76. The Week in Me
An interview with @MillennialSopranos!
We’re doing something different today! I am incredibly honored that the one, the only Instagram Sopranos meme account @MillennialSopranos agreed to an email interview with the little gabagool who runs this here blog. I hope you all enjoy this moment we took around the Bada Bing card table, and if you enjoy please follow his other meme page yee_naw_ranch.
Let’s get the biggest question out of the way: who is your least favorite Sopranos character?
Father Intintola, no question. He’s a smug hypocrite who thinks he is morally superior to Tony. Carmela entertains him for way too long, but she spots his act from a mile away and I think that’s beautiful.
How did you start this…channel? Account? What is your origin story?
I was introduced to The Sopranos in 2016 by some guys I lived with during my senior year of undergrad. I didn't watch a lot of TV growing up, so I went into it without any prior knowledge of the premise. Like many people, I was instantly hooked. Everything about the show, from its pacing and humor to its willingness to flirt with the surreal, was perfect. Afterwards life got busy and I kind of forgot about the show.
Fast forward to 2020. I was collecting unemployment during the first few months of the pandemic and had nothing to do, so I rewatched the show to pass the time. During that period there was a huge uptick in people making memes and videos that were The Sopranos equivalent of “what if jery get ipad?” This was hardly a new trend, and people made funnier and more original plays on the concept prior to the pandemic, but I quickly realized that there was no millennial-focused Sopranos account and decided to make one myself. It’s been my monkey’s paw ever since.
How did the page take off? Did you make any specific choices to bring in an audience or did it happen naturally?
It was kind of like how Mike Campbell describes how he went bankrupt in The Sun Also Rises: “gradually, then suddenly.” Outside of telling some close friends, I never really promoted the account. I thought I would get bored of it after a few months. Eventually bigger Sopranos pages like sopranosgram and timeimmemorial_ followed and shared some of my posts and that’s when things really started to take off.
How often do you post? Do you have an editorial schedule or do you just post as you have an idea?
These days I post maybe 2-3 times a week, if that. I used to post at least once a day, but that grew to be unattainable. Constant posting rots your brain.
Do you plan to commercialize this in any way, like with merch? Do you feel there would be a demand for that?
Rogue Print and I collaborated on the White Tony Deftones shirt last year, and that was a big hit. I have a few ideas for new shirts and stickers, but I’m lazy and graphic design is not my passion.
You pair a number of your posts with music. I would love to know how you define your musical taste (some favorite albums or bands) and how you decide that a certain song or artist feels appropriate for a millennial-targeting account.
My favorite artists and albums are always changing. Lately I’ve been listening to From the Choir Girl Hotel by Tori Amos, Tunnel of Love by Springsteen, On the Corner by Miles Davis, and Quiet Signs by Jessica Pratt. Some of my go-to artists include R.E.M., Justin Townes Earle, Cult of Luna, and The Magnetic Fields.
When it comes to choosing artists or songs for the page, I tend to use obvious hits. Everyone knows “Maps” and “Loser”, plenty of people like Joyce Manor and Alvvays, and Drake is one of the biggest artists on the planet. Almost no thought goes into making those memes.
What posts have “missed,” and what did you learn from that?
Oh, plenty of them. That's the name of the game when you run a shit posting account. I leave the neurotic obsession with likes and views to the real freaks and influencers.
Tell me about an unexpected hit post - was it a niche reference, or so you thought? Was it a new meme format being introduced?
Nothing I make is what I would describe as niche, but I was surprised when my Tame Impala meme took off. It’s still my most liked post to date. Although maybe I shouldn’t be surprised at this point. The posts I think are especially dumb always do well. Make of that what you will.
What is your favorite episode of the show?
“He is Risen” (S3E8). It’s an episode full of beginnings. Meadow and Jackie become an item, Tony starts plotting on Ralph’s eventual demise, and Gloria Trillo makes her first appearance. It also features “The Captain” by Kasey Chambers, which may be the best closing song of the entire series.
