The TueDo List: Erykah & Jill + The Love Boat 🛳 + Karen Finlay
THIS WEEK
Grooving to the full Erykah Badu / Jill Scott Verzuz playlist and the missing sounds of New York. Watching Becoming, Season 2 of Dead to Me, and all of Sarah Cooper's TikToks. Looking forward to the Suzi Quatro documentary and 24 hours of Stevie Wonder on Instagram tomorrow to celebrate his 70th birthday. Celebrating the Pulitzers awarded to Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ida B. Wells. Appreciating life-long friendships and sincere apologies. Mourning Little Richard and Betty Wright. Having no opinions about Adele’s body. Thinking about “F*** the bread. The bread is over.” Laughing at this Zoom joke and especially this one. And loving this bear.
(Photo: CNN)
OBSESSED: The Love Boat
By Rosemary Darigo
In 2017 I was unemployed for a few months, and on a whim I started to recap reruns of The Love Boat on my Facebook page, to the unexpected delight of my friends. I stopped once I was working again, but in this Coronavirus moment, when cruise ships are now disease vectors and we all have nothing but time, I’ve started up again. I love The Love Boat. Partly because I love pop culture nuggets from a time when it was totally plausible to see Charo, Buddy Hackett, and Mark Harmon in the same hour of tv. I love that only in the mind of a '70s sitcom writer is a middle-aged, several-times-divorced, DTF cruise ship doctor a zaddy. The frequency with which Julie the cruise director pivots from a feminist making it in a man’s industry to coquette with daddy issues who wants to leave her job for marriage and motherhood is rivaled only by the number of fruity umbrella drinks at Isaac’s bar. And I could write a dissertation on the insane way the show treats race, class and disabilities. It’s a truly fascinating piece of our cultural history.
But bottom line, the hopeless romantic in me loves the possibility that a cruise really can solve all problems of the heart. Couples on the verge of divorce can remember what made them fall in love in the first place. Old married couples can break out of their routines and stoke the flames of desire. Young single ladies can meet the perfect guy and leave the ship with an engagement ring. You can even get in touch with your own emotions, like the time I legit cried at a story involving a couple separated for 40 years by the Holocaust who reunited onboard the ship. Besides, Charo alone makes this a wise investment of your TV time. I defy anyone to be sad when they see her sailing the seas of love.
(Photo: ABC)
TUENIGHT 10: Karen Finlay
(Karen Finlay at Alibi Bookshop. Photo by Lynn Landry.)
Age: 51
Bio: Karen is the co-owner of Alibi Bookshop in Vallejo, CA. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College, spent nearly 20 years in the publishing industry (Lonely Planet, Chronicle Books), and is the co-founder of The Mid-Century Supper Club Potluck, a yearly festival of questionable foodstuffs. She lives with her husband, Jon, and their two dogs.
Beyond the Bio: I did try to bake bread. It would have been a perfect field hockey puck. I'm trying every day to be grateful, to take everything as it comes, to remain positive, and never take anything for granted.
What makes you a grown-ass lady? I'm responsible, I have adult trappings, I'm glad I'm no longer young, I like the age I am, and I’m glad I've gotten this far. But I still get really excited about things and am not jaded, and it helps that I still have the same friends since first grade, so we keep one another young and mindful of all of our stages in life together. I guess what makes me a grown-ass lady is that while I'd still love to go roller skating, I have the wisdom not to do it..
Here’s her TueNight 10:
1. On the nightstand: Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil and Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore (and a two-foot-tall stack of all of the other books I want to read).
2. Can't stop/won't stop: Taking pictures of my funny little dogs, Dino Martina and Dorothy "Dottie" Parker.
3. Jam of the minute: The whole Matilda Effect album by The Corner Laughers, and Erik Satie and the Ella Fitzgerald songbooks have been lowering my blood pressure.
4. Thing I miss: My bookstore! My friends! Thrift Shopping! Fountain drinks. Sitting in restaurants. My old pants that don't fit now.
5. ‘80s crush: Timothy Hutton, AdRock, and sweetly fabulous new wave gay boys.
6. Current crush: My husband. Ever since we've been on lockdown, he hasn't shaved or gotten a haircut and looks like a totally different person. It's weird! Oh, and still AdRock.
7. Latest fave find: On my last jaunt to the thrift store I found some great vintage plastic bangles, a lamb cake pan, and a Cinderella Pyrex dish. But my latest stay-at-home fave find is, when you're making mashed potatoes, combine gold and russet potatoes together, and heat the milk and butter before adding them in. (Did I mention that I miss my old pants that no longer fit?)
8. Last thing I lost: My mind. And my favorite pair of glasses. They must be around somewhere, because I haven't been anywhere.
9. Best thing that happened recently: The best thing that's happened is bookshop.org. Thanks to this company we can do online orders and it's keeping the rent paid and the lights on. We are so grateful! The other best thing is hearing from our customers and friends about how much they miss the bookstore and can't wait to see us again. It's so good to hear, and makes us realize over and over that opening the bookstore is the best thing we've ever done, next to adopting our funny little dogs.
10. Looking forward to: Reopening the bookstore! Hugging my friends! Thrift shopping! Fountain drinks! Sitting in restaurants! Fitting back into my pants that don't fit! And especially being able to go outside, taking deep breaths, and feeling safe again, and the positive changes that will come from all of this.
Rise: The Midlife Mixtape
(L-R) Katy Perry, Jenny Lewis, Audra Day
By Nancy Davis Kho
With so much change, uncertainty, and sadness in the present moment, we could all use a little mood boosting right now. This playlist from our 2018 RISE issue features some tunes to help lift your spirits. As Nancy wrote, “A RISE playlist may not be a cure, but if all it does is help us uncurl from the fetal position and take stock of what we do next, that’s a pretty good place to start.”
Stay safe and positive TueNighters!
