Downtime
Last day to enter the Supergrass contest.
That's because I have another contest for you, this time for The Magic Numbers. They'll be in DC on the 18th, supporting Bright Eyes. I'll be giving away the following:
Grand Prize: "Love Me Like You" on 7", full length self titled CD and a t-shirt.
All you have to do is email me and tell what number is the magic number, and name a band that has covered the Schoolhouse Rock tune which tells you what that number is. I can think of two different bands that did this, one English and one American. Both put out shitty sophomore albums if that helps any.
The Magic Numbers: "Forever Lost" (video)
Windows Media
RealONE
QuickTime
Visit their Myspace page for more goodies
You can listen to their album via their eCard.
Saw Okkervil River last night. Yawned throughout(although I was in the minority). I liked it better when it was called Old 97's and Crooked Fingers. They did have one song that sounded like Buffalo Tom. I liked that one best. Let me go on record saying I fucking hate the Iota when it's crowded. There's not a single place you can stand there without getting stepped on, jostled or pushed. Worst.
Outkast record bumped to next year.
Harvey Danger frontman Sean Nelson is the new head of editorial at MSN Music. Nice one my friend.
Here is the proper link for the 100 most disappointing albums.
Kazakhstan doesn't think Borat is very funny.
Improve your Photography without using your Camera. Speaking of, great photo.
Build your own record cleaner.
I have so many things to say about this and the utter ridiculousness of it all, but Joanne says alot of it for me. Only a blogger can clean his overpriced New York apartment and become a Taoist in the process. Trying to convince everyone else to do the same just makes it worse. Also note Jake sarcastically saying he makes a "robust" $2000 a month from Gothamist.
Where does that money come from?
Advertising.
Why do people advertise on Gothamist?
Because of the number of readers.
Why do so many people read the sites?
The content.
Who makes the content?
The writers.
How much do the writers make?
Not a single fucking penny.
I don't begrudge Jake taking a salary from Gothamist, he and Jen put in alot of work on all the -ist sites, but mockingly explaining that he doesn't make much money from the sites while the writers make nada is just like school in the summer. No class.
Which brings up the whole Jason Calcanis sells out to AOL for 25 to 40 mills. No one asked the really pertinent question there. Did any of the writers get a cut of that money? If not, were they getting paid beforehand?
Eesh, I don't think of the Old 97s at all. Crooked Fingers/Buffalo Tom - closer.
Great, Outkast bumped, along with Ghost Face. What a shitty year for hip hop, this 2005.
Sorry I didn't get to chat with you last night Kyle. You were standing in Northern Virginia's version of grand central station.
Savage! Okkervil are amazing. I don't hear any Old 97s either. Crooked Fingers, maybe some Bright Eyes, yes.
i have a hard time imagining yawning when seeing okkervil river. when they played boston last week it was unbelievably great. best album of the year.
Like I said, I was in the minority.
I tend to throw out the Old 97's as a reference when I hear alt countryish music.
Regarding the "Tao of Dobkin" on Gothamist, I'm in complete agreement with you. I have my own issues with the hypocrisy of Jake's dogmatic approach. And I have posted about it on my site. As well as comments which Gothamist has deleted off of their site such as the follow. just the facts.
1) The title of the piece is "The Tao of Dobkin".
2) Tao is a dogmatic/religious phrase. To declare something to be "The Tao of..." is basically the equivalent of saying "The Gopspel of..."
3) Gothamist now has an office and is now an LLC. Gothamist is well on the same track to being what Gawker Media and Weblogs, Inc. are. A company and a business; plain and simple. Sure Denton and Dobkin avoid the issue of profitability and have publicaly derided Jason Calacanis' sale of Weblogs, Inc. But you can't tell me either of them were not 'spurred to action' by the sudden realization that a blog business can be bought/sold. In fact I'd say that there are a lot more green eyes of envy in the blog world wondering how Jason Calacanis succeeeded while others failed.
4) $120,000 in MBA debt can easilly be wiped away by even the weakest venture capitalist's offer. Dobkin is a dot-com refugee; he knows what he's doing.
Basically the Taoist philosophy proclaimed here is a slightly positive spin on the concept of a workaholic mentaility. And the end result is the profitablity of a site that is basically a commercial entity focused on turning a profit.
The Tao proclaimed by Jake Dobkin is basically "Screw everything else, I'm going to focus on making Gothamist profitable."