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March 19, 2008
Shorties
Yesterday's additions to the list of 2008 SXSW streaming and downloadable music performances:
MP3 sets by Yeasayer, Basia Bulat, and Moonlight Towers.
The A.V. Club lists 14 overblown charity/advocacy songs beside "We Are the World."
The Phoenix interviews Stephen Malkmus about the persistent rumors of a Pavement reunion.
EW.com recently reported something about a possible appearance at the Matador 20th-anniversary party in 2009.
I could have said that. It’s true — they asked me to do that, and I guess I was just being loose-lipped. But that wouldn’t be a real show. We would show up there and not even rehearse. To really do a reunion, it just seems like so much organization and planning, and it’s just uncivilized in a way. The time might be right, but it just doesn’t feel right to me, personally. I haven’t talked to everyone about it. I could be in a room with everybody in the band and be like, “Yeah, that sounds awesome.” But we’re never together, and everyone’s doing different things. I’m just not in connection with what Pavement really means, either, so I don’t know how fun it would be now. I guess I’m in denial or something. I’m just into this — what we’re doing now means so much more to me than a Pavement reunion would. It’s hard for me to think about. But also, there’s a time later. Maybe there is a time for that. I don’t know myself well enough. I’m like being psychoanalyzed here. [Laughs.] I say I don’t want to talk about it and then I talk about it. It’s ridiculous.
The Washington Post's Express interviews singer-songwriter/cartoonist Jeffrey Lewis.
» EXPRESS: A couple of reviews have suggested this album is something of a practical joke. Because you've written some humorous songs in the past, they seem to think that you doing a Crass album is an elaborate ruse on your part.
» LEWIS: Well, in a certain way, more power to 'em. It got a four-star review in Rolling Stone magazine and was seemingly interpreted as a kind of nutty, comedy concept album. Sometimes you read the bad reviews and their descriptions make a lot more sense than the rave good reviews, where I read the description and I feel like they didn't even hear the album. But that's always the way with music and art in general: You have no control over people's interpretations.
Philadelphia Weekly interviews John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats about his 33 1/3 book, Black Sabbath's Masters of Reality.
“You know,” says Darnielle, “I’m glad I didn’t try to write a book until I’d been a songwriter for about 10 years.
“When you write songs—even if you cram a lot of words into them like I often do—you learn to get the job done in a timely manner. Get in and get the hell out, right? Before anybody notices what you did. And so keeping it compact like that really helped me move the narrative along at a quick pace. You learn how to throw stuff away and, you know, excise whole bits. It doesn’t help? Get rid of it. Songs make you merciless. The writing of a song is a surgical act.”
Philadelphia Weekly offers a guide to interesting books published this spring.
All these young writers might bother the hell out of you, but Jeff Gordinier’s X Saves the World makes a pretty good argument why this generation, now heading into its fourth decade, is a lot more important than just the grunge rock and Starbucks it produced. Gordinier argues that the YouTubers and the baby boomers have nothing on the hard-work ethic of the ultimate slacker generation, and he lists the tons of things we have to thank them for (the Internet being fun and Obama, for example).
Look for Gordiner's Largehearted Boy Book Notes essay next Thursday, the day the book is officially released.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Michael Cera (Juno, Arrested Development) is in final negotions to star as Scott Pilgrim inn the film adaptation of Bryan Lee O'
Malley's graphic novel Scott Pilgrim Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life.
The Mirror lists the top ten weirdest rock and roll deaths.
Cracked lists the 5 most insane comic book cameos.
Gay.com interviews Bob Mould about the possibilities of a Husker Du reunion.
Do you ever get tempted by Pixies money? You could make more money now in one tour with Husker Du than you made in the 10 years you guys were together. Would you do it?
I wouldn't want to go back and do that again. The thing about money being involved -- Dinosaur Jr., Lemonheads and Meat Puppets all played here (Washington, D.C.) in the course of one month, and I don't know if any of them drew more than 300 people. The Pixies got the luck of the draw.
ESPN interviews Philadelphia Phillies catcher Chris Coste about his book, The 33-Year-Old Rookie: How I Finally Made it to the Big Leagues After Eleven Years in the Minors.
Philadelphians still love Sly Stallone. And that's saying something because he's just an actor. Also, because he's Sly Stallone. Philly has rallied around you too, and for the same reason, right?
Chris Coste: Absolutely, that underdog mentality. They view me differently than they do Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins or Ryan Howard because I'm not the same kind of player. They're idols. I'm an ordinary person who happened to make it. They don't go crazy for me like they do those guys, but they feel they can talk to me like a school buddy. So when a fan sees me at Target or Wal-Mart, it's always interesting.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reviews the book.
Midway through the book, you know him. And you marvel at the thousands of marginalized players in pro baseball who never get the chance he had; how many third basemen who never convert to catcher; how many small-town studs don't have a local pro team start up in their city when they're 22.
You understand the pigeonholing, but you understand why the practice exists. And, ultimately, you are entertained by the book.
The Village Voice profiles Kaki King.
If you know Kaki King, you know her as a guitar player. A special one. A rare breed of genreless six-string (rather than five-button) Guitar Hero: young, female, Southern, and slight of stature. Her facility has been freshly flaunted and recently rewarded by no less than a Golden Globe nomination for her soundtrack work on Sean Penn's Into the Wild; more tangibly, she received a "sweaty, shirtless hug" from Dave Grohl after their duet on the recent Foo Fighters track, "Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners."
No Love For Ned's streaming radio show features an in-studio set by the Spinto Band.
also at Largehearted Boy:
2007 online music lists
Daily Downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
this week's CD releases
tags: music books popculture indie news
