the devil makes three @ cat’s cradle

I didn’t know that a bluegrass band from Santa Cruz, California — a pretty traditional three piece bluegrass band, albeit a really great one — could inspire such punk show mosh pit heights, but the Devil Makes Three did it last night. It’s a tribute to them, on most hands; their rocking, uptempo, hook-filled songs…

song share: cups (lulu & the lampshades)

If you’ve seen Pitch Perfect, this is the original version of the song that Anna Kendrick covers with the plastic cup at her audition; it’s by a London band called Lulu & the Lampshades that now goes by the name Landshades. You can buy the song here for a buck. This song makes me very,…

album review: wooden wand – blood oaths of the new blues

Wooden Wand — Blood Oaths Of The New Blues. Out 1/8, Fire Records. One of the only problems I have with Hopscotch is that sometimes, I just get so damned overwhelmed by all my choices that I’m unable to make one at all. This happened last year, on Friday night; I was slumped in a…

cities that love their sports teams too much

If ever a city needed a self-help book, it was Baltimore: Towns That Love Sports Teams Too Much, and the Greedy Team Owners Who Use Them. — Laura Lippman, Charm City I grew up in a town without a football team. The Colts were still in Baltimore for the first few years of my life,…

toddlers kickstarter reward party @ local 506

a. This was one of the best Kickstarter rewards that I’ve ever seen: a private show for people above a certain donation level, and a free download card for a new release with it. I would never have thought of it for a reward, but it was a great one. I was delighted that Dan…

i am not named after her, but sometimes i fib and say i am

“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” — Agatha Christie Not meant as a jab at the maternal unit for not making Dame Agatha my namesake, just saying I’m Agatha…

read what you’ve already decided to read

I’m going back to October for my January reading, and reading what I own (sort of). In October, I read only books that were on my GoodReads to-read list before October 1, so in January, I’ll be only reading books on my to-read list before January 1. You guys could join me. Sometimes it feels…

decide what to be, then go be it

Since the mid-nineties, Justin has been saying, ironically or not, that this is how your first entry of the new year should always be, and so it is.

worth getting up for in december

Worth getting up for in December: taking a Triangle transplant to Only Burger for the first time; Chatham County Line’s Electric Holiday Show at Haw River; finding cute well-made wrap dresses for cheap; bright colored tights; fixing my meds; the Tallest Man On Earth covering ‘Working Titles’; new pants; a new TV; The World History…