March 30, 2008 (2) Comments

The only times I ride in a car when I'm not paying the driver is when Jon is tooling us around in his little metal beast of a 1970s (1980s??) sporty cockmobile. Cockmobile as in, the Mercedes that, when it came out, burned shit hot with old spice and dude investment bankers picking up their anchorwoman girlfs, prob, but now it's some sort of retroactive definition of class, all high-low-high-high with Jon driving one-handed and fire in the BBC jacket. One time, long ago, I remember a man ordered us to roll down the window at a stoplight and hollered, appreciatively, for us to drop the top. This we could not do—logistically—but he proved a point. However, those were simpler times, before gas was $4.25 in Brooklyn (as last night, and a steal at that), before we'd lost our innocence, last night lamented during an all 1990s jam fest some dj on power 105 was dropping: "Iesha," C&C Music Factory, "Set it off," the heavily underrated Tag Team.

Parking outside Flea Theater was whatever, cause I wasn't in the car. We sat in the second row, ten feet from the actors—Gaius "my underage husband" Charles aka Smash from Friday Night LIghts; Gbenga Akinnagbe aka Chris Partlow from teh Wire aka Wale's cousin; this older man playing the dad whose work I did not know. The set was a roof. The play was Lower Ninth, a drama about a family stuck atop their home after the levees broke. Katrina. The acting was great between Gbenga and Gaius, not so much between Gaius and the Man who played Dad. The script, a bit too obvious: a disaster leaves its citizens questioning God; good and evil are debated among a dubiously cast drug dealer; a boy wants to be hard but, is ultimately, a boy. I'm glad I saw it, but I hope in the future the playwright sticks to writing what he knows. It was the closing night—closing five days earlier than it was supposed to. There was as much audience drama as stage drama. There was the yuppie couple who thought it appropirate to bring along their seven and four year old boys, the latter of which kept shouting aloud about needing to pee. Question to all child-bearers: Would you take your four year old to a play about hurricane katrina, wherein the main prop is a body under a trash bag? Second, while there were ten minutes left in the play, a man in the audience passed out, dehydrated. A surreal moment between the cast — dehydration obviously a major part of the script —and the audience, who all rose at once behind us, so much that I thought we were part of it suddenly, or that the risers were moving for effect, so much like the Stargate Atlantis ride at some Vegas amusement park that once made me sick. The cast became the audience. Gaius broke character and hollered for the stage hands. The audience fled into the lobby; the ambulance came. The fainting man walked out on his own, his companion apologizing. We filed back in. It ended.

Throughout the play, we heard ghost music: Erykah Badu was the most discernable, and I thought it was the amplifiers picking up radio waves, maybe blasting out Hot 97. It was distracting. They will have to fix that. Only later, at dinner [Bubby's, obviously], I realized I had been the culprit. Somehow my iPod was on the whole time. I played Erykah and Outkast and Trill Fam and probably like, Mia [German Band] through the entire play, from my headphones.

Tony Kushner was in the audience and I hope he gives them all roles, forever.

March 28, 2008 (0) Comments

First of all, Caps is on Faded Radio tonight. He is guest DJing. This will hopefully be one in a long series of guest DJs. That is Caps as in Caps.

Second of all, it's Dutty Whine Fridays, or Winesdays, at the Fader office. This is when, after Hater Thursday, we make up for all our mean dissing of one another (like siblings!) by drinking wine in the office and jamming Hot 97 and clowning other people. We all sit in a gigantic room notoriously monikered the Fishbowl, and have conversations that jump from talking to IM to talking again. Like Sam will IM me a weird photo of Garbage Pail Kids, and write "I just think that..." and then the photo, then I will say aloud "OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!!" and he will start laughing and then IM me something else. It is awesome, the point being, I am really happy.

Thirdly,
Lil Boosie and Glass Candy on the cover of our magazine. Cop it on the newsstand... or online for freeeeee from iTunes.

