My Back Pages, January 2025

A new monthly digest

Through some combination of hard work, advantageous circumstances, and good fortune, I’ve managed to build a (very) minor following over the past half-decade.

Most of this following has come from the Jokermen and Never Ending Stories programs, but recently I’ve also been making space for other pursuits. I am writing for publications like Aquarium Drunkard and GQ. I am presenting and remarking on my photography. I am even, with some degree of trepidation, going to attempt a little commentary on “fits,” as you’ll see momentarily.

At the same time, my capacity to communicate with an audience has diminished, even as that audience has grown. Links are throttled to the point of invisibility on X, the Everything App. Instagram favors random video reviews of the most mid hamburgers you’ve ever seen in your life over posts from accounts you actually follow. Bluesky is mostly just annoying people. TikTok is too much work.

And so I face a dilemma: do I continue hollering into the void, or do I give up and simply pray to the gods of the algorithm?

Consider this an attempt to resolve the problem—a third way, if you will.

My Back Pages is a monthly digest that summarizes and presents all my recent efforts worth checking: podcasts, bylines, appearances, photos, and assorted mental flotsam. Part diary, part newsletter, part anything else. If this sounds like something you’re interested in, please consider subscribing.

On to the show.

Fit Check

Let me dispense with a few facts here at the start.

• Fit pics are generally silly

• Fit pic culture can encourage an unhealthy relationship with clothes and other consumer goods

• Just because someone posts manicured photos of themselves in a variety of outfits does not make them “good” dresser

• What a “good” dresser looks like varies widely between individuals; beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder

Now, to offer a bit of context: I’ve become more interested in clothes over the last several years. My Instagram explore page is chock-full of menswear guys doing the menswear guy pose. I read all of Derek Guy’s lengthy threads. I am a paying subscriber to Blackbird Spyplane.

I acknowledge this is all ~basic~ and does not afford me any particular authority when it comes to dressing. Still—I started podcasting because I listened to a lot of Chapo Trap House and Cum Town, and now I’m a professional podcaster. So there’s no reason not to have a little fun and give this a try. Maybe one day I’ll be a professional clothes-wearer, too.

It’s also worth noting that I want to approach the “fit check” from a somewhat-different angle. Most menswear posters prioritize novelty above all else: new articles of clothing combined and arranged in new ways. The worst of them seem to be human Ken dolls, cycling through endless new garments without consideration for how a given article fits into their wardrobe or jibes with their overall gestalt. Fits come first, utility second—if at all.

This can make for engaging content, but it doesn’t reflect the way most of us actually wear clothes: to live our lives. I want to talk about how my dress reflects my world, and why I made the choices I made. The looks I present may be less brand-focused than your average influencer, but they’re no less considered. Dressing well and dressing for reality are not mutually exclusive goals.

With that, my fit of the month:

I wore this on Sunday, January 26th.

I wore this because I spent the day working in my garden and walking my dog, both of which can be messy activities. Most of this fit is composed of a single piece: Levi’s overalls. I wear these overalls frequently. When I purchased them, they were solid blue through and through, but years of work and wear have put deep fades into the denim down my legs. This is the sign of a well-worn garment.

In general, I find that clothes look better with wear. Stains, tears, frays, and fades are physical reminders of the lives we lead; they explain, with a silent dignity, who we are and where we come from. Still, they can be painful to encounter, particularly on, say, a prized new pair of pants. But bibs like these only get better with age, and I relish any opportunity to fuck them up a little more.

Beneath my overalls, I wore a plain white undershirt. On top of them, I wore a Dickies work shirt. Casual layering like this lends the look a degree of visual interest; I find “the more layers, the better” to be a truism that generally holds. It’s also functional: the undershirt absorbs sweat, and the overshirt has deep chest pockets for tools, knickknacks, and detritus.

I also wore the hat I made in honor of Bob Dylan’s Triplicate album several years ago. It kept the sun out of my eyes, and the crimson color contrasted pleasingly with the various blues of the overalls and the shirt. I have a whole philosophy about hats, but I’ll save that for some other time.

On my feet, I wore Bedrock Mountain Clogs, a staple of my wardrobe. They’re easy to slip on and off, making them perfect for quick dogwalks throughout the day, and the thick Vibram sole stands up to any trail I may wander down in McLaren Park. They’re also made of a hardy nubuck that takes wear well. They look like Birkenstocks, but they’ve also got a distinct GORP flavor that makes them pop in any ensemble. A perfect shoe.

I also wore a watch. It helped me tell time.

Bylines & Appearances

I was delighted to start the new year off with an appearance in The New York Times discussing A Complete Unknown. It was an absolute pleasure discussing the film, the performances, and the man at the center of it all with the great Lucy Sante. Major namaste to Marc Tracy at the Times for pulling me in.

I also returned to the pages of Gentlemen’s Quarterly for a quick writeup of Timothée Chalamet’s latest Bob Dylan-related hijinks on Saturday Night Live. Shoutout to Alex Pappademas for bringing me back to the GQ crew after my previous investigation into Bob’s tweets. Double shoutout for letting the phrase “speedfreak swaglord Dylan” get through the edit.

Finally, I was honored to be included in Aquarium Drunkard’s monumental roundup of remembrances for the great David Lynch. It was challenging to put into words what the man’s life and work signify to me, but I did my best. Golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.

Pods

Free Stuff

We began this year of Jokermen with a wonderful interview of Josh Tillman. Josh is one of the great artists of our time, and his new album Mahashmashana was one of the best records of 2024. He’s also one of the great podcasters of our time, as he makes clear in this episode.

We rapped with Pappademas about a bonkers classic rock crossover: the night The Beach Boys jammed with The Grateful Dead. Alex is writing a new book about The Dead; look for it (hopefully) in 2026.

Benjamin Booker came through for an interview, as well. He’s back after nearly eight years with LOWER, a genre-bending banger that sounds nothing like anything he’s made before. It’s good music.

Over on Never Ending Stories, Steven Hyden and I debriefed on Chalamet’s SNL appearance. Who saw “Three Angels” coming??

Stuff You Have To Pay For

We reserve the first week of every new year on Jokermen for our annual Silver Jews episode. This year’s was a doozy: The Natural Bridge, David Berman’s dank, dark, brilliant second record. Photographer and fellow Bermanite Sinna Nasseri was kind enough to join us for the conversation, which stretched well over two hours. Sinna is one of the great photographers working today; between his coverage of ongoing climate disasters and star-studded celebrity affairs, he’s a must-follow on Instagram.

January was a huge month for Never Ending Stories, as excitement over A Complete Unknown hit a fever pitch. We kicked off 2025 with an interview of the great Paul Schrader—his story about taking Bob to a “hostess club” in Japan is not to be missed. A couple days later we rapped with our pal James Austin Johnson, who found time to play a bit part in ACU in between seasons at SNL.

We also launched our new DO LOOK BACK series, which will feature deep coverage of Bob Dylan’s immortal run from 1962 to 1966. Check DLB 001 on the self-titled debut.

In Beach Boys land, we covered the preposterously-named Carl & The Passions — “So Tough” with Aquarium Drunkard’s Jason Woodbury. This was another lengthy one, so we split it into Side A and Side B. Cuddle up with us.