Handsome Furs and Glass Candy

This past weekend was a double header of facemelting music goodness.

On Friday was the Handsome Furs at Mercury Lounge. We showed up when Iran had started and honestly, they were something I would have been fine missing. Handsome Furs made up for the horror that was Iran, even though they didn't even play for an hour. I don't care, I love them so much. And they are freaking adorable. My only complaint is that they didn't play "What We Had" and I was hoping they would, as they didn't play that song when I went to the Sub Pop Showcase at SXSW last year. 

Saturday was the Italians do it better party at the the disgrace which is (le) Poisson Rouge. We arrived at midnight, but didn't get let in the venue until after 1, causing us to miss just about all of Nite Jewel's set. Glass Candy made up for that disappointment with their energy, giveaways, and the dance party that ensued. On Sunday, I stumbled upon B/E/A/T/B/O/X in Soundfix. Obviously I bought it. I still need to work on getting a turntable though.

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. 

I must have been living under a rock since I was completely unaware of what would result from the increase in MTA fares.

I knew that it was going to happen, but I didn't know when or what the details were. Today though, I noticed a sign describing in detail the increases, while coincidently, riding the subway.

On the 25th, supposedly base fare will be $2.50 (currently $2) and a monthly pass will be $103 (currently $81). ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I'm moving to Brooklyn after I'm kicked out of the horrendous school housing I currently live in, so I'm going to need to purchase a monthly pass in order to commute to school and work. I'm going to have to live in a crack den or cardboard box now.

This is disgusting and I want to throw up. 

I guess it's just another thing to add to the list of many other things that make me angry about living in NYC.

Selling Out

In my Music Business class, we were assigned to work on an advertising pitch for Panasonic. Our job was to pick music for a commercial and edit it together with the sound effects and voice over. My group had 3 submissions and my pitch was chosen as the strongest. Hooray for me.

I chose "No One Does It Like You" by Department of Eagles.

Here's the clip:

I don't know how I feel about this assignment. I know that whenever I see a commercial with music I know and like in it, I get angry. On one hand, I know that musicians need to make a living and gain exposure, but at the same time, it's just another selling technique where artistic merit and musicianship are set aside in order to sell a product.

Perhaps I'm just angry because then after an artist gets really popular after successful commercials (ex. Feist, CSS, M.I.A) then their concerts are packed with annoying teenagers that I want to slap in the face. Or perhaps my 2+ years of past retail experience has something to do with it. Well, the selling part anyway.

What I do know for sure is that music licensing is a sensitive subject. 

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

Well, Veckatimest leaked. According to Ed Droste's responses, the copy that leaked is of a low quality, and thus he is disappointed. 

Low quality or not, I'm ecstatic as Veckatimest is excellent.

Oh Grizzly Bear, you know how to break my heart in such a beautiful way. 

Contender for one of the Best Albums of 2009? I think so.

The fact that I have not seen Grizzly Bear live yet is problematic and something that needs to be fixed. 

Just another reason why I won't venture to Times Square...

From BrooklynVegan and Daily News:

They've sung about a place "Where the Streets Have No Name," but Irish rockers U2 will have a street named for them in Times Square Tuesday.

Mayor Bloomberg is expected to rename part of W.53rd St. at Broadway "U2 Way."

The temporary street renaming coincides with the release of the band's new CD, "No Line on the Horizon," and the kickoff last night of their five-night gig on "Late Show With David Letterman."

Besides winning Grammys and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Bono and his bandmates are known worldwide for fighting for human rights and social justice.

What the hell? Times Square already made me want to rip my hair out, but this is the last straw.I despise U2. Especially Bono. He needs to retreat to a cave, never to be heard from again. In what way are U2 affiliated with New York which warrants them to have a street named after them? I'd really like to know.

After announcing that the Times Square location of Virgin Megastore would be closing in April, the Union Square location is now closing in May.

I don't know how I feel about that. Personally, I always hated Virgin Megastore. Too crowded, horrible selection (at least within the records), and most of it was overpriced. The one in Union Square is right next to Circuit City, which is also closing, so that huge storefront will be empty and I wonder what is going in its place. I hope to God not some establishment that can be found every 5 blocks. Or worse, as someone suggested, more NYU dorms. Don't even get me started on NYU.

From reading BrooklynVegan, it seems that the majority of people would like Amoeba to take the place of Virgin and possibly Circuit City. Who knows.

One point brought up, and one that I think is important, is the impact that this will have on smaller music stores in the area. If the chains can't last, then what about the independent stores? Personally, I think the independent stores are fine. From what I've read, it seems that a lot of people, at least those who like certain genres of music, tend to support more local stores, such as Other Music, SoundFix, Ear Wax, Bleecker St. Records, etc. 

I think part of the problem is that people don't want to or just simply don't buy CDs that much anymore. With all the Internet brings with acquiring music legally or illegally, for a large amount of people it seems pointless to buy a CD after you have an mp3 on your computer or iPod or whatever.

We discussed this in my Music Business class along with the fact that lately there has been a resurgence in the amount of people buying vinyl these days, mostly due to the artistic elements and physicality behind it. I know for damn sure that when I buy music, I just go for vinyl. I can't even remember the last CD I bought, I know it had to have been years ago, as one of the perks of being a Music Director was getting free copies of CDs. 

I just hope that will all the changes taking place within the music industry, that the independent music stores will fare better than their chain counterparts.

Everything is amazing, nobody is happy

One of my friends posted this video a few days ago. Not only do I find it completely hilarious, but painfully true at the same time.

Some of the things that exist today are absolutely ridiculous, and with those advancements, people do feel that they are entitled to certain things.

I loved the point about phones made in the video, because cell phones today are absurd. I only say this because I got a new one and it's going to 

ruin my life with all the functions it has, including wireless internet. Is it necessary? No, not really. Is it amazing? I think so. Does it make me

happier? No, not really.