Music is Life

David Marchese is “an enormous Stones fan.” We’re not. In fact, our very first newsletter was about not getting caught up in the Stones fever when -after a long break- they played in Munich in 1990. We wanted to listen to new music, not what our parents listened to¹.

What did we know? Generations passed, and more than 35 years later, the Rolling Stones still fill stadiums and release new albums. So when Elke found David Marchese’s interview with Mick Jagger in the New York Times Magazine, we realized it might be time to readjust our stance (and maybe even listen to the new album Foreign Tongues).

The interview is not what you might expect from an 83-year-old quintessential rockstar who has seen it all. He is neither aloof nor does he dispense grandfatherly wisdom. He simply recounts his experiences as a lifelong professional musician in the limelight.

For example, he still loves touring, meaning traveling from city to city, rather than opting for the more convenient residencies that many musicians, including Keith Richards, prefer. “I like going places,” he said, hoping for another world tour.

Mick Jagger is known – and often copied – for his stage performances, but when asked when he “felt that love and freedom in playing a tune,” he replied, “What you’re describing really is when you’re writing.” He’s still on it, having written much of the new album with Keith Richards.

Where does he get his inspiration? Not necessarily from his own life. “Songwriting is about imagination. It’s not all based on true experiences,” he says. 

Read the entire piece (if you can get past the paywall); it is inspiring in unexpected ways.

Discovery of the Week: Lily Konigsberg - Lily We Need To Talk Now

I’m still going through my Apple Music library alphabetically to determine which records I want to keep in my collection – more than 6,000 songs are just too many. Under the letter L, I found Lily We Need To Talk Now, the only solo album so far by Brooklyn musician Lily Konigsberg from 2021. It is a lively, fun record full of surprising, catchy songs. I hope she does more of those.

Cover Song of the Week: Rolling Stones - You Know I’m No Good

The Rolling Stones have been covered countless times, but their version of Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good” is a particularly interesting twisted time travel. Amy’s 2006 original already reaches back a few decades, juxtaposing mid-60s soul with a modern hip-hop-inspired beat. By giving the new version, released 20 years later, the “Rolling Stones treatment” with a more conventional rhythm, it feels like a song that was covered before the original was even written.

This Week in glamglare history

1 Year Ago: Yndling - Fences

Yndling released her second album Time Time Time (I’m In The Palm of Your Hand) in two batches throughout 2025, with “Fences” marking roughly the midpoint. She is currently on tour, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the prolific Norwegian singer-songwriter releases new music soon.

5 Years Ago: Shelly Bhushan - Heat

The powerhouse jazz singer Shelly Bhushan released only one song in the 2020s, but in 2025 she joined Anthony Lanni for an album under the name The Beveled Edges. She is also a Grammy voter, so I assume she sings on other projects as well.

10 Years Ago: JAXN - Explore

All traces of “Explore” are gone, and although some musicians go by JAXN, it’s hard to tie them back to this song.

Song Pick of the Day

Listen to all seven songs on YouTube, or follow our daily updated Song Pick playlists on YouTube, Apple Music, or Spotify.

• Catie Turner - California
• Ziemba - Pleasure Seekers
• V.V. Lightbody - Practice Smiling
• Run Remedy - Dissent
• Tabi Gervis - Flowers
• Noonzy - If I Were You
• Graceborn - Jujubee

We publish one Song Pick of the Day every day. You can subscribe to receive them by email.

A Handful of Summer in Nine Photos

When I browsed through my photos on Tuesday morning, I was surprised to find hardly any new ones. On any given day, I take at least a dozen, if not many more, but somehow I just didn’t feel like it over the weekend, even though Oliver and I spent a couple of blissful, carefree summer days together. Since we had a picnic planned on the waterfront in North Williamsburg, though, I ended up snapping a few after all. Enjoy views of the East River’s three bridges, sunsets that never get old, and a few other vistas in between.

1. In fact, neither of our parents listened to the Rolling Stones, though mine had a Goats Head Soup(the one with “Angie”) in their small record collection. ↩︎