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josh terry

@joshterry.bsky.social

chicago-based writer. newsletter producer at wttw news (@wttw.bsky.social). i also run the music and culture blog no expectations. ex: vice, chicago tribune, etc. tips, email: joshhowardterry@gmail.com https://www.noexpectations.fyi

28,496 Followers  |  1,157 Following  |  1,873 Posts  |  Joined: 16.05.2023
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Posts by josh terry (@joshterry.bsky.social)

yeah ryan and i aren’t introverts in my case i just wanted a free table

08.03.2026 06:36 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

at a show and was planning on having a chill nightcap at the bar next door. to my horror, the headlining band just announced on stage that they are having a drink at the bar next door after and the crowd should β€œcome through”

08.03.2026 04:30 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

If there's media you care about, it's hard to overstate how important it is that you subscribe to it. Ad rates are garbage, and the changes to search mean fewer new folks discovering sites they didn't already visit.

07.03.2026 18:15 β€” πŸ‘ 195    πŸ” 64    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 4

I live pretty close to a Metra train yard and last night, one of the trains had a horn malfunction that caused it to blare from 2-4:30 a.m. Not great

07.03.2026 18:33 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

four different mustards in the fridge right now. it’s just enough or if not, not that many

06.03.2026 19:44 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

I went to a website, got hit with a "accept all cookie preferences" form, said no, and then got a message that read, "We have received your choices and your requests will be honoured." Wow, that's so nice. Thank you for respecting my boundaries

06.03.2026 16:20 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The thing is, she's not quoting Orwell because Orwell never said that

05.03.2026 19:26 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Where it's usually "Stereogum recommends a band that I will write about in my newsletter," today it's "I recommended a band in my newsletter that Stereogum is now writing about"

05.03.2026 17:25 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

at work. gonna watch tennis or maybe see a movie after. you?

05.03.2026 17:22 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Star Moles, Highway to Hell

Star Moles, Highway to Hell

Lala Lala, Heaven2

Lala Lala, Heaven2

Pileup, Leave the Light On

Pileup, Leave the Light On

I wrote about "being a regular" at a bar in your twenties and also recommended new LPs from Star Moles, Lala Lala, and Pileup. www.noexpectations.fyi/p/star-moles...

05.03.2026 15:22 β€” πŸ‘ 20    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0

The head coach of the Sacramento Kings interviewed me about a piece I wrote

05.03.2026 05:34 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

it’d been getting dusty on my bookshelf and went through it last week. something you can easily get through in a day or two.

05.03.2026 04:45 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
If you've played tennis at least a little, you probably have some idea how hard a game is to play really well. I submit to you that you really have no idea at all. I know I didn't. And television doesn't really allow you to appreciate what real top-level players can do–how hard they're actually hitting the ball, and with what control and tactical imagination and artistry. I got to watch Michael Joyce practice several times right up close, like six feet and a chain-link fence away. This is a man who, at full run, can hit a fast-moving tennis ball into a one-foot square area seventy-eight feet away over a net, hard. He can do this something like more than 90 percent of the time. And this is the world's seventy-ninth-best player, one who has to play the Montreal qualies.

If you've played tennis at least a little, you probably have some idea how hard a game is to play really well. I submit to you that you really have no idea at all. I know I didn't. And television doesn't really allow you to appreciate what real top-level players can do–how hard they're actually hitting the ball, and with what control and tactical imagination and artistry. I got to watch Michael Joyce practice several times right up close, like six feet and a chain-link fence away. This is a man who, at full run, can hit a fast-moving tennis ball into a one-foot square area seventy-eight feet away over a net, hard. He can do this something like more than 90 percent of the time. And this is the world's seventy-ninth-best player, one who has to play the Montreal qualies.

The idea that there can be wholly distinct levels to competitive tennis–levels so distinct that what's being played is in essence a whole different game–might seem to you weird and hyperbolic. I have played probably just enough tennis to understand that it's true. I have played against men who were on a whole different, higher plateau than I, and I have understood on the deepest and most humbling level the impossibility of beating them, of "solving their game." Knowle is technically entitled to be called a professional, but he is playing a fundamentally different grade of tennis from Michael Joyce's, one constrained by limitations Joyce does not have. I feel like I could get on a tennis court with Julian Knowle. He would beat me, perhaps handily, but I don't feel like it would be absurd for me to occupy the same seventy-eight-by-twenty-seventy-foot rectangle as he. The idea of me playing Joyce–or even hitting around with him, which was one of the ideas I was entertaining on the flight to Montreal–is now revealed to me to be in a certain way obscene, and I resolve not even to let Joyce [40] know that I used to play competitive tennis, and (I'd presumed) rather well. This makes me sad.

