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the worm in my brain is named sabrina carpenter

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Kelly Cutrone mantra of the week

What’s happening on my phone and computer:

• US Presidential hopeful RFK Jr. has brain worms, which helps to explain his pro-gun stance despite the thing with his dad. In other Kennedy news, JFK’s grandson appears to be a “staunchly” against his relative’s campaign, but his approach feels more Maysles brothers than, “ask not what your country can do for you.”

• Apple released an advertisement that seemed to imply they are responsible for the destruction of humanity? Weird flex!

• My neighborhood is the future that Liberals want: easy-to-access contraception and public transit.

• South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is getting attention for her new book, in which recounts an instance of murdering a puppy she hates. Instead of using this as an opportunity to highlight the malignant cruelty of American Conservatism, Dems went on a gleeful “owning” spree, posting photos of themselves with living dogs, as to say, “we have cleared the moral bar of not personally killing this one animal.” Here’s hoping that a strong commitment to posting cringe memes (as opposed to free healthcare or less war crimes) is what wins in November.

• The most “complicated” political situation is not the Middle East, it is the Eurovision song contest. I cannot find an article that accurately sums up the wild chain of events around this year’s competition, but the crowd favorite was booted after he reacted to a joke about how dead his parents are. I just know that as long as I am on the same side as the Irish witch, I’m right.

Tunes to start the week with:

Steve Albini died, which is very sad - he was pretty young and still cooking. A pioneer of hardcore and punk, a poster and a world-ranked poker player, the man lived a full life. He’s a complicated figure, with well-documented, and often vile, opinions from his youth - not to mention a band named Rapeman. Often credited as an original “edgelord,” he spent his later years loudly atoning for bad behavior and offering a sort of blueprint for rehabilitating nihilist Gen Xers. In the days since his death, I’ve seen some chatter about his problematic past, presented in a vacuum of nuance (aka the internet). It feels even goofier when placed against today’s values of individualism, identity politics, and a shallow politeness that is really just a hyper-awareness of the commerciality of one’s personal brand. To analogize, I believe with my entire soul that Steve Albini had a more positive impact on feminism than Sheryl Sandberg.

But as I’ve found in my own life, if you start out with punk rock principles, even if they’re contrarian or “edgy” in origin, you will end up at a place of compassion. His commitment to his trade (engineer, NOT producer) was completely devoid of ego. He wrote brilliantly, in his own voice, with a rigorous truth that eludes pretty much everyone else on the planet. He encouraged PJ to be PJ, put up with the Deal sisters, was generous with musicians of all genders/class/talents, and firmly held onto his nearly-Franciscan (or perhaps Fugazian) refusal of wealth. I know he would agree with the sentiment of “kill your idols,” so I would never call him one, but I am so grateful to have been on the planet at the same time as someone so virtuous, enlightened and kind, even if he had to work hard to get there.

Here’s a short playlist of my favorite songs he worked on. If you’re looking for a primer on his own bands, Pitchfork has it here. Obviously his stuff is not on Spotify, but if you need an idea of how fucking hard one guy can rock, just listen to this track. RIP Steve.

xx