Zan McQuade
@zanmcquade.bsky.social
I’ve been burned in my prime
I was recording a video for a friend about some cover band instrument division that got interrupted by coyotes in our yard and it’s a great illustration of what life in 2026 feels like
January 11, 2026 at 1:55 AM
I was recording a video for a friend about some cover band instrument division that got interrupted by coyotes in our yard and it’s a great illustration of what life in 2026 feels like
Reposted by Zan McQuade
This is why it annoys me when people try to make it seem as if this is how things have always been. There was a time when greater literacy and reading as a part of everyday life for people of every class was a national mission. Then it changed drastically and now we’re here.
Last fall I ended up looking at a lot of Seventeen magazines for a project. Even in the late 90's, there was a section of book recs in every issue. One of them was historical fiction about the life of Van Gogh, doorstop-thick. It hit me then how much of a reading culture we've lost.
January 7, 2026 at 4:07 AM
This is why it annoys me when people try to make it seem as if this is how things have always been. There was a time when greater literacy and reading as a part of everyday life for people of every class was a national mission. Then it changed drastically and now we’re here.
I guess 2026 is the year I start writing things again? open.substack.com/pub/zanmcqua...
The Arc Of A Reader
A year of consuming Faulkner's floodwaters, Satie, and physics
open.substack.com
January 5, 2026 at 6:36 PM
I guess 2026 is the year I start writing things again? open.substack.com/pub/zanmcqua...
Also looming large in my reading this year: @seanmcarroll.bsky.social’s Something Deeply Hidden. I feel absolutely transformed by what I learned in this book. Who needs self-help when you have the Many Worlds theory?
December 22, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Also looming large in my reading this year: @seanmcarroll.bsky.social’s Something Deeply Hidden. I feel absolutely transformed by what I learned in this book. Who needs self-help when you have the Many Worlds theory?
Two books I read this year that I loved more than any others, I think. David Toop
and Ian Penman aren’t just writing about music or Dr. John or Satie or the piano… they’re writing about EVERYTHING THAT CONNECTS THROUGH TIME & EXPERIENCE. Beautiful works.
and Ian Penman aren’t just writing about music or Dr. John or Satie or the piano… they’re writing about EVERYTHING THAT CONNECTS THROUGH TIME & EXPERIENCE. Beautiful works.
December 22, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Two books I read this year that I loved more than any others, I think. David Toop
and Ian Penman aren’t just writing about music or Dr. John or Satie or the piano… they’re writing about EVERYTHING THAT CONNECTS THROUGH TIME & EXPERIENCE. Beautiful works.
and Ian Penman aren’t just writing about music or Dr. John or Satie or the piano… they’re writing about EVERYTHING THAT CONNECTS THROUGH TIME & EXPERIENCE. Beautiful works.
I have bags under my eyes from staying up too late listening to the Rosalía album. 😍
November 8, 2025 at 2:17 PM
I have bags under my eyes from staying up too late listening to the Rosalía album. 😍
Am I the only weirdo who likes it when the clocks go back because it’s lighter earlier in the morning?
November 3, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Am I the only weirdo who likes it when the clocks go back because it’s lighter earlier in the morning?
Honestly the best thing about late October is randomly hearing Warren Zevon in public
October 28, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Honestly the best thing about late October is randomly hearing Warren Zevon in public
Reposted by Zan McQuade
baseball is the best preparation for death because it does not come with a clock that tells you when your suffering will end one way or the other
October 11, 2025 at 3:04 AM
baseball is the best preparation for death because it does not come with a clock that tells you when your suffering will end one way or the other
I love how in spite of trying to make baseball shorter (why) they succeeded in having a World Series game that lasted so long and everyone is complaining about so much that I can’t even tell who won based on the posts about it.
October 28, 2025 at 12:57 PM
I love how in spite of trying to make baseball shorter (why) they succeeded in having a World Series game that lasted so long and everyone is complaining about so much that I can’t even tell who won based on the posts about it.
