Marla Lepore
@marlaink.bsky.social
Nashville-based writer/compulsive editor. I write the Muck Rack Daily newsletter. Essays in North American Review, Hippocampus, Points in Case, Sky Island Journal, plus others. Usually covered in dog and/or cat hair.
I will never forget seeing the Cramps perform live -- everything you'd hoped it would be and more. Henry Rollins has been hinting he's been working on something big since he moved to Nashville. Not sure if this is it and/or if there's more to come, but this is super cool.
Mark Yarm@markyarm.bsky.social · 2d agoGood morning! For the @nytimes.com, I interviewed these two, plus Kid Congo Powers and more, for a story on the Cramps. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/a...
"Garage revivalists have 'projected a certain idealism onto the original bands', but ? and the Mysterians came as close as anyone to that ideal: young and unpolished, the DIY product of a hyper-local music community, yet full of wide-eyed pop ambition."
'A hypnotic effect that fills you with joy': The incredible story of 96 Tears, the US's unlikeliest one-hit wonder
In 1966, a Mexican-American teen band made one of the great smash-hit singles and helped invent garage rock, a genre that has inspired artists for decades.
bbc.com
Spaceballs: The Clickbait I spent Comic-Con with the gang from Spaceballs: The New One, shadowing them as they orchestrated the return of Rick Moranis after 30 years. Then ... they lost him. Here's what happened behind-the-scenes at Hall H. 🚀
Norman Lewis was the sole Black member of the New York School of Abstract Expressionism. He was active alongside William de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko.
Filling Out the Story: On the Art of Norman Lewis
Norman Lewis (1909-1979), in the last two decades of his life, fused black struggle with abstract painting.
hyperallergic.com
So sad. RIP Dave Kendall. 120 Minutes was the best of MTV.
Dave Kendall, Creator and Longtime Host of MTV’s 120 Minutes, Dies
Dave Kendall, who gave a platform to the rising 'alternative' scene of the '80s and '90s as creator and former host of MTV’s '120 Minutes,' has died.
variety.com
Bluesky: the home of vindicated but still often annoying opinions
Everyone's writing about Dua Lipa's new library of banned books. I just went. Here's what it's like inside. roncharles.substack.com/p/inside-dua...
Inside Dua Lipa’s Library of Banned Books
A firsthand look at the new collection beneath one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world.
roncharles.substack.com
Ears packed with medicine due to a double ear infection = the first relaxing Fourth of July of Lucy's entire life.
From the great Ann Magnuson, one of many quotes that feels like it could be prefaced w/ Stefon saying Danceteria is New York's hottest club: "Our Manson musical was called Family! Joey Arias was Manson, I was Squeaky Fromme, and Marc Shaiman played the piano. We had dancers and lots of fake blood."
Joy Press@joypress.bsky.social · last mo.This Danceteria oral history is one of the most fun stories I’ve worked on. The club was a home for artsy misfits, incubating future stars like Madonna and Beastie Boys, Keith Haring, and Karen Finley. New wave, drag and hip hop rubbed up against each other. Enjoy! www.vanityfair.com/story/dancet...
a lady asks us for a nickel for a terrible disease but we don't give her one we don't like terrible diseases happy belated birthday, Frank O'Hara
Personal Poem
Now when I walk around at lunchtime I have only two charms in my pocket an old Roman coin Mike Kanemitsu gave me and a bolt-head that broke off a packing…
poetryfoundation.org
“Frank O’Hara wrote that he preferred the movies, and Eileen Myles quotes Joe Brainard on his deathbed: ‘Well, one good thing about dying, you don’t have to go to any more poetry readings.’” —Joe Dunthorne on the New York School poets
When the Rents Were Low | Joe Dunthorne
An oral history of the New York School Poets suggests how its successive cohorts have changed over the years.
nybooks.com
What a legacy, capped off perfectly as himself in The Comeback.
