My Back Pages, February 2025
New York, high-rise trousers, and Joni Mitchell
Welcome back to My Back Pages, a monthly digest of all the goods fit to print
I’m writing today at the tail end of a brutal cold I picked up somewhere in New York City. I can’t say it’s been pleasant, but all things considered it was a price worth paying.
I like New York more than I used to. My wife and I lived there for three years, from 2018 to 2021. Muddling through the pandemic in a shoebox Bed-Stuy flat left us with a bad taste in our mouths, but these days it’s fun to visit.
We had all manner of great meals: Miss Ada in Clinton Hill, Superiority Burger in the East Village, Paesano’s in Little Italy (more for the vibe than the food itself). We walked endless miles and popped in little stores and acted like tourists, traipsing from Central Park to the MoMA. Most importantly, we got to see many people we care about: friends, family, fellow podcasters.
This, I think, is the real difference. Coming from sleepy little San Francisco, the city feels alien and absurd and exhausting. It seems impossible that so many people live their lives in such a state, and yet they do (I did too, not all that long ago). But the company you keep can make it worth it—for a few days, at least.
Fit Check
I wore this on Friday, February 21st.
I dressed up a little bit this day on the occasion of a Jokermen appearance at On Air Fest, a podcasting conference/summit/festival/thing.
The topic of our conversation was “New York albums,” which we spoke about with Saturday Night Live’s James Austin Johnson. James started listening to Jokermen several years ago of his own accord, but he’s since become a good friend—the rare example of a parasocial relationship blossoming into an actual relationship. It’s still sort of surreal to see him pop up on television every week. Life can be funny.
Anyways, I look a little fancier than I would on a typical Friday morning. Podcasters aren’t typically thought of as well-dressed (for good reason), so I wanted to make plain that I had put some thought and energy into my presentation. At the same time, I wanted to avoid coming off as precious or affected, like I was playing dress up for a special day. Simply put, I wanted to wear the clothes that I wear every day but wear them well.
To do that, I relied on classic staples that should be in every man’s wardrobe: an Oxford cloth button down shirt and chinos.
Someday I’ll write more about the OCBD. For now I’ll just say that it is an ideal shirt; the more often you can wear one, the better. This particular specimen is slightly oversized, which makes it a bit more casual, and white in color, which makes it a bit more formal. Together, these two elements balance each other out.
I could have worn a light blue or striped shirt for something even more relaxed, but I liked the tonal look of the complete ensemble: brown jacket, khaki pants, white shirt. It feels tidy, almost edited.
The chinos are from an online brand I discovered last year called Casatlantic (thank you to Derek Guy for the tip).
Casatlantic makes simple menswear inspired by midcentury military clothing. Pants are their speciality; they sell four different cuts of chinos in a variety of colors, all with a uniformly high waist. These are their “Tanger” fit: wide leg, with double-pleats.
To me, these are perfect trousers. Color is superb—dig that rich warm khaki—and fit is exactly what I’m looking for these days. I have long legs and thick thighs, the result of years of cycling, so it can be difficult to find a pant that is both wide enough and long enough without tipping into the absurd. The high rise is the cherry on top. If you’ve never worn pants that sit at your natural waist before, I cannot recommend it enough.
The cotton twill can be bit stiff at first, but it wears in beautifully, softening and stretching as it learns the shape of your body. This is a relatively new pair—I already own several—but I can’t wait to put some more miles on them. These are pants made for you to live your life in.
On my feet, I wore Oboz Sawtooths. These are my daily drivers at home: hardy, supportive, comfy as hell. The grey on grey on black colorway is lowkey, which gives the blobby bio-GORP look some room to breathe. I think of them as my “Matrix shoes.” They remind me of something Morpheus might wear to the gym.
Full disclosure: these were not the shoes I initially intended to wear. I had two (more formal) pairs in mind for this occasion, but a footwear-related mishap forced me to reorient toward something more functional. I’m glad I did.
The Oboz fuck up the rhythm of this look, like a sudden tempo change in a song. They stick out, make you wonder why they’re there. They complicate things. A more complicated look is a more interesting look.
I will say more about my footwear-related mishap at some point in the future lol.
Finally, the jacket brings everything into harmony. The brown color and military-ish design mirror elements of my pants. At the same time, the silhouette marks it as something other than a simple combat jacket. It is soft and round and little bit billowy. It augments the shape of my person, improves upon it.
It is made by Lemaire, and it is one of the first real ~designer~ pieces I’ve owned. I wore every day during my trip, with every other piece I brought, from cargo pants and t-shirts to flannels and corduroys. It is a true companion piece, dependable as a partner.
Elsewhere
I was delighted to talk Joni Mitchell’s Hejira with Allison Rapp on her excellent Joni pod, Big Yellow Podcast. I’ve fallen deep down the rabbit hole on Hejira over the last several months—perfect record, perfect vibe, perfectly realized.
Joni is an artist that has orbited around the Jokermen universe for sometime, but I’ve never put in the effort to map her full body of work. I don’t have a ton of bandwidth for flexible listening these days, but it’s been great to fall so hard for a random record like this, streaking across my sky like a comet. Very much looking forward to further journeys with her. Don Juan’s Restless Daughter is already starting to thrill me, tho I need to keep my eyes closed while listening so I don’t accidentally glimpse the cover.
Pods
Free Stuff
This month on Jokermen, we hit Holland, a total masterpiece made under the most preposterous conditions possible. This is up there as one of the best Beach Boys eps we’ve ever done, mostly thanks to the “Is Mike Love a great artist?” conversation we somehow wandered into.
Our pal Steven Hyden joined us for a very special Never Ending Stories crossover discussing The Beach Boys In Concert, a brilliant document of the live Boys experience circa 1973. We had a lot of fun looking at the album through the NES format, even if the category titles didn’t come off quite so smooth.
I interviewed Mark Doyle about his recently-released 33 1/3 on John Cale’s Paris 1919. It’s an excellent entry in the 33 1/3 series — very stoked to see the man John getting some long-overdue love in the culture. Why don’t you go ahead and buy the book?
Stuff You Have To Pay For
I’m proud to say we authored another podcasting masterpiece this month: a mondo chat with Jake & David Longstreth about the greatest greatest hits record ever made, Endless Summer. A worthy follow up to the Lo Bros’ first joint appearance on Jokermen, when we all went Idiot Mode.
We’re back to regular programming on Never Ending Stories and boy does it feel good to be listening to grimy bootlegs from thirtysomething years ago. Salute to Steve for bringing us this excellent specimen from late ‘92: Bob in full double-drummer hard rock mode.
We also hit The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan in the second installment of our DO LOOK BACK series. Feels like we’re breaking new ground (for us, at least) in these conversations: heady, hearty, researched, and (hopefully) still loose. Very excited about future installments. Don’t You Dare Miss It, as they say.
Finally, our On Air fest appearance is available for anyone interested. Not the cleanest conversation we’ve ever had, but hell, it was a good time.