Offline Recs: Dan Ozzi
Libraries, Henry Rollins, and building your own creative universe, with music writing's biggest sellout. Plus, how to help musicians get paid more.
Hey pals. Welcome to the February edition of Offline Recs, our monthly digest of cultural ephemera we can’t stop thinking about, regardless of where they fit in the news cycle. Note: Monday, Feb. 27 is the last day that we’re offering our 50% off **Rece$$ion Special**: A full year of ungated access to all of The Culture Journalist’s goods, including recs, essays, and exclusive bonus episodes, all for a cool $25.
First up, some quick recs from Emilie and Andrea:
Stutz: Jonah Hill made an extremely touching documentary about his psychiatrist, who co-invented a fascinating system of therapy that involves drawing pictures for his clients, has an accent that makes me nostalgic for New York City, and just generally seems like the kindest man on earth. —Emilie Friedlander
America Diaries: New Models’ Carly Busta and Lil Internet, who live in Berlin, produced a series of deeply engrossing audio travelogs about their trip home to Maryland, Virginia, and Brooklyn over the holidays — told from that hyper-intimate-but-also-estranged “expat” perspective that helps you see AMERICA with fresh eyes. —EF
Fair Pay at SXSW + artist visas: Our pals over at the Union for Musicians and Allied Workers are leading a new initiative demanding raises for performing artists at the fest, whose current, decade-old compensation ranges from $250 for a whole-ass band to just an entry wristband (yikes). It takes like 30 seconds to sign the petition and make a difference. While you’re at it, also consider signing this petition telling Congress to oppose prohibitive visa fee increases (250%!) for international artists. If you want to be able to see bands that aren’t from the U.S. on home turf, this one is a big deal.—Andrea Domanick
Flux Gourmet: A delightfully off-kilter 2022 black comedy about the art world by the equally off-kilter Peter Strickland, with a knockout cast (Gwendolyn Christie is particularly *chef’s kiss*). The description says it best: “Set at an institute devoted to culinary and alimentary performance, a collective finds itself embroiled in power struggles, artistic vendettas, and gastrointestinal disorders.” –AD
“Z” – Music for Sensuous Lovers: You didn’t think we’d let February pass without sending you a Valentine, did you? Fun fact: This is actually a Mort Garson album released under a pseudonym (“Z”) in 1971. That’s probably because, atop the effervescent synth melodies and flourishes for which Garson is known and loved, are giggles, moans, pants, and other aural expressions of ecstasy that climax into 18+ territory (there’s even a “FOR ADULTS ONLY” sticker plastered across my copy). Think: Mother Earth’s Plantasia, for the bedroom. —AD
Guest Recs: Dan Ozzi
This month, we’re joined by writer Dan Ozzi, our friend and former comrade from the music blogging trenches of Noisey at VICE. If you’ve paid any attention to music writing in the past few years, you’ve likely heard of his 2021 book SELLOUT: The Major Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007). It’s a national bestseller (that was also immortalized in a New Yorker cover), and with good reason. Eloquently written and exhaustively researched, it tells the stories of 11 bands — from Green Day to Blink-182 to Jawbreaker — and their major label debuts, while weaving a larger narrative about the record industry’s fraught relationship with the punk underground following Nirvana’s meteoric success. Whether you even like these bands is beside the point. The expanded paperback edition is out now.
These days, when he’s not blogging and podcasting for his Substack Reply Alt, making zines, putting out companion vinyl soundtracks for SELLOUT, and shooting album covers, he’s been busy writing a new book. Dan’s not yet at liberty to share what it’s about, but dude is clearly living the dream: Amid the stormy headwinds of the media industry, he’s one of the few writers we know who’s managed to build a career where he gets to spend all of his time doing exactly what he loves doing. To maintain a consistent writing schedule, he’s also carved out a pretty idiosyncratic daily routine, which he was kind enough to share with us today, along with some stuff he’s been watching, reading, and listening to lately.
You can read his recommendations below. Or, for the full experience, you can listen to his conversation with Andrea, where he also tells us about his music taste before finding punk, building out your own universe instead of following the crowd, and whether or not Henry Rollins goes to the library.
Follow Dan on Substack and Twitter
Buy TRANNY: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout,his first book, with Laura Jane Grace
Working at the library
Dan Ozzi: I go to the library every day with my little sandwich. I work until 12:30, and then I go have my little turkey sandwich, and then I go back to work. It's a very nice life.
I'm not too particular about where I write — I'm more particular about how I write, you know? I don’t mind working at home, but I have a small place, and I need the separation that comes with just being somewhere else. So I really like the library, because it's beautiful and it's free and it isn’t crowded.
I love my library. I’m not telling which one it is, though, because I'm not gonna get it hot. Next thing you know, some Kardashian is gonna tweet about it or put it on Instagram, and then all these kids are gonna be there and I can't get a seat anymore. Sorry to gate-keep the library system, but we gotta draw a line somewhere.