Idolator

Today's USA Today has a big piece on rock merch, talking about how $55 concert T-shirts are purchased by people who are "style-conscious and socially conscious" (oddly, the word "suckers" is not used), how being sold at Target hasn't hurt the alleged cool factor of Beatles and Rolling Stones shirts, and how the ever-annoying Katy Perry designed her merch in such a way that's inspired by (her apparent non-reading of) Lolita and "fruit motifs, especially strawberries and cherries." (Because eating them is, like, just like kissing a girl... plant!) It even finds some poor sucker to trot out the already-old-and-reliable "you can't download a T-shirt" notion! But perhaps the best part of the story is Edna Gudnersen's guide to "t-shirt etiquette," which seems to have been taken out of some sort of sidebar storage unit that was last replenished in 2004. More »

Apparently this past weekend was "National Run Your Listicle-ish Summer Concert Preview" for many of this nation's finer newspapers, as my RSS feed was stuffed with "top five" and "top 10" lists of tours and festivals from newspapers around the country. While they're distinct in their regional biases (the Seattle Times rundown is festival-heavy; the USA Today one sticks with nation-storming stalwarts) the writers share one thing in common: they really really like Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Or at least want to sort of feel like they're at a Led Zeppelin show. Highlights of five summer show previews after the jump. More »