Fedde La Grand - Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit

"...The union factory jobs that gave many Michiganders access to the middle class perhaps also shaped a pragmatic response to higher education. For many of us who grew up working class, book learnin' is to be encouraged only when it leads to employment. I would strongly encourage folks who have internalized this message to interrupt it and see what other assumptions are entailed in it. Particularly, one implication is that knowledge is only legitimate when it has clear utilitarian purposes. (Nested there also is the idea that some bodies of knowledge are superior, so basic science is suspicious while applied science that results in patents or technologies is not.) The gift of the ideal of a "liberal education" (broad and worldly, rather than politically liberal) is the belief that there is delight, satisfaction, harmony, and happiness to be found in knowledge for its own sake. This message, passed like a silver spoon from generation to generation of the educated elite, is one that doesn't have to come with a trust fund. But this is not only about the pleasures of a satisfied mind, it is also about creating and living in a population of people who are capable of the critical thinking needed to actually and truly self-govern. In other words, if all of us plebes ain't educated, it's no democracy."

-Amanda (Scout) Calvert

ICP Watch

NPR's Soundcheck recently did a piece on juggalos. Listen to it here:

labor day

is anyone coming to nyc?

Camu Tao - Hold the Floor

Mostly Midwest

New blagh reviewing Midwest cultural output here.

call for submissions for a friend's zine

A friend of mine is producing the second issue of a zine about video games and the experience of them. He is looking for contributions. Details (and ordering info for the first issue) here:

http://holdintotrip.truespies.org/

New feature in issue 2: Videogames can either be a major focus, tangentially related, or not present at all!

ICP Boobies - Not For The Faint Of Heart

http://www.villagevoice.com/slideshow/naked-juggalettes-nsfw-30847080/

I apologize in advance for any offense this may cause, but it was just too perfect not to post.

eager.

when does fantasy football start again?!

The Ugly Bug Ball

"Dating for the aesthetically challenged." They've got to cherry pick those Latest Members photos. Website here.

Wringing Art Out of the Rubble in Detroit

"Detroit is plagued by all the urban problems that make it fodder for big-picture editorializing and cop shows. Its long-dwindling population and landscape of abandoned buildings have made it a singular — or perhaps prophetic — case study in Rust Belt decline. But its particular brand of civic and economic decay has also drawn something unexpected: a small but well-publicized movement of artists and other creative types trying to wring something out of the rubble."

Full article here. The second half gives more interesting specifics, though it seems like most of the people are not Michiganders.

I'm drunk on the blagh! Post something, whores! Josh is awesoem!

Get Low

She Keeps Bees @ Band Camp

Garage/blues/soul from Brooklyn. Here's my favorite track from their 2008 LP (funny lyric at 1:32):



Listen to their albums here.

Fiber One Bars Make Me Fart

"Fiber One bars are yummy and chocolaty. Fiber One bars are also snacks that are forged in the depths of hell by Satan himself. When I think back on the top ten loudest and longest farts of my life, I can honestly say 10 of them happened all at once about 2 hours after eating a Fiber One bar. I conducted an unscientific test to see if others were affected like I was. One person told me they farted so loud that they woke them self up in the middle of the night. Another told me that her drug free childbirth was much more comfortable than her brush with the Fiber One bar."

Full post here. The comments section is well worth reading.

The Biggest ABBA Fan in Michigan

"It was at the Coronation tavern in Windsor, Ontario. The traps in the urinals were gone, so you stood there and pissed on your shoes. The bartender was this old lady who had a frying pan and she whacked the local drunks when they got too raucous. Some guy threatened me with “I’m gonna stab you, you fuckin’ geek” and I raised my shirt where I had a recent surgery scar and said “Too late asshole, I got stabbed last week”..."

Full interview with Tesco Vee here.

Madballs

Tila Tequila suffers cuts, but escapes juggalos attack

"'I went onstage and immediately, before I even got on stage, dudes were throwing huge stone rocks in my face, beer bottles that slit my eye open, almost burnt my hair ... cuz they threw fire crackers on stage,' she wrote."

Full article here.

Blood Muffins

Here's an article from China Mieville's Rejectamentalist Manifesto

The Oblivians - Bad Man

Toronto Weekend Getaway

Enter to win a trip to Toronto -- here!

Detroit Breakdown

A couple weeks ago there was a free outdoor concert of Detroit music at the Lincoln Center. The early bill was blues, soul, and funk, which WFMU has archived here (the actual performances start about an hour in). There was a later show of rock 'n roll, but unfortunately that hasn't surfaced yet.

Lawyer: "Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?"
Witness: "No."
Lawyer: "Did you check for blood pressure?"
Witness: "No."
Lawyer: "Did you check for breathing?"
Witness: "No."
Lawyer: "So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?"
Witness: "No."
Lawyer: "How can you be so sure, Doctor?"
Witness: "Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar."
Lawyer: "But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?"
Witness: "Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law somewhere."

Charlie Slick - You've Got The Job

Charlie Slick - You've Got the Job from LAZER on Vimeo.

Morissey and the Russian Sailor

Wooden Shjips - Out of My Head

SCSF Labor Day Weekend Conference

Who's in?

What is a ho?

Where Are Tristan & Dax?

Tristan and I went to see The Gories at Bowery Ballroom a week and a half ago -- can you find us in the pictures at Brooklyn Vegan? I see Tristan four times (sometimes partially obscured) and myself twice.

Peter Fox

The first time I heard about Peter Fox, I saw the video below, and remember saying "How did I not know this was happening?!" Since then, he has been a known commodity to me, but I have found out in the past few days that no American or European I have asked has known about him.

Fox was in an anomymous reggae band, basically a house band, in Berlin. Then he made a solo album, which is incredible and sold 5 million copies in Germany. After the huge success he had, he decided he wants to finish his career in his old reggae band and ducked out of the limelight.

Anyway, this is a live recording of his biggest hit, "Alles Neu", which is fucking amazing, hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do.

I wish I could make this post in Comic Sans.

Comic Sans defends itself.

When will someone make Comic Avec?

Love this commercial!

Yeah!

Pictures from Europe

Here are some pictures from upstate NY, Brussels, Croatia, Prague, and the Ukraine (mostly Odessa).

Facebook album.