonomy of LA gays, but I still found this show to be delightful and hilarious thanks to Droege's wonderful writing and his nuanced performance.