Blisstortion

Iggy!

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:24:51 -0400

Iggy!

Nirvana - My Best Friends Girl (live) PS corporate rock still...

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:16:00 -0500

Nirvana - My Best Friends Girl (live)

PS corporate rock still sucks (even on Facebook)

Bluntcard.com

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:37:30 -0500

Bluntcard.com

Titus Andronicus. Jon Landau once said, way back in the...

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:44:00 -0500

Titus Andronicus. Jon Landau once said, way back in the last century, “I saw rock and roll’s future and its name is Bruce Springsteen”. So much has happened in our world since that time that it is almost as if he was talking about Stephen Foster or Scott Joplin. Disco, Punk, Hip Hop, Gangsta, Grunge, Boy Bands, GaGa. Don’t even get me started. Springsteen’s still at it, but Glen Rock NJ’s own Titus Andronicus, named because of the amusing duality of Shakespearean drama and “Saw like” violence, have written the next chapter of Born to Run. No blue collar, muscle car romance here though.

Frontman Patrick Stickles channels the hyper informed, internet overwhelmed everyman—Bruce on broadband—and spews it all out, with knowing references to his patron saint in almost every song. Their second album “The Monitor” uses the civil war as a great giggling facade, with daguerreotype photos, Ken Burns like fake voice over intro’s and war battle song titles, but the songs are certainly not an Americana historical novelty concept. What is here is brutally honest rock about bleak futures, frat boy assholes, sexual selfishness, and the exquisite howl of being young and hurting, in the truly scary (how quaint does the cold war seem now?) modern world. Connor Oberst, Paul Westerberg and Ian Mackaye all come through in this glorious messy thrash with aspirations of arena epic scope that they actually pull off. The video(s) above are of the 12 minute + last song on the album, “The Battle of Hampton Roads” recorded just this past week at NJ’s greatest record store, Vintage Vinyl in Fords.

“…and half the time I open my mouth to speak it’s to repeat something that i heard on TV,

and I’m destroying everything that wouldnt make me more like Bruce Springsteen.”

Photo

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:35:18 -0500

This one is close to perfect. Listen to that chugging groove...

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:58:33 -0500

This one is close to perfect. Listen to that chugging groove and then the Monster hook. The O’Jays “Backstabbers”

…And Part II

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:35:21 -0500

…And Part II

The Big Day Approaches (part I)

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:30:24 -0500

The Big Day Approaches (part I)

clash, confute, carry on...: Blame the Teachers

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:08:56 -0500

clash, confute, carry on...: Blame the Teachers:

Another heartfelt and honest account that again explains that testing as a measure of school “success” and “accountability” is a failure in practice and needs to be overhauled completely. And now.

My Chemical Romance

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:38:28 -0500

My Chemical Romance

Mark Linkous 1962-2010 ...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:17:00 -0500

Mark Linkous 1962-2010 He was once, a “Little Fat Baby”

A master of the fragile, shattered, melancholy that I (and so many others) adore in music. Sparklehorse made some of the most evocative and influential music of the past 15 years. There will be a gaping void left by his departure, but I am comforted that he is no longer in pain; the pain now is borne by his family, friends and fans. Haunted.

BILLY EICHNER ON THE STREET : THE OSCARS! Awesomeness in a...

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:14:40 -0500

BILLY EICHNER ON THE STREET : THE OSCARS!

Awesomeness in a viral video. New York is my city and these are my people ;-)

Tom Hanks & Tom Brokaw on Morning Joe Tom Hanks is so...

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:26:58 -0500

Tom Hanks & Tom Brokaw on Morning Joe

Tom Hanks is so brilliant that I will PAY to see one of his bad movies next time it comes out. (some are good, but I’ll pay for the bad one b/c of this).

clash, confute, carry on...: Venus and Mars 2010

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:20:06 -0500

clash, confute, carry on...: Venus and Mars 2010:

I’m guestblogging on Jasons site…I’ll let you decide whether I’m saving the good stuff for here….or there…or if it’s all just shite.

Woman’s Last Stand: Dodge Charger Commercial Spoof Hey!...

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:36:00 -0500

Woman’s Last Stand: Dodge Charger Commercial Spoof

Hey! this is so wrong! I did NOT cry at the end of “Rudy”

Brilliant.

Collected Quotes from Albert Einstein

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:04:22 -0500

Collected Quotes from Albert Einstein

Leading Scholar’s U-Turn on School Reform Shakes Up Debate - NYTimes.com

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:55:31 -0500

Leading Scholar’s U-Turn on School Reform Shakes Up Debate - NYTimes.com:

Why is it that you so often read of conservatives “seeing the light” and renouncing their former viewpoints. I will not gloat though, because this subject is very, very close to home. Progressive education is (still) the way to go, and schools like Bank Street have produced many fine educators who foster this philosophy. No Child Left Behind, and it’s hallmark of standardized testing, has only resulted in the cynical corruption of administrators teaching to the test, and curriculum’s being eviscerated to the bare (tested) core of math and reading. Bravo to Dr Ravitch for recognizing this “fad”, which while earnest and practical in theory was probably sociologically designed to fail.

Listen Up! A dedication please. I’d like to send this...

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:07:23 -0500

Listen Up! A dedication please. I’d like to send this out to the 19 Senators, with an extra F.U. to Jim Bunning, who in the name of continued obstructionist politics, voted against a 30 day extension of jobless benefits for over 1.1 million Americans. Just the idea that there is any principle worth backing in Bunnings’ asshattery is nauseating. Glad he finally backed down, but tell that to the thousands of families in his home state that won’t get their meager $227 check this week.

(Lilly Allen and Mick Jones: Straight to Hell)

Skeptics - AFFCO A disturbing video, set to equally disturbing...

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:43:12 -0500

Skeptics - AFFCO

A disturbing video, set to equally disturbing industrial/punk from New Zealands’ Skeptics. Recorded in 88, The lead singer David D’Ath died of leukemia before the video could be released. AFFCO is the largst meat packing concern in NZ; the horrors of factory food production are just as relevant today as they were 22 years ago.

Butch Bakery | New York

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:50:44 -0500

Butch Bakery | New York:

…Our objective is simple. We’re men. Men who like cupcakes.