Recent Media Diet — October 2024

Last month, I posted about things I've read, watched or listened to recently, so I thought I'd come back for another round. Maybe we'll get to three months in November, and then it's a pattern!

Read

The King Street Affair, by Jon Sealy

Jon Sealy is a colleague in the PR and marketing field here in Richmond and also somehow has time to run his own publishing company and write novels (and be a parent), which does put into stark relief my inability to update this blog (though I keep pretty busy myself).

His latest book, The King Street Affair, is full of twists and international (and interpersonal) intrigue. It takes place primarily in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Having spent 8 or so months in North Charleston for my first year of college nearly 30 years ago (including occasional trips downtown and hanging out around College of Charleston and other settings in the book), it was fun to imagine spies running around the city while I was there as a naive 18-year-old.

The story in the book had tons of forward momentum and really kept me moving through the story. Sealy is also adept at meting the clues and revelations in a way that keeps you a step ahead of the characters without telegraphing the twists before he wants you to get them. Highly recommended read. The eBook is $3 on Amazon or Kobo (and presumably elsewhere... I read it on Kobo).

I'm currently reading the second book in the Stormlight Archive series I mentioned last month, Words of Radiance.

New on my to-be-read pile since last month (these things have a way of growing faster than they can be read, don't they?) are:

• The Demon of Unrest, by Erik Larson
• When the Clock Broke, by John Ganz

Both of these are non-fiction, though, truthfully, I did have them in my possession before the last post.

Watched

The Great Gatsby

If my Letterboxd is correct, I watched zero movies in the last month, but one thing I did watch was The Great Gatsby on Broadway. This is the third-ever show I've seen on Broadway, so I'm no expert, though I have seen (and played in the orchestra for) several musicals outside of New York.

While I was in New York for work, I happened to get out of a conference with just enough time to make it to a Thursday matinee a few blocks away, so I took a chance on a show I didn't know much about beyond a few clips of people dancing on social media. First the good: this was my first time seeing Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada in person (one of the two other Broadway shows I've seen was actually Hadestown during the original run with Noblezada, but she was not on the night we saw it). Jordan, Noblezada, Pauley and the rest of the cast's singing didn't disappoint and many of the songs were lovely. If you know the novel, you know the story is a bit of a bummer. My favorite part was when the band popped up back stage to serve as the band for one of the parties.

This maybe wouldn't be the absolute top of my list if I was going to travel to NY just to see a show, but I'm glad I got to watch it.

Heard

Opera and Groovin in the Gardens

I attended a free concert from Virginia Opera at the Garden at The Valentine Richmond History Museum last month, which featured three of Virginia Opera's emerging artists singing opera selections (and even a couple musical theater pieces). The Opera has a great season coming up featuring Carmen, Cosí fan tutte and Loving V. Virginia, an opera about the landmark Supreme Court case commissioned by the company.

A couple weeks later, I saw the band Guster with my friend Rob at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden's Groovin in the Garden series. We saw them at the National a few years back, and this was definitely a mellower vibe, maybe partly because of the rain earlier in the day or maybe because, as the lead singer kept saying, we've all entered the botanical garden phase of life. Unlike when I saw Ben Folds there a couple months ago, we had seats up nice and close and could see the whole show.

Podcasts

I was all prepared to say I hadn't picked up any new podcasts over the last month, but I realized that's actually not true. I have only just started listening to a couple of podcasts produced by VPM: their Daily Newscast and RVA's Got Issues. I recently joined VPM's Community Advisory Board, and as part of that, I'm trying to be a little more plugged into some of the locally produced media from VPM. I also almost forgot to mention a podcast mini-series that came and went since last month: The Wonder of Stevie, which came to me a recommendation from the podcast Strong Songs, is a brief six-episode look at Stevie Wonder's legendary run of albums in the 70s.

Music-wise, I've been listening to Clifford Brown & Max Roach, the 1954 studio album by the Clifford Brown and Max Roach Quintet because who doesn't want some Clifford Brown and Max Roach in their day? It's amazing to me how modern some of it still sounds 70 years later.