Mid-Week Libation: Ryan Elston's Birthday Libation!
Sparkling wine! A birthday playlist! Drag legend Jinkx Monsoon! The poetry of H.D.! The art of Meggan Joy! Wisdom from Henry David Thoreau!
[Editor’s Note: Today (Wednesday, September 18th) is Ryan Elston’s birthday! He is of course relaxing and enjoying the day by reading a good book, listening to great music, looking at beautiful art, viewing a favorite film or two, and tasting delicious food and spectacular wine. We wouldn’t have it any other way. Check out Friday’s podcast to hear more, but in the meantime, our gift to you is another curated splash of inspiration and culture to brighten your Wednesday!]
Ryan Elston’s Birthday Playlist: Montague Loon (Featuring Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Dead Can Dance, McCoy Tuner, Sandy Denny, David Bowie, The Velvet Underground, Nina Simone, Nick Drake & More!)
We made this playlist for Ryan’s birthday last year, and it’s a delightfully eclectic mix featuring music by many of his personal favorites:
Wildstar’s Wednesday Wine Pick: Bubbles For My Love on His Birthday! Lazar Winery Pearl Sparkling Brut Rosé (Tikveš Wine Region, North Macedonia)
We’ve never celebrated a birthday or anniversary without a bottle of bubbly, and today is no exception. We’re having this one tonight at our dinner in Skopje, North Macedonia (where we just arrived yesterday after a 24-hour stopover in Thessaloniki, Greece). Stay tuned for more about our dinner on this week’s podcast!
“Dry sparkling wine produced by the Charmat method with light yellow colour and green reflection. This wine leads you to the world of the bubbles which excite your palate. Aromas of green apple, ripe citrus and pear with refreshing acidity and light body. It awakens your appetite and offers you a sense of refinement.” [Source]
Artist Spotlight: Seattle-Based Artist Meggan Joy
Attention to all of our Pacific Northwest family, friends and subscribers! We read a great article about this amazing artist this week and encourage everyone to check out her current exhibition at the J. Rinehart Gallery in Seattle before it closes next Wednesday (details below)!
Click to view a time-lapse video of her fascinating process here:
Check out the current exhibition (closing soon!), Meggan Joy: Fever Dream, at J. Rinhart Gallery in Seattle, WA (on view until September 25, 2024!)
Vibrant Life Emanantes from Meggan Joy’s Magical Collaged Silhouettes (via Colossal)
Poem of the Week: “We Two” by H.D. (Hilda Doolittle)
Ryan Elston’s favorite poet of all time is H.D. (aka Hilda Doolittle). You can read (or listen) to an essay he wrote about her here. You can listen to him reading one of her poems here. Or listen to the podcast where he discusses her work here. Or simply enjoy the beautiful poem (which he chose specifically for today) here:
We Two
by H.D.
We two are left:
I with small grace reveal
distaste and bitterness;
you with small patience
take my hands;
though effortless,
you scald their weight
as a bowl, lined with embers,
wherein droop
great petals of white rose,
forced by the heat
too soon to break.
We two are left:
as a blank wall, the world,
earth and the men who talk,
saying their space of life
is good and gracious,
with eyes blank
as that blank surface
their ignorance mistakes
for final shelter
and a resting-place.
We two remain:
yet by what miracle,
searching within the tangles of my brain,
I ask again,
have we two met within
this maze of dædal paths
in-wound mid grievous stone,
where once I stood alone?Drag Performance of the Week: Happy Birthday to Jinkx Monsoon! (born September 18, 1987)
Ryan is delighted to share a birthday with one of his favorite drag performers (who also hails from the Pacific Northwest), the multi-talented Jinkx Monsoon!
Jinkx Monsoon Sings “When You’re Good To Mama” from Chicago:
Interesting Artists Born Today: September 18th
One or two of the names below just might appear on Friday’s podcast . . .
Visual Artists:
Today is the birthday of Richard Doyle, Anton Mauve, Francesco Filippini, Fausto Zonaro, Charles Garabed Atamian, Rafael Yela Günther, José de Rivera, Roswell Weidner, Wolfgang Sievers, Jilma Madera, Juliet Peter, David Gahr, Peter Smithson, Joe Kubert, Jack Robinson, Armando, Mark di Suvero, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Blue Sky, Terry Braunstein, Nabil Nahas, William Stout, Matt Mullican, Ann Morhauser, Konstantin Kakanias, Leon Reid IV, Rebecca Rose and Irene Koh!
Writers, Philosophers & Scholars:
Today is the birthday of Samuel Johnson, Edna Dean Proctor, Francis Grierson, Clinton Scollard, Itō Sachio, Lord Berners, Gertrude Barrows Bennett, Grey Owl, Toni Wolff, William March, Mona Douglas, Virginia Brindis de Salas, Harold Courlander, Edward Sagarin, Connie Frazer, Judith Butcher, Noel Perrin, F. D. Reeve, Christopher Ricks, Olga Nolla, Michael Hartnett, Anna Deavere Smith, Alberto Ríos, Steven Pinker, Chris Hedges, Joan Walsh, Bernard Werber, Kim Thúy and Ryan Elston!
Musicians & Composers:
Today is the birthday of Francesca Caccini, Johann Gottfried Walther, Alberto Franchetti, Henriette Renié, Uzeyir Hajibeyov, Arthur Benjamin, Pablo Sorozábal, Josef Tal, Hank Bagby, Teddi King, Jimmie Rodgers, Big Tom, Steve Marcus, Naresh Sohal, Frankie Avalon, Michael Franks, Rocío Jurado, P. F. Sloan, Benjamín Brea, Keith Morris, John Fedchock, Emily Remler, Stephen Flaherty, Nils Petter Molvær, Joanne Catherall, John Powell, Ricky Bell and Dizzee Rascal!
Film/TV/Stage:
Today is the birthday of Harold Clurman, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Agnes de Mille, Greta Garbo, Leon Askin, Jack Cardiff, June Foray, Grayson Hall, Fred Willard, Kelvin Coe, Beth Grant, Siobhan Davies, Mark Romanek, James Gandolfini, Aisha Tyler, Jada Pinkett Smith, James Marsden, Jason Sudeikis, Barrett Foa, Billy Eichner, Adeel Akhtar, Jinkx Monsoon and Patrick Schwarzenegger!
This Week’s Words of Wisdom: Henry David Thoreau
Have you ever wondered why there are so many exclamation points on our Substack? You can thank Ryan Elston for his endless enthusiasm for the art and culture we both love. He also happens to love “the other H. D.” aka the immortal nonconformist Henry David Thoreau!
I loved hearing about your sumptuous pizza dinner. I don’t see the photos on Substack though.
I’m also going to watch how to die alone tonight. Thanks for the recommendation!
Happy Birthday Ryan. Looking forward to Friday's podcast to hear about your new adventures.