It’s a simple yet sublime pleasure, and just thinking about it can make you feel a little calmer, a little more content. Imagine: You bring out one of the good rocks glasses (or your favorite mug or a special occasion tea cup) and pour a couple fingers of amber liquid (or something dark and strong or just some whole milk). You drop the needle on the jazz platter (or pull up a blues album on your mp3 player or dig out that mixtape from college). Ensconcing yourself in the coziest seat in the house, you crack the spine on a classic (or find your place in that sci-fi paperback or pull up a biography on your e-book reader). And then, you go away for a while. Ah, bliss.
In this series, some of NTSIB’s friends share beloved albums, books and drinks to recommend or inspire.
No matter what state your heart is in – broken, full of longing, drunk in love, just drunk – it’s likely there’s a song for you on Somewhere Else by Lydia Loveless, due out on February 18. I’m particularly fond of Really Wanna See You; it’s a song for the end of a long night – what you should put on and sing along with instead of sending your ex a text you’re going to regret when you sober up.
And now here she is to tell us about her current favorite book, record and drink:
Photo by Blackletter/Patrick Crawford
A Good Read: The Easter Parade by Richard Yates
You can expect anything by Richard Yates to be more than a little upsetting, but this book shattered my heart. I started reading it while staying at a friend’s house on tour, but couldn’t finish it before I left. I spent the next few days frantically searching for it in each town we stopped, and could think of nothing else until I found it. The story of two sisters for whom nothing goes right-or maybe everything goes exactly as it does for all humans-this is what it’s like to be a woman, told perfectly by a man.
A Good Listen: Ride the Lightning by Metallica
It’s tough to pick a “favorite album of all time” obviously, but I never get tired of this one (I’ll bet my band does, though…). It’s my favorite thing to listen to when I get mad and want to picture driving over people in a giant monster truck. Everyone does that, right?
A Good Drink: I’ve been really into making carrot ginger apple (and whatever else I have lying around) juice in my blender. I don’t always get to be healthy on tour, so I find making a juice I can chew at home makes me feel oddly smug and Gwyneth Paltrow-ish.
