Nathan's Small Delights: SD_007

Ayup, what’s good?

Put a pin it kids - August is donezo! The month started heavy on the delights & has come to a close with me drifting between overwhelmed & underwhelmed. Today I am feeling evenly whelmed, so let’s dive into it!

The Delights

I really appreciate a good-looking cloud. I’m not referring to clouds that require the unlimited power of your imagination to transpose images onto them (e.g., a short-beaked echidna bursting forth from a pile of plastic Easter eggs). Au contraire, I am speaking of clouds that just generally look unique, cute, or fantastical in some way. I witnessed one such cloud on my way to Houston at the beginning of August.

I first noticed this magnificent cloud while I was looking directly at the road ahead through my front windshield (as one would be expected to do while driving). As I traveled the meandering highway, the rays from the setting sun created this sort of lenticular print effect where the shape would appear to go through dramatic changes - it was like seeing a brand new cloud every time the angle of approach changed! I certainly did not do an incredibly irresponsible thing & hold my phone on the dashboard for a steady shot while driving at high speeds down 290. No sir, I definitely did not do that!

The seed for the trip to Space City was planted when longtime friend & Houston mainstay Ethan Klein was chatting with me about his upcoming 4E&A Records release - TreeForestTree. He hit me with the news that he was playing a gig with the label head honcho, Fresno’s own Jason Merle. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve seen Ethan mix it up & I was also keen to finally meet Jason in the flesh (more on that later), so I figured that was as good an excuse as any to make a road trip for some bops.

Music for the evening was on point (as expected) & the show turned out to be a round-up of some old heads from the Chemistry Records days. Honestly, it just felt good to be chatting it up with people who are passionate about music. One might even say it was inspiring. Actually, I’ll go ahead and do that - it was inspiring! Between convos with the old heads, I spent most of the evening working out the dance floor (which also felt much-needed) with one exception - a short break peering into the carcass of the abandoned movie theater located next door to the venue. Hands cupped around my eyes & pressed against the glass door, I stood for what felt like an eternity, soaking up the desolate interior as long forgotten neon lights illuminated the ghostly halls leading to the theaters. Unfortunately, the doors were locked tight, so I was unable to properly explore the emptiness (obviously using only a candle as a light source).

Please stand by for an important Public Service Announcement.

***clears throat & cups hands around mouth***

IT’S STILL PLUMCOT SEASON! 

August marked the first appearance of my favorite plumcot variety, the beloved Flavor Gator. This variety is sometimes referred to as a mottled plumcot, as it has an instantly recognizable speckled green skin. The color contrast between the green skin & the red flesh never ceases to amaze me - the visual effect perfectly sets the stage for the imminent explosion of flavor once bitten into. Oh my Goddess! Please do yourself a favor & get your hands on these while they are still in season.

There has been an ongoing annoyance regarding my current habitation situation that must be mentioned to provide context for this next part. The shortest version is that my landlord’s affinity for Cookies & Cream (briefly mentioned in SD_001) is forcing me to have to relocate (on account of the property being foreclosed on). I may regale you with the full tale in the future, but for now, the important part is that the real estate agent in charge of coercing the current tenants into moving out earlier than they are legally required to, threw in the towel in trying to get me to sign off on a bogus Cash for Keys offer. This isn’t the Small Annoyances newsletter though, this is Small Delights!

After more than a month of no contact from this guy, he texted me one of the most bizarre & hilarious messages I have ever received. It legit makes me laugh so hard whenever I read it. It’s good. So. Damn. Good. It is such a wonderful phrase to blurt out as a greeting that I have decided it will forever hold a revered place in my lexicon.

What a delight!

Vinyl Jockey on the web

August has been hands down one of my most musically productive months all year. The good news is that I’ve had a handful of tracks get picked up by various labels & even found time to pop into the Motive Artistry Music headquarters to record a follow up to my 2023 In The Studio appearance. The bad news is that you can’t listen to any of it yet as it has not been released. For the time being, peep that 2023 mix for some solid House music.

Vinyl Jockey in the wild

September looks to be another quiet one, but there are whispers in the air about an October 1st evening shindig. Obviously, that happens before the next installment of the newsletter, so if you want to be looped in on the deets, just shoot me a text or an email & I will loop ya in.

That’s a wrap for now!

-Nathan Stewart