Why it's so great: Y’all better check out the latest issue of BOMB magazine! The cover art is provided by Mickalene Thomas, an artist whose work I first fell in love with a thousand years ago in San Francisco, when I came face to face with her awesome portrait of Michael Jackson in black sequins at the Catherine Clark Gallery. Here, she is interviewed by Sean Landers, her former Yale School of Art professor. It's a fun moment for them both – they discuss Thomas' growth as an artist over the time that they've known each other. I love that kind of stuff: artists returning to a moment in their past and recognizing how its meaning has changed over time. Like when Joni Mitchell covers “Both Sides Now” 31 years after she originally wrote it – I can't get enough of that!

There is also a dream team conversation between Roy Harper and Joanna Newsom, who are not only totally rad and important musicians but are also respectable masters of language in their own right. It's a beautiful interview. Harper's genuine sweetness is palpable and will forever endear him to your heart, and if Newsom fails to charm you with her incredible verbiage, a mysterious, smoky-hot full-page portrait of her will no doubt do the trick, or at least do something to you.

And don’t forget my favorite part of every BOMB magazine, the Literary Supplement! This issue has a pretty solid selection of poetry and short pieces from Erica Hunt, Nicholas Elliott, Sarah V. Schweig, et cetera, as well as some cool visual art from Paul Dickerson and Elena Berriolo.  BOMB never fails to satisfy. Well played!



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