Am I repeating myself?

Smokler on January 30, 2003

I feel like I’ve posted about Book Thing of Baltimore before but it bears repeating. Some guy named Russell has turned his whole basement into a book giveaway depot. You just show up on the weekends and take books away. That’s it. No catch. No joke. When I was in town last, I told myself I was going to take one book because that was all that would fit in my suitcase.

Laugh. I walked away with 9 books that my friend Nina was kind enough to ship back to me. What a great idea this is.

‘Gang’ Legacy:

Smokler on January 27, 2003

If you’ve seen Martin Scorcese’s new film Gangs of New York and you’re interested in the history of the Five Points neighborhood in lower Manhattan, there’s some pretty good web resources out there. A site hosed on a U.S. Government server has a map of the neighborhood and features information on a 1991 excavaction of the Foley Square Courthouse, which stands right on Five Points today. For more in depth studies, I recommend the books Five Points: Five Points: The 19th-Century New York City Neighborhood that Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections and Became the World’s Most Notorious Slum, a lucid history of the area told with modern hindsight, and the original Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury, colored unfortunately but the muckracking press of the time.

Another great book on lower Manhattan scum and villiany is Low Life by Luc Sante. Sante is mostly an essayist ond book reviewer but he turns brilliant historian in this examination of the slime on the nose of the skunk (look at a map of Manhattan. It looks like a skunk hung up by its tail). I used it quite a bit in my master’s thesis.

Sinking to our lowest.

Smokler on January 26, 2003

I’ll admit, when I first started weblogging, I was a little bit concerned with being one of the popular kids, having lots of people read me, getting awards, speaking on panels, what have you. Then I grew up and forgot about it. About 80 people come here a day and read what I have to say and I love them all. I’d still do it if it were only my dad and my college buddies since we’re all obligated to support each other’s dorky projects anyway. But the friends I’ve never met are great.

Which is why I think this is easily the dumbest, most destructive thing I’ve heard about weblogging. Thankfully, I don’t know any of the details because if I did, I’d probably be digging a hole to China to hide in to avoid the embarrasment. All I know is I went for a routine visit to my friend Jessica’s blog and found nothing. When I asked her about it, she pointed me to this explanation

Read if you must but jeez, it’s pathetic, grown people (some of them, please?) acting like lunchtime in the junior high cafeteria. You cheated, no you did, no I campeigned, which isn’t cheating. I did both because winning an award for a web site where I discuss funny things that happen to me at the dentist’s office is the highlight of my life.

Ugh, are you kidding me?

The Bloggies in question, by the way, are put together by Nikolai Nolan, someone who has shown nothing but support and dedication to the art of blogging for years. And he’s 19, at a challenging university and with better thing to do, hopefully, than sift though mountains of petty vanity.

It was supposed to be fun, kiddies. That was the only reason I got into weblogging. Because it was fun to meet people, write everyday and be a creative person in this still evolving medium. That kind of D.I.Y. energy is exciting to me.

In the spirit of that, And if you don’t like something that’s on the web, build something else yourself. That’s the spirit of things around here. Save the bitching, insults, and paranoia for talk radio, media’s equivalent of junior high school writ very loud.

I’m going to go groan now.

P.S. No slag intended to Denise, who was very big about trying, level-headedly to clear this mess up.

The Bill for Enlightenment:

Smokler on January 24, 2003

In typical ivory tower tunnel vision, the CS Monitor is reporting that college campuses are losing their intellectual rigor. Reasons range from the continued unfashionability of the “nerd” label to the growing perception that college is either a “beer and circus” partyfest or 4 years worth of pre-high-paying job training. Students also assert they have almost no time for the quiet self-reflection so omnipresent in college lore with the mad rush of classes, extra-curriculars, friends and part-time jobs.