Critic’s Appreciation: Television Often Neglects Directors, but James Burrows’ Legacy Is Impossible to Overlook
A key creative force in shaping beloved sitcoms from 'Taxi' to 'Cheers,' from 'Friends' to 'Will & Grace,' Burrows won 11 Emmys and helmed well over 1,000 episodes of television.
hollywoodreporter.com
On this Juneteenth, check out my list of cool TV shows, films and books which capture the holiday, w./work by Ava DuVernay, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Colson Whitehead. Rather than dusty history lessons, these projects offer new ways of thinking on history, race, media, more. https://loom.ly/Pg5dyyY
Juneteenth, TV and Me: What to watch and read on America's least understood holiday
My list of cool TV shows, films and books to read for a modern understanding of what Juneteenth symbolizes
open.substack.com
“I do believe we have made more mistakes than [the first Homo sapiens] did. We lost the connection they had to this world. They led the way quite nicely and successfully, and we got … distracted. We took another path, which is now leading us to a dead end, maybe.”
Peter Ross@peteralanross.bsky.social · 2mo ago"Why three horses on this wall?" A wonderful piece on prehistoric cave art. By Stephen Phelan, who was taken into the depths of a cave in the Basque Country. He's such a good writer. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
Sure, the way Gus Fring died in Breaking Bad was pretty shocking, but not mentioned here is a much more unexpected killing in Better Call Saul that was so upsetting I almost couldn't finish the series. www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/most-s...
23 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History
'Euphoria' is the latest TV series to kill off a major character. Here are some of the biggest small-screen fatalities over the decades.
hollywoodreporter.com
Indignity Vol. 6, No. 44, MR WRONG: Stephen Colbert Knew Television Is Supposed to Be There for You www.indignity.net/mr-wrong-che...
MR WRONG: Check, thank you!
Indignity Vol. 6, No. 42
indignity.net
"We do live in a society where the humanities are increasingly dismissed as impractical, and whatever counts as STEM is A Good Thing because practical." Finally tackled Helen DeWitt's "The Last Samurai" and feel a bit speechless, maybe because she used up all the words. What an achievement.
Beautiful story, fascinating history, must read "With cunning and audacity, they used this country’s obsession with skin color to undercut its own rules, proving that race is manufactured and performative, as social scientists have long said."
A Family Secret No More
nytimes.com
Rosanne Cash: “I’m horrified and disgusted by what happened in the Tennessee legislature yesterday. These Republicans aren’t even pretending they believe in democracy, fair elections, the rule of law, or equal representation. Just cold, hard racism and corruption …” www.threads.com/@rosannecash...
Rosanne Cash (@rosannecash) on Threads
I’m horrified and disgusted by what happened in the Tennessee legislature yesterday. These Republicans aren’t even pretending they believe in democracy, fair elections, the rule of law, or equal repre...
threads.com
Another great Poetry mag Q&A: Jack White on writing quickly, encounters with Patti Smith, art+commerce, upholstery. "I think we all laid on living room carpets, looking at liner notes, looking for something more from a band or an artist we love. We need to bring that back."
Making Each One a Little Bit Special
Poems, readings, poetry news and the entire 110-year archive of POETRY magazine.
poetryfoundation.org
"n honor of Independent Bookstore Day, this weekend we're offering FREE STANDARD SHIPPING on April 25th and April 26th! Let's keep giving Bezos the middle finger, yeah!? And supporting the local bookstores that help make our communities thrive. 💜"
Marla Ink Bookshop
Marla Lepore (aka Marla Ink) is a freelance writer in Nashville, Tenn. She writes the Muck Rack Daily newsletter, a digest of media news, longreads, and trending stories, and previously wrote for WNYC...
bookshop.org
"Some people say, 'I just use [AI] to brainstorm ideas.' If you don’t know what to paint or compose or write, you’re in the wrong job. Art is the business of making up stuff — go make up some stuff."
Opinion | Don’t Use A.I. to Do This
nytimes.com
