Jordan Swartz-The Rad Times #22

“I'd rather be a hypocrite than the same person forever.”- Adam Horovitz, Beastie Boys

One of the coolest things about humans is our ability to change and adapt. On the phone with my mom the other day she asked about a memory from when I was around 11, I had no recollection of it but it definitely didn’t paint me in a great light. A decade or even less ago, I would have carried the guilt of that memory with me for days, angry at myself for acting that way. Now, I’m able to recognize the situation of that 11 year old and the things he was dealing with and the environment he found himself in and I can be proud that that’s not the way I act anymore.

I didn’t have great holidays growing up; arguing family members, shuttling from house to house and parent to parent, all of it loaded in different ways and everything covered in a fine film of oily cigarette smoke and despair. Once I was of an age where I had any amount of autonomy, I stopped celebrating holidays, spending many years alone in an empty house, roommates and friends off with family for Thanksgiving or Christmas. A few years ago I realized just because the holidays sucked when I was a kid, it doesn’t mean that it has to be that way now. I spent this past Thanksgiving with two of my oldest friends, their son, and their extended family. I had a great time helping cook and joining in the general festivities. I will be in Scotland with my girlfriend for Christmas and New Years and I’m so excited to see the holiday markets and winter cities trimmed in lights, I’m excited to decorate our tree and start our own traditions.

If something isn’t serving you, you can leave it behind, you can change how you interact with the world. I’m able to enjoy and celebrate these times with friends and family now and not have them be migraine inducing endeavors, both because of how I’ve changed and how I’ve chosen to approach them. I’d rather decide to like something I once said I hated, than be the same forever.

Thanks for hanging!
Be good to each other.

I have new prints for sale (use the discount code TheRadTimes for 20% off), it’s a small group of photos from my travels over the last year. A couple of which were made last month in Westport, WA., I was there as the artist-in-residence at LOGE Camps. The work made there is part of an ongoing series called King Tide, about the PNW and human impact on nature. More of that work will be shared soon.

The below photo is one of the prints currently for sale in my store, as well it will be in a show opening December 18, 2025 at the Center for Contemporary Art in Abilene, TX.

I’m calling it now with only the slightest bit of a smirk but What of Our Nature is the punkest record of 2025. I came up on bands that had something to say and a stance to take, they instilled in me the values I still hold today. I haven’t come across any new bands that are taking on political, social, and moral topics in that same way, but this covers all those bases and more. Touching on themes of capitalism, cultural identity, mass consumerism, colonialism, and labor efforts, the songs convey a warmth and honesty I haven’t heard in a long time, and they’ve only grown in stature with repeated listens.

Taskmaster is a British game show where five comedians have to complete an odd mix of tasks, puzzles, and challenges, both mental and physical, and are often rewarded thinking outside the box. Season 19 was one of my favorite seasons in a while and it’s a great watch with an even mix of comedy and problem solving. A fun game is trying to explain this show to people, you really just need to watch an episode to see what it’s about.

Every few years a book just totally wrecks me (in the best way), the most recent being Cloud Cuckoo Land. I could not put this book down and I never wanted it to end. Doerr weaves together multiple narratives over the span of 600+ years, all united by an ancient text, it’s a story of outsiders who believe in something and where that can lead them in life, as well as a love letter to stories themselves. This one crushed me and I haven’t stopped thinking about it.

This is my favorite ad work I’ve seen in a long time. John Lobb’s 2024 campaign flipped the camera on the customer and photographed their shoes from the inside of the store looking out, passing customers window shopping their wares. It’s clean, concise, smart, and something all of us have done and seen 1000 times, yet it feels fresh and clever. You don’t have to complicate things.

Ruth Orkin was a documentary photographer who grew up in Hollywood in the 1920s and ‘30s. At 17 she biked across the country, photographing along the way and in the ‘40s she moved to New York where a lot of her best known work is from. Her work feels embedded in a time and place no matter where she is, holding a certain narrative quality that feels ripped from a film.

I’ve never been a big Cure fan. I’ve enjoyed the singles but could never find a way into the rest of their discography. A few months ago, I was shown their set from the 2019 Glastonbury Festival and it has been on repeat since. This video highlights how heavy and dynamic their music can be. Multiple instruments layered on one another and building, with the repetitive nature of their songs on full display, letting the listener sink into them, something that has never translated on the records for me. This is a great entry point to the band and has really made me a fan.