March 19, 2008 (0) Comments

Yola! (Da Great!) I really have nothing to say at this VERY moment that isn't going down in The FADER, on the fader blog (where you can tell which ones are mine by the constant cryptic or not-so-cryptic boot camp clik references) and etc. Except it is freezing in new york and by rights of going to Austin, I now have a sunkissed upper region. AND. I am reading Richard Price's excellent Lush Life, which is compelling and mysterious and also very excellent prose - the cop drama / street life / full spectrum to all characters is something I admire in George Pelecanos, but Price is the ultimate king of making these stories, often cast off as contempo pulp, into literary masterpieces. Actually, speed reading is more like it. I can't put it down - I read it on the subway, in line for my 'scripts, outside whole foods waiting for pete sam and chioma to buy their salads so we can go back to the ranch. the setting is a shooting of an attractive, aspiring young white actor by an abused teen dominican projects kid during a botched robbery after the actor got brave and mouthy from booze, and nuevo yorkas will be reminded of the murder of a young white actress outside max fish two years ago, which this tale is most certainly based on. If you have any interest in the "land rush" new york culture and how old ny is colliding with it - how entitlement reacts to disenfranchisement - this is essential reading. it captures the lives of so many of the types of people who live in our cramped, dirty, difficult, hostile, beautiful and humanitarian city, a place that can so often seem like purgatory, but the best purgatory you would ever invent in your mind, given the choice between a god-issued one and a purgatory of your own design. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

March 18, 2008 (0) Comments

Or rather, wishful thinking RIP. When I was at SXSW I was taking style snapshots for our website and i would like to say two things that are kind of petty and snotty but will hopefully help people everywhere:

1. If your name is not M.I.A., you should not try to dress like her

2. dudes: neck scarves. if you are currently dapping a style Kanye did a year ago and was already late on, it's probably time to retire the neon throat keffiyeh / bandanna. besides don't you know it's all about mourning veils? NOT

March 17, 2008 (2) Comments

SXSW was wilde times - you can see the fruits of our labor (LOTS OF LABOR) at Shangri-Laborious. We'll put up a lot more tomorrow, like the best David Banner show ever and my in-depth conversation with Bun B about politics and secret BBQ spots in Austin. High / Low Points: David Banner's sweaty 10-minute hug mid-song, watching Ice Cube watch Kid Sister perform, watching Chad Hugo and Pharrell watch Spank Rock perform (and knowing lyrics!?), watching Lost in my hotel room at like 3 am, everything Lykke Li has ever done and will ever do again, CHORIZO VEGETARIANO!!!!, watching Dri play nice shit in the sunlight. Also dear Mexico City, please keep your hands off my boyfriends in Chikita Violenta. Thanks good night. No really, I have to read some more of this unstoppable Richard Price book before I crash out - he gets the pitch perfect of "land rush" L.E.S. denizens - old timers, young youth (of both the hipsters and PJ's varieties), interlopers, yuppies who complain about the noise (in new york!), cop shop talk, waiter life, etc. It's real and excellent and called Lush Life and i'm only on page 34 but will let you know how it unfolds.

March 10, 2008 (2) Comments

Yessir, my hometown Cheyenne went 61% Obama, 38% Clinton. Also, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle articles are fascinating. Definitely small town nwsppr stee - broad details, feelings, the way time is measured, the minor annoyances as reportable news, etc.

March 9, 2008 (0) Comments

Chris liveblogged the most recent episode of Lost (the boring Juliet one) and is killing me with hilariousness:

10:20, New station named “The Tempest” all but confirms another of my crackpot theories, wherein the Others are the world’s most sophisticated theater company and the island is a giant inescapable mystery dinner.

HAHA

March 9, 2008 (0) Comments

Read this, then call your mom and tell her you love her.

March 8, 2008 (0) Comments

I thought this was kinna absurd, but hey, whatever works! Proud that my birth state, despite its mostly erroneous reputation as a shitkicking / homophobic cowpoke refuge, went with the better candidate.

Interesting frontpage story in Wyoming Tribune-Eagle about a Clinton visit, which focuses more on her as a representation candidate than the best candidate. Annoying, but not unexpected.

Shout to Young Jeezy for coining the phrase "Barack Oballa" in the Dream "I Luv Your Girl" remix.

