John Kenyon

Highly recommended.

Stack of books on a table with titles redacted by black bars. Headline reads: "The Normalization of Book Banning: What's Happening. What Can Be Done." PEN America logo appears at bottom.

🧵 In 2025, book censorship in the United States is rampant and common. Never before in the life of any living American have so many books been systematically removed from school libraries across the country.

Can't wait to hear Lockwood talk about this at the Iowa City Book Festival on Oct. 11! www.iowacitybookfestival.org.

Does this mean we don't need to die just yet?

That was a really interesting novel. He packs a lot of emotion and intrigue into a small package.

Agreed. I can't imagine listening to the live set more than once on vinyl, so I sure would like for that that 10" to be included with the CD-only set, as was the case with all of the others that preceded this one.

YouTube video by Cyrus Pireh - Topic Thank You, Guitar

I listen to a LOT of solo guitar music, and I'll be damned if Cyrus Pireh's latest isn't blowing my mind a bit. He calls it "transcendental shred electric guitar music," and I can't think of a better description.

youtu.be/2JXbVRELjPE

Happy to be hosting you on Oct. 11 at the Iowa City Book Festival!

Letter to the editor: The decision to close SHSI Iowa City should alarm anyone interested in Iowa and Midwest history - Little Village Some 40 years ago, my mother donated a 1915 landscape plan to the State Historical Society of Iowa’s library in Iowa City. The plan, a rare surviving hand-painted sketch by […]

Letter to the editor: The decision to close SHSI Iowa City should alarm anyone interested in Iowa and Midwest history littlevillagemag.com/letter-to-th...

Take Five: Shrine to the Dynamic Year Taking a look back on 12 months worth of 'Take Fives' with a sort of best-of that showcases the jazz, poetry, rock, writing, and pop philosophy I have shared each week

I’ve been writing the Take Five feature on my Substack for a year, highlighting more than 250 songs, books, movies,poems, paintings, albums, artists and more. This week, a few favorites offered in celebration. Thanks for reading. Please continue… I will!
jpkenyon.substack.com/p/take-five-...

He Read (at Least) 3,599 Books in His Lifetime. Now Anyone Can See His List.

Love seeing the act of reading celebrated. Who knew we list-making book nerds were newsworthy. I’m at 2,430 and counting over the last 33 years, with a few decades (health willing) before I reach age 92 like Dan. More stories to experience, more worlds to explore.

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/26/b...

Take Five: Going off the rails We are on a Crazy Train of sorts, but we can view some beautiful art by Kandinsky, learn from PBS, explore wonderful poetry with Fanny Howe, laugh at a comic, and crank some Ozzy (or The Bad Plus).

Sometimes you need refined art, sometimes you need some Ozzy, and sometimes you need both and everything in between. It was a week full of art ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime. jpkenyon.substack.com/p/take-five-...

I would have gone with "War Pigs"? Still relevant.

Flagging Down the Double E's | Ray Padgett | Substack Bob Dylan concerts throughout history. Click to read Flagging Down the Double E's, by Ray Padgett, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

And many thanks to ‪@raypadgett.bsky.social‬ for enlightening interviews at his "Flagging Down the Double E's" Substack, which really helped to unlock a lot of my thinking about the program. www.flaggingdown.com

What was it you wanted? There was someone there in the shadows on July 18, 2021, and it was Bob Dylan with one of the least spontaneous (but one of the most satisfying) productions of his career, 'Shadow Kingdom'

Four years after the release of one of Bob Dylan's least spontaneous projects, "Shadow Kingdom," I watched again and found an interesting video that doesn't bear many repeat viewings, and a batch of songs that will continue to earn more spins. jpkenyon.substack.com/p/what-was-i...

Take Five: What do you do now? Yes, it seems every good thing is in the crosshairs, but we still have painting, and jazz, and ambient music, and protest songs, and friends to share it with, so all is not lost

So thanks to Vilhelm Hammershoi, Louis Armstrong, SUSS and Immersion, Kronos Quartet, and Tom Jessen for getting me from one week to the next. jpkenyon.substack.com/p/take-five-...

