Well that certainly bucked the trend.

Isn't August supposed to be the slow news month? Isn't this the month where nothing is supposed to really happen and the news is filled with non-stories like water-skiing squirrels or what kind of Trapper Keeper is flying off the shelves (Spider-man vs. Transformers perhaps) as the kids prepare to go back to school?

This month has been a bit too stimulating for my taste. So, hey September, let's keep it a little more mellow.

Never heard Sloan before? Prepare to fall in love.

I never embed widgets on this site, but for Sloan I'll make an exception. The band is offering up 14 of their singles as a FREE download to help fans introduce other to the genius that is the band's vast and amazingly solid catalog.

In fact If you dont think these are some of the best songs ever ... I will fight you.

Do312 Kickball Game: THE MOVIE!

O.K., more like the short video from a local music cable TV show but it still revisits the fun we had!

After a brief hiatus, Tankster night returns!

We're Djing at The Burlington tonight. Hope to see you there!

Play ball!

Today I felt kind of like a little kid again after visiting the bleachers at Wrigley for the first time in years and years. of course the adult in me also enjoyed the private bar set behind the ivy and under the bleachers that GalPal's company rented out for the game. Best of both worlds, really.

A real "up with people" kinda tune.

Any regular reader of mine might have been able to read between the lines lately and discern I am in a rare frame of mind (for me at least) that might commonly be described as "a funk" (ad not the good get-down kind). So I would like to thank the gentlemen in the photo above, Fang Island, for penning the song below. I had forgotten about it until a random PR email hit my inbox informing me said gentlemen above would be embarking on an East Coast tour shortly. My first thought was "Damn you, why not a Midwest tour?!" Then my eye spied the MP3 below, my cursor hit play and my ears grew happy. I hope this makes your ears happy too.

And if you too are in "a funk," then this might just yank you right outta there. Worked for me.

MP3: Fang Island "Daisy"

Support systems.

One of my primary support systems.

Who do you turn to for support? I've begun to realize that I don't. Turn to anyone for much support, really. It's not that i don't have folks out there who are always ready and willing to lend a hand or ear or whatever else I might need in a moment (or hour) of need), but I'm just not the guy to call up and ask for it. When I'm having a rough day I just deal with it. When I'm going through a rough patch in life I just weather it. And I'm not saying I don't need someone to talk to and help release some inner pressure by turning that valve, but I don't expect it from anyone.

Don't misread me, I'm not some stoic marching staunchly through life. That couldn't be further from the truth. It's just, and I'm sure this can be traced back to my younger years of being the outcast and freak and living in the days when weird wasn't alternative or hip but just weird, over time I've just built up ways to process problems and get through them. 99.8% I can do that totally solo. And that other 0.2% of the time? I guess that's when I have to realize I can't do this all alone after all.

I can feel it slipping away.

Summer is heading out. Already. I didn't get enough of you summer. I didn't get enough vacation time. I didn't get enough laughs. I know the deep freeze is still a few months off but I'm not even ready for the fall yet.

Don't leave me.

For some reason I wrote this draft (and really, isn't it more of a proto Tumblr quote type thing?) on May 5, 2005 and for some reason never hit publish. It's from a MSNBC story at the time about that brand new sensation burning up the internet ... MySpace.

"And their pictures are very provocative," Marcy said. "There's shots with their butt in the air, with their thongs sticking out of it. They squeeze their elbows together to make their boobs look bigger."

via Grambo

Be yourself.

To the right is a photo that came with a press release about Danzig this morning. Now I like Danzig. I love the Misfits. That tune on the Less Than Zero soundtrack? Genius. The flak he caught for carrying his own damn container of kitty litter to his car? Ridiculous.

Say what you will, but I think Glenn Danzig is motherfucking cool.

So imagine my surprise at this publicity shot. Look, I'm a guy, and I like breasts, so I can understand why one might want to include them in a press photo. But I'm also halfway intelligent and realize breasts have no place in this photo. Or angel wings. Or what I presume to be a come hither look that actually comes across more like a "these straps on my shoe are really digging into that corn" face.

This press shot should just be motherfucking Danzig looking into the mother fucking camera looking motherfucking scary.

The end.

A simple reminder.

I lead a good life. Every once in a while when stress actually gets to me, and it rarely ever does but even so, I just need to remind myself of that.

You know what? I bet you live a good life too, so enjoy it. Promise me you'll do that?

Some days are better viewed through a rearview mirror.

This was definitely one of them. So happy to finally be on my way home and look forward to making tomorrow a better day.

Jeez, that sounded like some hippy-dippy T-shirt slogan, didn't it? Ugh.

So what do we do now?

Lord knows I don't want to say this out loud, but summer's drawing to a close when it finally felt like it was just starting to really rev up. Granted, for me the period between Pitchfork Music Festival and Lollapalooza is always a hectic one and once those are past I have to intentionally lay on the brakes to keep from skidding into fall suffering from complete exhaustion. This causes an internal conflict; part of me wants to keep up the freewheelin' summer lifestyle of tons of rock and/or roll shows, weekend day-drinking and general insanity and part of me realizes that the people I surround myself with are getting older and maybe I am too so I should lay off.

I went to dinner with some friends the other night and afterward GalPal and I were talking and we realized we barely actually just hang out with our friends any more. We see them at shows and in passing but in fact the two of us operate kind of as a solitary team. It wasn't always that way, but I think when you have a couple that writes about music and goes out a LOT this sort of situation has a tendency to happen. So we decided that since summer is quieting down and our schedule is a little bit more in our control this would be a good time to try and reconnect with people. Or at least try. I've always been kind of solitary (despite being so incredibly social) so it takes a little more effort on my part but when we started dating GalPal was the queen of dinners and drinks and museum visits and picnics and all that food stuff with all of her (and eventually our) friends. I want to get back into that lifestyle and connect with folks in increments of more than three to five minute conversations.

