May 2011
185 posts
April 2011
64 posts
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I love you, kellydeal
Still know every single word to this record, Fore! And Small World.
Young minds are sponges. Young minds with yellow Sony Sports Walkmans and a backpack full of cassettes are destined for greatness.
I would like to do research on people’s musical taste trajectory based on whether they liked Huey Lewis and The News when they were young. Because I have always - since the first moment I heard Huey Lewis and The News - hated this band with every ounce of my core. It’s one of those bands/sounds/everythings that produces this weird visceral reaction for me. I can remember in the ’80s when it would come on and I would rush to turn it off or make snarky commentary about it, because you know, I snarked before snark was cool.
So. If this were my post you could reply and we could do an informal poll and I could ask you whether or not you like this piece of shit band (sorry Jay), which is totally possible since they were hugely popular at one point. And then I would want to know how your tastes have changed and what they are now and if we can see any patterns.
I still want to know. And you have to have liked them IN THE 1980S. Like, when they were on the charts and doing the hit theme song for Back to the Future. That means before the recycling and Christian Bale doing his amazing little dance in American Psycho (I know you didn’t read the book, you assholes, but if you want to talk about something else I hated for boring the shit out of me, there’s another subject).
Other crimes perpetrated by me between the years of 1985 and 1998
-Night Ranger - Big Life
-A lot of other horrible “metal.”
-I once listened to a Kenny G CD that my stepfather had. I did not care for it and felt duped because I had assumed that all people with hair like Al Yankovic were as awesome.
-The Offspring - Smash
-Some band of musicians whose talents range from “pretty good” to “phenomenal and no longer alive” that also has a singer from South Africa whose voice I can no longer hear without either crying or throwing up.
-Five Iron Frenzy - who are from my town, and are very nice people - except for that whole hyperchristian thing.My point is that even through all of this, I think my taste as a grown-ass 28 year-old speaks for itself.
Also don’t take this as defensive. I adore Leah, and she’s not wrong. I listened to about half of Sports in the shower and then turned it off to listen to The Dears again.
Why I like Jay: A summary.
Wait, I'm a jerk
Jay’s post was about his mom and dad being awesome and instilling great musical taste in him and nostalgia! And I made it about Huey Lewis and how much I cannot stand that man’s music!
(because it is awful)
Anyway, Jay, you’re great and I’m an ass. But see, this is what happens. HUEY LEWIS TURNS ME INTO A MONSTER.
So but while we’re here, who else likes that band? Please tell me so I can be a jerk to you too.
Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears Honored to Write 'Tales of the City' Musical →
rollingstone.com
I interviewed Jake Shears about his new musical with the guys who made Avenue Q. I wish I could see it, but it’s out in San Francisco.
!!!
Who wants to take me?
Almost Amis →
observer.com
On Friday night I visited the office of n+1 in Dumbo, where editor and novelist Benjamin Kunkel, who currently lives in Buenos Aires but set scenes in his novel Indecision not far from Mr. Amis’ new home, had just delivered a talk on the state of the South American left.
“There are many short writers in Brooklyn,” said n+1 editor Keith Gessen, author of the largely Brooklyn-set All the Sad Young Literary Men. “And we welcome him to our ranks. If he’s buying a large home, we’d all like to live with him.”
Mr. Amis’ new house is 5,300 square feet, four floors, 22 feet wide by 60 feet deep and at the time of purchase was configured as three separate apartments, with a minimum of eight total bedrooms.
“Does he garden?” asked the green-thumbed journalist Matthew Power, who lives in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. If Mr. Amis practices horticulture, he now owns a garden to tend.
Contrary to Mr. Lin, who asserted that the best place to write is “at home,” Mr. Gessen advised Mr. Amis to work at the Starbucks on Court Street.
“It has a basement that’s very quiet,” he said. “Tell Martin. You can just buy one coffee and just go downstairs and spend eight hours there and there’s nobody who will bother you. It’s better than the Park Slope Starbucks. There’s fewer homeless people. There’s no visual distractions. It’s very nice there.”
Some n+1 interns and their friends, all Columbia undergraduates, were in attendance for Mr. Kunkel’s talk. I was curious if the youth still read Mr. Amis’ novels, so I cornered three of them.
“None,” said the first.
“None,” said the second.
“Two,” said the third. “The Rachel Papers and Money. Money is better than The Rachel Papers. The Rachel Papers hit closer to home because the protagonist was more like me. I was anxious about how I was being portrayed, about how I compared to the character, whereas Money was just mind-blowing.”Like goddamn sardines. Think it might be time to lay low in a Mexican border town for a year.
Number 1: Read this article. I did last night and felt things stirring in parts I have neither felt nor stirred in a long time. What?
Number 2: Come on out to California for a spell, Young Manhattanite. You can visit us here and enjoy some sunshine and a whole new variety of shit to be annoyed about. Come on, Young Berkeleyite might sound idealistic and douchey in so many ways but you know you want to. You could use some nice hydroponic watercress.
