#427: JOKERMEN POD

Late Van Morrison, Zojirushi NS-ZCC18, Norm MacDonald Youtube, McLaren Park, and more.

Perfectly Imperfect is a newsletter offering “A Taste of Someone’s Taste” from guests like Charli XCX, John Cale, Julian Casablancas, Lena Dunham, Mac Demarco, Dasha Nekrasova, Tim Heidecker, Ayo Edebiri, Michael Imperioli, Rayne Fisher-Quann, Mel Ottenberg, Chloe Cherry, Matty Matheson, Anna Delvey, The Dare, Caroline Calloway, Snail Mail, and more. Check out our full archive here.

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Cool people like cool things, which is why we asked Ian and Evan of Jokermen Pod to share a taste of their taste on Perfectly Imperfect.

Ian Grant and Evan Laffer make up Jokermen, a California-based podcast that started in 2020 to explore the complete discography of Bob Dylan and they’ve since moved on to champion the late career oddities & slept on gems of other great artists too. This newsletter may cover a lot of modern cutting edge music, but when it comes down it, I’m still spending most of my time listening to Jokerman-esq artists like Lou Reed, David Berman, Steely Dan, and Mark E. Smith— so this is the perfect podcast for me. Over the years they’ve also done deep dives with guests like Laurie Anderson, Benny Safdie, Michael Imperioli, Josh Tillman, Andrew Savage, Naomi Fry, Weyes Blood, and most recently, Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend. Be sure to check out their recently announced Beach Boys series too. Lucky for us, Ian and Evan are here to tell us what they’re into.

Without further ado

Evan Laffer (instagram, twitter)

🎸 Later Van Morrison

Discovering Van’s later records was a balm to the soul. Songs that namedrop William Blake, songs complaining about being ripped off, songs about how much he likes to write songs. I have every 80s album on vinyl but i’ll always pick up 90s and 2000s discs when I see them in the wild. Functional music for living.

some favorites:
•Into The Music (1979)
•Common One (1980)
•Beautiful Vision (1982)
•A Sense of Wonder (1984)
•Irish Heartbeat (1988)
•Hymns To The Silence (1991)
•Days Like This (1995)
•Pay The Devil (2006)

🖼️ Getting things framed

Posters, photos, drawings- if I like something, getting it framed at a custom frame shop feels like permanently making my bed. I have a large, well-framed poster of Serge Gainsbourg that I believe has brought strong positive energy into my home.

📺 Youtube Premium

It hurts me to see my friends and loved ones watch a video of something they like and then get hit with a loud, grating advertisement. Youtube Premium is a vital tool for the modern culturally engaged person. Entire Concerts, Films, audiobooks, Bob Dylan Theme Time Radio Hour. It’s like a library card.

🥡 Ordering for fun

I think there should always be at least one wildcard dish on the table. When I’m out at a restaurant I’m excited about, I tend to order what sounds interesting and special, even if dissenting voices worry it may be “too much food”. If a menu seems to proudly feature a fermented fish, an exotic vegetable, an organ meat, I am compelled to find out why.

📻 Radio Garden

You can listen to any radio station around the world on this app by touching your finger to the globe and then save your favorite discoveries. HPR1 Traditional Classic Country out of Branson Missouri never disappoints.

🍚 Zojirushi NS-ZCC18 Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker

I finally got one and it offers peace of mind in the form of delicious, convenient rice. It sings a little song, It’s wonderful.

📚 William Burroughs Red Night Trilogy

This loose trilogy of black magic fueled noir Western and science fiction by Burroughs is shockingly, outrageously imaginative and thrilling to read (or listen to via the great audiobook editions). On any given page are a handful of brilliant concepts that a lesser writer would hang an entire career on but for Burroughs it’s just another wave of the hand. Totally inspiring.

⭐ The 3 star system ★★★

Ranking things out of three (no half stars, 0 permissible) is a valuable exercise. The limitations force one to reckon with the boundaries of language and the necessity of a respect for nuance. One out of three could be pretty bad..on the other hand, it's still pretty good.

Ian Grant (instagram, twitter)

🌅 California

To quote a favorite artist of mine: “I was born here and I’ll die here, against my will.” 

As a native Angeleno, I was a staunch Southern California supremacist for the first 25 years of my life, but I moved from New York to San Francisco mid-pandemic after all the techies split, and y’know what? It’s even better (although I’m riding with the Lakers and the Dodgers til the day I die—fuck to the Bay Area sports teams). Taxes, traffic, earthquakes, wildfires: who care. I’ll be here until California tumbles into the sea.

📺 Norm MacDonald Youtube

I found my way into Norm Youtube back in high school via the immortal Courtney Thorne Smith Conan segment, and I’ve been in love ever since. Hours and hours of savage Weekend Update spots? Gonzo appearances on Stern? Norm MacDonald Live, the charmingly shabby, way-ahead-of-its-time talkshow from Norm’s late era? It’s all gold. RIP to the King of Comedy.

🍾 Las Jaras Wine

Joel Burt and Eric Wareheim’s boutique natural wine label is a constant source of delight. I’m no sommelier, but the bottles I get in their quarterly wine club packages are always refreshingly weird and supremely drinkable. Killer art on everything too, from Dr. Steve Brule’s beautiful mug to the sparkling, psychedelic Barbie World designs splashed across their shockingly-good WAVES canned wines.

🌳 McLaren Park

Everyone knows the major San Francisco parks—Golden Gate, Dolores, Land’s End—but each hood has its own special spot just a few blocks away. Down in Excelsior we have McLaren Park, a wild, rambling complex that stretches across 300+ acres of California chaparral. Hiking up there at the end of the day with the wife and the dog while the sun sets, the sky turns, and the stratus creeps in off the Pacific? Brother, that’s what life in San Francisco is all about.

Bonus recommendations for paid subs from Evan and Ian below! 🎧