Gameboyz

Wired has a fun game: match the hip-hop lyric from the last 20 years with the piece of technology it refers to.

Man, hip-hop lyrics get pretty ridiculous.

P4k and the Flaming Lips

So I'm back from my vacation and hope I still have readers left after 3 weeks away!

Clearly the big news since I was gone is the Pitchfork line up, the vote-your-own-set-list set up for Friday, and the Flaming Lips headline slot. As various outlets have reported, the Lips were initially supposed to join in on the fan-voted set list fun, but almost immediately backed out, forcing Pitchfork to issue a correction. This earned the major ire of the Sun Times' Jim DeRogatis, who was thrilled about the fan-voted set list in the hopes that it would force the Lips to revisit older material and revitalize a stage show that has become a bit stale.

I guess have to agree with him. I'm probably one of the only people that greeted the Flaming Lips news with an "eh". I saw the Flaming Lips at Coachella in 2004, and while sure, the stage show is funny, in 45 minutes they played a whopping 3 songs, all from Yoshimi (and only after spending 10 minutes delaying the show so Wayne could get his giant bubble inflated). Festival shows don't really give the Lips enough time to do both the schtick and play actual music at the same time. And the schtick hasn't changed a whole lot in the 5 years since; their stage show has really become this pre-packaged, ultimately hollow thing that's not really about the music anymore but about how weird and silly they can be. I agree with Jim that festivals like Pitchfork are the time to do something really interesting and special, and when a stage full of animal costumes and a giant human hamster ball are no longer special, it might be time to revisit the formula.

Vaca

Hello faithful readers,

In order to escape the daily depression that is our economy, I'm heading out tomorrow on a much-needed vacation to Southeast Asia. As a result, expect blog posting to be virtually non-existent for the next couple weeks (unless I discover some incredible Cambodian indie rock band that the world just needs to know about ASAP) (unlikely). Hopefully I'll return to amazing weather, a Dow back at post-2000 levels, politcal unity and a plethora of jobs for all! Or at least some good shows in April, and a decent Pitchfork lineup. Cheers!

Spinal Tap Tour! (Sort of)

According to the Sun Times, Spinal Tap "members" Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer will be hitting the road for a six-week tour starting in April, with a stop at the Chicago Theatre on May 30. Sadly, they will be going on tour as themselves, rather than as their alter egos- i.e., no wigs, outfits or minature Stonehenges. They'll also be playing songs from A Mighty Wind. Oh, and it will be acoustic. As McKean says at the end of the article, 'the partners are “trying to figure out a way to do [Spinal Tap’s bass opus] ‘Big Bottom’ on three acoustic guitars” and said some incarnation of “Stonehenge” “is possible.”'

Bird Video

The video for Andrew Bird's first single, Fitz and the Dizzyspells, which was filmed during his surprise shows at the Hideout with marching band divas Mucca Pazza, is now available on his website. Check it out!

Netbooks

This article in Wired about the rise of the Netbook is incredibly fascinating- not necessarily music-related, per se, but definitely has implications for how we listen to music on our computers.

Rock for Food

Obviously if you are a reader of this blog you, like me, love music. Perhaps you, like me, also have a deep love for fine dining and Top Chef. Maybe, unlike me, you have a lot of spare cash sitting around, which ostensibly could be donated to teaching low-income children to rock. Well then, this news is for you! Rock for Kids is auctioning off an excellent dinner experience for you and five of your friends on ebay. See details below.

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Win a Top Chef Experience!

The Top Chef Finale is finally here! Who will be season 5's Top Chef? Will it be Hosea? Stefan? Carla? If you are as excited as we are to find out, shout Hoodie Hoo!

After the final dish has been prepared, and the winner has been announced, Rock For Kids knows you will still be hungry for more! That's why we're offering you the chance to move beyond watching Top Chef, and allowing you to experience a Top Chef contestant in action!



Top Chef Season Five contestant Chef Radhika Desai, in conjunction with Between Boutique Café and Lounge where she is a Chef, is offering a truly unique experience to one lucky Rock For Kids supporter!

Radhika will prepare a private dinner for 6 in the winner's home. This package includes wine pairings donated by Between Boutique Café and Lounge's wine distributor who is also a sommelier and will explain the pairings.

Following the dinner, Rad will give the party a dessert cooking lesson, and they can eat the dessert afterwards! She will also leave aprons for all of the guests.

100% of the proceeds go to Rock For Kids, and the winning bid is tax deductible.
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Want a more affordable way to "check out a Top Chef in action", sans large tax-deductible donation? Check out Dine with Dale at Relax Lounge every Thursday, where season 3's runner-up is cooking a weekly $25 3-course meal until his new restaurant, Town and Country, opens later this year. I'll be there next week!

Book recommendation

If you're looking for a light, humorous read about the music industry, I recommend checking out Dan Kennedy's Rock On: An Office Power Ballad . Rock On provides an inside look into working for a major label in the midst of the industry's downward spiral. His overgeneralization of what it means to work in a 9-5 corporate environment gets a little old, but the insight he provides into the general patheticness of major label management is hilarious, and timely.

TicketNation

LiveNation + Ticketmaster = Scary. From the Reader.

