To borrow from the James McNew/Dump album, a plea for tenderness, folks: WPRB is quickly approaching on its inaugural membership drive, and please, I hope you’ll consider making a pledge.

Read on for details!

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No really, it’s the last show of the summer! School is starting soon.

Join me as I bid adieu to the airwaves until… the next time. When will that be? Thanksgiving? Christmas Eve? Next month? Next year?!

5-7PM EST
103.3FM or WPRB.com

K.I.T.
requests@wprb.com
609-258-1033
im: wprbdj

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.

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.

(Grace Slick, c. 1970. © Herb Greene)

» Good News! I’m back on WPRB this summer, beginning May 29th. I’ll be on the air every Tuesday from 5-7 PM EST. I promise to fill up rush hour with plenty of hot tunes and “witty” banter. TUNE IN TUNE IN TUNE IN TUNE IN

» Swiped from the jaws of Idolator, Street Census has a pretty great What Not To Do re: publicity. Here’s another suggestion: before you sign me up for your band/project/etc’s mailing list, introduce yourselves. Maybe it’s ego, maybe I just feel like having a clue about who’s behind the email, but nothing drives me crazier than being thrown randomly onto an announcement list.

» West Philly Food Alert: May I please praise the wonder and genius that is Tacos Don Memo (38th St bet. Walnut & Sansom)? This little food truck brings me such lunchtime joy with awesome Mexican goodies. Sometimes the wait is a little long, but the owners make it up with freebies — today I got a free tamarindo drink, other times there’s been fresh tortilla chips to nosh on during the wait. 3 tacos run you 6 bucks; the little slices of pineapple in my spicy pork are pure heaven.

» I love lolcats, Bader over at Daily Miltonian explains why.

» Twee or twee-like seems to be the order of the day: NYC’s Thee Yankee Dollar make the pixelated frequencies of modern mp3’s work in their favor — just think of it as a double-shot of lo-fi goodness. And I’ve always loved this September 67 song. I caught them a few times and while I can’t remember who they opened up for, their songs had a slight snotty edge amidst the pretty guitars that kept me listening, all these years later. Where are they now? Aaanyways, enjoy!

Thee Yankee Dollar, “Ask Me Now”
September 67, “Steve Malkmus Is A Fucking Snob”

» 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?

Next week’s radio show falls on Valentine’s and guess what — I am attempting to do a “love”-themed show. Don’t roll your eyes at me; pop probably wouldn’t exist without it, rock rebels against it (or tends to embrace its Patty Duke-like identical cousin, sex). The idea of love — and falling out of it, not having it, settling for something other than it and so on — weaves its way throughout musical history.

I am seeking submissions! Think of it as a “Reader Produced” episode of Her Jazz. I want your favorite love songs!

Send me MP3’s! I’ll take your submission by no later than Saturday 2/10. Feel free to include a little info about why you like it, if you want.

(While it is the opposite of love, I will not accept songs about hate. When I do the Ides of March-themed HJ, then you can send ‘em my way.)

Technical Details: MP3’s less than 160 kbps in terms of sound quality will not be accepted. (They sound horrible on air.) Sending them to me via Yousendit/Sendspace is ideal, links to URL’s are just as good. Failing that, you can directly email me attachments.

If you have any questions, drop me a line in the comments section.

WHAT: Her Jazz presents “Lovers Rock”
WHEN: Wednesday 2/14/07, 4-6PM EST
WHERE: WQHS.org
WHO: Me You and Everyone We Know

My weekly installment of musical awesomeness, peppered with awkward on-air interactions, aka HER JAZZ, returns today. Won’t you please tune in? You’re not gonna see or hear from me otherwise until this grad school app thing is O-V-E-R.

4-6PM EST on WQHS.org

Anticipate the hit parade: Home Blitz! Brown Recluse Sings! Amy Winehouse! caUSE co-MOTION!! Chandra! Railroad Jerk! Heaven 17! Chicks On Speed!

Big thanks to Michael of “The Amateur Hour” for covering last week.

Tell all your friends.

This semester Her Jazz switches from a morning to late-afternoon shift — 4-6PM (1600-1800) EST.

Even though my time slot has changed, the place has not. You can still catch me on WQHS, University of Pennsylvania’s student-run radio station.

When: Wednesday 04:00 - 06:00PM EST
Listen: WQHS [internet only]

So, it seems Plain Parade is a City Paper Choice Award winner. Award No. 3, as a matter of fact! Mathematically that breaks down into 75% awesomeness, 25% not-so-awesomeness, which is grand metaphor for the life of a concert promoter. Big thanks to Pat Rapa for nominating us.

Most Missed Rock Curators

So long, fair ladies of Plain Parade. Your tiny happy shows were the most lovingly booked, your tastes were impeccable. Four years of giving Philly its first glimpses of underdog indie stars is a pretty good run, and last year’s Songs From the Sixth Borough comp is a fitting and lasting swan song.