May 2011
36 posts
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“If soccer is about realizing a collective intention against the limitations...”
– http://www.runofplay.com/2011/05/29/grace-has-its-moments/
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My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-5-22) →
Sloan (11)
Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi (11)
The Hold Steady (10)
Raphael Saadiq (10)
T. Rex (7)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
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“[F]or much of the day, my Twitter feed was a cornucopia of rapture humor, much...”
– Wow.
(From The Awl.)
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WatchSNL was great this weekend - the best episode in years - but it would have been even funnier if this sketch had made it to air
R.I.P. Macho Man; now all Downers Grove has left...
http://www.tmz.com/2011/05/20/randy-savage-car-accident-macho-man-dead-dies-died-killed-wwe-wrestler-florida/
When I was in high school, he and his brother (“Leapin’ Lanny” Poffo) still held many of the wrestling records there.
Did you know he was a minor-league baseball player for a while?
UPDATE: It’s possible that the Chicago Tribune’s article about...
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“It isn’t even so much that the Replacements have a lot of great songs, but...”
– Patrick Stickles of Titus Andronicus, in the middle of an excellent interview about what Our Band Could Be Your Life means to him.
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Dancing Ron Swanson →
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Lloyd Cole announces U.S. tour in June →
> June 24: Lincoln Hall, Chicago, IL
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Any followers/recent grads in the Chicago area...
growingpangs:
Our syndicated team is hiring a new associate. Us: the #1 global teens/20s research company. You: cool college grad with great organizational skills.
Seriously. who wouldn’t work where being a “Google, TMZ, or Perez Hilton enthusiast” and a kickball player are part of the job qualifications?
More details after the jump …
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Steve Albini has a cooking blog. →
Seriously.
(h/t The Awl)
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“I think both devoted followers of contemporary music and dogged nostalgists...”
– Two AV Club writers ponder the question, “why do pop-culture fans stop caring about new music as they get older?” They don’t really come up with an answer, but the article is worth reading, especially if you’re a music fan in his 40s still trying hard to stay relevant (or...
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30 Day Music Challenge: Day Twenty One - A Song...
Old 97s, “Barrier Reef”
This song encapsulates everything I love about the Old 97s: a solid riff, clever lyrics, and a beat that moves you along and makes you want to dance, or, at the very least, bounce around. There are lots of different types of 97s songs: silly ones like “Murder or a Heart Attack,” wistful ones like “Rollerskate Skinny,” heartbroken ones...
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“Everybody is the gate keeper of all that is holy of whatever little world they...”
– Tom Tango. He’s talking about golf, but he could just as easily be talking about pop music, or astrophysics, or beer, or anything else that some people are very interested in…
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Farmer's markets: not more expensive than the... →
“Prices at farmers’ markets for conventionally grown produce items were lower than they were at supermarkets. For organic items, farmers’ markets beat grocery stores every time hands down.”
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“Writing a review of a Sloan album has gown a tad formulaic over the years. One...”
– The new Sloan record comes out today, and Chicagoist likes it. Go buy it!
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30 Day Music Challenge: Day Twenty - A Song That...
Rage Against the Machine, “Down Rodeo”
Speaking of clichés. I don’t always understand what Zack de la Rocha is yelling about, but I understand that he’s often angry. In this case, it’s race and class inequality - but really, isn’t it always?
As far as I can tell there was no official video made for this song - it wasn’t even officially released as a...
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My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-5-8) →
Sloan (23)
Beastie Boys (18)
The Rolling Stones (12)
Mariachi Guanajuato (11)
J Mascis (5)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
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“You don’t become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting...”
– Zombie Marie Curie
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“There is no screen or rule that will protect every fan, but the horror stories...”
– BP’s Jeff Euston on ballpark safety. I think nets around the whole grandstand are inevitable; as Euston suggests, owners must make the change soon in order to avoid a fatality.
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“Over 10 percent of Mays’ career plate appearances came against Hall of Famers....”
– Wow. Just, wow.
(From David Schoenfield’s Sweet Spot)
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2011-5-1) →
Mariachis Varios / Cumbias (20)
Rockpile (11)
Pearl Jam (9)
Ted Leo and The Pharmacists (9)
Dave Edmunds (8)
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz
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30 Day Music Challenge: Day Nineteen - A Song From...
The Clash, “Clampdown” and “The Guns of Brixton”
I don’t know if London Calling is my favorite album, but it is one of a handful of albums that has a claim on that title. I know I’m firmly in cliché territory talking about how great it is, but clichés are often clichés because there is truth to them. It’s a great fucking album — there isn’t a...
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30 Day Music Challenge: Day Eighteen - A Song That...
Imperial Teen, “Yoo Hoo”
God, I love this song. The sneery vocals, the weird percussive backing-vocal breathing, that fantastic guitar sound. It’s everything a power-pop song should be. I’ve come back to power pop (again) in the wake of the 20th anniversary of International Pop Overthrow, and I still think it’s a damn shame that it took a crappy movie like...
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Just scheduled a consult for getting my wisdom...
…best case scenario: Foreign Accent Syndrome.
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Impromptu playlist: whistling
Peter, Bjorn & John, “Young Folks”
Pixies, “La La Love You”
Paul Simon, “Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard”
Otis Redding, “(Sittin’ on the) Dock of the Bay”
Andrew Bird, “Fitz and the Dizzyspells”
Bangles, “Walk Like an Egyptian”
Peter Gabriel, “Games Without Frontiers”
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“Claiming to be geek is becoming the new claiming to be punk. Every bro-y A-hole...”
– Vince at Filmdrunk speaks truth.
(And Oliver reminded me that Patton Oswalt wrote about this a few months back as well…)
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30 Day Music Challenge: Day 17 - A Song That You...
Nirvana, “Come As You Are”
It’s interesting to me that this has ended up being the Nirvana song that gets played the most (at least on WXRT). I’d prefer to hear “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” I think, since to this day that song still crackles with energy every time I hear it. “Come As You Are” is a little too down-tempo for me, though I do appreciate...
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30 Day Music Challenge: Day Sixteen - A Song That...
The Kings of Leon, The Bucket
So this 30-day music challenge…it’s 30 days of writing, with a 30-day break in the middle, right? And now we all see why I could never have made it as a professional writer.
Anyway, back to the countdown. It’s not this song that I now hate, per se (and I do take exception with the use of the word “hate,” as I discussed previously);...
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“For those who can bracket it and enjoy the many amazing things about the music,...”
– Insightful writing by Nitsuh Abebe about Odd Future. How should one interact with challenging (and sometimes brilliant) music that has abhorrent lyrical content? 