The Sunday Digest 144
"Who wants to be alone when we can feel alive instead?"
Welcome to The Sunday Digest — a free Sunday newsletter featuring long (and some short) reads, original columns, things I’ve saved over the last week, relaxing playlists, episodes releases, exclusive product drops, and more. Yes, you can reply to this email. I’d love to hear from you.
Sunday Read › Record Collecting: A Fine Madness
by Harvey E. Phillips for The New York Times, Nov. 3, 1974
It became somewhat of a routine. I’d get in my car and the directions would be suggested to me after weeks of repeating the same behavior. I never saw myself falling in as hard as I did, but the process of going to my local record store on Sunday afternoons soon became cathartic.
Being a creature of habit, those hour-long Sunday jaunts scratched several itches. It got me out of the house, it was a positive distraction, and I got to re-visit music that I had otherwise forgot about because it fell out of favor with my Spotify algorithm. It didn’t take long but once I was in, I was in.
Am I jealous of people I know who have inherited collections from their relatives? Sure, maybe a little. But now that the chest sitting below my record player is completely full, I feel a sense of accomplishment after building it from the ground up.
This week’s Sunday Read from 1974 shows that this ritual will probably never go away. Here’s an excerpt:
Dust gatherers, space bullies, wall usurpers—records are all of these, but to the collector, nothing matters except what can be heard. Even if one fanatic hobbyist has been known to shriek with delight at the sight of a color similar to that on a long sought label, and even if there exists a collector who amasses on the basis of album printing alignment or another who treats an album's protective plastic wrap with a mystical moral fervor, most fanciers do like the music best of all. That they have in common. What separates them is the wonderful quirkiness of taste. No two collectors pursue the same path nor hold the same attitude to what they accumulate.
Read in full here.
The Sunday Haiku: Bender Bruises
What are these bruises
scattered all over my legs?
Wait, please don’t tell me.
New Episode › Retail Therapy 122: Performative Males & Dirty Spritzes
Whether or not the “dirty spritz” deserves to be in discussions for Drink of the Summer, Will recaps both GD60 and John Mayer’s show fits featuring Loro Piana jackets, Chicago’s “Performative Male” contest, elite summer community pants, Martha Stewart’s skincare brand, wishlist items, and more.
This past week, we also put out a survey for all Retail Therapy listeners. We’d love your feedback!
Listen to Retail Therapy on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and anywhere else podcasts are found. You can also follow Retail Therapy on Substack.
Things I Saved This Week
My Sunday To-Do List
Laundry, laundry, laundry.
Rest the body after a few days of golf. We’re talking Advil, Theragun, and maybe even an Earlybird gummy toward the end of the night.
Very much need to water the garden. I’ve lost too many ferns in my life and I can’t stomach losing the one I currently have.
Spin a record. Maybe some JGB or Oasis. Just maybe.
Really craving a fresh Italian sandwich, so a Home Slice Pizza order may be in the future.
“How can I support Sunday Scaries?”
Buy our zine, Scenes of Note.
Listen to Retail Therapy.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Subscribe to all Washed Media Podcasts.
Or, you can simply subscribe here:
That home slice order needs to be heavily monitored. Your Za probation officer, Randy, should be checked in with