Affluent White Male

Back to the Constant Future

I’m going to say this, as neutrally as I possibly can. Parts and Labor are one of the most under appreciated bands on this planet. I never bought into that whole sad song about how there are so many musicians who are brilliant but don’t make it; I...

Sign of the times

It can be tedious and tiresome, being perpetually bombarded with the cry of “It’s a bad economy!” This is something else though: TAUNTON, Mass.—A Massachusetts employment organization has canceled its annual job fair because not enough...

Obits Interview

Obits are coming to the Elevens on Thursday night. Earlier this winter, I was given the opportunity to interview Sohrab Habibion, the band’s guitarist and sometimes singer. Obits put out an album, Moody Standard and Poor on March 29th. I liked it. How did Obits...

Reality Finally Sets In, in 2011

Dave Markey is having quite a renaissance lately. Last month, Flywheel hosted a showing of his documentary 1991: The Year Punk Broke, featuring a q and a session with no less than Thurston Moore. 1991 is an epochal documentary that shows Nirvana (just before they were...

The Reality of Reality sets in.

Just a follow up on the previous entry- Dave Markey did an interview that answered a lot of the questions I had surrounding the surfacing of Reality 86’d. Check it out. What’s interesting is that a Henry Rollins column about music piracy in LA Weekly...

Bob Mould's Celebrated Summer

June is a good month if you’re a fan of Hüsker Dü or Bob Mould in general. The singer/guitarist has had quite a diverse career since the flaming car-crash breakup of Hüsker Dü. Mould has come out of the closet, been a deejay, written plot...

Fun News Day

So, last night, the story drops that Sarah Palin did cocaine and former basketballer Glenn Rice. I personally doubt the validity of the claims in the book. Regardless, the uproar is silly. Politicians are generally a shifty, immoral bunch. Their personal lives tend to...

Freedom of Discretion

Freedom of speech is a funny thing. The concept itself, when implemented correctly, allows for the press to question the government, for artists to express themselves without fear of repurcussion, and in general, for an open discourse. Sometimes, people misuse the...

Freedom of Discretion, Part II

Bryant Gumbel, not content to let Hank Williams, Jr. take the title of “Most Inappropriate Historical Comparison,” compared NBA Commisioner David Stern to a plantation owner. See below: While it’s perfectly reasonable to have a negative opinion of...

The Best News 2012 has to offer

The basement-dwelling internet clique receieved astonishing news today, as it exploded across the blogosphere that post-hardcore pioneers At The Drive-In were reuniting. Nowadays, At The Drive-In are known, tragically, as the band that came before The Mars Volta, who...

Conceptualize This:

Indie darlings of years goneby Cursive have released a new album. This news should be met with collective yawns, and not just because they’re little better than a nostalgia act for twenty something emo kids. There is a far more sinister reason that the new...

Post-Modern News

I’m sure everyone is familiar with the satirical news site known as The Onion. It’s a pretty hilarious take on news that always astounds me with its ability to evoke a laugh. What’s even funnier is when you come across a news story that reads as if...

Slam Dancing IS a Crime

True story: I recently witnessed Worcester’s own Bovachevo live. They tore, playing a mathy hard rock that reminded me a lot of Drive Like Jehu. They raked, plain and simple. I was pretty into the show, except for one simple problem. The dripping, idiotic,...

Absolute Monarchs

I am still more than a little in awe of the seemingly endless amount of good music that the Pacific Northwest has turned out over the past 20 years. Nirvana, The Melvins, Unwound, Bikini Kill, Modest Mouse, Sleater- Kinney, Wild Flag; I could go on forever....

Against Me, And Her.

Tom Gabel, lead singer of angsty politlcal punks Against Me! is, evidently, set to reveal to Rolling Stone magazine, that he is now she, coming out as Laura Jane Grace, and revealing her struggle with gender dysphoria. Initially, this seems to be rther heavy, in a...

Courtney Love: American Tragedy

Whenever one Courtney Love is your topic of choice, there are a innumerable amounts of directions you can go in. She’s made a career out of being a complete train wreck, mostly. When all is said and done, a feminist warrior with ambition bigger than the universe...