I shouted out HBO’s Gotham Award-winning Pee-Wee As Himself with a quick aside last week, but it deserves some proper Substack real estate. Especially in conversation with sister from another mister The World According To Allee Willis, out now on Hulu.
Everyone reading this knows Paul Reubens; today’s secret word is DUH.
You might even be a superfan, in which case I highly recommend the all-Playhouse issue of Dummy and collaborator Wayne White’s Maybe Now I’ll Get The Respect I So Richly Deserve.
Allee is a deeper cut, but she was just as much of an innovative world-builder and cultural zelig. Even if you weren’t aware that she wrote ‘em, you definitely know “September,” “Neutron Dance” and “I’ll Be There For You” by heart.
The fact that this duo were actual friends during their ‘80s peak would be kismet enough (as Paul recalls, “Elvira told me, ‘you have to meet this woman, she has bowling balls in her front lawn’”) but once you notice the similarities of their public and private lives, two posthumous tributes dropping more or less at the same time feels truly cosmic…
An Armageddon / Deep Impact double feature, if the comets were compulsive multimedia artists, kitsch hoarders and Cyndi Lauper besties.
I’m not going to recap either doc. You all need things to watch.
The fraught experience of making Pee-Wee’s has been explained in detail by the director himself; here’s some more background from the editor and DP.
Allee’s film is so dense with easter eggs (Brenda Russell, Pet Shop Boys, Liquid Television), freeze-frame aesthetic details (she reps the Zoom Hyperflight harder than Bibby) and an insane catalog of accomplishments (predicting reality TV and the metaverse, along with all those aforementioned hit records) that it takes a sec to close all the mental browser windows and dig into TWATAW’s own melancholy subtext.
Both these creators built all-encompassing universes for themselves, presenting to the world as uber-confident “I gotta be me” iconoclasts.
Yet they also led profoundly closeted romantic lives throughout the Reagan era and long after, which is heartbreaking.
The mere existence of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse remains a radical act.
It was an ode to chosen families, a literal open door (Allee’s longtime partner animated the intro) leading to exploration, love and acceptance.
I’m fortunate to have grown up while this show was a Saturday morning success, encouraging a whole generation of kids to be their weirdest, kindest, most expressive and most authentic selves.
The best of us have never forgotten that mission. The rest still have time…
You can build your playhouse anywhere.
I will bring the boombox!
Lexa Gates, “Uber Black” — another casually cool, endlessly watchable clip from Queens’ laconic princess. “Small talk makes my dick soft!” Girl, same.
Bruiser Wolf, Potluck — speaking of casual, you would not be incorect calling Bruiser Wolf’s flow “unhurried.” I prefer “E-40 mixed with Snagglepuss.” In any case, no one is having more fun stretching Miriam-Webster like saltwater taffy.
Pinkpop Festival Archives — growing collection of full-length live sets from a Sessions Catalog worth of alt-rockers at their peak.
Tunde Adebimpe The Creative Independent Q&A — big facts and learned experience life advice from the TVOTR frontman…
Mostly it’s realizing that you’re going to be pushed forward, and that time is here and we’ve got to spend it. We don’t have anything, there’s nothing we can do but spend that time. The throughline is that it all feels like a doable collage. All of these separate elements of your outside life and your inner life and the events of the world. It’s all stuff to pull from and turn into something else. Sometimes that’s a job and you get paid for it, and sometimes it’s just what you do.
xiao xiao, “Left Right” — DUMB HARD a more appropriate knuckle tat here…
dream hampton It Was All A Dream screening — excited to check this ‘90s time capsule, filmed while dream was studying at NYU / working at The Source / watching Battleship Potemkin with Biggie. I can’t make next Tuesday’s Ford Foundation screening / Q&A (moderated by Timmhotep!) but you def should.
David Lynch’s guitar collection — whole auction of the late director’s collections and creative tools is nutty, but I’m drawn to this Parker Fly (elite choice) modded out with a Roland MIDI pickup. “David changed chords using the pedals! Colin in the warehouse said ‘It’s like a jump cut from chord to chord.’ I think that’s a very Lynchian way of doing things.”
Voltron Dab Rig — necessity, invention, etc…
Playlists updated!