Wilfrid

$7.50 for an egg. That's like $15 for an omelette. End of the world.* I forgot to look for fiddleheads. Anyone seen them yet? *Satire.

No, Hannah, protein is not "venerated" by people on the keto diet. In fact, it's possible to eat too much protein in quest of fat. As for protein bars, every one I look at is way too high in carbs for anyone on keto. There are very good keto bars out there (high, of course, in fat). https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/04/28/the-quest-to-build-a-perfect-protein-bar

RAAAAMMMMPPPPSSSS seem reasonably priced at $6 a bunch. Not like eggs. A bunch of eggs is "expensive."

Just trying to open a bottle of hoisin sauce and my knife skips off the foil wrapper and I stab myself. Not badly. Really trivially. But I sit here in the odor of tea-tree oil, pressing the wound, and thinking thanks universe. But the dirty secret is that I used the knife because I didn't want to mess up my nails.

Circa 1976, Dr Feelgood.

But as it is...

I agree. He certainly stood out as a stage performer, not least because of his massive size, but a lot of bands went the suit and tie route in those days.

That's sad. I was talking about him with a musician/bartender a couple of nights ago. I first saw Pere Ubu at the (new) Marquee Club in London when they were still essentially the band that made Dub Housing. Subsequent versions I saw (at Mercury Lounge, Warsaw and elsewhere) seemed more ad hoc combinations of Thomas and various musicians. I have a feeling I saw him solo once. I am about to play "Kick Out the Jams" -- I did not expect that. A major songwriter of great variety. Also a very funny man. From memory: 1. With the audience yelling for various songs at the Marquee. "Let me explain how this works. We play our set as planned, then we walk off, you all shout for more, we walk back on. Then it is request time. If you don't like that we will play one of our artistic numbers, then nobody will be happy." 2. Response to placing an order for merch on his website. "What we are good at is writing and recording music. What we are not good at is schlepping down to the post office. Please order from here only as a last resort." Also known as Crocus Behemoth. Here's my favorite collab.

Current Francie menu: WHITE ASPARAGUS vin jaune, spring vegetables, agridoux

I can imagine that. Sadly, Ana never took me up on the suggestion they should try Jonathan Richman's "Pablo Picasso" for an encore.

I have to share this. Of interest only to anyone who really knows Wuthering Heights, so this is not going to reach a huge audience. Michaela, in 90 minutes, recounts the entire novel, using an investigation board and post-its, and it's fiercely accurate, very funny, she's right about how monstrous the characters are, and she drops her Kate Bush at the right moment. Is this obsessive? If you care at all, grab ten minutes.

By chance I was thinking of the "Vanishing New York" theme today and reflecting that changing is better than vanishing. Old places, buildings and experiences that are being erased once replaced what came before them. This may or may not console.

I remember trekking down to John's Roast Pork (sorry, have nothing new).

I was thinking their first Japan show was tonight, but it turns out Osaka is not on EST and it's tomorrow there. Some clips on IG.

Fragility. The Naked Lunch was a bit beaten up, but my Don Quixote that I must have had since I was a kid is very frail. Turning the pages very carefully.

I continue to build their audience. One of my friends is a Phish fan. We were talking about the New Yorker profile and I happened to mention Hinds and shared the Denton video. She then found them on Spotify. "They're great," she said, correctly.

Wuthering Heights is very special, but after nearly three hundred pages of people being very, very sick and/or very, very angry I need some light relief. Paul Bowles stays on hold therefore while I dip into Cervantes. I don't plan to read 900+ pages of Don Quixote; the book's structure makes it very easy to pick out and re-read favorite episodes. And yes, it's still funny.

I remember getting thrown out of Rockwood. Not just me. A crowd of us were there to see a band we knew and we would not keep quiet during the rather solemn solo singer-songwriter preceding them. The band got thrown out too.

Funny? Nasty. 900 dead including countless children and it wasn't Kool-Aid. How is this getting good reviews?

Nobody out there late?

I tried The Studio but shut it down halfway through episode 1. Story just too stupid for the show to be funny. Am I wrong?

Yes. It's a pattern familiar from my youth as successful bands migrated from the club circuit to boring and more expensive seated venues. Ana and Maria have arrived in Japan. I assume along with CC.

I'd be interested to learn what others make of this show that has just opened at the Guggenheim. I was familiar with some of his paintings from the Alvin Ailey show at the Whitney and had read the New Yorker profile, so I was keen to get in early here. I did like what one might loosely call "paintings" (usually materials involved other than paint and canvas). But his practice is extensively multi-faceted: video, performance, altered furniture, and lots of bookshelves displaying, yes, books (well chosen), but also potted plants and all kinds of stuff. And mirrors with slogans sprayed on them. I was torn between admiring the "Anxious" paintings and the "Soul" paintings and other work of that kind, while my response to the wild mix of other objects was not so much aesthetic as, oh yes, I see your point.

Interesting. They have started working on new songs, but also talking about retiring some of the older songs, which doesn't make for a longer set. Would a set of 90 minutes to two hours inevitably be less energetic? Hair, make-up, wardrobe: There's no consistency. Ana can look like she's just stepped away from a modelling shoot; Carlotta in baggy t-shirt with her space buns coming unravelled. Of course, purely selfishly, I like them playing small venues where I can get to the front and track them down afterwards.

By coincidence, I saw a statistic this morning that 53% of events at NYC nightclubs go beyond 3am compared with 70% ten years ago.