Spring has sprung here in New York and despite a mild winter it’s still been a welcome change. Here are a few other things I’ve been grateful for as of late.
Little Richard: I Am Everything
I heard about this new doc the other day and then I was unexpectedly blessed with a free window of time to go see it. In case you didn’t know, there is basically no rock and roll without the courage and creativity of this complicated and beautiful queer man. From The Beatles to The Rolling Stones to James Brown and the list goes on and on until this day, all that vibrant and flamboyant balls to the wall bravado and musicianship flowed through this incredible creature. Do see this film if you can!
The Secret to Superhuman Strength
I always take a spin around the graphic novel section when I’m at the library to see what’s new and the last time I was there I was lucky enough to stumble upon this one from the exceedingly talented Alison Bechdel (who created the very excellent Fun Home and Are You My Mother?) . This book uses the conceit of Alison’s lifelong obsession with fitness to tell a deeper story about mental illness, alcoholism, and how we process the hard shit in life. I doubt I will read a better book this year.
Jorge Ben Jor’s back catalog
Jorge Ben is an institution in Brasil. AfroBrasilian by way of Ethiopia, he makes beautiful jangly, funky, and sometimes psychedelic music that I am enjoying exploring. I came to him via the fantastic projeto Querino podcast (sorry its only in Portuguese), which is doing a lot of heavy lifting to question and correct the historical record around black people’s GARGANTUAN contribution to Brazilian society.
Camille E. Acey 
Leave a Reply