I sat down this weekend with Andrew and Breezy, who run the pretty amazing shop Needles and Pens in San Francisco. We talked for a little bit, I shot a bunch of video, and I put it together into this little four minute profile, accompanied by the musical stylings of Dianogah.
Watch by clicking here, because my own site can't embed this video!
Today's announcement that No Depression magazine is folding up shop after the publication of their next issue is dredging up a lot of painful old memories for me. Last year felt like a bloodbath for independent publishers and the few that were able to hang on through it, I hoped would be able to persevere forever, defiant against what seemed like an inevitability.
But now No Depression, a magazine that I've always felt a kinship towards, has bent against the crosswinds that blew Punk Planet down as well. While No Depression didn't have a distributor bankruptcy to speed the downturn like we did, they still came up across the difficulties of being a publication supported in large part by the ads of record labels during a time when record labels are struggling on their own. As a result, the magazine saw its advertiser base dwindle:
also for the Anti-Advertising Agency, where I wrote up a li'l thing about this awesome new tobacco marketing campaign! Which is totally cool and indie! You can read about it here: http://antiadvertisingagency.com/
*please note: enthusiasm implied in these exclamation points may be ironical.
Overrated, homophobic (see: "Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider", in which it is apparently acceptable for a straight white male to complain "you're just some faggy girl",) Of Montreal singer Kevin Barnes just wants everyone to know that he loves capitalism beacuse it punishes the "lazy" in a rant that not only displays a shocking misunderstanding of capitalism, anarchism, and global economics. A commenter over at Idolator points out that Barnes' rant is eerily reminiscent of the works of Ayn Rand, which is a pretty astute observation.
1. Alec Bourgeois showin' up and takin' questions. Hot damn! Who doesn't like having the hero of the book swoop in to help school the yunguns? And to be able to thank Dischord personally for, ummm, existing? Shit. It's like this night is the entire reason I wrote the book.
2. Sherry in the parlor. Seriously. They serve sherry in the parlor at the Kolarama Guest House, so I drank some. I believe it is an entirely new experience for me, never having been in a parlor nor tasted sherry before, and I like it so much I am beginning to wonder if I am someone's secret gramma.
It is true that there are a lot of great things about Troy, New York. Birthplace of Uncle Sam? Means everything has a totally inappropriate American flag on it? Which is incredible? But one far and away totally blew my mind, and I will list it below in a second, in order of preference,, one being the only number on this list.
(I'd also like to acknowledge that there is one truly sucky thing about Troy, NY, which is beiong there if you have lost your voice. It's much harder to be hilarious when you can't talk. I am just no good at physical comedy.)
OK, so are you ready for my list of the Top One list of things about Troy, NY? Here we go:
Hey gang,
Our pals over at the Free Press and The Nation have posted a campaign urging the Postal Regulatory Commission to repeal their dumb July 15 rate hike, but I don't think it quite goes far enough to try to preserve the Post Office's radical mandate to support all media. Please visit: http://action.freepress.net/campaign/postalnation/forward and consider inserting the below text in the "send letter" part instead. Or better yet: write your own!
heart,
aem
--
On July 15, the postal rates for many of this nation's most important political magazines increased by 20 to 30 percent due to a decision made by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) that turns against more than 200 years of postal policy at the same time that it allows an entire branch of the government to do marketing work on behalf of one media company, with the egregious and ongoing Star Wars promotional campaign.
Dear Target Demographic,
The information formerly on this web page is no longer correct. Please follow this handy link to view information that is correct:
http://www.punkplanet.com/anne_elizabeth_moore/blog/current_unmarketable...
The altruistic folks at Taco Bell just want all "local" bands (meaning what precisely?) to know that they're totally down for the scene with their "Feed The Beat" promotion, offering free food to select touring bands.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.aspx?Feed=BW&Date=200708...
People, KPunk does a zine called Geneva 13 and it is awesome. Completely focused on Geneva, NY, and all the attendant issues that go along with it (from citizen monitoring to indie restaurants), the zine is a fairly slick DIY manual entirely devoted to vitalizing zine culture in one singular town. Missing from issue one is only a layout guide for new zinesters, a key to distribution centers in Geneva, NY (AKA a map of drop spots), and that gritty feel you get from certain fanzines that makes you wanna make one yourself in an afternoon, because who cares how you spell "rekkid?"—not the people who make Geneva 13. These missing bits are made up for with smart, creative reporting and an interest in networking with other Genevas throughout the country. And anyway, they will probably get around to the above in upcoming issues. How can they not? So: Live in a Geneva? Send in your own Geneva zine. Don't? Buy one from KPunk and start reporting on your own city.
out now