Ep .03 - Phones at Concerts, Girls on HBO, & My Favorite Slice

Welcome back to Offline Encounters, your weekly LookUp newsletter chatting all things Offline. What’s bringing us joy, connection, inspiration and more, far, far away from the scroll.

Ways we’re looking up: 

• Museums: If you know me, you know that its actually a little crazy for it to have taken until our THIRD newsletter for me to talk about an art museum. While I couldn’t pick a favorite in New York (it would be the Brooklyn museum), I’m a member of the Whitney because I became obsessed with Henry Taylor and between going to see his show twice and then taking my mom, it just made financial sense. Last weekend I ventured to the west side to see the Whitney Biennial, their recently opened showcase of over 70 contemporary artists that debuts against a new theme every other year, this year’s being, “Better than the Real Thing.” What I find so beautiful about the Biennial is the Whitney’s incredibly thoughtful and diverse curation, really becoming a giant gallery space, giving each artist their room to breath and take center stage, while allowing the visitor endless opportunities to connect with a wide variety of medium, environment, and commentary. A few of the artists I loved this year included Sharon Hayes (video), Mary Lovelace O’Neal (acrylic on canvas), Eddie Rodolfo Aparici (sculpture), Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich (video), and Rose B. Simpson (sculpture). I’ll be going back at least twice more so if you’re my friend (or a friendly stranger) reading this and want to come with, text or DM me.  

  

  

• Concerts: I went and saw Romy last weekend at the Knockdown Center and if you’ve been reading, you know I featured her album Mid Air as a favorite a couple of newsletters ago. It was my first time at Knockdown Center and let me just say that venue is massive and if you think you’re close to the stage when the lights are low, just keep pushing forward. One silver lining to our back of house status was room to dance. And we danceddd. I have been craving a dance-y night out, jumping up and down in a massive, sweaty group of people, feeling attuned to that rare “at one with a collective” sensation, and I’ve finally emerged out my winter hiberation to do so. I gave myself permission to take two videos of my favorite songs, then put my phone away to enjoy the majority of the show unencumbered. It felt like just the right balance, and a practice I’m planning to try to stick to as I venture to concerts and shows around the city this summer. 

What we’re reading:

• This is Happiness, Niall Williams: While I don’t currently have the time and space to read a full book each week and share it back with you, I am a quarter of the way through This is Happiness, and I know whole-heartedly that I stand behind its recommendation. I originally found the book through Ann Patchett, author of Dutch House and many other notable works, and her Tiktoks that she records in her independent bookstore, Parnassus Books in Nashville. Her video about this book stuck with me- noting it as many authors favorite book and one you want to move through slowly to be able to soak up the prose. From my experience thus far I am highlighting passages every few pages and, while the book is about electricity finally making it to a small town in Ireland, it is more notably a reflection on the summation of the small, formative experiences in our young lives that craft us into the people we become. I’m generally less of a “reread their favorites” type of book-consumer, but I can already tell this is one I’ll come back to just to sit and stew within Williams’ words and the particularly cozy feeling of a warm memory that he wraps you into so poetically. 

What we’re listening to: 

• Girls on HBO Playlist: I’m rewatching Girls right now, which has felt like a universal experience per the internet sphere, and like many others, have been enlightened to the accuracy and hilarity of the show, especially now actually being a young woman living in Greenpoint where most of the show was filmed. Another revelation has been just how incredible the soundtrack was/is and if you didn’t lose your mind to the scene when Hannah and Marnie start dancing to Robyn’s, “Dancing On My Own” (Season 1, Ep 3), then I’m not sure we can be friends! 

• A Case of You, Joni Mitchell: Joni Mitchell left Spotify in 2022 in solidarity with Neil Young over misinformation concerns around the Joe Rogan podcast (which we won’t get into here), but over the last couple of weeks has returned her catalogue to the service. Joni is an icon that I candidly did discover through Love Actually (you know the scene) and this song is one of my favorites of hers. It was also more recently covered by James Blake, who paid homage so beautifully.  

• Bless the Telephone, Labi Siffre: This is actually my all-time favorite song. I could listen to it on repeat for hours whether I’m happy or sad, whatever the time of day. It is, to me, the most beautiful, pure thing. Labi has an incredible discography beyond Bless the Telephone, too, and this week while listening to My Song, I somehow finally realized that it is heavily sampled on Kanye West’s, I Wonder. Fun fact!  

Something that reminded us why we started LookUp:

• Yesterday I was reading a Substack from Juliana Salazar, an incredible mutli-hyphenate and Creative Director, where she spoke about the phenomenon of feeling more and more lonely and disconnected despite our highly (digitally) connected world. She’s lived in LA, NY, and now London, and has found this to exist amongst herself and her peers, often regardless of the physical place.

  “It seems like this is the consequence of individualism and hyper-individualism— the defining principle and the by-product, respectively, of the American dream we were all once sold. Almost all problems in our modern world can be traced back to hyper-individualism.” 

  Its a phenomenon I can myself relate to, a desire to feel more deeply connected to the community and people immediately around me. This was a reminder to me that we don’t have to prescribe to the hyper-individualist belief-system we’ve been sold, that we can and should lean on our friends, get to know and rely on our neighbors, and create a richer social fabric around us by peeling ourselves away from our screens at home (get out of the house!), and especially our screens in public (be where you are, lift your eyes up, be open to conversation). 

Best thing I ate this week that made me put my phone down: 

• Paulie Gee’s Pizza: A classic case of IFYKYK, Paulie Gee’s is many New Yorker’s and especially Brooklynites favorite slice (between this and L’industrie), and a Greenpoint staple. I’m a regular at the slice shop- always a Hellboy on a classic slice- but this week I finally made it to the sit down restaurant over by Transmitter park and it was even better experience than expected. Its a great place for a big crew, very reasonably priced, solid cocktails (dry gin martini with a twist for me), and most importantly unbelievable pizza. Give me Mike’s hot honey over some lil’ pepperonis and I am a very happy girl. Special shoutout to the Mootz if you’re a white pie lover, it was a sneaky favorite and a nice switch up amongst all that tomato sauce. 

Stay cool and Look Up. 

Xo, Jackie, your LookUp Creative Director and phone-health evangelist