SEAL ON ICE
TWICE AS NICE
SEAL ON ICE
TWICE AS NICE
SEAL ON ICE
TWICE AS NICE
SEAL ON ICE
TWICE AS NICE
SEAL ON ICE
TWICE AS NICE
SEAL ON ICE
TWICE AS NICE
SEAL ON ICE
TWICE AS NICE
SEAL ON ICE
TWICE AS NICE
SEAL ON ICE
TWICE AS NICE
SEAL ON ICE
TWICE AS NICE

How many more years of CMJ do I have to endure until everyone gets the point that it doesn’t matter? Now if I could just get annoying publicists to understand that, maybe they’d stop emailing me their party invites. I know, boo fucking hoo, but the percentage of the invites in my email account is staggering.

Instead I will be in the wilds of Vermont, inhaling the endless view of foliage and buying my weight’s worth in maple syrup. I will be thankful to be here, instead of some dingy bar, as the music press swirls around attempting to anoint some pasty-faced dudes as The New Great Thing.

I’ve really kind of had it music these days, and articles such as this not only reinforce those feelings but also depress the fuck out of me because the quality is so lowest common denominator. I mean really, what new information is this writing bringing to the table? And why the failure to account for artists that create, in some sense, rhythm-oriented music? (Does half the musical world just instantly fall off the map because it negates the writer’s so-called thesis?)

I spent my weekend reviewing an academic journal article for class (J.W. Rinks’ “Higher Education in Radio 1922 - 1934″), and while I think there’s plenty of flaws in the peer-review process, this particular piece was way more fascinating than any half-assed rumination on the Arcade Fire’s whiteness could ever be. Find an interesting way to talk to me about how white folks of the middle-class milieu cater to that particular audience, I guess, or find something new and actually interesting to write about, instead continuing to reinforce the rock crit hegemony.

Maybe I’m just sad and cranky CAMP WPRB is over, maybe I’m annoyed that I keep getting passed over jobs (and watch them go to undeserving twits), maybe I hate my outfit today, whatever. Here are some things to share:

» Did I tell you guys my ipod was stolen 3 weekends ago? I was rushing to return my carshare reservation (amongst other things) and accidentally left it in the car. When I returned, it was gone. Not the worst thing in the world but sucks nonetheless.

» My neighborhood coffee shop played Helium’s The Magic City the other day — and this was not my doing. It was kind of amazing.

» I wrote up the Austin band White Denim for the City Paper last week. Hopefully someone went to this show, because I was stuck writing a paper.

Ahhhh, I start school in exactly two weeks!!! On the one hand I’ve been waiting for this moment, on the other I’m just not ready to think about homework and grades just yet (despite the fact that I’ve been TAing a film history course all summer long, so really, this is a non-complaint). Make no mistake: I am psyched. More psyched than you could ever imagine.

On that note…

» More blogging for Billboard is up. As you know, it’s a competition and the grand prize is covering an awards show from the red carpet. I could be the greatest writer since Dickens and a better photographer than Ansel Adams* but this is a game of cold, hard numbers, folks, and right now an entry about C14y 41k3n is kicking my ass. I need your comments and pageviews now so that I can fulfill my destiny of attending a red carpet event in a satin gown. Tell your friends, family and dogs to log on.

[* I don't like Dickens or Adams, but I think you get the symbolic nature of the references.]

» The baritone sax player from the Budos Band is really, really hot.

» Jancee Dunn’s memoir is very funny. Probably the best out of the current round of “I Lived Through The 90’s” memoirs.

» My last radio show of the summer is 8/21, don’t forget to tune in.

» Spent my birthday at McCarren Park watching the Oxford Collapse, who kindly gave me a birthday shout-out from the stage. Thank you guys! Also, big thanks are in order for Toby, who made sure my drunker-than-drunk ass got back home to NJ safe and sound by taking the subway back to Penn Station and seeing to it that I got on the train. Ladies, line up for this guy — he’s a keeper. More thanks to: Heather, Maura, Sara, Megan, Douglas, Dominic, Julia, Mike G, Danager, Alexis, Ned and all the fine folks who posted a birthday wish on my social networking accounts.

» I have a new post up on Mobile Beat. I don’t know how I made it through the show, especially after the very long day of post-birthday sobering up. Blitzen Trapper = way better than I expected.

I covered tonight’s Harry & the Potters show for Billboard. Read and comment, please! Otherwise, I will be one less step away from hanging out with celebrities on the red carpet. Think of it as your birthday gift to me — commenting/helping me win this thing, that is.

Quick catch up:

» I guest-blogged for Idolator a couple weeks ago, and also, snapped a couple shots for them over the weekend.

» I went to Pitchfork’s festival on a VIP pass and complained about the burrito line. On the plus side, I got to eat salt pork, shop for shoes and share a train ride with Thurston Moore.

