Impromptu jam session in Kanazawa last night with a japanese guitarist and french pianist that are way better musicians than I ever will be, in the most wildly decorated rock bar I’ve ever been to. There are relatively few foreigners here in this ‘samurai’ town (which has Paul Smith, A.P.C., etc.) so being a musical white guy is an interesting novelty enough that my subpar musical skill qualifies me for invitations to play hotel gigs, which I guess is not a bad backup plan in the event my design/code career goes south.
A lot of my songwriting in the Hold Steady has to do with this place in your life where it’s appropriate to go to parties and have a dumb job. And then you get a little older, and it’s not as appropriate. There are people who make that transition, and then there are people who get hung up right there. It’s that frustration: ‘This isn’t turning out how I thought it was going to. Why is it so hard for me to get to work? Why do I sleep so much? Why am I not excited to see my friends?’Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn talks to us about his unflinching new solo album. (via pitchfork)
(via LG announces nearly borderless 55-inch OLED HDTV)
Finally it’s starting to look like the goddamn future.
We have a Facebook page now, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Give us your likes, now. All of them. Give us your goddamn likes!
I do think Andersen’s central point is a good one, though, which is that popular culture is the way it is right now because we have our heads up pop culture history’s ass thanks largely to the Internet
BSNYC breaks down that Andersen Vanity Fair article on the self-interested state of popular culture
Following decriminalization, Portugal has the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the EU: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%, Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana.
While I’m sure you’re all happily enjoying some ‘Christmas medicine’ this week, as I am, it is good to reflect on the fact that many people are regularly incarcerated needlessly for drug related crimes, and there is still, in fact, a ‘war on drugs’. Happy holidays.
http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/blog/time-to-end-the-war-on-drugs
