You don't want to be Todd Martens

Bunch of crap I wrote this week:

Mannequin Men’s grown-up punk. Good Chicago band and their upcoming album is flirting with my year-end top-10.

Soulful oddball Van Hunt finds beauty in the discarded. This record is quite stunning and totally nutso psychedelic soul. Most of the songs are about the recession and I’m a sucker for topical stuff. Anyway, he plays Sunday at the Troubadour. 

Annie Clark maps St. Vincent’s next musical step. Hung with Annie for the fourth time (? — I think four) when I was on vacation in N.Y. over Labor Day. She’s one of my favorite people to interview b/c we’re both kinda awkward. I no longer prepare questions for her, and I think we spent most of the time just talking about restaurants. Saw her the following week in L.A. and she gave me permission to not write this but I did regardless. Anyway, she plays Tuesday at the Music Box.

There’s other stuff I wrote this week, too, but it’s not even good enough to link to, in my mind. So I’ll link to this old Garfunkel/Oates story because Kate Micucci has a gig Monday at the Steve Allen and she’s a wonderful human being who sometimes brings baked goods to her shows. 

From the Chicago Trib:

Once Epstein is installed, the ”Hire Ryne Sandberg” movement is bound to begin anew, and already may have begun. Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan, a noted Cubs fan, made a personal plea to Epstein Thursday on the “WGN Morning News.”

“Please, please hire Ryne Sandberg,” Corgan said. “White Sox Nation followed Ozzie all those years. I think Cubs Nation will follow ‘Ryno.’”

Fortunately for Quade, Corgan does not get a vote.

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BUT HAS NO ONE ASKED “NOTED” CUBS FANS EDDIE VEDDER AND TOM MORELLO WHO THEY THINK SHOULD BE MANAGER? 

Lisanti Quarterly: The Types Of People You Meet At An Introductory Home Brewing Class

Dear L.A. subway takers,

If you’re a solo rider, and you sit on the aisle, thereby leaving an open window seat that you are now blocking, you are an asshole.

xoxoxoxo