» I’m 75% certain that my landlord died while I was out in Chicago.

OK, so here’s my crazy news: A few weeks ago I submitted an entry for Billboard Magazine’s “Mobile Beat” contest. It was one of those moments where I said to myself “Wouldn’t it be funny if I applied for this?” And then I did. Hey, I just went through the ordeal of applying to grad school, so was capable of handling the eventual rejection that would come my way. And Billboard had every right to turn me down — I’m published, etc blah blah blah.

But I guess there was no clause stating someone with experience couldn’t participate, so now here I am… a finalist in the Billboard/LG “Mobile Beat” competition. Over the course of the summer I’ll get to cover live music events and live blog ‘em. Gee, this sounds awfully familiar. Cynicism aside, I am psyched about this. It’ll give me the opportunity to write and expose my “talents” to a larger audience, for better or worse.

Now here’s the catch: this thing is a contest and relies on audience participation, like American Idol. (I mean really, if I wanted to blog unpaid and unnoticed I’d post here more often. Hiooooo!) So check out my posts and comment on them because it will help me win a chance to cover some large awards event from the red carpet. Lord knows I’ve been itching to don a satiny evening gown these days. Can you imagine me chatting it up with Kelly Clarkson while wearing that get-up? (Feel free to insert your own rock star fantasy here.) Exactly.

» Listen up L.A.: My friend Megan Geckler is part of a group art exhibition this weekend, entitled “FR8“. Commissioned by the City of San Pedro, the artists featured in this exhibit will display their work in shipping containers along the city’s waterfront. It’s a one night only deal, so if you slack, youre going to totally miss it. Here is an amazing time-lapse photo of Megan and her assistants installing the work.

» I’ve got a Soundadvice pick on Tussle (Now 100% Totally Without Andy Cabic) for the CIty Paper this week:

San Francisco’s Tussle’s most recent release is packed tighter than a pair of hipster’s jeans at Making Time; Telescope Mind (Smalltown Supersound) closely resembles the ur-dancepunk it’s drawing heavy inspiration from. Drifting away from the dub influences of earlier records, Telescope finds motorik rhythms pressing tightly against a linear expression of keyboards unable to decide whether they’re CB radios or heavenly transmissions (answer: they’re both), and contributions from Liquid Liquid’s Sal Principato.

Tussle, “Flicker” (From Telescope Mind)
Buy this record at iTunes or Smalltown Supersound!

» I know, I can’t shut up with the Sassy talk these days, but HSCMYL co-author Marisa is already hard at work on her next book — and she wants Y-O-U to fill out a questionnaire. I never thought that my goofy little Q&A would be of use; lo and behold, one of my answers winds up in the book. Anyway, I’ve gorked her email to prevent spammers, once again but copy and paste the following with your answers and send ‘em along to her:

I’m writing a book about women, music, and the 1990s for the publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux, to be published in early 2009.

The general theme is to take a critical look at the idea of girl power in its many forms — from the riot grrrls to the Spice Girls, Britney Spears to Beyonce, “girls kick ass” baby tees to girls rock camps, and everything in between — and I’m interviewing lots of musicians, critics, and the like, but I also really want to hear from fans.

I’ve included a few questions to prompt deep thoughts, but I’m interested in really anything you have to say on the subject. I hope you’ll spend some time thinking about this, but I’d also love to get your answers sooner rather than later. Please send them to me.

Please do forward this to friends (male and female alike), mailing lists, bulletin boards, post on blogs, whatever!

Best,
Marisa

PS: The Sassy book is out and full of quotes from fans I contacted through a very similar mass email about two years ago.

———————————

I’d like your name and age.

Define “girl power” as you see it. Was it third wave feminism given a sparkly, apolitical makeover? Or a social phenomenon?

Even though this book is mostly about the 90s, I’m also talking about the decades before. What kind of music did you grow up listening to? I’m especially interested in music by women, of course. Were you glued to watching Madonna and Cyndi Lauper on MTV? Did you have an intense listening to Joni-Mitchell-in-my-bedroom phase?

What music were you listening to in the 90s? And what are you listening to now? Specific songs, bands, whatever comes to mind.

I would absolutely love to hear anecdotes about concerts you’ve attended. Did you see boys getting pushed out of the front at a Bikini Kill show? Did you go to Lilith Fair for Liz Phair, but stayed so you could sing along to the Indigo Girls? Did you organize a Ladyfest? Did you and your best friend go see Christina Aguilera play at Madison Square Garden?

Was there a stronger sense of female empowerment, not just in music, but in our culture in general, during the 90s? What do you think of the decade now?

