It’s hot. You’re sweaty. Dozens of bands are showing off their raw skills on more than ten stages. A plethora of teenagers and young adults, wearing their punk-or-nothing personas, surround you. A ministry of radio stations has staked out their own spots within the vast parking lot to distribute their hope, wisdom, and free swag to the fastest growing consumer age market in the world.
It’s the only place where a reclusive Misfits fanatic, a Hollister-clad, tennis-playing prima donna and a forty-something business owner …

For a lot of girls, there is always that one best friend they can count on. The friend who you’ve had since at least high school, who knows everything about you. The friend you’ve done really stupid things with; the friend who, even in the midst of a giant storm of annoyances, you automatically called when everything was going wrong; and the one friend (who you aren’t fucking) that you can stay up all night with and not get grumpy. So imagine a day …

A few weeks ago, the Sex Pistols answered their inevitable nomination to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with what many fans trumpeted as an especially “punk” gesture: an open letter, hand-scrawled and atrociously spelled, declaring their contempt for the corporate institution and vehemently declining to appear at the ceremony. And it was pretty punk of them, insomuch as our concept of “punk” in the 21st century has been informed by mass-produced bondage pants, vague notions of “sticking it to the man” …

Myths. When David Bowie came to New York City in 1971, he thought a certain Lou Reed was still fronting the Velvet Underground: that notorious band whose early Factory associations had given them a very Warholian fifteen minutes of fame, but whose last two years of existence had been wrought with both personnel problems and public indifference. Of course, by then Lou had long gone solo — his breakthrough album, Transformer, would be produced by Bowie less than a year later — but at …

The Hard Lessons
(with the Avatars and Tyvek)
Live at the Halfway Inn, Ann Arbor, M
Deep in the bowels of U of M’s East Quadrangle, between the laundry machines and the dumpsters, lies the Halfway Inn: a small, fluorescently lit basement dining area, known to natives as “the Halfass.” By day, the Halfass functions as something of a collegiate greasy spoon, serving up diner-quality food – along with overpriced pints of Ben & Jerry’s, loud “underground” music and some of the worst customer service in …

Brendan Benson
(with SSM)
This is the third time I’ve seen Brendan Benson live – and to be frank, it’s the first time I’ve actually paid attention to him. When I first saw Mr. Benson, it was at Blanche’s 12/03 record release show at the Magic Stick; I didn’t pay attention then because I was trying to figure out what was going on in front of me. The second time was that same month at the Magic Stick’s annual Detroit Sounds & Spirits show, where he was singing Christmas songs with a …

Dinosaur Jr.
Live at the Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, MI
It was only fifteen years ago when a “special intimate show” by J Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph – the original and greatest line-up of Dinosaur Jr. – could very well have culminated in onstage fisticuffs. But times have changed, and as demonstrated by J’s fellow U-Mass alumnus Frank Black and the Pixies, the last few years have been kind to the alt-rock reunion set. A cynic might say the price was finally right for Mascis and Barlow to bury their hatchet…but …

On Tuesday, November 8, recent MTV Europe Award winners Coldplay announced the arrival of “Talk the Tour”: a new, revolutionary and frankly baffling experiment in “viral marketing.” The premise went something like this: fans logged onto a new website (talkthetour.com) and perused the goods – including a sweepstakes entry form, a video message from the band, and a set of AIM Buddy Icons – while the site tallied its hits. Each time Talk the Tour received 33,000 hits, one of the 26 dates for Coldplay’s 2006 US tour was revealed. …

Sounds from Thee Underground:
No Fun Records’s Annual Garage Rawk Showcase
At the Blind Pig, Ann Arbor
It’s easy to forget that the Stooges, perhaps the single most legendary of the proto-punk “Detroit” bands of the late ’60s, actually hailed from Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. No Fun Records, Ann Arbor’s only label specializing in redline-raw rock’n’roll music, has not forgotten. Sounds from Thee Underground is their annual showcase: with a roster to die for (including hometown faves the Avatars and the Hard Lessons), interlude music by WCBN DJ Brian Tomsic and MC duties …

Edgefest: Ann Arbor’s Avant Garde Festival
(featuring E3Q, the FAB Trio, Henry Grimes, Les Projectionnistes and the Tobias Delius Quartet)
Live at the Firefly Club and the Kerrytown Concert House, Ann Arbor
The ninth annual Edgefest – I checked the roster back in August to see who was playing, and I was blown away at some of the names that were going to be here in Ann Arbor.
I was able to make it to see five acts, the first of which was E3Q, a trio consisting of trumpeter/electronician Mark Kirschenmann, his wife cellist …