What about you? Which camp do you fall into?

Bulletproof.

It's Monday, let's stay unfocused.

• 
  Saw Hey Champ last night and it was possibly the best show I've ever seen them play. They had to play as a two piece since one member was held up (due to a flight delay, I think) so the band played exceptionally hard to cover  for that. had they played as a three piece they might have caused an explosion. Also, it was the first time I've seen them in a rock club and not a dance club or party thing so that was refreshing too. People forget they cut their teeth more on the rock side of things.
• Got a convo going on Twitter based around my realization that -- outside people like me -- Pitchfork music writers toil in near anonymity. Then I realized almost all music writers toil in anonymity! And it bummed me out, because people should be recognized for their good work.
• I like music writers, even though I can be pretty critical of 'em. And I don't mind 'em being just as critical right back!
• There's been a lot of talk about music writing in general in my house since GalPal rediscovered her zeal for words and joined the Chicagoist staff.
•  That's it. I'm done for today. I need some lunchhhhhhhh...

Hipster ipsum lorem sigh whatever.

Neither person in this photo is a hipster,
but how could i not use an Instagram shot in this post?

Carles mustache organic, freegan retro craft beer Pitchfork Thundercats keytar trust fund lo-fi tofu Echo Park. Wolf gentrify vegan, chambray ethical trust fund gluten-free. Yr gentrify put a bird on it, Vice homo gluten-free Echo Park skateboard. Gentrify American Apparel Shoreditch Austin Wes Anderson 8-bit. Cosby sweater art party cliche raw denim American Apparel bicycle rights, gluten-free next level shit single-origin coffee iPhone homo wayfarers fuck butcher. Gluten-free Etsy Shoreditch mixtape leggings. PBR twee mustache you probably haven't heard of them Tumblr quinoa.

McSweeney's leggings American Apparel fixie wolf. Organic artisan viral, gluten-free food truck Readymade fixie synth wolf. Fanny pack raw denim fixie mixtape, salvia Cosby sweater aesthetic chambray fap Etsy gluten-free. Williamsburg 8-bit PBR master cleanse freegan fixie, trust fund Stumptown single-origin coffee farm-to-table dreamcatcher VHS wolf sartorial. Twee Banksy Stumptown, iPhone Portland Wes Anderson yr Brooklyn biodiesel artisan cred photo booth scenester raw denim. Vinyl quinoa trust fund ethical bicycle rights single-origin coffee yr, mustache seitan before they sold out Etsy sartorial Brooklyn. Sustainable quinoa irony gluten-free chambray mustache.

Artisan twee mustache, gentrify bicycle rights photo booth jean shorts chambray you probably haven't heard of them. Cardigan photo booth wayfarers single-origin coffee, Helvetica cred hoodie before they sold out Shoreditch Williamsburg. Biodiesel skateboard Readymade, cliche craft beer art party Austin iPhone keytar sustainable wolf. Scenester biodiesel viral Tumblr, yr lo-fi Pitchfork High Life photo booth organic. Fuck viral gentrify, +1 fanny pack artisan Carles tattooed squid food truck Stumptown Etsy yr leggings sartorial. Mustache cred Pitchfork gentrify, Readymade skateboard yr beard fuck bahn mi viral 8-bit PBR. Gentrify sustainable sartorial gluten-free, Cosby sweater bicycle rights beard seitan Readymade Terry Richardson.

[DIY]

EPIC.

GalPal pointed out the Foo Fighters Lolla set was online and this video is unreal. It's right after I stopped shooting in the pit (the skies opened as I ran to seek cover UNDER the stage and hid out there until it let up) so I didn't realize that Grohl did in fact ATTACK the fucking weather. Wow.

Advice giver.

I told a friend that the number one rule to writing was to do it every day, no matter what. And then I realized I hadn't written today. So I'm oing that now. This is the end of the last sentence.

Quiet 'cuz I'm busy.

So now would be a good time to remind you that you can also follow me on Twitter.

Guess who the newest music writer at Chicagoist is?

I'll give you a hint: she went to the Foo Fighters show at Metro with me last Saturday night...

Tankboy on television.

Want to see me try not to make a fool of myself on TV?

Fence Jumpers, Rain Don’t Spoil Lollapalooza: MyFoxCHICAGO.com

Let's Lolla!

I'm busy, busy, busy so let's have GalPal fill you in what's going on this weekend...

Do312 Lolla celebrity kickball!

I was asked back to play kickball with scenesters and celebrities (and local yokels like me) this year. If you wanna watch the game (and you do, because it's ind of a riot) then enter for your chance to play on one of the teams and win a free ticket to Saturday's Lollapalooza line-up!

The view right now.

My Lollapalooza has officially started. Stop #2? A penthouse party with Althea.

T-minus, well really, one day.

Lollapalooza doesn't "officially" start until Friday, but it kicks off for me tomorrow with a media happy hour. Every year I swear I'm going to take it easy and not cover it as hard as I have the last couple of years yet despite this year's line-up being the least exciting to me personally I can't help but start to feel the excitement for the zany, crazy days rushing my way.

Lollapalooza Celebrity Kickball 2010 ... I'm in the red shirt...

Are you going? Watching it online? Don't care? Care but just couldn't afford it?

Macca attack!

We saw Paul McCartney last night.

It was pretty epic.