For the most part, this article avoids the usual “kids these days” nonsense that middle-aged journalists like to sather around on slow news days. However it makes a glaring omission when it fails to mention that going to college in 2003 can be the eviqualent of buying a Honda Civic every six months. Tuition is an enormous burden on middle-class families, many of whom have more than one kid in college at a time. Over half the students at most elite universities are on some form of financial aid. Never mind that the practice of licencing key services on campus to exclusive providers (At my alma mater, Barnes & Noble ran the campus bookstore) creates what amounts to a debt bondage economy with students.

Given these conditions, which most unviersities are full partners in creating, is it any wonder that say a Yale student (annual tuition $27,130) isn’t spending their four years debating the essays of Montaigne but is looking toward getting a high paying job to begin paying off their debt?

If universities are truly worried about the level of intellectual discourse on their campuses, perhaps they should make them a place where more than simply the richest students have the luxury of partaking in it. (via Cup of Chica).

Matt on the Rise:

Smokler on January 23, 2003

One of my most favorite musicians, Matt Nathanson, was on the KFOG Morning show this morning, playing a few songs from his new E.P. and announcing that he has just signed a deal with Universal Records, the biggest and badest label in the world. While on the one hand, I’m super happy for him and only wish the best for him and his career, I’m a little sad. I’ve seen Matt in concert at least 6 times since moving to San Francisco, have encouraged friends to check out his music, have hugged him after shows. Suzan and I had our first real date at one of his shows and many of his songs make up the soundtrack to our relationship. I even had a fantasy of finding Matt after a show and asking him to play at my 30th birthday. I was willing to pay whatever it takes.

Soon he’ll me too big for that–touring with other superstars, hanging out on VH1, his songs heard nationwide. While I think recognition of his amazing talent is long overdue, I’m sad that his music won’t be mine to evangelize about anymore. Everyone will now. Doesn’t mean I’ll like it any less. It just means that being a Matt Nathanson fan won’t seem as warm and cozy.

Check out Matt’s music here. You won’t be disapointed. Then tell me if this has ever happened to you.

Hello?

Smokler on January 23, 2003

Sorry about that. i’m having desktop trouble and, while using my laptop, I forgot my MT password. Mena was kind enough to send it on as she just returned from Japan and being a big web rock star and all. So here I am again.

How little I know, How little we listen.

Smokler on January 19, 2003

My friend Jane has a list on her blog of upcoming concerts in San Francisco (bottom right hand corner). I have heard of exactly 2 of these bands which I can only explain via my complete ignorance of indie rock/college radio, that entire genre which I’m probably mislabelling because, well, I don’t know the first thing about it.

This probably makes me very uncool, as Suzan delights in pointing out, because when she was in the mosh pit during a Bad Brains show in high school, I was probably pulling out onto the highway in my mom’s Volvo, windows down, and wailing along to Bob Seger’s “Feel like a Number.” As we’ve talked about until we’re both out of breath, this means her musicial history is honest, rightous, full of significance and mine is that of a droid, marching lockstep with what The MAN told me I should listen to.

Chuck Klosterman, a former editor at SPIN did an excellent analysis of this phenomenon in the annual The Lives They Led issue of the New York Times Magazine (of course you have to pay to read it online. Stupid magazine). He was eulogizing the dual deaths of Dee Dee Ramone and Robbin Crosby (from 80’s metal band Ratt) who captured the Suzan/Kevin dualism pretty nicely. We are supposed to like the Ramones and all their unpolished integrity. We supposed to despise Ratt because of their conspicious hairsprayed populism. Is one more worthwhile than the other? I suppose, but how can argue that while keeping your own cultural elitism and prejuidces in check?

I don’t think you can. I’m not saying all music is created equal but rather that there is inherent and infinite value to hearing your own story in it. If you hear it in Ladybug Transistor, good for you. If you hear it in ABBA, good for you also. Your experience is your own, far as I’m concerned. It still counts, even if a millions others have it to.

P.S. None of this was meant as a slag towards my buddy Jane, whom I love. Just my first thoughts of the morning. I was reading her site, it triggered something, blah blah blah.