No Expectations 021: Sign In Stranger

'Jury Duty' is as good as you've heard. Plus, let's finally agree to shut up about artist riders.

Photo by Codioful (Formerly Gradienta) on Unsplash

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I was on vacation in Arizona all last week so the previous newsletter was a mailbag edition about whether or not music journalism is a viable career path. There’s still an open call for questions at the noexpectationsnewsletter@gmail.com email. I’m always looking for thoughtful reader emails. There are a few more really solid Qs I’ll be getting to in future weeks too. I appreciate everyone who’s reached out so far. 

The time away on vacation was great. I didn’t do anything except occasionally go out to eat. I read four books, which is pretty good for me. A couple were for an assignment that I don’t want to jinx but the other two are included in the newsletter below. 

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Jury Duty is if The Rehearsal was feel-good TV 

‘Jury Duty’ courtesy of Freevee (Amazon)

The pitch for Jury Duty is “What if you did The Truman Show but made it a workplace comedy  like The Office?” In the series, which is bizarrely available on Amazon’s Freevee, a real-life average dude named Ronald Gladden thinks he’s signing up to participate in a documentary about the life of jurors in the U.S. court system but he doesn’t realize the case is fake, his fellow jurors are all actors, and everything happening around him is designed by producers who worked on shows like Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Who Is America? and Wilfred. Like The Rehearsal and the much more bad-vibes Paul T. Goldman, it’s amazing what the show pulls off, creating elaborate ruses throughout eight episodes complete with actually solid jokes that never make its clueless protagonist realize he’s part of a scripted comedy. 

What’s interesting about Jury Duty compared to something like The Rehearsal or Borat, which thrives on the darkness and weirdness of its unsuspecting subjects, is that the show only works because of Ronald’s kindness and good-natured demeanor. This isn’t a spoiler: from the opening scene, it’s obvious that he’s a solid dude. He’s open and friendly. He smiles but isn’t overbearing. He’s like a less annoying and less damaged Ted Lasso. Basically, he’s the platonic ideal of good vibes. Considering the ethical dilemmas and shenanigans the producers threw at him, there is no way this show would work with a guy who had a temper or any tangible ounce of cruelty. A character is an offputting outcast nerd but Ronald decides to befriend him and show him a movie he thinks he might relate to. Another loses a bet to Ronald but the show’s unknowing hero refuses to let the man pay up. The show production manages to commit to the bit for over three weeks without giving up the ruse. Unreal stuff. 

Thankfully, this isn’t one of those “what does it mean to be a good person” comedies without any laughs. There are tons of genuinely great bits from its supporting cast which amazingly includes actor James Marsden playing a fictionalized version of himself. Marsden is an excellent comedic actor (despite not being known for his comedy) and also a great foil for Ronald, who is luckily a fan of his—for the movie Sex Drive, of all things. Marsden’s bit as a self-centered actor pushes Ronald’s buttons but never breaks him. Both comedian Mekki Leeper, who plays a sheltered Mormon youngster, and actress Edy Modica, who thrives as the impulsive party girl, are excellent improv actors and would easily fit on any future sitcom. It might not be an interesting observation to say that Jury Duty feels like a lived-in, grounded comedy because Ronald was actually living it. 

Jury Duty is a comedic and ethical tightrope act that actually works. That said, I’m worried about the inherently exploitative nature of shows like The Rehearsal—it’s easy to imagine how poorly this could have gone for Gladden had he been even fractionally less amiable. It’s only a matter of time before a producer crosses a line and ruins an undeserving subject’s life in a way that jeopardizes this mutant 21st-century take on Candid Camera. Mercifully, Jury Duty isn’t that show. 

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Rider Die

Over the weekend, some doofus on Twitter posted a leaked photo of songwriter Phoebe Bridgers’ tour rider (above) from 2018 and got torched by the timeline for making a whole to-do out of nothing. For those who don’t know, a rider is a standard part of a performance contract at any venue. Before a show, the artist will send the promoter a list of requests for the green room and performance. You’ve probably heard about the Van Halen M&M thing or sorta outlandish requests like Jack White’s guacamole recipe, which honestly wasn’t even that weird for an artist getting paid $80,000 to play a college. But for most small-to-midsize venues, the artist is going to get a case of beer, bottled water, a veggie tray, hummus, tea, chips, and maybe a bottle of tequila or wine. Boilerplate stuff like Bridgers’ requests. The bigger the act, the bigger the requests because it’s typically not just six people in a van the promoter has to accommodate. 

This feels tedious to type out because it’s a tedious and ultimately irrelevant conversation. Sure, rider requests can sometimes be funny (one time, a semi-prominent indie band’s frontperson requested “a dog to hang out with” pre-show, and my friend’s pup “wasn’t cute enough” for this particular musician) but mostly they’re very boring, bare-minimum stuff that’s standard for every tour for musicians trying to make a living. In my history of writing about music, I don’t think there’s ever been a leaked rider request that made me think anything other than “yeah, that makes sense.” Bob Dylan doesn’t want frozen fish in his catering request? Neither would I! Get a grip. Nothing on Phoebe’s 2018 list showcases an artist who’s making a promoter’s life hard. No one who isn’t an idiot is thinking, “Two kombuchas? In this economy?”

