There's a record by garage rock legend Holly Golightly that has been my go-to for decades now: The Good Things. It's a short record (on vinyl it's only a 10"), but every song on it is amazing. It was Holly Golightly's first solo record, having made a name for herself as one of The Headcoatees, known for their driving, '60s girl-groupesque, lo-fi rock songs. The Good Things was a very different record: slow and sad, a beautiful kind of melancholy. Which, honestly, is about as good a thing as you can ask for right now, a time that is so markedly sad. So here are a few good things that I wanted to share with you.

Automatic Noodle

Automatic Noodle is a wonderful, slim book written by Annalee Newitz about robots that run a noodle restaurant in a post-dystopian San Francisco. But what it's really about is about realizing your dreams with a found family, about building real things that matter to real people, and about the importance of community. It's a very nice read right now, if you'd like something where basically just good things happen. Which I desperately do. (The link to the book is an affiliate link where I get a little cut of the sale.)

Coyote

I will always ride-or-die with alt weeklies, the locally-focused indie culture newspapers like the Chicago Reader, the The Stranger, and the Village Voice, and so it's thrilling to see the launch of the Coyote, a new alt weekly for the Bay Area. Started by a bunch of kickass writers, I'm really excited to see where it goes from here. Lord knows we need more independent media right now, I hope that they're successful and that success spawns more in their image.

Caitlin Angelica

I've been listening to the haunting, warbling voice of Caitlin Angelica lately. Her tremendously sad, tremendously beautiful album "Now I Know," was born from the tragic death of her partner in 2023. She has bundled all of the hurt and shock and pain of it into a record about grief and perseverance and it's not an easy listen per se but it's one that I really need right now. (There's also a great interview with Caitlin in the latest edition of the excellent see/saw punk newsletter.)

World Tramdriver Championships

OK, this is one of my favorite things that happens once a year: This weekend 25 teams of tramdrivers competed to see which one would be crowned the best in the world. Yes, really. Previously focused just on European public transportation, this year included teams from Brazil, China, Australia and the US to turn what had been the European Tramdriver Championships into the World Tramdriver Championships. Feast your eyes on the six hour live stream to watch drivers compete in disciplines like driving-backwards-without-spilling-water, not-hitting-a-cardboard-cutout-of-two-people-dancing-as-you-drive-by-it, and of course, tram bowling. It's just pure joy.

Look, times are hard right now. Take the good things where you can find them.