In the New Yorker...

[Jeff Wrangler]

Why is Paul McCartney in two successive issues? 

[serious crayons]

Reading how "Eleanor Rigby" came about by Paul McCartney, I noticed the use of the word "got". It seems to lend a populist air to the narrative. Strange.

You mean the whole word or that conjugation of it? I vaguely remember in childhood reading a kids' book that said "got is not a word." I may be misremembering, but as far as I'm concerned it's a word.

What I think is strange is that they never say "gotten." So a sentence might read, "By 2021, he was running out of money. He had got fired the year before, and hadn't worked since then." Whereas I would say "gotten" in that sentence.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Why is Paul McCartney in two successive issues? 

Despite my questioning, I really enjoyed David Remnick's article on McCartney in the Oct. 18 issue. Who'da ever thunk it that Paul McCartney is 79 years old?    I guess he will probably go down in music history as one of the truly great song writers.

I also recommend Rachel Aviv's "Lost Youth" in that issue.

[Front-Ranger]

After reading this, I dug around in my piles of magazines and realized that I stopped reading that issue at the Christian zealot article. Thanks to you, I've taken it up again.

[Jeff Wrangler]

After reading this, I dug around in my piles of magazines and realized that I stopped reading that issue at the Christian zealot article. Thanks to you, I've taken it up again.

I remember hearing that name, Teen Challenge, when I was, well, a teen, but I didn't know anything about it beyond that it was some sort of religious organization for teens. I really knew nothing about it till I read Aviv's article.

[serious crayons]

Speaking of 70-something rock stars, I saw a few the other night -- went to a Rolling Stones concert on Sunday. I suspect this might be their last tour, especially since Charlie Watts died. If he ends his musical career, though, Mick Jagger should put out a series of exercise videos. The guy is amazing; dance for most of 2+ hours, while singing.

[Front-Ranger]

Wow, did we ever think we'd be paying for and going to Rolling Stones concerts in the year 20-flipping-21? Paul McCartney calls the RS a "blues cover band" in the Oct. 18 issue. Old grudges die hard.

On another subject the magazine has just made its Festival online interviews free to subscribers. I will try to carve hatchet out time to watch.

[Front-Ranger]

A reviewer for the New York Times was highly complementary of Gary Shteyngart's new book Our Country Friends about a group of people who stayed at a Hudson Valley estate during the pandemic. The review is here.

Shteyngart is the one who wrote the painful-to-read article about his adult circumcision in the October 11 issue.

[Jeff Wrangler]

A reviewer for the New York Times was highly complementary of Gary Shteyngart's new book Our Country Friends about a group of people who stayed at a Hudson Valley estate during the pandemic.

I wonder if he was inspired by Boccaccio? Sounds like a Decameron for Covid.

[Front-Ranger]

Yes, in fact, one of the characters is named Dee Cameron!