Finding the Soundtrack to My Desert Life
In the '90s, discovering the music of Friends of Dean Martinez helped Aaron Gilbreath stop running and appreciate life in his native Arizona.
View ArticleSelling Vintage Records in Tokyo
Listening to music with a Tokyo record store owner forges a deeper bond than any shared language.
View ArticleThe Enduring Myth of a Lost Live Iggy and the Stooges Album
In 1973, Columbia Records professionally recorded the infamous band for a planned concert record. Columbia never released it. Maybe they never recorded it.
View ArticleOld Dudes On Skateboards
The death of his life-long skateboarding friend prompts Aaron Gilbreath to get back on his board — at 44, with his toddler daughter in tow.
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Escaping Coronavirus Lockdown Through a Stranger’s Solitary Walks on YouTube
Aaron Gilbreath | Longreads | April 2020 | 25 minutes (6,184 words) As one of the millions of people currently trapped inside their homes thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, wondering if the virus will...
View ArticleSnapshot of Canada: An Accidental Reading List
Cleaning our basement recently, I found a box of old Canadian magazines. The covers were crisp, the bindings intact. Published between 2011 and 2013, I’d gathered these issues of The Walrus and...
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Tangled Up in Bob Stories: A Dylan Reading List
Music legends from Tom Waits to Joni Mitchell immediately heard Dylan’s genius in songs like “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands,“ but not me. It took me two decades to warm to Bob Dylan. It’s a common...
View ArticleDown the Rabbit Hole: A Psychedelic Reading List
“On psychedelics,” Dr. John Halpern, head of the Laboratory for Integrative Psychiatry at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts, told The New York Times Magazine, “you have an experience in which you feel...
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A Genre of Myths: A Jazz Reading List
I am a jazz devotee, the kind with shelves of jazz books and photos of John Coltrane and Charlie Parker in his home office. Because I love music so much, I want to understand where it came from, and...
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Cryin’, Dyin’, or Goin’ Somewhere: A Country Music Reading List
There’s an old chestnut that says the older you get, the more you like country music. Even if you don’t relate to the guitar twang or the singers’ white rural experience, age lets you relate to the...
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