Favorite things: John Martyn

Have you ever heard of John Martyn? Maybe not. But, an amazing musician. Scottish/Jewish, died in Ireland in 2009 at age 60. Listen to this whole 2 hour compilation of his songs, and then tell me if you like it.

British singer-songwriter and guitarist John Martyn (1948 - 2009) performs live in London, circa 1977. (Photo by Estate Of Keith Morris/Redferns/Getty Images)

I discovered him from some other folks who post on Soundcloud, a long time ago.

One more thought about Bad Bunny

I was in graduate school working on my masters degree in arts of administration when the pandemic hit. I was taking a course on fundraising in the nonprofit world when we had to take the class online and learn how to use Zoom. Can you believe that was almost 5 years ago? We focused a lot on the necessity of art during times of crisis and sensitivities around needs. If you're not familiar with Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it's the theory that your “higher” needs, so to speak, like art and critical thinking cannot be addressed until you have sustenance and everything needed for your body, like food and shelter.

But there's also an argument to be made that art can shift how needs are delivered and improve things dramatically. I think that, for instance this new album by Bad Bunny has exploded the conversation about the past and future of Puerto Rico for a large number of people just in a matter of weeks, not to mention men being comfortable with sharing their emotions. It is incredible what art can do.

It is also remarkable that this is a Spanish language studio recording, but it is being received by people all over the world, including millions of people who do not speak Spanish. I think that you're going to see a huge Bunny bounce in the economy of Puerto Rico, and hopefully that will make an impact for a very long time to come, because I don't see this man slowing down or compromising his vision in any way. It is inspiring.

The response to the album has been so massive, that he added more shows in September 2025, and I think you can still get them.


Canva Templates

I started making some Canva templates with the stamps I carved, and am beginning to list them on Etsy. If you are reading this, what templates would make your life easier? Your business? Below I have linked a welcome sign for an Airbnb, incorporating pigeons, or as you may know them better, skyrats.

Oh man, I just realized it looks like that pigeon is sitting on a wifi symbol, or something much worse.

TikTok for the people?

If it doesn't seem odd that government is able to agree to ban TikTok, because it is a “national security threat” yet there have been almost 1700 school shootings in the United States since TikTok was introduced in 2016, and our government has not managed to do anything about that, then I don't know what would seem odd. Why are we allowed to order from Temu and Shein?

I have learned a lot on the ol Tik Tok and I think there are other ways we can access this information. I’m not sure what to think. For now, I’ll be over here with my bag of bagels. You can take the girl out of the Upper West Side, but…. damn I really miss NYC.

Nosferatu goes electric?

I was feeling a little rundown today, so I took myself to the movies tonight, which is a really fun thing to do sometimes - try it. Who isn’t feeling run down after the autumn that the United States has had, and then comes “the holiday season”? The other night I went to go see A Complete Unknown with my mom who actually was at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 when Bob Dylan went electric and so it was really fun to see the movie with her. We loved it, and I am working on a TikTok video of her. I tried to convince her to go right from that movie to an IMAX screening of the new Nosferatu movie, but she said no which I think was a wise decision on her part. So I went on my own tonight. You know what I'm gonna have to say that this movie was not made for me, and that's OK just like the studio Ghibli movies are not made for me. I tried them once - I tried it twice and I'm not gonna try again, I am going to have to say the same with campy horror like this.

Although my experience might have been ruined by the couple in front of me, who were vaping the entire time back-and-forth, although luckily, whatever breeze from the vents caused the smoke to go directly to the left of me, I felt bad for those people. Then the vaping folks turned on their phones and started tuning out the giant IMAX screen in front of them that they had paid to go to, but I finally had to lean in and tell this guy to turn off his phone when he started looking at naked selfies of himself during one of the climactic scenes of Nosferatu. I'll probably never see this movie again, so I just wanted to be able to sort of pay attention to Willem Defoe, who held this movie together.

That feeling you get when press SCHEDULE SEND on an email.

The entire audience that I was with did not like it. That's too bad. Lily-Rose Depp is beautiful and I think that she did a really good job. But it was a beautiful thing to watch, something did not quite fit together for me. The funniest part is they really drive home at the beginning that the husband is being sent on a trip for a real estate document transaction which is such a banal premise.

