Stuff I've been writing: Reading Rainbow feature, Origivation, 3/1

Hey look, it's the article I wrote about frenetic, fuzz-fueled duo Reading Rainbow! Rob and Sarah are super sweethearts who make great music that everyone should buy and go see. They're playing the Elbo room (50th and Cedar in west Philly) Saturday night with my friends Junkers, and they'll be at SXSW this year. Do read the story (on the lovely new Origivation website!) and listen to their sounds if you haven't yet.

Stuff I've been writing: Ape School profile, Origivation Magazine 2/10

The primary interview for this joint took place at sunset in a grass patch behind the North Star Bar in Fairmount last July, but due to technical difficulties (publications folding, my procrastination), it wasn't published till now. It's by far one of the chillest, friendliest interviews I've ever done (another candidate for that, my chat with Reading Rainbow, will appear in the March issue), and I still think Ape School is criminally underrated in Philly and elsewhere.

In other exciting news, Origivation has a new editor with a lot of new ideas, so expect something more than long-ass profiles (not that there's anything wrong with that; I've written enough of them) in the future.

The return of Mad Men news-blogging!

But it might be bad news: Bryan Batt, who plays Salvatore Romano (closeted gay former Sterling Cooper art director and one of the most compelling characters on the show), hasn't been notified as to whether or not he'll be returning for the new season.

The fourth season begins filming in March, and there's already a Facebook group dedicated to making sure Batt and his character are back in the show. As Mad Men fans know,


[spoiler alert if you haven't seen the third season]


SCDP took SC's biggest client -- Lucky Strike -- when they broke off to create their own firm. And the reason Sal was fired in the first place is because of Lucky Strike bigwig Lee Garner Jr.'s drunken, unsuccessful pass at our dear Sal.

check it out

buzz buzz buzz

i am editing this thing with some friends! send us your shit.

www.theapiarycorp.com

A passage from Fitzgerald

"No," interrupted Marcia emphatically. "And you're a sweet boy. Come here and kiss me."

Horace stopped quickly in front of her.

"Why do you want me to kiss you?" he asked intently. "Do you just go round kissing people?"

"Why, yes," admitted Marcia, unruffled. "'At's all life is. Just going round kissing people."

"Well," replied Horace emphatically, "I must say your ideas are horribly garbled! In the first place life isn't just that, and in the second place I won't kiss you. It might get to be a habit and I can't get rid of habits. This year I've got in the habit of lolling in bed until seven-thirty."

-- "Head and Shoulders," 1920

Most Listened '09

I am incapable of keeping up with music or having any clue what the Best Of anything of anything are, but here's my survival Top 10 -- the songs that helped me make it through another crap year of crap, according to my iTunes. Youtube links where applicable, mp3s forthcoming if I ever figure out how to upload them:

1. Orange Juice -- Simply Thrilled Honey (slightly different version, but they are in an OJ factory!)
2. Times New Viking -- Drop Out (live in Houston)
3. Silver Jews --Long Long Gone
4. Bob Dylan / The Band -- You Ain't Going Nowhere
5. Fleet Foxes -- White Winter in Hymnal (got me through Jan. in Pittsburgh and has not been listened to since, actually)
6. Barrett Strong -- You've Got What it Takes
7. Camera Obscura -- Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken
8. Little Iva & Her Band -- Continental Strut
9. Roy Acuff -- This World Can't Stand Long (found a live Dylan cover from 2000)
10. Al Green -- Funny How Time Slips Away

honorary most youtube'd
Grizzly Bear -- Two Weeks
Lady Gaga -- Paparazzi acoustic version

To the Ladies of 100.3 The Beat fm

(which is what I listen to in the car when I absolutely cannot take NPR one second longer...)

Dear Keri Hilson,

Do you realize when you croon "Miss Keri, baby" it sounds like "Miscarry baby"? It freaks me out!

Dear Nikki Minaj,

"Bedrock" is a stupid song but you make the word "asbestos" sound sexy on your verse.

Dear Kendra G,

The fact that you manage to work "Now, I do NOT smoke weed" into your song introductions on a daily basis makes me not believe you.

so pumped for my morning commute,
Michelle