The idea that there can be wholly distinct levels to competitive tennis–levels so distinct that what's being played is in essence a whole different game–might seem to you weird and hyperbolic. I have played probably just enough tennis to understand that it's true. I have played against men who were on a whole different, higher plateau than I, and I have understood on the deepest and most humbling level the impossibility of beating them, of "solving their game." Knowle is technically entitled to be called a professional, but he is playing a fundamentally different grade of tennis from Michael Joyce's, one constrained by limitations Joyce does not have. I feel like I could get on a tennis court with Julian Knowle. He would beat me, perhaps handily, but I don't feel like it would be absurd for me to occupy the same seventy-eight-by-twenty-seventy-foot rectangle as he. The idea of me playing Joyce–or even hitting around with him, which was one of the ideas I was entertaining on the flight to Montreal–is now revealed to me to be in a certain way obscene, and I resolve not even to let Joyce [40] know that I used to play competitive tennis, and (I'd presumed) rather well. This makes me sad.

have you read this David Foster Wallace Esquire essay? He basically says the exact same thing while covering a qualifying round of a β€˜90s Canadian Open www.esquire.com/sports/a5151...

05.03.2026 04:32 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

it’s only round one but i’m unbelievably locked in to the indian wells open. tennis might be the best sport to watch

05.03.2026 03:54 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

Yeah, it's a totally different and great bar on off-hours. Watched a couple of March Madness games with the subject of that profile at that very place!

04.03.2026 04:02 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I might be missing the point, but that's definitely the vibe at Lottie's during a weekday

04.03.2026 03:52 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image Post image

Announcing 'Carousel' - a new 10-track LP from Ohio's villagerrr, set to arrive May 29th via Winspear. The boldest and most delicate album to date from the Ohio songwriter, Mark Scott.

Listen + pre-order: lnk.to/villagerrr-c...

03.03.2026 16:19 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1

no expectations is a welsh publication

03.03.2026 21:17 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Green Man Festival lineup 2026 – Green Man Festival Green Man Festival 2026 line-up will include music, comedy, literature, film, performing arts, science, kids and teens, workshops and cabaret. Sign up to get updates.

this might be the best music festival lineup i've seen in years www.greenman.net/line-up//

03.03.2026 21:06 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I'm reading John McPhee's 1969 book 'Levels of the Game,' about the U.S. Open semifinal between Arthur Ashe and Clark Graebner, and it's obvious within the first five pages why this is considered an alltimer sports book

03.03.2026 20:41 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
Friko - Choo Choo (Official Video)
YouTube video by FrikoVEVO Friko - Choo Choo (Official Video)

now that's the stuff right there www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK2r...

03.03.2026 17:41 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

(but the only one in english)

03.03.2026 01:32 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

you too! yeah, that was one of at least twenty videos fed to me

03.03.2026 01:31 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Noticed that my Instagram algorithm has suddenly believed that I'm Polish. Your guess is as good is mine there

02.03.2026 21:09 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

When I wrote this question, I thought, "I hope someone chooses the Bob Newhart Show." Sure enough, multiple people on here came through in just a half hour

02.03.2026 20:44 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

getting the kind of plastic surgery that makes people think i've been cloned

02.03.2026 19:46 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Chicago alt-country upstarts National Photo Committee come in Red Hot - Chicago Reader National Photo Committee have been kicking around since before the pandemic, and they’ve never followed any muse but their own.

I wrote about National Photo Committee, a band from Chicago

02.03.2026 15:21 β€” πŸ‘ 29    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0

this would make more sense if most new releases weren’t pressed to vinyl

01.03.2026 22:57 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

watching italian soccer. they’re playing in rome at the stadio olimpico, where its pitch side advertising boards are hawking monster energy drink. didn’t realize those were big over there

01.03.2026 20:30 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

the good news is all my sports teams won today the bad news is everything else in the world

01.03.2026 01:53 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0