Oceans Never Listen to Us Anyway

Michael Mannheimer is a writer, editor, baker, and basketball nerd. He doesn't believe in guilty pleasures. [email protected]

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The whole thing kills me and then the music drops out and it's just Casey singing "Is this my weakness?" and I just CRUMBLE. 

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Full House is absolutely perfect when Michelle is just a figment of Danny Tanner's imagination.

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Lol fantasy. 

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Peek-a-boo.

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Batmane

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Holy ice cream tat, Batmane!

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The next in our series of Togather team book reports comes from Client Services Coordinator Michael Mannheimer, who read Pauls Toutonghi’s Evel Knievel Days.  Pauls is based in Portland, but has upcoming travel dates all over the west and midwest this summer. Maybe he wouldn’t mind stopping by a bar or bookstore in your town — why not ask? 

It’s been a while since I read a novel that I really connected with, but the main character of Paul Toutonghi’s second novel Evel Knievel Days and I have a lot in common: we’re both slightly OCD, passionate about playing the right old country song on the dive bar jukebox (everything is always OK with Patsy Cline by your side), and constanIy overwhelmed by our FEELINGS. Evel Knievel Days tells the story of Khosi Saqr, a nervous kid with a voracious imagination who is just a little too smart for his small town upbringing. Khosi lives with his single mother in Butte, Montana, a tiny mining town known mostly for being the birthplace of the daredevil biker whose namesake festival gives the book its title. Khosi eventually works up the courage to travel to Egypt in search of his long-lost father, but the book isn’t a coming of age novel as much as it’s about how a city, a physical place, can shape your identity.

I love how Toutonghi constantly keeps you guessing where Khosi will end up. His descriptions of earthy, rustic Montana and the bustling city of Cairo make you feel like you’re right there with our hero, tagging behind him as he navigates narrow streets and greets tourists as the guide of the Copper King Mansion. It’s also a great book for anyone who really obsesses over food—Khosi’s mother, Amy Clark, is the best Egyptian chef in town, and her cooking is sometimes the only thing keeping these characters from falling apart. 

Part ghost story, part loving tribute to baklava and creme brûlée, Evel Knievel Days is the rare book that makes you thirst for your hometown, wherever that may be. I can’t wait to see what Toutonghi comes up with next. 

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Sorry/not sorry about the Mets hat.

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Abner Jay, "Lord Randal"

This song absolutely kiiiillllllsss me. Finally picked up this incredible Mississippi Records comp of Jay's recordings from 1964-1973, and though he's often touted as one of the great traveling one man bands, this record has a gospel track and a rambling pop song about a submarine. Essential. 

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Rest in peace, Jet.

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Like Annie Clark singing over a Washed Out track, only good.

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Mama, there goes that man!

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Everyone I see on the subway these days looks like Morrissey circa 1985. 

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I love Jeopardy.

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Wait, why isn’t everyone talking about this?

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Ha, I thought it was just one category! 

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Feel like I would have won this round. 

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check out our track “Liberty Flats” from our “We Are the Map” 7” coming out in March!!!

click the .gif to stream the track on soundcloud or listen belowwww

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Ricci Swift isn't just, like, the nicest guy in the world but also a dynamite songwriter. So happy that this EP is coming out! Let's make this the year of Gondola.

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On a most frigid Tuesday night, Togather and the rest of the Public TransLit Commuter Book Club welcomed author Robin Shulman to the basement of Lolita Bar to learn more about her book Eat the City: a Tale of the Fishers, Foragers, Butchers, Farmers, Poultry Minders, Sugar Refiners,...

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I know I work here, but this was a lot of fun! Next month I might even subject my OkCupid profile for public humiliation. 

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Bring back Jorts! 

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Just because it's 2013 doesn't mean we can't still listen to 2012's best dance song over and over again.