My Back Pages, April 2025
This month in Ian Grant
Welcome back to My Back Pages, a monthly digest of all the goods fit to print
I’m writing from California’s beautiful central coast, on my way from San Francisco to Los Angeles for a week full of live music (more about this later).
A late-season storm system is blowing through this weekend, so it’s a bit grey today—tho fortunately no precipitation is forecast. A gale warning has been issued for Monterey Bay through tomorrow evening. It’s a good opportunity to wear tweed.
Typically I want to use this space to reflect on something interesting I’ve done recently, but I’m somewhat pressed for time at the moment, so I’ll just just state the following about the month that was:
I got a haircut. It didn’t turn out exactly the way I envisioned it, but it’s a significant improvement over the pile of hair that had been sitting on top my pate for the past several months.
It went to The Tonga Room, the greatest of San Francisco’s many tiki establishments, on my birthday. Drinks are expensive, food is a 3.5 out of 5 at best, and there’s a $15 cover charge past 7 PM, but it’s an incredible experience nonetheless: kitschy, civilized, delightful. A rare glimpse of the world that once was.
I saw Randy Newman live for the first time at a taping of John Mulaney’s Netflix show. Knowing we’re big NewMen, John extended Evan and me an invite, so I booked a quick flight down for the day. We only got three songs (“I Think It’s Going to Rain Today,” “Political Science,” and “Sail Away”), but it was a magical moment. Randy commands a room like no other.
Posts
I launched Hard Fits, a new interview series focused on menswear and the men who wear it. The first installment features a conversation with True Anon’s Yung Chomsky, one of the best-dressed leftist podcaster/fitness devotee/app developers you’re liable to find. Second installment coming this week with a pal from my little corner of the world of rock songs.
I also gave my own fit pic blogging its own home with Clothes Line Saga. In the first edition, I ran down the look I put together for an anniversary celebration with my wife: denim jackets, wool trousers, and dog-matched loafers. Next one coming soon, too.
Pods
Free Stuff
April was a great month for interviews on Jokermen.
I spoke with Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast and David Longstreth of Dirty Projectors at the beginning of the month. Lance Bangs hopped on to rap about MJ Lenderman, Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy’s REM project, and the Pavements motion picture, and Julia Cumming and Nick Kivlen of Sunflower Bean came through for a very fun one last week. And I was thrilled to spend nearly two hours talking deep Beach Boys lore with the one and only David Leaf in honor of his essential new oral history of SMiLE.
We also hit Dennis Wilson’s legendary first (and last) solo record Pacific Ocean Blue with our pal Jason Woodbury—first half free here…
Stuff You Have To Pay For
…and second half on Patreon here.
Beyond that, we’re in choppy waters on The Beach Boys series, from Bruce Johnston’s 1977 solo record to 1978’s demoralizing M.I.U. Album. At least we had the chance to unpack and appreciate the never-released Adult/Child, Brian Wilson’s outsider big-band sequel to Love You. Some things are just too good for this world…
And speaking of MJ Lenderman—the man himself came through Never Ending Stories for a breezy chat talking Planet Waves, the meme-ification of the Himbodome, and, most importantly, what the “M” in “MJ” stands for.