AGING BRINGS WITH IT A NUMBER OF STARtling indignities and difficult internal monologues, and while we have our elders, decades of American literature, and countless two-guystalkin' podcasts to help guide us, there are some things each of us has to face alone.
What I am saying is that I did not expect to be the guy who rocked a little too hard at the Toad the Wet Sprocket show.
I wasn't the only one. There is something in the air about that medium-mope, wounded-dude mid-'90s music moment: Counting Crows, Collective Soul, Soul Asylum. Somehow I'm hearing it more now than in 1996, my glory days of wearing a Kangol hat backward and trying to use hype as an adjective. The soul-patched soundtrack of alternative radio, a revolution that was ignited at least partly by our disdain for classic rock, has become our new classic rock.
It's IPA-core-soothing, warming, heavy but not too-and it might be our last classic rock.
TOAD THE WET SPROCKET WAS PLAYING the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles last summer, with Gin Blossoms and Barenaked Ladies, a package tour so solidly middle-aged it could have been sponsored by Maybe Signing Up for a 10K This Year, a scene that with a few tiny adjustments could have been identified by the word megachurch. We were all doing it, and we were all surprised: sincere, blissful, plastic-pint-glass in-the-air howling. Deep, diaphragmatic whoos, even a yessss. Flesh becomes water, wood becomes bone? You're goddamn right it does, Toad. Here we are now, entertain us-and get us home at a sensible hour.
Esta historia es de la edición March 2023 de Esquire US.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición March 2023 de Esquire US.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
This Guy Stood Up to Trump - Georgia's Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, rebuffed Donald Trump's demand to find” votes for him in 2020—and received death threats. Now Trump is back on the ballot, and the pressure is mounting from all sides. Can he once again deliver a fair election?
Georgia's Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, rebuffed Donald Trump's demand to find” votes for him in 2020—and received death threats. Now Trump is back on the ballot, and the pressure is mounting from all sides. Can he once again deliver a fair election?Brad Raffensperger is rattling off statistics while we wait. It's just after 4:00 P.M. on Tuesday, May 21, and the Georgia secretary of state is standing outside a small conference room in an underground bunker on the east side of Atlanta, where he and his staff gather on election days. A couple dozen workers are spread around an open seating area, quietly fielding phone calls and staring at their computer monitors. With its fluorescent lights and gray carpet, the place has the muted feel of a regional sales office. The secretary, though, is energized. As the official in charge of overseeing elections in his state, Raffensperger is always ready to dive into the details.
The (Shocking! Twisted! Brilliant!) Mind of Zoë Kravitz - Zoë Kravitz directorial debut Blink Twice
Kubrick. Tarantino. Peele... Kravitz? With the thirty-five-year-old's directorial debut the deeply unsettling psychological thriller Blink Twice she is redefining herself as a creative force. Over two days in New York, she lets us into her world.
Vote or Die - I'm a Black man in Arizona participating in the most consequential election of my lifetime whether certain white men want me to or not.
You knew some vote-or-die, do-it-to-honor the-sacrifices-of-the-ancestors, you-can't-complain-if-youdon't-participate Black folks. But you also knew scores who didn't trouble themselves with participating at all. Into your 30s you felt somewhere between those philosophical poles, among those who, each election cycle, needed convincing that their vote mattered a good gotdamn.
I AM FALLING APART
At 48, I realized my professional dream of publishing a novel. Around that time, also gota staph infection, became diabetic, and started losing my vision. Will sce the end of my story?
WITH VINTAGE, SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF
The world is filled with fake throwbacks and questionable graphics. But real-deal, old-school sailing gear never disappoints.
WATCH CLOSELY
The finer details of Parmigiani Fleurier’s latest masterpiece reveal why the maker has become such a cult favorite
Giorgio Armani Is Never Done
We sat down with the maestro to chat about, well...everything
SOLAR POWER
What does the feeling of the sun shining on you smell like? Pharrell’s first fragrance for Louis Vuitton, LVERS, seeks to answer that question.
REBIRTH OF AN ICON
The Cartier Trinity, a favorite of legends like Gary Cooper and Alain Delon, gets a bold new look
Molto Rawdog!
You've heard of rawdogging” a flight? How about an entire trip to Italy? I believe in it with the zeal of the convert.