Tim C in the place to be

Ok, slow down I know you're freaking out…. you're wondering Ellen, please tell us which movie to go to. What do you think that we should do with the rest of our time.. before we get back to the soul sucking, muckraking, everything-taking, hyper volume that is about to be 2025. I mean it's no contest. Go see A Complete Unknown and then, go home and on this album on. I can’t tell you how many times I have listened to these songs, and this recording was made eleven years before I was born.

Ellen's gift guide - continued again

I am always making an effort to try and not buy things with Amazon but I redoubled my efforts once I saw the $500 million boat. Imagine what someone with a soul could do with $500 million? Here are some fun places to do mail order gifts: I also like Harry & David because I love pears and cheese.

Li-lac Chocolates - Manhattan’s oldest chocolatier

Zabar’s - This is a place to get food on the Upper Best, sorry, I mean Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, which is where your girl here grew up. I can close my eyes and smell it right now, walking from the cheese section, turning right, heading towards all the prepared foods down where the strudels and the knishes are…and then if go upstairs, you'll find every possible cooking apparatus known to man. I have spent many hours here.

I know this isn’t new information, but I like talking about New York. Sue me.

Speaking of NYC, Nobody Told Me is almost six years old I think? Such a great bar on the Upper West Side, and the jerk wings…oh man. I guess some people might call it Morningside Heights? Or something else, I dunno.

Here is the ATM that stole $20 from me on Avenue A a couple weeks ago. Are we surprised?

Ellen's annual holiday gift guide - part 1

Ok everyone relax. I know you've been waiting for this for quite a while and I've been a little slow this year but here we go you still have some time to order everything that you need. The first day of Hanukkah is also the same day as Christmas this year so let's go.

Here is a gift for all the young ladies out there, but also, perhaps everyone should have some in their bathroom closet because the stuff has a long shelf life and we are entering into the woods. The darkening skies and the clouds are up head, so who knows. Perhaps your niece or your friend's daughter or your next-door neighbors might need this just order some OK because they might make it illegal.

Wisp - emergency contraceptives

Julia Bo - ethically sourced shoes made in Ukraine, Poland and Spain

Sunglass Museum - NOS glasses

Lisa Gozlan



It was me

Tomorrow is election day here in the United States, and it's a pretty consequential election. I voted almost two weeks ago and I can't wait for this to be over. I feel like everybody is trying to do things to take their mind off of the election. I was thinking about headlines and news and how I like to get a little creative for April Fools. I am already hard at work for April 4, 2025. Imagine what the world could look like by then! I choose to believe it will be a much more peaceful place.

April Fools 2024

April Fools 2023

TikTok to me

One thing that is really fun to do is to talk about my paintings on TikTok. I've been posting a painting every day on there or a piece of artwork anyway and feels very good to look through all of the work I've done. Because even if nobody else watches these videos, I get to look at my paintings again. And I really love these paintings. I made all of them for myself. Why else is anybody making paintings.

So on TikTok, if you spend enough time on there, you also get convince to share your outfits with people and then I can get a little weird.

Unstampable Me

Is it the summer of my discontent, or the fall? Or is it the ability to quickly make a mark? Carving stamps this very satisfying and I highly recommend giving it a try.

You will need Speedball carving blocks, a brayer, a carving tool, paper and ink. That’s just to give you an idea. Blick’s has a great selection.

The stress is almost visible these days, isn’t it? So make sure you take a walk too, as well as something small that is creative. Personally I don’t think that much news is that great for us. The 24 hour news cycle might be what got us into this mess in the first place. They're just selling. Yuval Noah Harari in the book Sapiens which everyone should read talks about how anthropologists think that humans for most of our time on earth have lived in groups of about 150 to 200, all over the globe. So that means our brains developed with the capacity to be able to keep a thread on that many people.

It is definitely important to know who you can trust in your community, and who you can't and where you can go to get things done. But now in the modern day, we're hearing about tragedies and happenings in small towns half a world away minutes after they happen and our bodies don't know the difference from our reaction if it's someone we actually know or it's just reading words on a screen. Our reactions are the same. It’s like humanity has been in a high cortisol stress response since World War One, with constant news about battles in far off places. I'm not saying the answer is to put your head in the sand, but the current method is a disaster.

Anyhow, I use these carved pieces to make things. Cheers.