2022 (Lists and Reflections)
Books, podcasts, movies, and other culture that helped 2022 fly by.
To wrap up the year here at JPW Blog, I thought I’d work up a quick list of podcasts, books, movies, and other culture I enjoyed in 2022. I didn’t limit my selections to things that came out this calendar year, though some timely releases are included. And because one must never not plug, I’ve noted a few creative highlights from the year too.
Looking for a list of my favorite records? Well, I don’t have much desire to create one outside of the work I put into Aquarium Drunkard’s Year in Review, which was recently noted for its “generosity of spirit” by thee godfather Jeff Tweedy. There’s plenty to check out there. Happy New Year, friends.
Jackass Forever
My first date with Becky Bartkowski was a double feature screening of El Topo and Holy Mountain, so “intense moviegoing experiences” are in the DNA of our relationship. Our experience seeing Jackass Forever, on a date celebrating our ninth wedding anniversary, was one of the wildest trips to the cinema of my life. Russian attacks on Ukraine began in earnest that night, which was something we didn’t realize after the movie, where we ignored our phones and watched a debased movie about funny people ruining their corporeal forms for our entertainment—as they have done steadfastly for many years—and we groaned, wailed, and gnashed popcorn with our fellow people. I left the theater cheered on by their ritualized misfortune, and learned of yet another war. Wars and new Jackass films—reliable constants for decades.
Columbo
Got very into the engaging antics of Lt. Columbo this year, a cop who hates guns, is made sick by violence, and always gets the killer, no matter how rich or powerful.
Also on my TV: Painting With John; Reservation Dogs; The Rehearsal; The Bear; What We Do In the Shadows; The White Lotus; Below Deck: Mediterranean
Sinéad O'Connor
She never betrayed her promise to the Holy Ghost. Though I’ve long admired her striking voice, this year gave me the chance to delve deep into Sinéad O'Connor’s discography—full of folky corners, standards, reggae detours, and post-punk hymns—and explore her own words through the excellent Rememberings memoir, and the largely compelling (though hastily wrapped up) Nothing Compares documentary.
Star Trek: Brave New Worlds/For All Mankind/William Shatner Actually Goes to Space and Does Not Have a Good Time
Growing up, my imagination was profoundly shaped by the space program and the sci-fi utopianism (eh, kinda) of Star Trek. So it’s been a real, though entirely predictable drag, to see the noble idea of space travel become a parade of “here’s a rich guy launching into orbit” stunts. This year saw an excellent new Star Trek program start and the continuation of Ron Moore’s (Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Outlander) great space race alt-history. But most importantly, the year gave us a deep reflection from the real Captain Kirk about going to space in 2021, returning not with a message of adventurous bravado and cheer, but instead death-rattled sadness: “Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna…things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will never see them again because of the interference of mankind.” As an unlikely prophet of environmental concern, Shatner boldly went there and was moved, even if his space daddy benefactor didn’t seem to care much.
Buddhist Bubblegum: Esotericism in the Creative Process of Arthur Russell, Matt Marble
Matt Marble, of the excellent Secret Sound and The Hidden Present podcasts with a deep and exhaustive look at how the remarkable Arthur Russell’s musical process was informed by his Buddhism and other esoteric interests: fire rituals, meditation, martial arts, mandala visualization, mantra recitation, numerology, astrology, and more. Compose to the cycles of the moon!
Other music books I loved: Petty: The Biography, Warren Zanes; Sun Ra: Art on Saturn The Album Cover Art of Sun Ra’s Saturn Label, Irwin Chusid and Chris Reisman; Some New Kind of Kick: A Memoir, Kid Congo Powers with Chris Campion; Infinite Tuesday, Michael Nesmith; Dilla Time, Dan Charnas
Other books: Uncertain Places: Essays on Occult and Outsider Experiences, Mitch Horowitz; Beyond the Occult, Colin Wilson; How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, Jenny Odell; Illuminations, Alan Moore
Weird Studies with Phil Ford and JF Martel
Whether comparing and contrasting the psychedelic horror of Mandy with the musical comedy of The Band Wagon, digging into daemonic creativity with Matt Cardin, riffing on Eno’s Music for Airports, Blade Runner, Evil Dead II, or just luxuriating in the idea of radical mystery, the Weird Studies guys—one’s a filmmaker, one’s a professor—deal in playfulness, humor, empathy, and gravity.
