To begin, I'll start my running game of CMJ Bingo. After just one day I can check off "trip to Brooklyn on the L" (though that may be cheating, since I started in Bushwick), "meeting a blogger," the Obama "Hope" graphic (it was actually one that said "Progress," and it was on the drummer from Shearwater's bass drum, but it was the same picture), "American Apparel," and "actual college student" (I myself am in college, and I'm pretty sure I spotted a few excitable college radio staffers).

My rationale for choosing the Brooklyn Vegan showcase? I wanted to see Ponytail live. Also it was an eight-minute subway ride from my house. The "not Ponytail" portion of the lineup was Emmy the Great, The Sammies, Shearwater, Passion Pit, Jens Lekman, and The Phenomenal Handclap Band.

Emmy the Great

"Easter Parade"

Brooklyn Vegan seems to have a crush on this girl, who was inoffensive, but entirely forgettable. If you're going to do gentle folksy stuff, make your melodies damn compelling; I found myself drifting off more than a few times during her set. Luckily she had a full band of entirely competent musicians, so it wasn't entirely an acoustic snooze-fest, and was at times quite lovely, but again... meh. The one truly bold thing about her set was that two of her songs had almost-explicit references to having an abortion, which definitely caught me off guard.

The Sammies

"Coming Out Wild"

File this one under "Really?" While The Sammies were refreshingly unhip, they were also very mediocre. It was as if the Strokes had moved down south, eaten a bunch of BBQ, and forgotten how to write a melody. I really wanted to like them because I do have a special place in my heart for Southern good ol' boys, but even at their best moments they were just a warmed over homage to Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and generic Southern rock (see the song "Treat Her Like a Queen" on their MySpace).

Shearwater

"Palo Santo"

If there were a compilation called Now That's What I Call College Radio Music!, this band would be featured on the promotional sticker slapped onto the CD. They were the special secret guest of the showcase, so I guess they're "kind of a big deal"? I think they're definitely the kind of band that you should like and be familiar with before attending a concert. While I thought their musicianship and dedication to unconventional instruments (a dulcimer!) was competent and charming, respectively, they were really just kind of a mopey bore. Perhaps I would have enjoyed them more had I been seated in a comfortable chair and not going on my third hour of standing, but under the circumstances I was not a fan. (I will say, though, that the drummer's name was Thor, and he looked every bit like that would be his name.)

Ponytail

"Beg Waves"

A favorite of last year's coverage, Ponytail still owns a year later. This was the first band of the night to really get people jamming. If you've ever heard their music, you can just imagine all the trite phrases I'm tempted to bring out in describing the live show: "chaotic waves of melodic sound," "high-energy," etc. Point being, they were a great live experience. See them if you ever get the chance.

After Ponytail I left. I was exhausted (it's midterms, people!), my lower back hurt, and the club was starting to get unbearably stuffy. I had wanted to stick around and finally see what the fuss was about this Jens Lekman fellow, but, truth be told, I'm old and cranky at heart so I had to throw in the towel. I know you're probably disappointed that you don't get a firsthand account of The Phenomenal Handclap Band, but guess what—I've done you the favor of scouting their MySpace. They sound like a shitty hipster band from New York (probably Williamsburg). You're welcome.

All in all it was an OK night. Also I saw John Norris on my way out.

Side Note: My contingency plan for the evening was the showcase at Pete's Candy Store, which had a moderately interesting-looking lineup: Apollo Run, Paula Newwoman, and Sgt Dunbar and the Hobo Banned. OK, that Danish lady is a bit much, but at least she might have been entertaining.

[Photo: Frank Hamilton]

Today's topic: The announcement of a Jay Reatard show cancellation in Dallas.

Jay [Reatard] Lindsey did not want to play the show. Why?

He is rich now and likes to remind people of that fact. My favorite quote by him: "You know how much money I have in the bank!" Actually, Yes; $250,000 courtesy of Matador Records.
He got paid almost Four times the Dallas guarantee in Austin the night prior.
He had been doing coke for 12 hours straight.
He had not slept in two days.
He left to go buy $55 worth of LSD

What was your reaction to this information? Mine was an indifferent shrug of the shoulders. Brooklyn Vegan's anonymous masses, however, wanted to dispense advice on two important topics.

1. Drugs, man. Drugs.

55 dollars worth of lsd??? jesus christ he'll be tripping for a week

can't you buy a drop of liquid for, like, 5 bucks?

coke and acid is a bad mix.

2. Jay Reatard needs a financial planner stat.

Dude needs a break, a vacation, REHAB and a money man. Keeping $250k in 1 bank account is fucking stupid. FDIC will only cover $50k.

FDIC will cover up to $100K per account. So he needs to split it up into at least 3 accounts.

He needs some Municipal bonds in his portfolio, if only for the obvious benefits of tax diversification.

Oh, Brooklyn, so much to answer for. Still, Reatard should really look into diversifying his bonds. I hear that's important.

Jay Reatard ditches Dallas show last night [Brooklyn Vegan]

First you have, of course, your person in the know who makes you want to erase any knowledge of anything you might have ever possessed, ever:

hahaha get on the list next time fools.... free booze and no lines. just you know, hang out and get to know the right people or lose some weight and be cuter and then you can be where everyone else wants to

The street team member behind the cloak of anonymity:

this was as close to beatlemania (or menudomania) as Ive ever seen the scene at the pool. the crowd was super loud even for ting tings (we listened from outside, never got in). but if you were inside it was only half the story. You had people scaling fences, 20ish girls in high heals climbing that big 10 foot chainlink fence and heroically making it inside, you had people in the playground climbing on the rock, on the monkey bars, there were people up on the fire escapes two blocks away. there was blood sweat and tears out there. even though we never made it in, seeing all this and listening from the outside still made for a memorable day. esp when they played "time to pretend". it was so moving to hear the people sing it under their breath. just an amazing amazing day. MGMT will be huge after this, mark my words.

