My Letter to the Editor of The New Yorker

I came across this sentence in the review of Lucie Brock-Broido's book of poems, "Stay, Illusion", by Dan Chiasson in the October 28, 2013, issue:

Brock-Broido's poems can be baffling, but because of their stylish spookiness (some combination of Poe and Stevie Nicks) they are never boring.

And I thought how ridiculous to spoon a mere poet and a demigod in the same parenthetical comparison. Poe gave the world the hackneyed work "The Raven", which has been the cause of suffering for countless teenagers forced to memorize it in school. Stevie Nicks gave the world the transcendent work "Edge of Seventeen (Just Like the White Winged Dove)", which has lifted the spirits of so many teenagers, including many, I would guess, depressed from the experience of memorizing Poe's poem. I believe you owe Ms. Nicks an apology.
rocky dennis
Livermore, Calif.

*

Fuck yeah, Acchan?

After the long and morose post below, I just realized that Joe seems to have linked this shambolic forum to a Tumblr account celebrating the life and -- ahem -- work of J-Pop star, Maeda Atsuko.

I joked nonstop about his supposed creepy fascination with Atsuko -- Acchan to her fans -- when he came to visit Japan. Bought fanzines. Faked signatures. Tested his patience until he rolled his eyes and played along.

Finding the link today after having somehow missed it for the past two years was a gift. I needed that. I needed somebody to run with a bad joke until it becomes something else. That just happened. Thank you.

Fuck yeah, Acchan. Fuck yeah, one and all, gentlemen.

Happy Birthday, Lady Magnolia!

Lady Magnolia

Fictional 1930s runway model, real present-day burlesque artist, or Piero Umiliani muse?



(Fingers crossed, fingers crossed...)

Girl Fight!

Feral Boy is a big fan of Ronda Rousey's work.

"For girls it raises your testosterone, so I try to have as
much sex as possible before I fight actually," Rousey said

Tift Merrit - Traveling Alone

Hopefully, the bad taste that is Yo La Tengo has faded from your aural mouth by now; if not, apply this sonic palate cleanser (brought to Feral Boy's attention by an intern in the Clock's Ann Arbor bureau) to your tympanic membranes for instant relief:



__________________________________________________________

While researching Merritt's oeuvre on amazon.com, Feral Boy came across the following unvarnished review of Merritt's 2010 album, See You on the Moon:

To which someone rejoined:

And Feral Boy did laugh out loud.

Stoner's Plumbing Problem

Kudos to the excellent staff at UM Hospital, especially Dr. Narasimham Dasika, and to Stoner's friends and family who were so generous and compassionate and loving through these last few weeks. Pictured are the critically-wounded (yet somehow still devilishly handsome) Stoner, his angelic R.N. Chelsea, and dedicated friends Jill and Jen.
...

Women The Clock Likes: Age-Appropriate Edition

Stoner's mornings are incomplete if he doesn't spend at least a few minutes with the lovely, dulcet-toned Hannah Storm.

Lisa Hannigan

Irish "folkie" wins Feral Boy's paleolithic heart:

French Style

When I was buying this record, I had to explain to the store clerk that these were the parents of Charlotte Gainsbourg. If it's possible to conceive a child just by singing a duet together, this would be the song.

Heavy Petty-ing

Feral Boy finds hot sailor-on-sailor action in Virginia Beach
hardening heartening.

Time to brush up on your French

The Coen Brothers segment from the excellent Paris je t'aime:

The final scene and credits from Paris je t'aime featuring a lovely Feist song:

P. J. Harvey

Liz Taylor

At The Movies

The Trip, with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing themselves -- two middle-aged long-time friends alternately cracking up and annoying one another during an endless-seeming road trip -- is really fucking funny, and a worthy update of My Dinner With Andre, with a lighter touch. Of course, it probably helps to see the movie under the same circumstances as I did (see above: “two middle-aged” etc.)…but here’s a bit of it:

It can’t be coincidence that the two movies to have the lengthiest first-run this year, Insidious and Bridesmaids, both feature Rose Byrne. 

She was also in Troy, with Brad Pitt, and I remain dumbfounded she wasn’t cast as Helen.

***

I think Leslie Mann is this generation’s Gene Wilder.

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Outtakes from "Bridesmaids"

Bridesmaids Outtakes - watch more funny videos

Lemonflower

An awe-inspiring cover of an Anne Briggs classic:



And another of Mazzy Star:



http://www.myspace.com/lemonflowers
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raphael saadiq

tUnE-yArDs

From wikipedia:

Tune-Yards (often stylized as tUnE-YaRdS or tUnE-yArDs) is the project of New England native, Merrill Garbus. When performing live, Garbus creates drum loops on the spot, and layers these with ukulele, voice, and electric bass (played by Nate Brenner). The "w h o k i l l" tour will add a saxophone section.

The first Tune-Yards album, BiRd-BrAiNs, was originally self-released by Garbus on recycled cassette tape. It was recorded using only a handheld voice recorder. A limited edition vinyl was released in June 2009, via the Portland-based imprint Marriage Records. In July 2009, it was announced that Tune-Yards had signed to 4AD, and a limited edition pressing of Bird-Brains was released on August 17, 2009. A full worldwide release followed on November 16, 2009 (and November 17 in North America). The autumn 2009 pressing was remastered at Abbey Road Studios by Christian Wright, and includes two new bonus tracks: "Want Me To" and "Real Live Flesh."

A second album, w h o k i l l, is due to be released on April 18th, 2011. A single from it, "Bizness", came out in February of 2011. It was produced by Garbus and engineered by Eli Crews at New, Improved Studios in Oakland, California. Applying the live approach to her studio work for the first time, Garbus works with bass player Nate Brenner, who co-wrote some of the album's songs.

See her in: San Fran, April 26; Denver, May 4; Minneapolis, May 8; Pontiac, May 11.

Agitprop-pop

The cab driver has no English. He's not taking you where you asked to go. Street market stalls push in on the cab from one side, brightly-clothed pedestrians from the other. A transistor radio, a pocket radio from the 1970s, hangs by its wrist strap from the rear-view mirror. You hear a woman's voice, soccer-chanting Pixies and  Modern Lovers lyrics over Bollywood film score samples and tinny, too-loud Casiotone beats...


M.I.A. Galang - Music video from marco ammannati on Vimeo.


...Stoner thinks M.I.A is genius...

.