utopia sound: Todd Rundgren’s Woodstock
Awhile back, I argued that Woodstock—at once a place, a culture/nostalgia industry, and a sensibility—exerts a tremendous hold on geographical self-imaginary of the surrounding Hudson River Valley in which it’s located (and where I live). To pry back the myth of Woodstock a bit, I’ll occasionally share some historical research on Woodstock’s musical geography. In this...
Pitchfork urbanism
The award for Fun Read of the Week goes to “On Pitchfork,” Richard Beck’s smart, caustic review of indie rock’s überblog Pitchfork. You can’t find this lengthy essay anywhere but the latest issue of n+1, an NYC-based journal of politics, literature and culture, and yeah it’s worth the $10 PDF download. (The issue also features a...
why I’m not listening to music to commemorate 9/11
Three days from now, many of us will spend some time remembering where we were and what we were doing on that day ten years earlier. I remember learning that two planes had crashed into New York City’s World Trade Center at a morning department meeting, then passing on the news to my 10:30 am...