Hanif Abdurraqib Has 90 Band Shirts. Which We Think You’ll Agree Is a Lot.

Episode 120

21st May 2025

Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, cultural critic, and author of numerous books, including They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, A Little Devil in America, and There’s Always This Year. He’s very passionate about music, as is evidenced in his massive collection, purchased online and at concert venues, of concert t-shirts, band sweatshirts, and other vintage apparel linked to various artists. Hanif walks us through his criteria for selecting which shirts to buy as well as what will determine the coming culling of his collection down to a more manageable 70. He also details the white whale that’s still out there, the item he dreams of: Tina Weymouth’s Talking Heads jacket last spotted onstage in Rome in 1980. Tina, if you still have that jacket, give us a call. Fall asleep as you listen to Hanif, who has a lovely soothing voice, take you through his closet and his thinking.

Episode notes

Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, cultural critic, and author of numerous books, including They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill UsA Little Devil in America, and There’s Always This Year. He’s very passionate about music, as is evidenced in his massive collection, purchased online and at concert venues, of concert t-shirts, band sweatshirts, and other vintage apparel linked to various artists. Hanif walks us through his criteria for selecting which shirts to buy as well as what will determine the coming culling of his collection down to a more manageable 70. He also details the white whale that’s still out there, the item he dreams of: Tina Weymouth’s Talking Heads jacket last spotted onstage in Rome in 1980. Tina, if you still have that jacket, give us a call. Fall asleep as you listen to Hanif, who has a lovely soothing voice, take you through his closet and his thinking.

Learn more about Hanif Abdurraqib and his writing by visiting his website, www.abdurraqib.com. Get your Hanif-approved Hanif Abdurraqib Portrait T-Shirt from the Bread & Water Print Shop (and not Wal-Mart) by going to their shop at www.breadandwaterprintshop.com or www.tinyurl.com/hanifshirt.

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  • Hanif Abdurraqib

About the show

Getting to sleep can be difficult sometimes. Now you can achieve that urgently needed rest by taking advantage of our most precious natural resource: celebrities. Each week on the slyly humorous and reassuring Sleeping With Celebrities, host John Moe talks with a different guest from the world of entertainment about something they know a lot about. The conversation is guaranteed to be just interesting enough to draw your attention away from your own swirling anxieties but never interesting enough to keep you awake. No startling revelations, no dramatic screaming confrontations, but plenty of low-key dialogue, intricately laced deadpan comedy, and a ticket to dreamland.

Podcast art by Stefan Lawrence.

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