Using advertising to break new bands is now such an accepted even codified practice that there now entire books and South by Southwest panels on how to do it. "Record deals are so twentieth century," proclaims one guide to music licensing and Advertising Age Editor Scott Donaton is so comforta… Read full post »

On paper, the film-music moment of the week doesn't sound all that brilliant, or as if it'll go down as one of the filmmakers' most memorable, but it is and it will: In Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere," Johnny Marco (played by Stephen Dorff), newly famous actor, drifts off to sleep while identical… Read full post »

As you may have heard, there's still a chance for the public option in healthcare reform. The House can use the process of reconcilation to reinstate it. The Senate would then need only 51 votes--versus a supermajority--to pass it. As Salon recently reported, there are eleven senators--ten of them De… Read full post »

"Everyone talks about rock these days; the problem is they forget about the roll." —Keith Richards

“After a period as America's finest shoegaze revivalists, Asobi Seksu now leave genres behind and document the night sky” —Plan B

I have a friend with whom I have an ongoing, near… Read full post »

 

 

Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O and ambient pioneer Brian Eno both wrote scores for major film releases in 2009, but a few weeks ago Rolling Stone that broke the story that neither would be eligible to win a Best Original Score Oscar at this year's Academy Awards.… Read full post »

 

"Well the big huge valley is a ribbon of light. The aqueducts are snakes tonight." —Vic Chesnutt, "Big Huge Valley," West of Rome (1991)

On Christmas Day, backwoods atheist and punk troubadour Vic Chesnutt died of a muscle relaxer overdose and since then a lot of the news coverage has foc… Read full post »

Digital music's impact was very well assessed by Jon Pareles in the New York Times last week...a satisfying backward glance at just how much the landscape has changed in the last decade, and how artists and fans alike are feeling about it all. I do take issue, however, with one of… Read full post »

December 7, 2009

Dear Senator Monserrate,

As a voter who splits her time between New York and California, I wanted to take a moment to convey my extreme dismay at your recent vote against same sex marriage rights in New York and let you know that I will be doing my utmost to
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