The Black Angels

I recently spoke to my friend and ever-dependable indie rock guru, Gene.  Once beyond the pleasantries about the wife and kids and a brief tip of the hat to NFL football, our conversation predictably veered toward indie rock.  The last time we spoke, he mentioned the Crystal Stilts, whom, for whatever reason, I never took the time to explore.  I will.  A stone of dejection landed in my gut when he answered my querry about what's new or good in the scene by saying that he's always busy and hadn't been following as closely as in years past.  I concurred that I know how busy he is and mentioned that I'd caught wind of a possible Luna reunion.  He said he'd heard something about it, too.  I may have mentioned The Radio Dept. as well.  (Luna has a song called "This Time Around," too.  Ahhh, the circle turns.)  The switch flicked by the Luna reference apparently closed the the right circuit, prompting him to suggest The Black Angels. 

It turns out they've been around since '06, but

Introducing The Best of C.B.S.

I've added a feature on the right side of the blog listing what I deem to be the best of

Communication
By
Symbol.

It's very interesting: when I started writing more regularly and getting feedback, I found that I was getting mixed feedback for various posts.  Since I've been writing less lately, I decided to go ahead and create this addition to the blog going by my own assessment of the writing and content.  Maybe I'm way off.  Any feedback is welcome.

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Recognition

Recognizing in person someone you don't know personally can be a bit of an odd experience.  For New Yorkers, seeing famous people gets to be old hat--quick.  My girlfriend and I literally almost ran into Woody Allen once.  One of us had to give in to avoid a collision.  Being fans, we slowed our typical New York sidewalk rush to allow the legendary director to

"Substance Abuse"

More from the Bull's-Eye Dept.

The hyper-partisan rhetorical atmospshere intitiated and perpetuated by most TV news outlets pretty much ensures that like Ted Koppel, if you choose to be the voice of reason, you're going to get it from both sides.  I wonder if all the pundets are going to go after this guy the way they went after Koppel:



In an exchange that aptly illustrates what Koppel's talking about, he and Media Critic Jeff Jarvis met on NPR's Talk of the Nation the same week Koppel and Olbermann traded statements.  Upon listening, you'll notice that throughout the "discussion" Jarvis is rather hostile, even combative in tone compared to Koppel, who at one point had to say to a shouting Jarvis, "If you'll please let me finish..."  Case and point for T.K.

Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia qualifies for this group as well.


Writing Notes
Technically, I'm still on Hiatus.  I'm glad to see this issue has made it to the FCC, so I'm willing to do a few quick-hitters on it.

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