Neutral Milk Hotel Coming to Chicago!

Starting to notice that several of my posts lately have been just about music...

BUT I had to post about my overwhelming excitement that Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel will be performing at the Athenaeum Theater on February 6 and 7!  Read the full story here from WBEZ.  Tickets go on sale November 11.

You can read my earlier post about the CD I acquired in high school that originally got me hooked on NMH and other indie rock artists here.

Joy and John Paul Have Stolen My Heart

Credit to Puccimama for first telling me about this band.  Who knew the two of us would agree on liking folk/country?!

Saw The Civil Wars at the Vic Theatre last night.  They are simply a phenomenal duo and put on a fantastic live show.   The video below is from an earlier concert in New Orleans, but it was my favorite of the entire set last night in Chicago.  Most of their songs are solemn with heartbreak; "From the Valley," on the other hand, reminds me of an old, uplifting hymn you'd hear at Hurricane Camp Meeting in Tolu, Kentucky.

History in the Making

All politics aside, I find the Occupy movement fascinating.  How can historians in the future not look back on these events as an age of shifting twenty-first-century cultural paradigms?  In addition to the Tea Party movement and the Arab Spring, it's been awesome to witness the role of social media networks in contemporary political and social grassroots revolutions.

This article by Michele Elam provides some insightful commentary on the relationship between art and Occupy Wall Street specifically.  Below is the Occupy Wall Street invitation Elam discusses--the image was designed by Shepard Fairey, the same artist who gave us the infamous "Hope" poster for Obama's 2008 presidential campaign--and some highlights from the op-ed.

• "Occupy art might just be the movement's most politically potent tool in its dramatic reframing of the racial dynamics of a populist uprising frequently characterized as largely white and 'hippie.'"
• "The poster's retro look recalls a militant past, almost startling in our new millennial moment, and surely is meant as a challenge to the idea that as a society we are anywhere near 'post-race' enlightenment."
• "Imagine its even more revolutionary effect as a poster carried by people of all backgrounds and social position, symbolically calling for a pan-ethnic alliance."
• "But 'You Are Invited' is powerful precisely because it invites identification with this long history of marginalized people striving for social and economic equity, however imperfect and unfinished those efforts."
• "Let the Occupy movement's camps and protests and marches continue generating such art -- art that inspires interracial unity where it may not yet exist, art that reminds us of the voices unheard, art that galvanizes practical social change when nothing seems to give, art that, in Du Bois' words, tries to make the world both beautiful and right."

If you find this interesting, you may also enjoy this earlier post about the Black Power and Black Arts movements.

Trapped in Beirut

I've been listening to Beirut just about every day for the past month.  I went through a bout of listening to The Rip Tide on repeat this summer, drifted away for a bit, and then picked them back up when I finally updated my music library (all thanks to Erica!) and completed my collection of all three albums and a couple EPs.  Beirut is truly a fantastic band--I might even venture to say one of my all-time top favs.  Only time will tell.

Have a listen to a few my favorites!  They're coming to Cincinnati and Lexington in the next couple weeks, so if you're nearby, you should check them out!

"Nantes" from The Flying Club Cup

"Scenic World" from Lon Gisland EP

"Elephant Gun" from Lon Gisland EP

"Postcards from Italy" from Gulag Orkestar

"Santa Fe" from The Rip Tide

We Need to Talk About Kevin

This looks terrifyingly great.  And Tilda Swinton never lets me down.

Nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes and just recently won best film at BFI London.

The Bare Minimum

What I love most about poetry is that it strips language bare to the essential.  So much relies on every single word, and in many cases every single syllable.  Take the haiku, for example--all you get is three lines, 17 syllables (5-7-5 breakdown).

Considering our trying economic times, then, we could perhaps agree that the haiku would be an effective way to voice the heart of our woes.  Featured in The Economist, these haiku poems come from submissions to a survey conducted by the The Kauffman Foundation.  Below are a few of my favorites (although some of them messed up their syllables!).  You can read them all here and vote for your favorite here.

jobs and Jobs are gone
need more Jobs to get more jobs
innovate to grow
-Arthur Diamond

Those kids blame the banks.
Is Wall Street pre-occupied?
Next: capital strike.
-Michael Munger

Double dip at bay
Despite moronic Congress
Europe sinks us all
-Ryan Avent

This is not so hard.
Helicopter money please.
Wired straight to households.
-Steve Waldman

Uncertainty rules
While the economy suffers
Politics rejoices
-Pedro Albuquerque

Update: The Child in Us All

See the original "The Child in Us All" post here.

Shel Silverstein seems to be everywhere these days.

Here are two features, both from Brain Pickings, that celebrate the late great children's author's musical achievements.  The first is from a 1970 episode of The Johnny Cash Show, when Silverstein performed a children's song he wrote called "Daddy, What If."  The second is a preview of the recent album Twistable, Turnable Man: A Musical Tribute To The Songs Of Shel Silverstein.  The album features covers from My Morning Jacket, Andrew Bird, and more indie legends.

Note: I think the playlist operates better if you are using Firefox or Chrome rather than Safari.