Rottenchester

Last year, I posted that Craigslist coming to town is like Godzilla, and that the loss of classified ad revenue for newspapers would be deadly. Well, I'm not the only one: tech columnist Bob Cringeley agrees that Craigslist is one of the factors that will put local papers into their grave.

I'm an election junkie and this year there's a hotly contested race for Congress in my district.  So I've been spending my time maintaining a new blog, The Fighting 29th.  Check it out if you're interested in the race in New York's 29th district.

Since we're all going to be nice, here's some pleasant and friendly free music to enjoy.

First, Jens Lekman was in town a couple of weeks ago and it was a great show.  Try I don't know if she's worth 900 kr from his big collection of free music. Jens' music is hard to categorize, but he does grow on you.

And how about the sweet 14th Street from the always interesting alt-country artist Laura Cantrell's latest album.  Laura is also very generous with the free music.

Now a little more punky, but still pleasant, try "Not Doing Alright" from The Chris and Joylene Show's MySpace page.

Finally, the The Hidden Cameras are coming out with a new album.  Here's the title track:  Awoo. If anyone who can figure out what the hell the lyrics mean, please post an explanation.

Someone posted complaints about men who make "fish jokes" and who don't keep it clean downstairs. Here's my response:

Any guy who thinks those fish jokes are funny is an asshole. Unfortunately, there are a lot of assholes around. Women on here probably know the type: they have swamp ass and skidmarks, expect regular bjs yet treat your vag like the forbidden planet of mystery, and make comments about your fat ass even though they have a beer gut.

I'm a man and I can spot that kind of asshole a mile away. It doesn't take any special talent other than a little common sense and life experience. So, naturally, you'd expect those guys would be spending most of their time without female company after, oh, 10th grade.

But you know what's funny? Those guys all end up with women who will bitch and bitch and bitch about them to their friends, to their family, and even on anonymous forums like this one. And those women will stick with them. Apparently, it's better for them to inhale the moist aroma of sweat and poop while giving unreciprocated bjs, and then complain about it to their gal pals, than it is to dump the motherfucker already (DTMFA) and look for someone better.

And fuck that "low self esteem" bullshit - let's call this what it really is: fear and laziness. It's just easier to stay in a shitty relationship and let off some steam by bitching than it is to risk rejection by a guy who knows how to wash his ass and can string together a few sentences that don't include stale old misogynistic jokes.

So if your boyfriend has swamp ass and skidmarks, and you haven't called him out for it, then have a word with him. If he doesn't clean up his act, he's an asshole: DTMFA. If your boyfriend laughs at fish jokes, and refuses to go down on you, do the finger sniff test. If you don't stink: DTMFA. He doesn't even deserve a second chance, because he's an obvious asshole.

But whatever you do, don't fall into the deadly trap of bitching about him to your friends, family or Craigslist. Then you're the asshole, not him, because you know goddam well that you should DTMFA and you just don't have the guts to do it.

Here's some post-Valentine's Day free music for the broken hearts out there.

Let's start with Okkervil River's Black:

I can still see where you loved yourself
before he tore it all down. April 12th,
with nobody else around; you were outside the house
(where's your mother)
when he put you in the car,
when he took you down the road.
And I can still see where it was open,
the door he slammed closed.

If you liked that track, For Real, from the same album, is also worth a listen.

Alison Krauss's mournful New Favorite (Amazon Login Required) is a short, sweet breakup song.

Switching gears, there's always the denial before the heartbreak. The Hold Steady's Your Little Hoodrat Friend is a new take on that old theme.

Finally, here's Ted Leo doing a punk rock cover of Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone (as well as "Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs).

All you narrow minds who are celebrating Duffy's shit-canning of the ferry, listen up. You're missing the point. First, we had High Falls. Then, the ferry. Finally, Ren Square. Anyone with half a brain can see that this trifecta of shame will lead us to a glorious new economic resurgence. When Ren Square fails, the groundwork will be laid for Rochester to be part of the new disaster tourism trend. New Orleans is full of disaster tourists right now. In a few years -- about the time when Ren Square will be an expensive ghost town -- they'll be looking for a new thrill. And we'll be there for them, offering them entertainment that is cheap at twice the price. Now, I must admit that Roc is no match for Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, but our failures will be worth a least a senior-citizen bus trip during the off season. Old farts will come in droves to marvel at the sheer amount of money spent for absolutely no lasting result. The revenue gathered from these tourists, who will need vast supplies of adult diapers and denture adhesive, will pump hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars into our economy. At least some of these folks will stroke out when they hear how much was wasted, so our hospitals will also get a boost. So y'all just need some more patience. The money train is coming.

For those of you who wish you were somewhere else, maybe listening to Jess Klein's live version of Ireland might give you some food for thought. Jess has another song on her site and on Rykodisc's site.

For anyone who's going to see Brokeback Mountain, maybe you'd also be interested in the Hazzard's video Gay Boyfriend.

Finally, here's a great new song from Jenny Lewis, lead singer of Rilo Kiley: Melt Your Heart. "It's bound to melt your heart, one way or another. It's like a valentine, from your mother."

This morning, in the paper edition, you devoted an entire page explaining why yesterday's metro edition reported that 12 miners were found alive in West Virginia.

Karen, I understand: your paper fucked up like the rest of them. You didn't need to print a picture of 20 other newspapers' headlines to prove your point. And you sure didn't need to compare your paper to the Los Angeles Times - that made me snort OJ through my nose because I was laughing so hard. (I'm still feeling the burn, btw.)

But, Karen, if you really want to do something to make up for your mistake, let me suggest a different course of action. Call up the Associated Press and ask them to write a story that answers these questions:

• Have mine accident rates gone up in the past five years, while the number of citations for mine safety violations have gone down?


• How many other mines have received a huge number of citations like the Sago mine? If there are a lot of them, are the feds going to do something like, say, shut them down until they improve?

In other words: if you are really concerned about your reputation as a journalist, act like one and do some reporting. Instead of making the story about you, do something that might make a difference. You can't bring back 12 dead, hard-working family men, but you can at least figure out if it looks like another dozen are going to get killed in some other poorly-maintained mine this year.

And don't call your readers "news consumers" like you did today. That's both awful prose and condescending. We're readers, with brains, who think. We're not baby birds, waiting patiently with mouths open, willing to choke down whatever pap you choose to regurgitate.

Here are some mellow tracks that are tolerable, even with a hangover.

First, Laura Veirs. Do you expect someone who looks as serious as Laura to hurt your headache? Never. Her best song is "Galaxies", but that can only be streamed from her music page, from the Year of Meteors album entry. Bedroom Eyes isn't bad either.

Like a lot of independent artists, Laura's site is a study in how to keep people from finding your music. Everything is in a crappy, tiny frame, and the best songs need to be streamed. I'm sure RIAA and her record company are very proud.

Imogen Heap's song Hide & Seek has had a lot of indy radio play and it won't bother your hangover either.

At the Hop is a mellow live cut from Devendra Banhart.

Finally, a little Belle and Sebastian: Another Sunny Day.

Anyone who knows an addict knows that lying is an integral part of addiction. After an addict goes through recovery, what's left? Is it even the same person? Maybe that's part of the reason that some addicts don't stop using -- because they're afraid of replacing their current self with a sober, paler imitation.

I thought Kathleen Edwards' song "In State" made that point eloquently:

Don't say you'll change after next time
You wouldn't even be yourself if you weren't telling a lie.

You can download a mp3 or watch the video at her site.