What we're listening to Michael Popke, Isthmus contributor:
Singer-songwriter/guitarist Sean Michael Dargan, one of
Madison’s hardest-working musicians, self-quarantined in his home studio and recorded the feel-good record we need to hear right now. Maximum SMD Vol. 1 oozes with catchy pop-rock ditties that pay homage to summer love (“Last Day of Summer”), dangerous dalliances (“Lover’s Dynamite”), racing in the pool (“World’s Second Fastest Swimmer”), and Dargan’s son (“Liam Sleeping Sideways”). Locals Aaron Scholz, Bill Guetschow and Joe Lampe also contributed to these seven songs, which bounce by way too fast. Vol. 1 drops Friday, Dec. 4, but here’s hoping SMD releases Vol. 2 PDQ.
What we're pondering Linda Falkenstein, Isthmus features editor:
In the Nov. 23 issue of The New Yorker, historian Jill Lepore speculates on the prospect of a Donald J. Trump presidential library in an article called "Will Trump Burn the Evidence?" that focuses on the history and legalities of presidential records preservation. The cheeky devils behind the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library website have fully imagined a future library for 45, complete with sleek modern architecture and a COVID Memorial with requisite reflecting pool. With a straight face but tongue firmly in cheek, the creators of this fake library do not flinch at enshrining the grim realities of the last four years. There are plenty of exhibits to explore. Before leaving, don't forget to visit the Grift Shop! Site designers funnel visitors, eventually, to links to a number of liberal and progressive causes that deserve support.
What we're reading Bob Koch, Isthmus calendar editor:
On a cloudy 1969 afternoon in the South Brooklyn projects, Cuffy Lambkin sets in motion a series of events with an action he doesn't even remember taking. That's just the first page of Deacon King Kong, the latest novel by author and musician James McBride
(winner of the National Book Award in 2013 for The Good Lord Bird). I won't reveal any more plot details, because this beautiful and sad tale of how everyone's welfare in a community is connected — whether they know (or admit) it or not — should be allowed to unfold on its own. McBride takes a set of characters from New York's melting pot and brings them to finely drawn life; as they learn about themselves during the compact narrative, the reader ends up caring very deeply about them.
What else we're listening to Jane Burns, Isthmus contributor:
For guys who aren’t talking to each other, the surviving members of Joy Division never seem to
turn down a chance to talk about that band and its successor, New Order. That’s great, because it’s one of rock’s great stories, told in the new podcast, Transmissions (available on multiple services). The three (particularly bass god Peter Hook) are master storytellers with keen insight about success, tragedy, regret and reinvention. That’s been fodder for two movies (Control and 24 Hour Party People) but this history is the real deal. Maybe love did tear them apart, but fans keep getting gifts like this.
What we're watching Michael Muckian, Isthmus contributor:
It’s the final week of the HBO miniseries The Undoing, which is all about New York's social elite behaving badly. Nicole Kidman stars as successful psychologist Grace Fraser, whose husband, superstar pediatric oncologist Jonathan Fraser (a road-weary Hugh Grant) has been carrying on an affair with Elena Alves (Matilda De Angelis), the erotically charged mother of one of his patients. Elena winds up dead during week one, and by week five it seems that everyone other than the Frasers’ doorman is on the suspect list. Penned by veteran screenwriter David E. Kelley and based on Jean Hanff Korelitz's novel You Should Have Known, the series toddles on perhaps a bit too long, but features strong performances, including Donald Sutherland as Grace's father. No spoilers, because I haven’t seen the final show (which aired opposite the Packers game Sunday night) yet!
