Pictures of Lily is Wondering How a Helicopter Has a "Hard Landing"
Staying in touch with Lily Moayeri
Hello!
Can I just take a moment to thank all of my editors who give me the space and support to bring awareness about Iran and its people? Namechecking in order of earliest to most recent: Craig, Liza, Shirley, Thania, Katie, Ilana, Randy, Neal, Lyndsey, Ron, Malina, Bob, Marianna, Jem, Sharareh, Ryan. I don’t take it for granted and deeply appreciate their understanding and their care with topics that aren’t easy to explain, which makes it all that much more necessary to talk about them.
This week I’m especially grateful to the team at SPIN who championed this piece on rapper Toomaj Salehi, which turned into something with wider scope, particularly as the president of the Islamic Republic and the government’s foreign minister were killed in a helicopter which had a “hard landing” (read crash) last weekend. To understand their sheer evil (the former’s nickname is the “Butcher of Tehran”), check out this brief news story. Then it will make sense why the people of Iran are dancing with joy and why we don’t need a moment of silence for either of them at the UN.
In addition to my media colleagues, I want to also thank my amazing educator colleagues, across all disciplines, who allow me to bring Iran into concrete research-based lessons.
Speak soon,
Lily
I’ve had a few artists from inside Iran and Iranian organizations outside the country reach out to me through Instagram. It’s because of their combined efforts that this story came together. Since I started writing it, one of the artists has been sentenced to prison. He joins a long list of creatives, at the forefront of which is Toomaj Salehi whose incendiary rhymes have positioned a noose around his neck and who is the main inspiration for the story. It’s all here in SPIN: “Peter Gabriel on Iranian Rapper Toomaj Salehi: ‘This is Barbaric and Must Stop’.” I have to, once again, thank my editors: Bob Guccione Jr., Liza Lentini and Ryan Reed.
The original punk rock feminist, Kathleen Hanna (of Bikini Kill, Le Tigre and The Julie Ruin) has published her memoir, Rebel Girl, and I got to ask her all the questions I wanted to, including about her husband, Beastie Boys’ Ad-Rock, for SPIN. Kathleen did not hold back including talking about getting punched by Courtney Love.
The 10th installment of my “The Essentials” column at SPIN is with the multi-faceted Kate Hudson who, turns out, is as talented a musician as she is an actor. Kate released her debut album, Glorious, last week, and she ran down her top 10 favorite songs for “The Essentials.”
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of “Get Low,” the GRAMMY Museum hosted Dillon Francis and Diplo In Conversation, which was pretty much a comedy show. I wrote about five things I learned during the experience for GRAMMY.com.
Iranian American visual artist Mina Alikhani was gracious to allow me to visit her studio where she was getting ready for her exhibition Crimes Against God. The exhibition has finished its run, but the impact of what Mina shared with me has stayed. I tried to capture it as best as I could in the feature I wrote on her for Fine Art Globe.
Can you imagine Prince asking you to dance? Me either, but fellow music journalist, podcaster and author Andrea Swensson had that experience, and many more with Prince. I talked to her about them and her new book, Prince and Purple Rain: 40 Years, for SPIN’s “Read Me” series.
As I type this, I’m binge rewatching Veronica Mars. I didn’t think it was possible, but 20 years later, I love it even more. Veronica Mars is one of many series that lost some, or all, of its stellar soundtrack when went to streaming services. I wrote about this phenomenon for Book and Film Globe: “On Streaming, Classic TV Shows Are Dropping the Needle Drops.” Big thanks to Gary Calamar of Go Music and Mara Kuge of Superior Music Publishing for their expert input.
If you haven’t had a chance to listen to this vintage interview I did with Robert Smith of The Cure in 1997, press play on that episode of the Pictures of Lily Podcast right now. To quote myself from the last newsletter: I can guarantee that you have not heard Robert like he is in this interview ever before, or ever will again. He is irreverent and chatty, opinionated and funny, and endlessly patient with my lack of Cure knowledge. It’s a 24-minute listen. Then press play on what happened next with the original Cure episode of the Pictures of Lily Podcast.
To read the print-only interview with The Cure’s Robert Smith, consider subscribing to the paid tier. Thank you!