Month of April, 2006

so busy. can't even think! here are the citations added to my introduction to my thesis today. you know life is weird when you cite yourself in a paper:

Rockwell, John. "Art Rock" in Henke, James et al. (Eds.) (1992). The Rolling
Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll: The Definitive History of the Most Important Artists and Their Music. ISBN 0679737286.

Sohm, Hanns. Happening & Fluxus, koelnischer kunstverein koel, 1970.

Robinson, Lisa. Patti Smith: The High Priestess of Rock and Roll" Hit Parader, January 1976.

K's really been on lately, with this piece the pretends to be about NOLA hip hop but is really a pretty amazing critique of preservation culture:

less of more

and more of less:

"hey everyone, do you review indie CD's? My buddy is starting a blog
and they're going to get reviews off the ground. No pay (obviously),
but a good place to air opinions. Bookmark this because they're going
to start advertising very, very soon!"

http://somersaultmedia.blogspot.com/"

Okay. Something weird has happened to me in the last month. I have become an instant HUGE fan of two bands whose CDs I purchased based on recommendations of people I trust or magazines I trust or just on trust itself: the Knife's Silent Shout and Boris's Pink.

WORDCOUNT002:

ilm is saying that the VV music editor was fired for running a section that was "too academic."

i will say in passing that i have been told that if i want to stay in academia that my writing must become "less journalistic."

MUSIC:

Am catching up with Isolee, Western Store, intensely feeling "Rockers," which Prof. Sherburne writes:

"...has nothing to do with rock'n'roll-- nor with reggae, for that matter. A tin-can and fingersnap percussive jam, it's a virtual blueprint for, well, almost every current track in a Wighnomys vein, right down to the use of reverb as an instrument. Every drum has its own little pocket of airspace and a frequency so unique you could tune a radio to it"

I just want to say that I can believe and am ashamed to know that bodies are still being found in houses in New Orleans. Quote:

In February, FEMA agreed to pay for the search for bodies to resume, and on March 2 the agency's special operations team was able to begin a systematic check of the 1,700 structures in the Lower Ninth Ward, the site of the city's worst destruction.

here's a conversation that i'm bound to be having more and more often: what's to do about being an old punk. i had a nice chat with the British sociologist Andy Bennett at IASPM in February about his new research about greying punks and their imagined selves. He does a lot of work on the changing theory of youth culture and somehow ended up doing interviews with aging punks.

There is no small irony in using my blog to promote this, but if you are a fan of indie mags and zines, please take the time to sign this. The issue is dear to my heart as zines were my entry into music writing, my initial DIY community and yes, even the topic of my undergraduate thesis. I continue to applaud and support those who anachronistically produce paper editions because reading shouldn't always have to involve electricity. Buy a zine, go read in the park, enjoy the sunshine!

To: Amoeba Music

Sometimes in the spring, I awake to the most beautiful of New York mornings. The sky is overcast and rain is emminent, but not ominous. It is just a matter of fact. People are walking unhurredly under the window and all the normal sounds of the day are going on as they should: Fritos truck engine rumbling at the beer distributor, breaks squeeking on the old delivery truck at the Chinese meat packing place, bus stop squells, inevitable baseball field maintenence interludes.

Panic! At the Disco has been at the top of the charts on Rhapsody for several months. I have been slightly ignoring them because I only have enough love in my heart for one pop punk band right now and that's My Chemical Romance (because, they went to art school and are from New Jersey, if you must know. Also, please have symmetrical choreography at my funeral. please).