the reverend green in white with the blues.


“rakim was unconvincing, and the crowd idled inattentively. a man who looked like gossip girl’s heartthrob ed westwick ordered a beer. he wore a straw hat with an enormous hole, big enough to stick a large hand through. for some reason, the hole was facing front, and the hat was tilted down and to the side. he wore a tattoo of an oversized feather on the back of his left arm: it was ed westwick. later, during the wu-tang’s wonderful show, boy jones stood in for his father ol’ dirty bastard, who died of a drug overdose in 2004 at 35. ‘just like his father,’ raekwon said, shaking his head after shimmy shimmy ya. ‘just like his father.’” - observer.com!
also: “there was a horribly long wait for lauryn hill, who sometimes doesn’t show at all. the sun was hot. first, her stage was set up: there were five keyboards, two electric guitarists, two bassists, and, for some reason, two drummers playing similar-looking drum sets, like in the grateful dead. a dj ate up minutes by playing music and calling out locales. when a lot of new jersey guys cheered for their state, this reporter booed half-jokingly, and a tall man in a homer simpson shirt said, ‘actually, lauryn hill’s from new jersey. she went to zach braff’s bar mitzvah.’”
what guy clark thinks about while exhaling smoke through his nose is for guy clark to know and for you and me our tiny non-guy minds to never even begin to fathom.
(photo: daniel ransom)
celia cruz ≥ celia cruz with wyclef john ≥ wyclef john
(see more inequalities here.)
“everybody came to the party, and we all have the headache and the hangover. but it’s classically human to say, ‘we lost all this money, it must have been the villain, so let’s find him! let’s string him up. somebody’s got to pay.’ but fortunately, we have a system of laws, not men.” - richard d. parsons, citigroup’s chairman, and the former ceo of time warner, in this week’s new york observer.
“as long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. we’re still dancing.” - charles o. prince, then citigroup’s ceo, in 2007.
i haven’t remembered to post my recent observer wall street things, but i’d be honored if you checked out my profile of the new doom (it’s a laugh riot, in a way!) and wall street’s semi-secret stasis. if you’re interested in smaller little ditties, here is simon johnson punching tim geithner’s brains out, ron lieber’s 4-year-old complaining about summer homes, a hearty lieber follow-up, a bank executive spilling the beans, and ted danson before the senate committee on finance. enjoy!
(photo: slim aarons)
never trust handsome rappers. trust tasty cereals, and trust raekwon.
sorry, drake.
saw a young punk wearing a mohawk and a black tee with an awfully big swastika on it buying beer at the deli across from the observer.
the back of his shirt said anti-nazi but i gave him the old stink eye nonetheless.
(pic: getty)
emotions about new pornographer albums aside, my feelings about neko case have not changed. she is and will always remain a chanteuse extraordinaire in my book.
did you know she was referring to my surname in this promotional shot?
nothing against ben bernanke, but during these exceedingly uncertain times i would feel a lot more secure about global financial markets if rick rubin was in charge. for me, it’s simply an issue of who has the more sage-like, trustworthy facial hair.
mid-2000s indie rock was really a good thing, wasn’t it?
but precocious preciousness is so ‘06.
somehow, believe it or not, this is the one thousandth post here on the super groovy music video spectacular. there have been 572 videos from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and the 2000s, plus another few hundred album covers, quotes, snapshots, posters, photographs of mustaches, a few dozen posts about the observer, and when you add in some scattered thoughts about my idol robert christgau, you’ve got 1,000. i think i’m going to eventually be having people over to my house to celebrate, but otherwise let’s join in with the cheerleader and all say it together: hoorah!