(Beatlemania? You do mean as in the cover band, right? I'm going to say yes, if only because of this person's preferred spelling of "heels.")

And your obligatory missed connections, "funny people" edition:

I saw a hipster awkwardly and unathletically jump the fence, splitting his pants. No joke. Hilarious.

anyone see the old man who got nabbed by the cops trying to get under the fence by the port-a-potties?

the naked black dude on the slip and slide was really throwing himself out there.

Why do people crowdwatch so much at fucking shows? Who cares?

Duh, to post comments that are more insightful than yours, dude!

Moving on, here we have people who are going to be laid off soon, if karma is real:

i was with blah and we are stunning young men, each bestowed with well paying jobs



we tipped 6 bucks on top of the 6 dollar price of beer because we are filthy fucking rich

And finally, what all 160-plus comments all pretty much told me in toto, summed up quite succinctly by anonymous @ 8:39 a.m.:

blah blah blah, the line was long, blah blah blah, I hate people who cut, blah blah blah, i cut in line, blah blah blah, mgmt doesn't have that many fans, blah blah bah, i deserved to be in there more than you did.

Oh, Internet. I love the way you bring the people together.

MGMT @ McCarren Pool was packed [Brooklyn Vegan]
[Photo via Suburban Cowboy]

Of course, the posting of these "atmosphere" shots isn't wrong on its face; crowd shots at shows do help provide a sense of place, and God knows they at least provide something of a respite from the beardos-with-strats parade that plagues many an indie-leaning blog. But the trend Vulture points out makes one wonder if the site's trying to goose its traffic the old-fashioned way—a suspicion that's only furthered by the ever-churning comment section, which is made up of your basic anonymous mouth-breathers who, when taking a break from arguing over the finer points of Andrew WK's new bar, type things like "i like the preggers chick....god thats hot."

Apparently taking a lesson from Vulture's upbraiding, the folks at BV have since started posting pictures of "hot" men as well, which I guess has opened the door for equal-opportunity leering, at least. (Sample comment: "Mmmm.. Good Beefcake in the dodgeballs section..") And in "things could always be worse" news, BV has a ways to go if it wants to hit the groin-tugging ways of ThatsHipHop.com, which hit up its fanbase with the following come-on over the weekend:

DJ SELF VIP SATURDAYS 10pm EST>> LIVE IN THE CHATROOM> ARTISTS WILL BE IN THE CHATROOM>


TONIGHT KIMMI CUPCAKES WILL HAVE LIVE PHONE SEX WITH THE 40th CALLER/VIBRATOR INCLUDED!!!!>>>>>>> MAKE SURE YOU CALL AROUND 10pm EST 877 337 4748 press 1 then 40

What, not 69? Dude.

ThatsHipHop [Official site]
Brooklyn Vegan Now Just Posting Photos Of Random Cute Indie Girls [Vulture]
[Screengrab via Motley Crue]

1. Call Pitchfork a music blog. Never mind that it's been around, as you point out in your article, since 1995—two years before the term "weblog" was invented, and four before Peter Merholz coined the shorter version; never mind that the only aspects of the site that vaguely resembles a music blog are the Forkcast and the News section, neither of which have the coronation power of a "Best New Music" from its reviewers. Who aren't bloggers (well, at least not for Pitchfork, anyway).

2. Use as your new media "expert" a futurist whose recent forays into the digital-music world ended in failure. Remember the guy who coined the term BlogJ? Yeah, his "blogs will be the next record labels" spiel is quoted here, although left out of the piece is the fact that his recent experiment in Web 2.0 widgetry went tits-up last week.

3. Fill your story with data-free anecdotes, because they make lovely window dressing. Music blogs apparently have "young readers." How is Sandoval aware of this? We don't know, because there aren't any actual numbers in the story at all aside from the number of unique readers Pitchfork gets a month (1.5 million) and the number of words Rolling Stone's Nathan Brackett thinks that the average Man Man blurb has (50).

4. On that note, never, ever press for details. Would you be interested to know that eMusic's Yancey Strickler (who, it should be known, is a friend), who's given space to pontificate on music blogging, writes a music blog for his employer, which could make for some interesting discussion of blogging-for-dollars in a story that mentions corporate influence? Want to know how BrooklynVegan "developed a reputation for being the must-read blog for concert information"? Like to know what, exactly, was inaccurate in the reporting about Stereogum's sale, as Scott Lapatine claims? Too bad, because Sandoval isn't interested in making those details known. (At least not yet! Maybe there's a sequel to this piece coming—Music Blogs II: Return To WordPress!)

5. Get an old-media type to comment on how the blog kids should get off his fact-checked lawn—and then fail to fact-check his comments. "The blogs do the really quick 50-word update on what a band's doing," Brackett tells Sandoval. "They'll write about (singer) Lilly [sic!!!] Allen releasing a new EP or (the band) Man Man is preparing an album. The way Rolling Stone competes is we pick up the phone and bring original reporting. We take advantage of our access. Most blogs don't have the staffs to pick up the phone." Well, most blogs also aren't subsidiaries of huge magazines that can be sources for repurposed content. And really, does recapping a reality TV show count as "original reporting" these days? I guess it's a good thing that I got cable in my office after all.

Music blogs: The new wall of sound [CNet]