Misc.

Apparently David Bowie donated $10,000 to Jena 6 defense. Now maybe he can encourage some of his rich and/or celebrity pals to do the same?

NYC-area people should mark their calendars for September 29 cuz there's this:



$10 is the suggested donation, I believe it's sliding scale ans no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Also up til 8pm you get free beer with any pizza order and there are multiple vegan options. More importantly, Birthright Unplugged is a great organization which works in support of Palestian people's
right to land from which they were displaced. For more information check out their website

You're undoubtedly read about The Shondes here, but I'm really excited by the fact that they'll be joined by Mystery Family who I have never seen live and am psyched for, as I am a fan of members' past projects. And then there's Looker who I have seen live, are fucking awesome and are also near and dear to my heart. So basically: This should be really good.

Speaking of Shondes-related news, I can exclusively report that none other than Brian Dewan will be making guest appearances on a couple tracks. This is huge for me, as I first became aware of Mr. Dewan's electric zither and otherwise unique musical stylings when I saw him open for my idols They Might Be Giants at age 14. I still have the T-shirt. He's really something special. In fact, I'm 99% sure I've posted about him here before--I see to remember it including a partial transcription of the "My Eye" ("Oh let me tell you...the dreadful strory...of how I poked out...my eye...") but I'll be damned if I can find the entry. Anyway, he will be playing organ on a couple tracks including a "What Love Is". PSYCHED.

Alsos:

Is Miri Ben-Ari out to shut down other hip-hop violinists?


Shocking: women are grossly underrepresented on Pitchfork. In fact, reviews by men named Mark appeared at least twice as frequently as any reviews by women.

Bring on the smooth young girls! ::Shudder::
Thx (?) Rock 'em Stock 'em

More shocking news: Bill Mahr goes on assholic rant. This time about breastfeeding in public. It’s not like he has the option to, like avert his eyes or something if it’s so very upsetting to him. You know what’s upsetting to me? Flip flops, especially worn in NYC, where you are almost always not on a beach and your feet are going to get disgustingly dirty and there is no public health benefit. I don’t like to see feet in this context. It frequesntly disgusts me, especially when eating. I manage to get through an aircondition-less summer with nary an open-toed shoe in my waredrobe, why can’t others have the same courtsey and pander to my neuroses? Oh yeah, cuz I’m not some jackhole libertarian MAN who can’t deal with womanly bits unless they’re being presented in a prescribed patriarchal manner.

I mean, a woman feeding her kid in a restaurant is WAY more disruptive than, say, a screaming baby. Babies = fact. You don’t have to like it, but you do have to deal.

I feel like everytime Bill Mahr has an actual woman on his show it devolves into a discussion of “Toilet seat? Up? Down?” so what can we expect. When it comes to his gender politics he hasn’t developed past the threatened and reactionary yet still horny 14-year-old boy stage.