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Dave Longstreth on summer music

As if there weren't already enough to love about Dirty Projectors--e.g., their last album, Rise Above--Dave Longstreth's new summer music playlist, commissioned by New York Magazine, is brilliant & charming & funny, and--most important--great to listen to.

To wit:

1. Jackie Wilson, "Lonely Teardrops"
"I've been looking for ecstatic voices, and Jackie’s got it. Once, while driving the family minivan on a summer vacation, my dad got a speeding ticket listening to this song. It made him drive too fast. Is there anything more summery than driving too fast?"

Listen to the mix, and read along with his annotations, here.

Culture QotW: Cheers!

Salma Hayek recommends Campari

Share a recipe for your favorite summer drink.

I can answer this one!

Lately, I've been enjoying a nightly Americano, made with equal parts Campari and sweet vermouth (I really like Vya), along with a splash of club soda and an optional slice of orange.

It's refreshing, but with a distinct bitterness, which I find I appreciate more and more nowadays.

"Something's not right."

It's a couple of months old, but here's Robert Forster writing about his latest album The Evangelist and his final work with Grant McLennan, who died last year.

He lived in a small two-storey tower at the back of a house, and I climbed the stairs to his bedroom, where he’d set out two chairs. He then played me three songs. Two of them were amazing, and one in particular, Demon Days, I immediately thought was one of the best four or five he’d ever written. It was a waltz ballad, and as he strummed and sang it, with a beautiful instrumental section included, I looked at him in wonder. And I’m glad that at that moment, as the room went still, I said: "For the next 18 months, I’m going to be writing just to catch up with you." He laughed, but it was true.

"Demon Days" is one of my favorite songs of this year. It's truly a McLennan song, and Forster sounds as if his voice is on the verge of breaking just singing it. So sad.

For the love of pork.

"I'm teaching this class because... well, I really like pork," said the instructor of the cooking class I took today [1]. And that's when I knew we'd all be okay.

And after eating what felt like a whole hog--a cuban roast pork sandwich; a mache and pancetta salad; a warm potato and sausage salad with arugula (I made that!); a pappardelle with pork sugo; a pork chili with cornmeal dumplings; a braised pork belly--after all that, I think that I can say, yes, I've had enough pork. Enough amazing, fatty pork. For today.

[1] "The Whole Hog", at Tante Marie's Cooking School.