“Are you guys the only white rappers?”

I’ve been digging Blank on Blank, an animated videos series from PBS where they take interviews of artists and interesting people from a range of sources — you can send one in — and animate them in a rough and charming style. Here’s an early interview with the Beastie Boys from 1985, when they were …

Art | Commerce | Risk | Trust

Amanda Palmer gives a TED talk: The art of asking. Don’t make people pay for music, says Amanda Palmer: Let them. In a passionate talk that begins in her days as a street performer (drop a dollar in the hat for the Eight-Foot Bride!), she examines the new relationship between artist and fan. Alt-rock icon …

Is it any wonder?

Before there was “Ironic,” there was “Too Much Time on My Hands.” Remember Alanis Morrisette’s 1995 song, in which she lists a whole bunch of unfortunate things and for each one asks “Isn’t it ironic?” None of the things she sang about was ironic, not in the least, and scores of educated people who understood …

Let’s start again and you can tell me all about what you did today

Frightened Rabbit are a band from Scotland, and I love both their sound and the poetry of their lyrics. Of their songs, this is (so far) my favorite: They’re on tour now in Europe, coming to the US in October. They’ll be in Pittsburgh on November 2. I’m buying some tickets, so let me know …