Friday, November 16, 2012

Monday, December 19, 2011

More Barn

Louis CK(whose name sounds like a Calvin Klein cologne) has bucked the traditional media delivery system and is offering his latest stand up comedy special via his website for $5. The results are impressive so far; a tidy $750k profit after only a few weeks.

A documentary is in the works concerning legendary Boston rock station WBCN and the filmmaker is looking for money via kickstarter. At one point BCN was arguably the most influential FM station in the country and helped to launch many a career. Charles Laquidera, the much missed agent provacuteur from the Big Mattress morning show, now lives in Hawaii and helped to officiate a good friend of mines wedding. He's still left of the dial, very stoned, hitting on anything that moves according to sources.(people at the wedding) Good to hear.

I was recently challenged to eschew the internet for three days but failed after 7 hours because I've created a virtual world void of basic human interaction. Do people who take classes through Phoenix University join online sororities or frataternities? Apparently there are people who resist Facebook as this article by Jenna Wortham highlights.

OG Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan recently sat down with Stereogum for an interview in which he claims the band was too revolutionary for most people and also worthy of such company as Led Zeppelin. Corgan is kind of a twit but Gish was cool and I didn't mind the sonic mindfuck of Siamese Dream though I'm not sure it's aged so well. Maybe it's me; even Nevermind sounded silly the other day and I cringe after a few notes of Pearl Jams 10.

I was hoping after the collapse of Borders bibliophiles would flock to mom and pop bookshops and save the neighborhood bookstore. This is happening somewhat, according tp Julie Bosman writing in the Times.

In other news Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo almost died, Jon Bon Jovi is not dead, and and uber inspirational benchwarmer Rudy is a fraud according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The documentary about Motorheads Lemmy is excellent and well worth watching over the holidays. He's the last of a breed and way niccer than his handlebar 'stache would suggest. The dude even recorded a rockabilly album with a few few stray Stray Cats. Here's the trailer for the movie.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Old Lame Sign- A Spotify Playlist for 2011

Smith Westerns – Still New
Blind Pilot – Paint Or Pollen   
WILD FLAG – Romance
Girls – Honey Bunny
Mayer Hawthorne – Hooked
The Strokes – Gratisfaction
The Vaccines – Post Break-Up Sex
Van Hunt – A Time Machine Is My New Girlfriend
Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks – Forever 28
Pollyn – How Small We Are
Battles – Futura
Fleet Foxes – Grown Ocean
Wilco – One Sunday Morning
Todd Snider – Don't It Make You Wanna Dance
Kurt Vile – Jesus Fever
Real Estate – Wonder Years
The War On Drugs – Come To The City
Lucinda Williams – Convince Me
The Rolling Stones – Do You Think I Really Care

A Thousand Points Of Blight

Tim Tebow has gone from a sports specific curiosity to a full blown cultural point of contention. He even made the New York Times Op-Ed page in this curious post by former food critic Frank Bruni. How does Tebow continue to win with seemingly marginal skills and little conventional tools? Is faith an undervalued intangible in the huddle? Does God not like the St Louis Rams?

Louis Nemeth, a great photographer who still schleps his camera in New York, gets a nice retrospective in this piece by David Dunlap.

Hey it's that time of year again when critics compile best of list's and the good folks at soundopinions.org share theirs in this podcast. It's hard to wade through the thousands of releases in todays DIY recording landscape but my shout outs include the Battles Gloss Drop, Future Crimes by Wild Flag, Dye It Blonde by the Smith Westerns, How Do You Do by Mayer Hawthorne, and Whokill by the tUnEYaRds(sic). Honorable mention for Wilco, the Beastie Boys, and the Fleet Foxes. Here is Jim Derogatis' top 40 from his Pop & Stuff blog.