Niko Stratis

Hey everyone. Trying something new or this week, I took an opportunity to have a long chat with journalist and musician Jael Holzman, who alongside her incredible band Ekko Astral, just got off the road touring with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists and Idles. I wrote a little about their

I've been less than consistent with getting to these. I realize that I've been missing the occasional Tuesday here and there and this is me apologizing without ever once saying I'm sorry. I'm overworked, tired, a little burnt out. Gassy. And now,

It is easy to find despair in all things right now. I know this is an exceptional bummer and a helluva way to start a newsletter, especially after writing about Elliott Smith last week which led at least three people to write and say "hey, you okay?" No.

I'm prefacing all of this by saying I know I'm annoyed, and I'm aware of how often annoyed is the gateway drug to being annoying. Edging on frustration. I haven't had to think about gender for a long time, not in a

Let me tell you that I had big plans this week. BIG plans. A Tuesday newsletter. a Friday newsletter. I was going to write thousands of words, each one of them perfectly placed, no mistakes, no slips of grammar. We all have big plans and intentions, and just like the