Most people would bring gloves, boots and their best winter coat to a snowball fight. One cop brought a gun. The Washington City Paper‘s City Desk blog has the down-low: According to an eyewitness, a D.C. Police detective (pictured above w/ gun) went nuts after kids pelted his Hummer with snowballs at 14th and U Streets … [Read more…]
For the first time in who knows how long, all eyes are on the British music charts in a battle of Christmas spirits. The Christmas single is, as is my understanding of Love Actually, a pretty big deal. The group or artist that manages to sell the most copies of their newest song during the holiday … [Read more…]
And now a quick break from our normally scheduled music writings for… Iron Man 2 The trailer is now online and it is 2 amazing for words. It features 2 awesome hard rock songs by the hands of AC/DC and Black Sabbath. It’s almost 2 much! Then there’s Robert Downey Jr. being 2 smug! Mickey … [Read more…]
I never thought I would read the following statement: Eminem is also the top male artist of the decade. The female honor goes to Beyoncé, while the top duo/group is Nickelback. Congrats Billboard, you’ve done it again. This time, you’ve really proven how obsolete the Billboard charts are as a way of “scientifically” measuring the tastes of … [Read more…]
It’s the halfway point of Hannukah, and it’s unexpected presence on the calendar has marked a sudden disconnect I’ve had with the Jewish community. For most of my life, I’ve been surrounded by aspects of Judaism and Jewish culture, be it growing up attending temple, my various stays in Israel or attending a university with … [Read more…]
The new year is almost here, and with it comes a maelstrom of “End of the Year Lists.†Here on Ex-Spectator, I’ll be rolling out a few “End of the Yearâ€/â€End of the Decade†lists. Today’s list: The Best Albums of 2009. As I’ve mentioned previously, there are a lot of pitfalls for “best of†… [Read more…]
The new year is almost here, and with it comes a maelstrom of “End of the Year Lists.†Here on Ex-Spectator, I’ll be rolling out a few “End of the Yearâ€/â€End of the Decade†lists. Today’s list: The Best Music Books of the Aughts. I would be lying if I said I’ve read every music … [Read more…]
The new year is almost here, and with it comes a maelstrom of “End of the Year Lists.†Here on Ex-Spectator, I’ll be rolling out a few “End of the Yearâ€/â€End of the Decade†lists. Today’s list: The Best Free Albums, EPs and Mixtapes of 2009. Since Radiohead made the pay-what-you-want model so notable with … [Read more…]
Dan Deacon is a DIY mastermind, one of a handful of prolific and well-known artists who do things themselves, and do things a certain way. He plays all ages shows. He plays shows for $10 a pop. He plays shows in “unorthodox” venues. And he doesn’t sell his music to a big corporation… Normally. Some … [Read more…]
Billboard just released its list of the top one-hit wonders of the decade. I enjoy one-hit wonders just as much as the next person: It’s always great when you can experience a song that piques the interest of a broad range of people for a short period of time. Where would I have been in … [Read more…]