note the placement of the star.
Category Archives: jerz
tingle fingers
My friends Jon and David, and their friend Carson, are Tingle Fingers, an in-house design + screenprinting operation in Brooklyn. Their stuff looks really good– gorgeous designs and professional quality printing– but is made in the same loving d.i.y. way as when Jon was a jersey hardcore kid.
Their rates are reasonable so hire them or show them some love on facebook and myspace.
phoenix house
spring break 2008, Olympia, WA
los campesinos! + the orion experience @ maxwell’s
It’s not a trip back home without a visit to Maxwell’s. Tonight I took my sister to her first rock show (and my first in some time– its been far too long since I’ve seen “live” music that consisted of more than a dude in front of a laptop or a coop jam session). It did not disappoint. I first discovered Los Campesinos! because of their animated music videos, but it turns out that they are one attractive band (their other videos attest to this). So I got to introduce lil’ sis to my favorite Maxwell’s ritual: its cozy enough that even if the music is lame, you can always content yourself ogling the cute boys and girls with guitars. Luckily in this case, the performance was fantastic, and the crowd great. I love shows in Jersey cuz people aren’t afraid to be enthusiastic. There was much dancing and cheering, and in a unsuccessful but valiant effort for an encore, even something of a sing-along.
I’m seriously all crushed out. Campesinos! are adorable; they sound like what when I was 15 I had hoped college would feel like. Sort of obnoxiously indie but so sweet that you have to smile. Anyway, tonight was the beginning of Campesinos! US tour. They’ve got shows in most of the cities that I have friends in, so if you dig indie-pop (think Apples in Stereo), definitely check em out.
Los Campesinos! – The International Tweexcore Underground
Also, the opening band, The Orion Experience, was lots of fun.
The Orion Experience – Blood & Money
The Orion Experience – The Cult of Dionysus
[audio:http://www.rrrojer.net/share/music/TheCultofDionysus.mp3]
The Orion Experience – Obsessed With You
[audio:http://www.rrrojer.net/share/music/ObsessedWithYou.mp3]
Los Campesinos! – My Year in Lists
[audio:http://www.rrrojer.net/share/music/MyYearInLists.mp3]
Pledge to WFMU!!!!
100% listener-supported free-form commercial free radio, straight outta dirty jerz.
WFMU is free culture in action: an obscene amount of music, including tons and tons of live stuff recorded in the studio, broadcast on the air and online for FREE. Not digging what’s on the air right now? Check out the endless archives. No cost to your wallet and no cost to your soul: no bullshit ads, government subsidies, or corporate underwriting. Plus WFMU is spearheading the fight to save net radio.
But they can’t keep doing it without donations, and this year in particular they really need the money. By pledging you not only get to feel warm and fuzzy about supporting one of the nation’s most important artistic communities, you also get super hip swag and hand-crafted DJ premiums.
Please, send these guys some love and some money, or else we’ll be left with exactly what we deserve.
 How This Works… |
Support Freeform Radio! |
Also, tune in tomorrow (Sunday) for Yo La Tengo’s annual live marathon set from 5-8pm EST.
[audio:http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DG/Yo_La_Tengo_-_Sweet_Dreams.mp3]
Preview: Yo La Tengo covers Sweet Dreams
allie t on youtube
check out her new animation, Surfacing
Columbia High School Documentary: One School
Impressive student documentary of all the intense events that happened at my high school the year after I graduated, when students decided to join together to bring about change and unify the school. Really inspiring. How have I not seen this until now? Why isn’t this happening everywhere?
The whole video is 45min, broken up into parts because youtube is annoying. But very much worth the effort to watch. Anyone know what Columbia is like now? Is there anything alums can do?
After seeing the near-total lack of protest (at least at this scale, relatively) on both the Berkeley and Harvard campuses, I have to give major props to my peers from CHS for making this happen. By luck I was on break from college the day of the big walkout, so I was there, and it was far more inspiring than anything I’ve seen on campus. I would not be surprised if a number of our generation’s leaders come from the halls of Columbia.
One School
Written, produced, and directed by Cris Thorne
happy new year
To all my family & friends,
I am so insanely lucky to have you in my life. A blog post feels massively inadequate for expressing my gratitude, appreciation, and love for all of you, but to not use this space to say something seems wrong. Because of you, I think it is fair to say that I have had the most exciting, educational, and life-affirming year of my life. I hope that your 2007 was wonderful too, but more importantly, that your 2008 is even better. May the new year bring you peace, health, love, growth, and happiness.
To Marjane Satrapi and Vikram Seth,
Thank you for making art. Marjane, thank you for reminding me how powerful and beautiful animation can be. Vikram, thank you for writing a novel about San Francisco in verse. To both of you, thank you for demonstrating the importance of not compromising as an artist, for giving me a reason to look forward to tomorrow’s cross-country flight with a 2 hour layover, and for helping me view life with some reverence (the good kind). May the new year bring you success and inspiration, and may your work influence our culture.
To the weather,
Thank you so much for snowing today in Cambridge. I really needed that. May the new year keep you safe from global warming.
Love,
Rebecca
Letter To My Sister On Her Bat Mitzvah
A more serious reflection on being a middle-schooler & the awesomeness of my kid sis. I read this to my sister in front of a small collection of family members the night before her Bat Mitzvah. Gets a little corny at the end, but I’m entitled.
Dearest A.,
Congratulations on your Bat Mitzvah. Though I hold much ambivalence towards organized religion (and this coming-of-age ceremony in particular), I am so proud of you and so happy to return home to share this day with you. You have thus far maneuvered through puberty with a grace I find remarkable, especially in light of my own memories of that time, and I am confident that you will continue to mature with the same elegance. You are an intelligent, beautiful and loving young woman, not to mention much cooler than a 12 year old has any right to be.
But as much as I, along with the rest of your family and friends, want to celebrate you, the Amazing A. Relkin Rojer, princess of November 3rd, I’d like to pause first, amidst the festivities, and meditate a bit on this notion of “coming-of-age.” First, lets examine the ritual you are just about to complete, and call it out on what it is.
Continue reading
oh, middle school
My little sister, showing me her friends on myspace:
This boy, he has a crush on me. But Becca, its so bad. His favorite band is Linkin Park.
She pauses, then scrolls down…
and Abba.