Other podcasts in my ears: Björk: Sonic Symbolism, Dad Bod Rap Pod, No Dogs in Space, Against Everyone with Conner Habib (recommended episode: American Cosmic author Diana Pasulka and Douglass Rushkoff in conversation with Conner); Jokermen; The Best Show with Tom Scharpling (a banner year for my favorite show and all of its Patreon spin-offs); Office Hours with Tim Heidecker, Vic Berger, and DJ Douggpound; Know Your Enemy; The Saucer Life with Aaron Gulyas; What Magic is This with Douglas Batchelor; Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff; Desert Oracle with Ken Layne
Creative highlights:
Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions
The seventh season of Transmissions, what a ride. We had on members of Sonic Youth, The Feelies, The Pop Group, The Hold Steady, Animal Collective, Spaceman 3, and Blondie, and more. We hosted occult-focused chats with Meredith Graves and Mitch Horowitz, candidly discussed the music industry with folks from Numero Group, Longform Editions, 4AD, and more, finally crossed over with the inspirational Kreative Kontrol podcast, and dug in deep on creativity with people like Kurt Vile, Haley Fohr of Circuit Des Yeux, Joan Shelley, Cate Le Bon, and many more.
Through it all, I heard from listeners who shared with me how much value they find in these talks, and how they appreciate the space they make. So very glad to be part of this thing, alongside Justin Gage, Andrew Horton, Talkhouse Podcast Network, and everyone who supports and funds us at Patreon.
Recorded by Austin Owen at the remote desert studio at Rancho Linda Vista in Oracle—same place Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey shot their gay western Lonesome Cowboys—in late 2020 and early 2021. What a fun record to make. Having been a fan of my friend Jon Douglas’ songs for 15 years or so, it was a joy to help him shape and bring his most realized set of them to life. Lots of guitars, plenty of rock moves, and sneaky lyrics from Jon that I always find something new in with each listen.
JPW, Something Happening/Always Happening
My “solo” debut, but really, it’s a stealth band record: producer Michael Krassner provides synths, piano, and outstanding lead guitars, Zach Toporek plays keys, drums, bass, and guitars, Zane Gillum (also of Kitimoto) plays bass, Laraine Kaizer-Viazovtsev offers up incredible strings. Plus appearances by Danny Frankel and Stephen Hodges, and a Lenny Kaye sample blessed by Lenny himself (tune in next week for a post about that). I’m honored to have this expression out in the world, and so thankful to those who helped me make it, especially James Tritten and Tracy Shedd at Fort Lowell Records.
We kept busy at WASTOIDS this year. At the top of the highlight reel: WASTOIDS: The TV Show. I was fortunate enough to work with a talented crew on this four-episode anthology of live music, stoner comedy, and lo-fi visuals. And to top it off, with teamed up with the great cult streaming site Night Flight Plus to share it. There was a lot more too: We helped launch the first-ever Band Shirt Day celebration in New York City, teamed up with Olivia and Kiefo Nilsson of the Harry Nilsson estate on a series of podcast interviews about their dad’s work called Nilsson Talks Nilsson, and we launched two recurring shows: The Spindle, with Marc Masters and John Howard, focusing on a single 7” each episode, and Click Vortex, in which myself and WASTOIDS mastermind Sam Means recount our online rabbit hole journeys. More to come in 2023.
Heartbreaker, Alexandra Martinez (Wax Nine): I listened to a lot of Tom Petty this year, finding new resilience and charm in his discography. For a few weeks, “Two Gunslingers” was my motivational anthem. I was honored to contribute a cover blurb to Heartbreaker, Alexandra Martinez’s collection of Petty-inspired poetry written in response to her mother’ Alzheimer’s diagnosis and while caring for her. Here’s what I wrote:
“Tom Petty’s songs are playing over endless personal scenes right now., the same kind of everyday moments Alexandra Martinez documents in this moving collection of poems. In them, Petty’s songs hover like classic rock ghosts, whispering between moments when life feels painful and real—like California is about to drift into the ocean.”
Records I helped with:
Jon Brion, Meaningless (Jealous Butcher): biographical materials, hype stickers, song notes
Watt/Baggetta/Kelter, Everywhen We Go (Big Ego): liner notes
Alex Izenberg, I’m Not Here (Domino): biographical materials
Damien Jurado, Reggae Film Star (Maraqopa): biographical materials
Martin Courtney, Magic Sign (Domino): biographical materials
The Special Goodness, Land Air Sea (Hello/Epitaph): biographical materials, licensing, project coordination)
Caleb Dailey, Pale Mornings: Beside You Then (Moone/Alien Transistor): biographical materials
Dad Weed, High Time (Lil Hatchet): biographical materials
José Medeles, Railroad Cadences and Melancholic Anthems: A Drummer’s Tribute to John Fahey (Jealous Butcher): biographical materials, hype stickers, song notes