- As always, I was fascinated by a recent This American Life episode: Contents Unknown explores British guidelines in the event of a nuclear decimation, what happens to storage units that people stop paying for, and what happens when you wake up in India with no idea who the hell you are.
- I laughed again and again at Samberg’s latest w/Jon Hamm “The Curse”
- Steve Jobs calls Adobe lazy and says Apple didn’t enter the search biz, but Google entered the phone biz. What say you about that now, Sergey and Lawrence E. Page!? (via MacRumors)
* I will say, can’t believe the last time I posted on this thing, George W. Bush was still in office.
- Skip business school and earn the “personal MBA” by reading the books on Josh Kaufman’s 77 best list. Sweet. Seems I’m already on that track. Oh wait, Pitchfork’s News and Iris Murdoch aren’t on Kaufman’s list?
Yesterday I had a bizarre altercation on Boston’s Green Line. Given that they have no real standard for boarding people since introducing the CharlieCard two years ago, I walked in through one of the doors and selected a nice, sunsoaked seat in the rear of the train.
Of course, two minutes after all the doors closed the siren from Revere operating the train demanded that I come forward and tap my card to prove I’m an upstanding citizen, yada yada.
So I do this, leaving my leather messenger bag on the seat. I beam a tellingly apologetic smile at the conductor, who responds with a cough that sounds like motor oil mixed with Carlton 100s, and mosey on back to my warm spot in the sun.
Upon returning, I watch a girl my age throw my messenger back to the floor and plop down right where I was sitting. She gave me a look that said nothing and everything all at once: “What?,” simultaneously installing her headphones as I stood next to her, suited and lightly perspiring.
So the lesson here is: one idle messenger bag does not a person’s seat make, at least if you live along Beacon Street.
- Fleet Foxes are dominating the interwebs. Stereogum offered its praise, and Pitchfork put up a few videos on P4kTV. I prefer some home movies shot at Schuba’s:
- Howie Day is doing okay, if this performance from mid-July is any indication. Hopefully the new album is a bit of a return to form for him:
- As predicted, Ryan Adams & the Cardinals announced a small fall tour with nods to a new album due out “at some point” during the fall. I’m catching them at the BofA pavilion in Boston, but you should try to see them at one of the more obscure venues.
Also, in case you were wondering, Ryan is still culturally relevant and alive:
Regardless of varied judgments as to my cultural relevance, i am thankfully alive and exercising my joy in creating. i only hope anyone who hears, reads or sees any of my contributions will permit the work to speak where i cannot.
- Sasha Frere-Jones has a piece in this week’s New Yorker with a near-perfect subtitle: “Coldplay’s expanding gas.” Settling comfortably somewhere between cautious praise and exhaustion, Mr. Frere-Jones hits Chris Martin and cohorts square on the head when he reflects on the band’s recent free concert at Madison Square Garden:
There Martin was, onstage in his Little Bummer Boy outfit, skipping around and waving his fists. Except the crowd wasn’t going wild, and the music wasn’t calling for a celebration. Though the audience was obviously delighted to see Coldplay appear, the energy in the room remained fairly controlled throughout the set, even dipping to indifference at points. Which made Martin’s moves seem that much more canned. It felt as if he’d done the entire show in a mirror, down to the self-deprecating wisecracks. In one of his increasingly suspect apologies, Martin told his American fans, “We come over here, we steal your women.” That’s right. If anyone in the audience had forgotten, Chris Martin is married to an actress named Gwyneth Paltrow. She’s American. Maybe you’ve heard of her. No? Well, did you know that “Viva la Vida” went to No. 1? No? It’s O.K.—Martin told us, by way of thanking us.
No, dude, thank you.
- Daytrotter has an interview with and the requisite perfect performance from Bon Iver. Please read and listen. Here’s a bit of their praise for Justin’s work:
If you hang a dirty, stinky shirt or pair of pants in a closet for long enough, they don’t stink anymore. It’s the same principle – in a way – that’s incorporated into the touching and heartrending work that Vernon wrote and recorded for For Emma, Forever Ago, a record that is as stunning in its natural grace and shape as any that’s come into this world in the last five years, maybe longer.
Like the music you see here? Please support the artists. I like a lot of bands/singers/musicians who who don't get to enjoy the mega-success handed to less than qualified artists by major labels. So do your part; see a show, buy an album (c'mon, with iTunes it couldn't be easier), or at least visit their websites. Thanks.
Oh, and if you represent one of these artists and want me to take a link down, please leave a comment and I'll honor your request.