What is one Sopranos line reading that lives mortgage-free in your mind?
Carmela: That’s verging on sacrilege.
Tony: Oh, I didn’t mean to verge.
“College”(S1E5)
I have to be annoying and ask: what do you think happened at the end?
I think trying to figure out what happens is a fool's errand. Regardless of whether Tony dies in Holsten’s or of old age decades later, his life as he knows it is over. He even admits as much in the pilot when he tells Melfi he “came in at the end” of things; he’s the captain of a sinking ship. It was always over before it began. That’s why the cut to black is so effective. We don’t get the satisfaction of knowing what happens next, and I think that’s for the best.
Have you visited any of the New Jersey sopranos locations? (If not I will take you!)
Unless you count the time my band stopped at the James Gandolfini Service Area while on tour, no. I’d like to see a few spots at some point, but it’s not a priority of mine. The way I see it, visiting places like that is like going back to your favorite childhood hangout spot and wondering why it doesn’t feel the same. It’s the people, not the place, that make the memories meaningful.
And last, of course, your favorite Adam Schlesinger anthem(s) and why:
“Red Dragon Tattoo” - Fountains of Wayne One of the things I love about Fountains of Wayne is that they knew how to play with power pop while also avoiding the genre’s worst impulses, and this song is a prime example of that. It’s packed with smooth melodies, a sick synth solo, and pitch perfect lyrics about the stupid things we do to impress a crush.
“I’ve Got a Feeling” - Ivy A dream pop-adjacent tune with layered jangly guitars, a moving bassline, and Dominique Durand on vocals. What’s not to love?
“That Thing You Do” - The Wonders It’s a classic for a reason. You can’t go wrong opening a song with an E-Am-E chord progression.
To read:
Before we move on, I have an upcoming reading in NYC this month! Come hang!
A note that I am literally stealing word for word from
but that I’d like to apply to this here blog:“One more time for the people in the back:Substack tells me that there are quite a few people subscribing to this newsletter now (reading is a different story) and because I love to talk about myself, I thought people might be interested in a little Q&A. If there’s a question that you’d like to ask me, feel free to leave a comment or reply to this email. You can ask me questions about genuinely anything! If there’s sufficient interest, I will share answers soon and if not, pretend I never mentioned this.”
Thank you to
for sending me this report from the New York Times on the booming film industry in Oklahoma. I happen to love a few people who are building the dust bowl into a bowl of opportunity, and I could not be rooting for Oklahoma harder in this little pissing contest.I was so moved and held by Frances Bean Cobain’s tribute to her father Kurt on the 30th anniversary of his passing that I sent it to someone who once crumbled my heart like rejected draft’s of Kurt’s lyrics:
I did not send this one but really wanted to, which is as beautiful as John Stamos is:
I found this People magazine interview with Kirstin Czernek, a mom with two children who have Down syndrome to be incredibly sweet. Look at those sweet babies.
I have felt this way so many times. Depression can be terminal. Mental illness can be terminal. All my love and fervent, political support to this woman. May she find rest and, maybe, joy.
Michelle Santiago Cortés wrote a guest entry for
’s and it is a lush, mossy garden of springtime thought:
This is literally just Simone:
This is literally just Lugosi:
This is literally both of my beautiful children:
Actually my babies:
And my third baby, in a way, the third in the trifecta of people I love more than anyone else, the three people who take care of me no matter how broken I am:
Various and sundry:
I love my flail from Lost Chains Co. so damn much:
Loved-on Garfield seems so nice:
GARBANZO.
girl if this hasn’t been my ass lmao
From Sam, a demon woman:
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Wise words from
:
Ohhhh I hollered:
Me with my emotional support problematic thing:
I hope you are each blooming into rest, joy, and being ever so cozy.
Love you bitches,
TG
"Red Dragon Tattoo" is the best Fountains of Wayne song.
I've never ever watched the Sopranos. Does that make me a bad Italian?