March 7, 2008 (0) Comments

Is this the only time I will ever post a Roots video? No matter. This was filmed in our office. The empty coke machine in the kitchen makes a cameo. So do many of our officemates!

I actually like the song a lot, too.

March 5, 2008 (0) Comments

1. Pete's and my interview with Ab-Liva and Sandman of Re-Up Gang is up now. Sorry guys, I didn't ask them anything about: record labels, the industry, beef, Pharrell, producers, mixtape stans, rap business school, or digital vs. analog. I did ask Sandman if he ever googled himself.

2. The Roots filmed their new video in the FADER offices. ?uestlove is drumming across from our microwave. It made its world premiere in our all-staff meeting today at 9:30 am EST (our conference room was not featured). It will make its second premiere on Friday on okayplayer dot com, obvs.

March 2, 2008 (2) Comments

I am live-blogging Brokeback Mountain which I am now watching for the first time. IN particular, as a Wyoming native, I will be addressing issues of accuracy.

Six minutes in, I would like to say: the shots of the sky and flat plains are wildly accurate - I honestly didn't know you could capture the vast expanse of my homestate so properly on film, but I am pleasantly surprised. But the worker guy? His talking is way off. He talks too fast and too Southern, for one, and all his quippy shit - what is he, Sawyer from lost? J-Gyll and Heath haven't said anything yet. RIP Heath.

7:42: Heath and J-Gyll are now talking. Heath sounds like he actually had a conversation with a person from Wyoming - his accent and manner of speaking and stoic sullenness (it's not just a myth; real cowboys are wild stoic and sullen) is really good. Jake sounds like Donnie Darko from Texas - like Southern, but also sort of "from the Valley."

7:52: Actually the reason Heath's accent is so good so far is that he talks like he has some chaw in his lower lip, and he might. SO Wyo.

8: sidebar: my last name is shepherd, but my whole family worked on the railroad, and to my knowledge our immediate ancestors never owned sheep. Well actually my grandma's dad had a ranch ("La Primavera") in Leon, Guanajuato, MX where maybe there were sheep but he got killed in the Mexican revolution when my grandma was just a little girl and the Mexican gov't took his land and/or any livestock he may have owned.
Sidebar two: there was actually a myth, perhaps true?, that tucking your jeans into your cowboy boots was on-the-books illegal in Wyoming because cowboys, all alone up there, would stick sheep's legs into their boots and fuck em. I have no idea if this is true - it was a popularly circulated meme in my high school, along with "oral sex is illegal" - but, um, EW.

23:00: Rodeo cowboys are indeed fuckups, word to Larry Mc Murtry.

24:00 I adore Gustavo Santoalalla, but whoever put a little lute tweak from his score right after Heath's line "You might be a sinner but I ain't yet had the opportunity," well... I guess there is a reason this fine art classic is considered high sardonic camp in some circles.

March 2, 2008 (2) Comments

Rebecca Walker, thank you for going in on the "feminist infighting" that has arisen in the Hillary vs. Barack debate (via Jack & Jill politics). I'm convinced the Democratic primaries are, perhaps inadvertantly, a defining moment in the future of feminism. I'm on a feminist listserv comprised mostly of prominent middle-aged white academics and media pundits, and the thing is going BANANAS, including: younger women (such as myself) coming out of the lurker woodwork to state why we are still freaking feminists even though we are voting for Obama, and older feminists deriding non-Clinton voters as a threat to the movement. The whole thing is ridiculous and, along with dunderheaded op-eds by blind and exclusive feminists such as oh i dunno Gloria Steinem, has seriously made me question if I want to even identify myself as a feminist anymore, if it means associating myself with white second-wavers blinded to quality and nuance by the vehemence of their cause. I think maybe it is time for a new movement, similar to the idea of womanism (Alice Walker) and humanism (bell hooks), one that actually includes women of every race and class (rather than one that purports to but, when it comes down to it, its historic leaders back away from the cause for their own self interests) and, in the case of O vs. H, actually considers the realtime consequences for everyone vs. having a godhead who happens to be a woman but is less progressive on certain important issues like gay rights and immigration than the better-candidate man. A fourth wave? WHOO. Anyway.
I am curious what other females think - particularly ones who are disillusioned and/or strengthened in their feminism as a result of this Clinton vs. Obama debate - which I think is more of a symptom than an actual root problem - people's true feelings coming out of the woodwork.

