Hi, I’m Phil. I run the book and record store at Tres Gatos in Jamaica Plain. This was a tough year. Obviously. It seemed to be, at different times, a long slow descent into madness, or, as they say in The Birdcage, a ‘psychotic horse galloping towards a burning stable”. All the more reasons that the really good stuff that happened, whether in pop culture or my personal life, should stand out. These are the moments that made this year worth living, to me.
1) Episode 8 of Twin Peaks— has there ever been a more crazed, warped, strange or striking hour of American TV? I can’t think of one. Really, the entire season, and the anticipation between episodes, especially headed towards the end, marked the summer for me. Watching this show by candlelight in dark rooms was mystifying, scary as all hell and sometimes laugh out loud funny. A Triumph.
2) The War on Drugs ‘A Deeper Understanding’—the first time I heard this album, and it’s single “Holding On”, I knew it was going to be on repeat on my turntable and in my head for years. In a year of incredible music, this took the cake. Beautiful sonic pop syrup that melts in your ear and then in your gut, it’s a masterpiece.
3) Record Store Day—the one day of the year where all my regulars, all the people who support Tres Gatos, get to hang out, eat pastries, drink coffee, meet, laugh, share earplugs for scouting new tunes, hold the most coveted album on their list over their head and shriek happily to the heavens, it is always special, always magic, and something I look forward to every year. Same with Black Friday, which is the same, but it’s cold out, so double thanks to all these vinyl hounds for standing in the cold waiting for us to open.
4) Red Sox Win — Just like every summer, watching the Sox was my happy place, my calming place, my standing on my bar stool and yelling place. I got to go to a bunch of Sox games, which is always a thrill. But none more so then June 13th, when I watched the Sox win 4-3 in 12 innings on a walk off single by the rookie(and owner of possibly the best hair in baseball) Andrew Benintendi. By that point, it was raining, half of the crowd had left, and I watched the play from 2 rows back behind the third base dugout. When they won, the place went absolutely bonkers.
5) JP Music Fest— all of JP, my little neighborhood, out in a field, singing, dancing, eating great food from local food trucks and listening to amazing local bands. Kids, old folks, my customers and coworkers, hipsters, yuppies, boomers, everybody, just sharing a perfect Saturday. I love working the merch booth at this every year, and seeing all the smiling faces, totally devoid of worry and soaking up great local tunes. The fact that I bumped Mayor Walsh( he took too long to get to the stage!) and ended up introducing Goddamn Draculas was an added thrill.
6) Dunkirk— sitting as close as I could to the screen, this movie rattled the teeth out of my head. How many movies have you white knuckle grabbing the arm rest of your chair? For a film with little to no character development or plot, this movie just consumes you, to the point you forget you’re in a movie theater. People throw the word ‘visceral’ around, but this movie earns it. Honorable mention to James Franco in The Disaster Artist, the most I’ve laughed in a movie theater in years.
7) Spoon and the New Pornographers— I was expecting a good and fun show when I saw these guys this summer on the waterfront. What I didn’t expect was a dynamite and totally immersive rock and roll revival that left my speechless and blown away. Lasers and lights and costumes…I was expecting a shoegaze lo fi show, not these kind of theatrics! Might have had something to do with that edible I ate right before I walked in…
JP Porchfest—Much like the Music Fest, except instead of a day out at JP Pond, the great tunes are at your doorstep, around the corner, in the backyard. Everywhere you turn there’s amazing live music. On the Gatos porch we had great eclectic jazz, fantastic folk rock, and a Prince tribute set. Right when “Purple Rain” started, the sky opened up and it poured. You can’t make stuff like that up.
vid shot by Chris Lovett
9) World Series/Stranger Things 2 —I put these together because they happened back to back. The World Series, whether you’re a baseball fan or not, was absolutely thrilling. The Astros winning, after all the terrible things that happened in Houston this year, was good for the cosmos. It was a wickedly well played series and featured some of the most exciting baseball I’ve ever watched. The first game of it I ended up at the same bar as Peter Wolf. That was pretty rad. That was followed by the big slice of comfort food that was Stranger Things 2. If Twin Peaks was an aged scotch, Stranger Things 2 was a chocolate milkshake; comfortable, familiar and ultimately pleasing as Hell.
10) WMFO—I did some promo for Record Store Day on WMFO, Tufts radio, in the spring, which led to me coming back and training to be a DJ, which led to me playing soul, garage rock and doo wop at 3 in the morning every other Monday in my very own radio show, something that-like running a record shop-is something I’d been dreaming of doing since I was a kid. It is terrifying and overwhelming and so damn fun. The show is called Rhythm and Muse, btw. If you happen to-for some reason-be up at 3am on a Monday, listen in.