Focusing on positives is difficult these days, but I spent time with paintings, and jazz, and ambient music, and protest songs and it helped to get me through.

Richard Hell: Revisiting, repairing, and remixing Destiny Street After last week's 'Take Five' stop with Hell's book, 'What Just Happened,' I dug up this interview with Hell from 2010 where we discussed his project to 'repair' his flawed yet wonderful sophomore LP

In 2010, Richard Hell revisited his 1982 album, "Destiny Street." In 2025, I revisit my 2010 interview with Hell about the project, once again thinking about the question: "When is a work of art truly finished?" jpkenyon.substack.com/p/richard-he...

40 years later: Revisiting Live Aid Four decades ago today, some of the biggest names in rock joined to raise money to combat famine in Africa. Here is a look back at some sets that blew my teenaged mind, and a few I missed

40 years ago today I was in the basement of our house in Des Moines watching Live Aid. With the help of YouTube, I spent the last week reliving some of the highlights and catching up with things I missed as I watched through the lens of a 15-year-old pop fan. jpkenyon.substack.com/p/40-years-l...

Love the soundtrack, too.

A poem on the page. The title is HISTORY. Below is the poem. Hope...goosestep.

A succinct summary of our times from my morning reading. From Bill Knott's "I Am Flying Into Myself: Selected Poems, 1960-2014".

YouTube video by Adam Parkhomenko LIVE: Hakeem Jeffries & House Democrats Fighting to Save American Lives on the House Floor

It's sad that Democrats are reduced to feats of endurance to protect millions of Americans from the Republicans, but here we are.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l-X...

A perfect world or one false move? Bruce Springsteen just released, 'Tracks II,' a box set with 7 unreleased albums. As you would expect, there is some sublime music and some forgettable tunes, and I'm here to weigh in on all of it.

I sometimes offer a review by saying, "I listened so you don't need to," but if you're at all a fan of Springsteen, you should read this and then listen, for while there obviously is some chaff among these 7 albums, there is a lot of goodness as well.
jpkenyon.substack.com/p/a-perfect-...

Take Five: Creativity, elegy and industry Curiosity and connections led me to Terence Blanchard, Danny Gatton, Mick Ralphs' work with Mott the Hoople, the murals of Diego Rivera, and, yes, yet another Beach Boys tune

Where else will you read about jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard, muralist Diego Rivera, and Mott the Hoople all in one place? Give me 5 minutes, and I’ll take you on a journey through my cultural week. jpkenyon.substack.com/p/take-five-...

People in wheelchairs are getting arrested right now in the Russell Senate Office Building in DC. They showed up to tell Congress not to cut their Medicaid, because they cant afford health care without it. If you look closely you can see the zip ties on their hands. #WeWontGetOverLosingMedicaid

Take Five: Bright stars in a dark age Another week of connections: Alice Notley to Ted Berrigan to Joe Brainard, Charles Mingus to Jeff Beck, and Four Tet to Mazzy Star

I found solace this week in discovering a few things I had missed the first time around, and for a few moments, it took my mind off the raging dumpster fire that roils our country. Perhaps my recounting of this little journey can do the same for you.
jpkenyon.substack.com/p/take-five-...

Maybe Joni was more prescient than we knew with that “We’re all going to die” comment.

Take Five: Trying to get to you The King ushers in a week of surprises with a Bill Fox interview, a Sylvia Plath-Joe Pernice connection, an '80s slow dance with Jimmy Barnes and Neil Finn, and flirty lumberjacks with Torrey Peters

My cultural consumption was all over the place this week, with a visit by the King, the reluctant folk-pop of Bill Fox, some Sylvia Plath by way of Joe Pernice, an unexpected jaunt with Neil Finn & Jimmy Barnes, and some wonderful fiction with Torrey Peters. jpkenyon.substack.com/p/take-five-...

So, putting up batshit crazy signs is easier than painting? Got it.

Same, but my distance vision is awful without help… which is why I come home from work, pop out the contacts and read.