Thing of the Week: Frito Pie & The Rolling Stones, The Best Show

LIZ'S THING OF THE WEEK: Frito Pie & The Rolling Stones

On Sunday night I went to my buddy Sarah's bday party at this newish bar in Highland Park called The Hermosillo. For dinner I had sparkling rose and Frito Pie, which isn't so much an actual pie as just a big dish of Fritos and beans and chilies all glopped together. It was so good! We also ate some fried pickles, and there was this dude there who told me the story about the time he saw the Rolling Stones play a secret show at a dive bar in my hometown in 1981. I've basically been waiting a thousand years for someone to give me a firsthand account of seeing that show, so it was way exciting. My favorite part was when he was like, "I was there with my friend Elliot, who was in this band called The Cars." (OH MY GOD: I love The Cars so much.) I asked the dude if he remembered which song the Rolling Stones opened with and he didn't but thanks to this website I learned it was a cover of "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" by Solomon Burke. I also learned that they closed with "Jumpin' Jack Flash," and that they played "Let It Bleed," "All Down The Line," and "Under My Thumb" - holy cow! I went to that same bar on my 23rd birthday and saw a killer all-girl Black Sabbath cover band, but I'm guessing they probably weren't quite so good as the Rolling Stones.

Speaking of Keith Richards, another cool thing that happened Sunday was Sarah gave me a belated birthday gift of a Patti Smith postcard and a gigantic ring. This is them:



JEN'S THING OF THE WEEK: The Best Show on WFMU

This week marks the week in history in which I became completely obsessed with the Best Show on WFMU. I'm so glad it's called The Best Show because it's the best show. I don't even want to say/think about how many hours I spent listening to Tom Scharpling & Jon Wurster's voices this week but I will say it's definitely over 6. I had thought/known they were funny before. I had listened a bit. I saw them live at the How Was Your Week thing. I think Gary the Squirrel is really funny and can't even look at his twitter without laughing. This all reached a boiling point for me. I'm now in love. I listened LIVE on Tuesday while drawing coffee cups, how cool is that? Magical. I don't just love this show, specifically the Wurster/Scharpling calls just because they are hilariously funny. They are though, it completely cracks me up. There's a warmth to the show that I can't turn away from. Once it's on I'm there- I hear the intro of a Best Show Gem and there goes an hour. I don't know exactly what it is but here are a few things i think it might be - I think I really like them as humans, I don't feel like there's any misogyny involved at all- my existence is not the butt of any jokes here (which is kind of rare!!!), I like the voices, I like the jokes, I like the anger, I like the love, I like the world of Newbridge, I like the squirrel, I like snacks and I also do really like that it's hilarious. On Tuesday I had a hormonal/existential crisis which I feel like was in some part brought on by my new obsessive love for the Best Show. I feel like this comedy and music radio program makes me want to strive to do better things.