Flush it Friday: The Bowl of Delights
Remember when music came out on Tuesday? It was glorious! Here we were, spending all our time worshiping Tyr or Tiu or Mars whatever warring sky god, and then record shops decided that Tuesday, for whatever possible reasons, was the going to be the day that all our precious new music would hit the shelves so that we could wrap our our greedy little toilet-flushers around that new shiny cassette. What’s that, internet article I just read? That only started happening in the United States in the 1980s? It’s not a practice that extends back into the endless epochs of time? My word!
Anyways, as we all know, sometime in the 2010s (2015, to be exact), music started releasing on Fridays. Finally, thanks to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, we were all finally aligned with forward-thinking countries such as Australia and Germany–two countries who have never done anything wrong ever. So, yes, Spotify’s “New Music Tuesday,” which was just a digitized version of a United States record store policy dating back to the 1980s, came to a sad, sputtering end. And, for the most part, who cares! Tuesday, Friday, Monday–these are days and they can be made to be good or to be bad for all sorts of reasons. It does feel like Tuesday, though, got cheated out of something Friday didn’t really need.
Fortunately, there’s still a world where Tuesday reigns supreme: books! Yes, bookstores still put out new releases every Tuesday. No one really seems to know for sure why–it could be tradition, ease of distribution, bestseller list momentum, a level playing field, alms to Mars–but here we are, still selling new books on Tuesday. Well, unless they don’t get their shipment until too late on Monday. This fate befell me this very week, as I sauntered over to one of my beloved local bookstores before work to grab a copy or two of Ross Gay’s The Book of (More) Delights, the follow-up to his 2019 bestseller The Book of Delights. Here I sit, on a Friday, and I haven’t even had a chance to read a single one of the 100+ essays comprising Gay’s latest gift to humanity. It is a devastation that can only be solved by going to the bookstore to get a couple copies when I finish writing this post.
I don’t remember, oddly enough, where I got my used copy of Gay’s 2019 collection. I opened it this morning to perhaps pluck a quote for this post, but then I was saw again the personal inscription: “to: Mitch / thanks for bein’ there, especially these last few weeks. <3 Rachael.” I hope Mitch appreciated Rachael’s gift as much as Rachael appreciated Mitch’s support during those last few weeks. I hope Mitch didn’t discard Book of Delights but, rather, passed them along to the next person who might need their gifts in miniature. I hope Mitch understood, just like Rachael, that Gay is an author to be shared widely and freely and lovingly and unsparingly.
What book would you like to share widely and freely and lovingly and unsparingly with the world? How about just with your fellow Toileteers? Do you have fond memories of albums coming out on Tuesday? Did you even notice it had switched to Fridays? Do you still make sure to hit the local bookstore on Tuesdays? Let me know below.
But first! We flush.
Post-Flush last Friday, Beavis reviewed glowling the new Baroness, which I, personally, bet is bad. Love ya, Beavs!
Aaron keeps things weird with Choke Chain, music for weirdos. In a good way!
Sepulcrustacean emerges from the Cold Steel Dawn to drop 11 album recommendations in a brief 4000 words.
Big Stick hit us with a Monospremiere and aced the Turing Test while doing so.
Me, Myself, and IGoM premiered–exclusively!–an absolute masher of a split from Feral and Crawl
Get Your Wig Split: Premiering Made as Those Who are No Longer Alive
365 briefly left off co-hosting that poopy podcast to bless with us a new track from a band with a cool name.
What a week of content! How blessed we are. Go back to these posts. Take some time to read them. Drop a comment for the author to read and appreciate. Answer my questions from above. Hit us with you GBUs. Do all of these things and then frolic all weekend to heart’s desire. Make a good racket.