AND: What Tami Said: "Is the Presidential Election Bad for Feminism?": The 2008 presidential election could be bad for feminism because as it has put a capable woman in the national spotlight and uncovered gender bias, it has also revealed and given voice to the prejudices of mainstream feminism. And those prejudices are alienating women who passionately want equality. AND: This is why I am angry: Because it seems like some of my white feminist sisters are beckoning me to join the movement with one hand, while throwing racist bombs with the other; and because my feminist bonafides are questioned, yet Hillary Clinton can stand on stage with Bob Johnson who made his fortune by denigrating black women as bitches, hoes and sex objects and still be a feminist icon. EXACTLY.

Also: new crazy inspiring will.i.am PrObama video has my favorite underrated actor Regina King (sidebar: no matter what you think about Tyler Perry's drag act, everyone should see the excellent why did i get married - acting is bananas) AND mad Friday Night Lightser face time: Tyra AND Landry (but donde esta gaius? wahhhh):

March 2, 2008 (3) Comments

~ two things from melena ryzick's badu profile today in the times (we will ignore her somewhat cornball / questionable "earth mama funk" characterizations) :

“I think Erykah is one of the few artists that truly does have a movement,” said Sylvia Rhone, the president of Universal Motown. “Her music has changed, but she’s been feeding people this creative change all these years, and she’s stayed very connected with her fan base,” through live performances, online groups and other projects like acting in movies. She added that while Janet Jackson’s new record may outsell hers at Best Buy and Target, “Erykah will dominate at the independent record stores.”

That's a great thought but um... WHAT independent record stores??

And:

Ms. Badu is certain her fans are now ready to hear it. “Being humble is so 2007,” she said. “Trust me.”

I FEEL THIS. 08 IS ABOUT CELEBRATING THAT SWAG. I am really gassed on myself right now - THANKS LEXAPRO! - so humor me until I start getting actually pissed off that you haven't called me back, and spiral downward into bent-over-and-clutching-my-stomach anxiety zone, frozen in some kind of twisted-up and chronically depressando yoga pose. Actually fuck Lexapro. FEELING. SELF.

~DFA had a party at the MOMA for their new exhibit based on the changing face of the color palette (!). So obviously the theme was: color. There was no actual art in the vicinity, despite the party being an opening, which answered my concerns about how MOMA was going to have a rave-encouraging dance party with 500 drunk folks and still protect their art. Well there was art if you count the rainbow electrical tape maze spread out all along the entryway floor, just under the stage - which I didn't notice until Jon made a case for the democratization of the medium. ZZZZZ KEEP ART SEPARATE ZZZZ J/K. Jon's fancy primary-color and now-ubiquitous BBC windbreaker matched the Twister boards they had lined up in the middle of the floor, red yellow green, in ridiculous contrast to Ben's existentialist worker / rap crew uniform - black puffy n. face, black skully, black work boots, white thermal, bald head, reluctant smile. It really worked for them. I think they are secretly soul mates (sorry Sean).

Records on deck were: the usj - New Order, Michael Jackson, the new subdued beat disco / not disco shit that DFA is churnin out these days. When we left, I think it was Holy Ghost! who was playing skull-rattlin trance that I could not identify, which was fine. Trance is coming back with jungle / drum n bass. And drum n bass will come back... which leads us to:

~The new NERD album is 90% trash-can jungle percussion, and by jungle I most definitely do mean DRUM N BASS. Pharrell said he was really motivated by the dearth of new releases by THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS, and wanted to fill the hole with his own music in the spirit of their energy. He also talked about festival energy, and wanting to fulfill the dreams of wouldbe crowd-surfers. Take with it what you will - but I will stake my claim : SAM AND I CALLED IT (the unrepentant return of dnb).