Starting a list of products whose ads include people tapping the product with their fingernails as a note to never buy said product, can we not
October 27, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Starting a list of products whose ads include people tapping the product with their fingernails as a note to never buy said product, can we not
When everything around me feels like it’s crumbling, the most soothing books to read have been about science & philosophy. Understanding how the universe came to be (& will continue to be) beyond humans is deeply comforting, as is reading about how humans think about the world around us
October 23, 2025 at 3:22 PM
When everything around me feels like it’s crumbling, the most soothing books to read have been about science & philosophy. Understanding how the universe came to be (& will continue to be) beyond humans is deeply comforting, as is reading about how humans think about the world around us
If ever they make a biopic (a word I still pronounce to rhyme with “myopic”) of Joseph Beuys and Walton Goggins isn’t playing him I will be disappointed
October 23, 2025 at 3:08 PM
If ever they make a biopic (a word I still pronounce to rhyme with “myopic”) of Joseph Beuys and Walton Goggins isn’t playing him I will be disappointed
I play Right Beside You a lot in the bookstore! (Today!)
Sophie B Hawkins 2nd album Whaler was released when I worked at Sam the Record Man in Winnipeg and found myself playing it in store A LOT. Learned later Stephen Lispon produced it, so that explains that. #cdfriday
October 11, 2025 at 4:57 AM
I play Right Beside You a lot in the bookstore! (Today!)
I feel like I only pop into this place when there is a new musician I’m obsessing over so much I have to shout it across every social media platform. I’m just here in my little corner shouting GEORDIE GREEP CATE LE BON LABI SIFFRE HERBIE HANCOCK DRY CLEANING AAAAAAHHHHH I hope that’s okay
October 6, 2025 at 7:53 PM
I feel like I only pop into this place when there is a new musician I’m obsessing over so much I have to shout it across every social media platform. I’m just here in my little corner shouting GEORDIE GREEP CATE LE BON LABI SIFFRE HERBIE HANCOCK DRY CLEANING AAAAAAHHHHH I hope that’s okay
I can’t find proof of this, but tell me Massive Attack didn’t sample or at least find inspiration for “Unfinished Sympathy” in this Labi Siffre song: youtu.be/OG3T0OYkQ5k?...
Summer Is Coming
YouTube video by Labi Siffre - Topic
youtu.be
October 6, 2025 at 7:25 PM
I can’t find proof of this, but tell me Massive Attack didn’t sample or at least find inspiration for “Unfinished Sympathy” in this Labi Siffre song: youtu.be/OG3T0OYkQ5k?...
Reposted by Zan McQuade
If you can listen to “Silver Springs” without closing your eyes, forming your hand into a fist and holding it tight against your chest with deep emotion during the rising chord progression of the chorus, you are a very different kind of human to me
August 25, 2025 at 3:53 PM
If you can listen to “Silver Springs” without closing your eyes, forming your hand into a fist and holding it tight against your chest with deep emotion during the rising chord progression of the chorus, you are a very different kind of human to me
I spent all night playing Rick Springfield’s “Inside Silvia” on the piano which is its own kind of dance anthem youtu.be/PFTKq_pkEXQ?...
Rick Springfield - Inside Sylvia
YouTube video by joltinjack
youtu.be
August 24, 2025 at 2:14 AM
I spent all night playing Rick Springfield’s “Inside Silvia” on the piano which is its own kind of dance anthem youtu.be/PFTKq_pkEXQ?...
Every few months I remember how much I love dance anthems
August 24, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Every few months I remember how much I love dance anthems
I love rocks and I love Todd Rundgren, so seeing Todd play “Rock Love” at Red Rocks was almost more than I could handle
August 23, 2025 at 5:31 PM
I love rocks and I love Todd Rundgren, so seeing Todd play “Rock Love” at Red Rocks was almost more than I could handle
Here’s Todd Rundgren the night of his RRHOF induction… rocking the hell out of Cincinnati
August 8, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Here’s Todd Rundgren the night of his RRHOF induction… rocking the hell out of Cincinnati
Reposted by Zan McQuade
yes caribbean blue jeans
August 7, 2025 at 2:29 AM
yes caribbean blue jeans
But does Enya ever wear jeans
August 7, 2025 at 2:04 AM
But does Enya ever wear jeans