arent widgets completely useless objects? well, that explains it.

» somehow i managed to score a CMJ pass for this year but really, why bother traveling up to new york city when you could see this at the freakin’ kimmel center? things like this make me love philly.

» drexel, please. just how could you have spent all these years without any long term fundraising plans? how fucking stupid are you? clearly having your shit together is so uncool.

i dont like to flaunt my desk job, but i deal with a lot of development related stuff, so when i offer up advice to you, im not talking completely out of my ass. just about every non-commercial station i can think of has, in addition to the money allotted to them, fundraising drives and other money making activities. ill chip in 50$ if you stop playing drum’n'bass at every free moment.

furthermore, if student activities won’t give you more money because they’re shitheads [most student activities boards are, ive found], perhaps its time to rethink your affiliation at the university. you have that amazing music industry program — think of how awesome it would be if you were part of that.

» normally i dont like be all “look at me! look at me!” but i figure at some point you might hear about it and better that it come from me, as its the reason i wasnt able to write here in the last week. ive been working on the packaging for the delta 5 reissue for a couple months and within the next week its going to be shipped off to the printer. im thrilled, excited, scared and everything as its the biggest design job ive done. i wish i could show you a larger version of the cover but right now thats all you’re going to get.

which reminds me — is there anyone who reads this familiar with touch & go’s artwork specs? i have a question or two for you. i think i know the answers but i want to get a second opinion. drop me a line.

» i saw the double at silk city on monday night, opening up for mazarin’s record release party. i used to work with a member of this band a few years ago, so it was the inital reason i ventured out. not that i am one to complain about this shit but what was up with charging a 10$ cover for the show? i know its a record release and all but at 10$ i expect a copy of the record, dipped in gold and handed to you at the door.

for a while i chalked up my opinion of the double ["interpol-meets-animal-collective-in-a-blowout!"] to just plain ol’ craziness on my behalf. the other night i had 4 other people walk up to me and say the same thing. you may now call me a visionary.

the real surprise on the bill was mike wexler, someone i had only heard vague things about. his nico-esque set hit me like a SEPTA bus running a stoplight. it would have been perfect if the swarms of hipsters who showed up for mazarin hadnt talked straight through his set.

» ive decided that im totally over the new mazarin album and completely in love with the sympathizers new one, dread at the control, primarily because jeremy from the band had this to say: “This may not be a time to write songs always about the things we used to write songs about. The political culture of the nation is the water in which all bands swim.”

there are some bands who are willing to cannonball right into that lake of discourse, and then there are others who dip their toe in, complain that its freezing and run off. bands like the sympathizers, who prefer the splashy, messy approach win out big in my book.

» oneida played at the khyber on friday night and see, there’s a band that i can get behind. at least they’re upfront about their desire to write songs that are about “girls, summertime and time travel” — topics which are the furthest thing from virtuosic and ultimately, what makes this band so great.

the spinto band is one of our fave local bands, with a white-hot new record out on bar-none.

they’re going on tour. wont you be a dear and offer them some crash space? added bonus: they are cute and super polite. so says jon:

in an attempt to transform myspace friends into real-life friends, the spinto band is looking to find accomodations on our upcoming tour.

If you live in any of the cities we will be playing during our August westcoast/midwest jaunt (found at our myspace page), we would truly appreciate it if you could help us out with some basement floorspace for us to spread our sleeping bags on.

in return we will gladly get you into the show for free (via guest list spots) and give you beers or foods or whatever the club gives to us. It will be like you are in the band. You can also play drums for us and give Jeff the night off if you want.

anyway, contact us through MySpace or email and leave a contact number and maybe you will save our lives… maybe.

The Capitol Years vs. Mazarin “Juicer’s Apathy”

not so much a technical mash-up as pasting backup vocals onto mazarin’s song, i think this counts as the first local mash-up in terms of content. submitted by “scudd nelson”, im willing to wager this was created by a member of either band. the creamy richness of the capitol years vocals act as a nice contrast to mazarin’s reedy lyrics. i’m completely blanking on what classic rock song the backup vocals remind me of [first person to answer wins the satisfaction of being right] even though i just spent 6 hours listening to the oldies station. what saves this from being a cheap pr stunt is the final 30 seconds, where it sounds like “revolution no. 9″ running right into the neu! discography. (Visit the Capitol Years site here. Visit Mazarin online here.)

salty update: philebrity rips off my opening line, but unlike the eight billion other times they copy news elsewhere, there’s no credit. i guess this is how they won philly mag’s “best blog”. i believe this is called “jumping someone else’s train”, right mr. smith?