Now that Sleater-Kinney broke up, Le Tigre is on some kind of extended hiatus, Destiny’s Child is no longer, and Ladyfests seem to be on the wane, is this a dark moment for women in music? Will popular music be always and forever a boys’ club, or are we on the verge of some kind of real cultural change? I would love to hear your thoughts on where you think this is all headed–what makes you depressed and what gives you hope? What is girl power today?

» Not to end this message on a downer note or anything, but ESG’s Valerie Scroggins is currently being investigated for defrauding the NYC Transit Authority through workman’s compensation:

Valerie Scroggins, the drummer for acclaimed art-funk ensemble ESG, autographed CDs and posed for photos with fans during a concert tour in Europe last year.

But one of the fans turned out to be an investigator for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Scroggins, an NYC Transit bus driver receiving workers’ compensation for shoulder injuries, was nabbed.

Scroggins, 44, was indicted yesterday by a Brooklyn grand jury on charges of taking more than $13,000 in workers’ compensation, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said.

» I have a photo of Hot Chip in the current issue of SPIN, which is all sorts of cool. And they say bloggers can’t break into the print media! Har, har. I remember when Modest Mouse played Your Mother’s Birthday Party festival in Princeton’s gymnasium — a fantastic show all around, opened up by bands like Rome, Run/On and a slew of Balto math rockers I have since forgotten about. Ah, the 90’s! Still the best decade ever. It still seems sort of bizarre to think of MM as a wildly huge and successful band who warrant things like magazine covers. I think that’s where I got my first issue of Magnet, too.

» It was an amazing joke, but… what if Village Voice Media actually bought PW? Imagine it: music sections across the VVM/NT universe would be inundated with thinkpieces about “twinkly”, “shambolic” bands from West Philly, thanks to the syndication feature.

» I’m two years behind the curve on this one, but I’m in love with an all-girl skateboarding video that takes its name from a Girls At Our Best! song. More skateboarding cupcakes, please! While I’m on the subject, I have to point out that Wikipedia’s skateboarding articles are awful. I made this shameful discovery on my Sunday afternoon surf. If you consider yourself an aficionado of the sport/culture, understand basic grammar and spelling, please go clean these suckers up.

» What I didn’t do last weekend: Top secret Girl Talk / Matt & Kim gig at Terrace (wow, it must really be the 90’s if Terrace is booking cool shows again), Bonde Del Role at Bryn Mawr. I’m not waving these around like a badge of pride, because I did want to go to the Terrace show; I just majorly lamed out on Saturday night.

» What you should do this weekend: Friday, head up to NYC for either the Parts & Labor or 1990’s/Clockcleaner shows, or stay in Philly to check out Tennis & the Mennonites at the Khyber; Ryan from Brown Recluse Sings is DJing at Sal’s as well. Saturday, Jesus has risen and so has Pilam’s annual Human BBQ (now in it’s 29th year). First year it’s back in the house, so support these kids, who are one of the few non-craptacular things about Penn. Sunday: do something religious, or sacreligious (if that’s your bag).

» Beginning Monday, I’ll be blogging the Popped! festival over at the CP’s blog. I’ve owned the Calc-U-Phone for a month, it’s time to see what this bad puppy can do. I’m really looking forward to this!

» Advance warning: Mew Gallery’s hosting a fundraiser on 4/21 at Surreal Sound: 10$, all you can drink and good musix courtesy of myself and others. Even if Mew’s proprietress, the lovely Carolynne McNeel, wasn’t a good pal of mine (and a former band mate), I’d tell you to go. There’s not many of these crafty places in Philadelphia, and they need to stay where they are. 5/5 at Mew is a reading with Kara and Marisa, authors of How Sassy Changed My Life, and you know how much I love the book, so be sure to check it out. (Update: an actual copy [as opposed to a galley] just landed on my desk! Whee!)

» It’s not you, it’s me: I really want to write more here, but the commitment thing is a little rough. I’m in the midst of deciding my fate re: grad school. Hopefully we’ll all know something soon?

» Hurrah, my Narthex review is up! One reader loves it so much that it’s their favorite song on PTW. DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN

» There’s funny and not-so-funny. The lone comment on the latter post says it all:

As a Ph.D. candidate currently wading into the increasingly competitive job market, I find this kind of appointment reprehensible. What exactly are Kal Penn’s qualifications? If the argument is that he starred in teen films as well as films that examine Asian American issues, then maybe the math department should hire Russell Crowe for a semester.

» This fucking sucks too.

» You’ll love the book, but in the meantime, read Kara & Marissa’s blog, How Sassy Changed My Life.

» Bryan of Yah Mos Def’s launched a line of cute bags with TRKFLD — I particularly love how he’s named them all after his friends. Now where’s my damn refund?

» It Happened To Me: in lieu of SXSW this year, I gave a go at filling out an NCAA tournament bracket. Facebook says I was 55% accurate; I am sort of heartbroken that UNC (my pick to win it all) won’t be making it to the finals. What an upset!