Iron and Wine News

Iron and Wine fans, take note: Sam Beam's putting out a double album of rare unreleased/out of print tracks called Around the Well, and he will be going on a 5 city, 10-date "intimate" tour in support. This is great news for those of us that loved his early solo work but have been less enthused by the more produced, full-band sound of late (i.e., me). Chicagoans will have two shows to choose from: the Lakeshore Theater on May 12 and Schubas May 13. The Schubas show will undoubtedly sell out quickly, so get your tickets when they go on sale tomorrow, February 20, at noon.

But wait, there's more! Beginning March 6 fans can go to the Iron and Wine website and vote on what songs he'll play at each show.

UPDATE: Tickets sold out in minutes, and the website seemed to have trouble handling the traffic. I'll be there though!

Sad

Word on the street: Touch and Go Records is shutting down.

Update: Shutting down their distribution arm.

WLUW news

With new WLUW management finally in place, changes are starting to happen at the station (none of which involves programming or volunteers, as I'd always expected). WLUW will be moving into a new and improved downtown studio space this summer at Pearson and Wabash, at Loyola's downtown campus. The tower will remain at the Rogers Park campus, however, so there will be no change to the broadcast area.

Also, check out the website to see what songs are playing now, which can be followed on Twitter (though why anyone would want to be updated with every song playing on WLUW at a time, I'm not sure). A brand-new website will also be put into place in the near future, something that has been on the agenda for quite a long time.

Meanwhile, WLUW turns 30 this year! Except a musical celebration in the next few months.

New-ish Beirut

Very cool under-the-radar Beirut news, courtesy of Gapers Block: Apparently Zach Condon composed the soundtrack for a Mexican film that ultimately was not used. A local Chicago record label, Obey Your Brain, is putting the score out on vinyl, along with a few other unreleased Zach Tracks. You can hear March of the Zapotec next Tuesday, February 17 at a listening party at Sonotheque. Performances by Golden Birthday Magical, Beautiful (ft. Mucca Pazza members) to follow.

Selling clothes is evil, except when its not

So within the span of a week, Pitchfork is up in arms about Liz Phair partnering up with Banana Republic as she further eschews an indie aesthetic she hasn't held herself to for 15 years, while Kim Gordon shilling for Urban Outfitters is virtually excused because Sonic Youth is "now on Matador". Nevermind how Urban Outfitters co-opts indie culture while the ultra-conservative CEO funds his right-wing ideologies (see: political contributions to Rick Santorum). Not to mention the number of times I've heard Cut Copy, TV on the Radio, Junior Boys and countless other Pitchfork favorites blaring in Banana Republic stores. Down with corporate suits, up with ironic PETA shirts!

I get it, Pitchfork thinks Sonic Youth is still making good music and Liz Phair isn't, but you can't pick and choose your sell-out stories, which in these days' indie-mainstream culture should be rendered irrelevant anyway.

Bling blong

CNN takes a look at how in this economy, hip-hop stars may be wearing less "bling". They also use the term "jewels". They ultimately determine that "it's unlikely that bling will go away completely." Thanks, CNN.

Megapreg

Once again, a big thank you to People.com for keeping me up with the latest indie news- surprisingly not about indie rock couples for once!- that a pregnant M.I.A. will be "rapping" at the Grammy's on her due date. I wasn't aware that she was a "rapper", or that her music could even really be called "hip-hop", but cheers for trying, People.com.

Apparently there will be also be a long-awaited(?) Blink-182 reunion post Travis Barker's plane crash. Tune in Sunday!

Bruce on Evilmaster

Last year I mentioned the news that Ticketmaster bought TicketsNow, a "secondary market" ticket broker (i.e., glorified scalper), and was directing traffic for sold out tickets from the Ticketmaster website over to TicketsNow. The amount of conflicts of interest in this set up are too numerous to count. Apparently Bruce Springsteen just realized this as his upcoming tour went on sale and is working with a NJ congressman to investigate. Ticketmaster agreed to stop directing Springsteen fans over to TicketsNow- for his show, at least.

From Gapers Block.

Secretary of the Arts Pt. 2

Last week I posted about a petition being sent around from Quincy Jones to get a Secretary of the Arts in place. NPR has a small piece on what this would entail, with point-counterpoint.

Les Savy Fav

I caught Les Savy Fav this weekend at the Epiphany Church, which as this Radio Free Chicago review points out, Tim Harrington fully embraced. Between the priest collar and the constant church and prayer references, Tim desecrated all that is holy with his constantly gyrating nude belly. As we made our way out of the venue, I saw him race through the crowd only to stop at the door, where I got to shake his hand as he invited me to come back next Sunday at 10.

Flight of the Conchords!

Flight of the Conchords* are coming to the Arie Crown Theater (2301 S. Lakeshore) on April 28. A variety of presales are going on this week, starting this morning at 10am; the official public onsale is Saturday at 10am. I've already secured my seats thanks to the presale; get yours quickly before Saturday at 10:05 as last time they came to Chicago it sold out in minutes! I'm also intrigued by this "Arie Crown Theater"- learn more about the venue here.

*I don't think I really realized "Conchords" was cleverly misspelled until Blogger's new spellcheck feature just told me it was supposed to be spelled "Concords". Call me slow.