If you’re a music industry professional (or more accurately, an aspiring music industry professional) thinking about leaking a musician’s rider, it’s not going to be the artist asking for herbal teas looking unreasonable and out of touch. It’s long been time to put an end to the artist rider conversation. 

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What I listened to: 

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Bruiser and Bicycle, Holy Red Wagon 

Had they released music in the aughts, Albany, New York’s Bruiser and Bicycle would have been one of my favorite bands in high school. This knotty indie rock is for fans of the Dodos, Yeasayer, and Sung Tongs-era Animal Collective but without some of the decade-specific quirkiness that didn’t age well 15 years later. Their new album Holy Red Wagon is only nine songs but comes at a Galaxy Brain hour-plus runtime but it never overstays its welcome. 

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Kevin Morby, “Five Easy Pieces Revisited” 

Kevin Morby announced a companion album to this 2022 AOTY contender This Is a Photograph with More Photographs (A Continuum), which features reworked versions of songs from the album as well as tracks that didn’t make the final cut. This version of “Five Easy Pieces” is incredible.

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Deer Tick, “Forgiving Ties” 

One of my favorite pieces I’ve ever written was this 2017 profile on Deer Tick for VICE. Even though it was six years ago, it still holds a special place in my heart as it was the first time I traveled for a piece and was allowed to go really long on a band I loved. Emotional Contracts is the band’s eighth album and first since Deer Tick Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, the albums they were promoting when I profiled them. “Forgiving Ties” is the first taste of the LP (alongside the nine-minute closer “The Real Thing”) and it rules. I first got into Deer Tick as a Replacements-obsessed kid who was floored by their rowdy live show and now it’s nice to see them channeling a chiller, Tom Petty-indebted zone too. 

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Home Is Where, “yes! yes! a thousand times yes!” 

The new Home Is Where album was finally announced this week. The Florida band wrote a 2023 version of In The Aeroplane Over the Sea but about 9/11. It rules. A huge leap from a band already unafraid to really go for it. I was honored to write the press bio for it and talking to songwriters Brandon MacDonald and Tilley Komorny left me with an even deeper appreciation for their songs. It’s going to be great to see them in July at Beat Kitchen with Substack-favorite Smidley opening. 

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What I read: 

Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan by Alex Pappademas and Joan LeMay 

I didn’t really get Steely Dan until I was old enough to vote. I spent most of my teenage years (and thank God I didn’t have a Substack then) thinking their music was some cheesy and soft garbage for cornballs. I couldn’t forgive them for winning the 2001 Grammy over Radiohead’s Kid A. (Looking back on it, Two Against Nature is a really funny pick for AOTY and I like that album now for basically the same reasons I loved Kid A). While they have pretty universal songs that anyone could enjoy like “Reelin’ in the Years” or “Peg,” getting really into Steely Dan’s music requires a pretty particular headspace. It’s inscrutable, self-aware, and funny music in the most slick and accessible package possible. Still, it’s not for everyone.

A new book out in May from writer Alex Pappademas and illustrator Joan LeMay called Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan captures just how weird Donald Fagen and Walter Becker are as people and songwriters as well as how irresistible their tunes can be. These song-based essays are part band biography, trenchant culture criticism, poignant ‘70s history, and psychedelic tone poems. Like Steely Dan’s tunes, they toe the line between an unbridled reverence for the music and esoteric sensibilities. I read it in a day and came out with an even deeper respect for their catalog. I might even debut my Correct Steely Dan Album Ranking which has The Royal Scam at the top spot (Gaucho at #2) in this newsletter soon. Preorder here.

There Are No Childen Here by Alex Kotlowitz 

I recently decided to go through Alex Kotlowitz’s entire catalog from start to finish this year. In 2011, I read this heartbreaking book in college when I was studying psychology—the research lab I worked at in my junior and senior years collaborated with CeaseFire (now called Cure Violence), an organization at the center of the Kotlowitz-produced documentary The Interrupters—and it really made a dent in me. Kotlowitz, then a Wall Street Journal reporter, profiles two young boys growing up in the Henry Horner Homes public housing project in the late ‘80s around where the United Center is now. It’s a rough read for its content which painstakingly details how two good kids, Lafayette and Pharoah, have their childhoods stolen from them in these horrible living conditions. The book’s a humane portrait of the real lives affected by Chicago’s institutional racism, historic segregation, ineffective policing, and antagonistic public policy. 

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The No Expectations Weekly Chicago Gig List: 

Friday, April 28: The Hecks, Glyders, Caroline Campbell at Sleeping Village. Tickets. 

Saturday, April 29: Glow in the Dark Flowers, Midwife, Desert Liminal at Constellation. Tickets. 

Sunday, April 30: Nia Archives at The Listening Room. Tickets. 

Sunday, April 30: Half Gringa, Jessica Mindrum, Pictoria Vark at Sleeping Village. Tickets.