Jordan Swartz-The Rad Times #25

Jack of all trades, master of none.

Scrolling through my to be read book list acts as a personal timeline of the things that have interested me over the years, and a large part of me doesn’t care if I ever read those books, it’s more about the desire to read them. I’ve always had varied interests and hobbies, I’ve been told often to niche down in what I do or pursue, but for me all of these interests are parallel roads leading to various destinations.

Pursuing these different interests and hobbies isn’t necessarily about the subjects or actions themselves, it’s the fact that I’m willing pursue them at all. Regularly trying to learn new skills and techniques, and honestly being open to failing, a lot and repeatedly, is what is of value to me.

The second part of the above quote usually gets left out but it may be the most important part- Jack of all trades, master of none, though often better than a master of one.

Thanks for hanging!
Be good to each other.

My collage series Keystone Service is installed at the Lancaster, PA Amtrak train station through May. The full series can be seen on my website.

I’m currently at work on two new zines and a rotating monthly print drop, as well as some personal studio branding that may finally see the light of day. More news on those next month.

Originally known for sparking the high end food truck movement with Kogi BBQ in Los Angeles, Roy Choi has gone on to do a host of other projects mostly food related. Broken Bread is the show that shines through for me. Much like Bourdain, Choi uses food to get his foot in the door and talk about larger cultural and societal issues; exploitation in the restaurant industry, gentrification, food waste, and a variety of other topics. He’s thoughtful and curious and gives his interviewees the space to speak openly and honestly.

A lot of 10 year old boys favorite band is KISS and I was one of them, thankfully I found the Clash and my life took a different direction, but for 5 decades they’ve been sinking their capitalistic comic book character, bland rock ‘n’ roll hooks into teen boys and taking them for every dollar they can. Chuck Klosterman is one of my favorite culture writers and in 2014 when KISS were getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame he wrote a deep dive on the band; their presence culturally and artistically, as well as for him personally. I’ve been thinking about KISS a lot more than I expected recently, with the state of all things. They were a brand and merchandise company that happened to release music, much like how we all now have to “play the game” with social media, as I’ve seen way to many artists say. If you don’t care about KISS (as you honestly shouldn’t, the only artifact I stand by is the movie Detroit Rock City) go read some of Chuck’s books, my personal favorites are Killing Yourself to Live and The Nineties.

One of the better documentaries I’ve seen in a long time, Look & See showcases Wendell Berry’s values and interests, more than doing a deep dive into him specifically. A multi hyphenate, Berry has long written about environmental causes and themes, and this documentary shows that in practice. It’s comforting to see others caring about certain topics but also alarming how long they have been caring about and fighting for those topics.

I’ve been following the work of Jersey Ice Cream Co. for almost 15 years and I get excited every time they release photos from a new project or leave breadcrumbs on their instagram along the way. They were one of the first interiors studios that I could pinpoint and identify that I liked, before that I just new I liked the broad subject of interiors. While not all of their projects do it for me (if you’re for everyone, you’re for no one) they’re all thorough and you can tell they’ve been created with care.

From so many years of living out of a bag and traveling, every item and thing in my life has a place, filmmaker Van Neistat takes this to the nth degree. The brother of youtuber Casey and a large facilitator in Tom Sachs early work (he directed Love Letter to Plywood (which you should watch if you’ve never seen it)) Van is the logical step between the two. The videos on his channel are honest and upfront about his own flaws and mistakes, while also highlighting his unique view of the space around him and his place in it.

This is a new section where I share other things I like but aren’t long enough to write a full section about.

Lights- “Alive Again” Every few years I get hooked on an album that is not in my normal wheel house (Beck Morning Phase, Lana Del Ray Norman Fucking Rockwell!, Purity Ring Another Eternity), this is one of those songs. I have no idea how I found it but it’s been on repeat for weeks.

For fans of thriller/ mystery books, I recently finished Oliver Harris A Shadow Intelligence and S.A. Cosby King of Ashes. A Shadow Intelligence is more of an espionage thriller with King of Ashes being a southern crime novel, both have a distinct voice and unfurl before the reader, the pages being laid out before you.

Speeed is a youtube channel started by a few of the guys who used to be at Donut. Not leaving car stuff too far behind they’ve expanded their purview and are now covering lifestyle, clothing, technology, and more. They’re fun and bring a light hearted approach to some topics that are hard to crack.

Almost Famous is one of my favorite movies and it’s loosely based on writer/ director, Cameron Crowe’s own life, of which he has now chronicled in a memoir. The Uncool charts Crowe’s time writing for Rolling Stone and Creem as a teenager and eventually going on the road with bands, and his jounrey into writing and directing movies.