- When I saw Colin Meloy play solo at the Paradise in 2006, he asked the audience to talk about their favorite item at Trader Joe’s while he tuned his beastly 12-string guitar. I think the consensus was Pirate’s Booty. Yelp is currently asking the same question.
- I dug Malcom Gladwell’s article on innovation in last week’s New Yorker. So will you.
- Did you know that Decemberist John Moen was once the drummer for Elliott Smith and Stephen Malkmus and the Jinks? I didn’t. Did you know that he released a solo record on Tuesday? I didn’t. He’s recording under the name Perhapst.
- My photo doesn’t do justice to the ridiculousness that was the Apple Store opening on Boylston Street in Boston yesterday. For better, click here to read about the opening and a dude who stayed up all night to be the first person in the store. [Boston Herald]
- In scientific studies relevant to my life, Scientific American asks, “Can you catch up on lost sleep?” But it sounds like I’m screwed, seeing as my Dad is a robot and requires two hours of sleep and a bran muffin to operate:
Sleep researchers believe that genes—although the precise ones have yet to be discovered—determine our individual sleeping patterns.
- Myanmar’s junta resisted large-scale aid efforts at the cost of tens of thousands of lives. Ridiculous.
- Susan Edgerley, Assistant Managing Editor of the New York Times, has been answering questions about the evolution of journalism. Interesting:
Journalists who used to worry about one deadline a day now have a deadline every minute. They are telling stories not only through words and pictures but also through audio and video and interactive maps and graphics.
- Zeer is the Yelp of food products. From a review of Bird’s Eye Baby Peas:
- The new Apple store on Boylston Street in Boston may (or may not) be the biggest yet. [Lifehacker]
- Tomorrow, John McCain will likely be so old “that his skin won’t work anymore.” This after a reference to the League of Nations. Thanks to my junior year of high school, I didn’t even need Wonkette’s explanation.
- The pope will start texting people! Gizmodo reports:
[The Pope] saw on the local news that people use “cellular phones” to send “text messages,” so he decided to get on board with this hip and confusing new fad. Now young people can expect to receive texts such as “hey how r u its d pope believe in jesus plz.”
- Daytrotter has a most excellent live session with Death Cab for Cutie, with several songs off of the much-hyped Narrow Stairs, due via Atlantic on May 13. I like Ben Gibbard’s explanation of Styrofoam Plates:
This song, off of The Photo Album, is a scathing indictment of the things that oftentimes go unsaid in moments that matter the most.
- Paste, always laying on the snark, reluctantly refers you to Coldplay’s new site to download “Violet Hill,” the first single off of the terribly-named Viva La Vida. Check it out, I guess:
Finally, the website reveals the Viva la Vidaalbum cover, which confirms another important Coldplay magical power: the ability to spray-paint French Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, in the name of music!
- Matt Nathanson was Paste’s video of the day yesterday. Check it out.
- via kottke: Gin, Television and Social Surplus. Clay Shirky considers how the internet has replaced television - all for the better. Among the highlights include comparing Desperate Houswives to a “cognitive heat sink” that dillutes real thought, and this revelation:
I was recently reminded of some reading I did in college, way back in the last century, by a British historian arguing that the critical technology, for the early phase of the industrial revolution, was gin.
The transformation from rural to urban life was so sudden, and so wrenching, that the only thing society could do to manage was to drink itself into a stupor for a generation. The stories from that era are amazing– there were gin pushcarts working their way through the streets of London.
Upon searching my soul, I realized that I had to admit that I in fact liked almost all the songs that I named earlier. “Let Me Blow Your Mind” is an unjustly forgotten club grinder; “Homecoming,” “Heard ‘Em Say,” and “Sacrifice” all get stuck in my head from time to time; “Numb/Encore” is a staple of the various Workout Mega-Jam mixes that I’ve made over the years. I was a bit taken aback; cultural snobbery is such an integral part of my personality. I’d have to rethink a lot of things if it turned out I liked listening to Fall Out Boy, Maroon 5, and Linkin Park.
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.
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daily links | Tagged: Apple, Boston, Coldplay, Decemberists, John Moen, Malcolm Gladwell, Perhapst | 
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Posted by Matt
