At one point during Vampire Weekend’s set here in Bloomington last November (opening for Baltimore’s Celebration), singer Ezra Koenig remembered the last time the band came to our fair college town, as openers for the Dirty Projectors a few months prior. The bits of Koenig’s wistful reminiscence could have been taken directly from [...]

Ghostface, 10 minutes into his show Tuesday night, here at the Bluebird:
“Ayo what’s goin’ on Indianapolis?”
“…”
“…”
“Aw I know where we at, shit. Who in the house from Wilmington?”
(cheers erupt. Close enough [Bloomington])
——————–
Rakim, 10-ish minutes into his set, after Ghost’s:
“Ayo who here is from the ghetto. Or has ghetto in their hearts. [...]

“For many men and women, especially youth, the questions specific to citizenship, such as how we inform ourselves and who represents our interests, are answered more often than not through private consumption of commodities and media offerings than through the abstract rules of democracy or through participation in discredited political organizations.” –Nestor Garcia Canclini, Consumers [...]

“Videotape” (mp3) is not my favorite song on In Rainbows—at this moment, that honor goes to either “Reckoner” or “Weird Fishes”—but I do think, in the way it summarizes Thom Yorke’s personal connection with his own mortality, it might be the most important song on the album. Twelve years ago on The Bends, Radiohead [...]

Interested in a take on the current Writers’ Guild strike that frames the debate with the high level of pissed-off snark you need to fully understand what’s going on? The creative-types behind The Office cast forth some deep sarcasm, straight from the pickets (via):

Now, for the fun part of events like this; where guys [...]

I’m an avowed fan of “shop-talk” in all its iterations: I love listening to football strategists dissect opposing defenses with no shortage of jargon, and I’m the guy standing next to the car mechanic while getting his fan belt changed, asking questions like “what exactly does a fuel pump do, you know, in the grand [...]