You had to be there: Our favorite (and least favorite) XP from Pop-Up Magazine’s night in Brooklyn

The program said it would be “a night filled with dark skies, whisper networks, hip shaking, bluffing, inheritance, freestyling, lingering looks and more.” A collection of loose phrases that meant as little to me then as they do to you now, but this is what makes Pop-Up Magazine so special.  As Covid restrictions loosen (and my own bout last month subsiding), my to-do list grows longer. There are old museums and restaurants I need to go back to and new shops and nightlife I must experience immediately. I'm booked and blessed in the protective shield of my post-Covid antibodies. At least for the next few months). High on my list was Pop-Up Magazine — a magazine performed live. The shows feature never-before-seen (or heard) stories, performed on stage by writers, radio producers, photographers, filmmakers, and musicians. The events are not livestreamed or recorded for later viewing. You, quite literally, had to be there.  Dragging my dear friend, visual journalist Louie Rendon, along for the ride, we set out for BAM (that’s the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the uninitiated). If there’s one thing Louie and I love to do together, it’s riff on bad writing, so we are the worst...