How Ryan Adams Spent His New Year’s Eve

Just like the rest of us, Ryan Adams is getting older. And with that old age comes New Year’s Eve celebrations that teeter on the mundane as opposed to the monumental.

According to a Happy New Year greeting penned by Adams on the Black Book site, the bespeckled songwriter spent his NYE as he does every year, going to sleep early and avoiding the hype (and the inevidable disappointment) of the new year.

Writes Adams, “I always always sleep in and early to bed on New Year’s Eve. I don’t like it. I never kiss the girl. I don’t drink, so there is that—that added annoyance on the streets really, not a bother, just a reminder of what I might have been like in my early twenties on any night … no good. Nope. I go to sleep before it turns New Year’s.”

But unlike the many of us who have no specific reasons for shuttering ourselves in for an uneventful Dec 31 to Jan 1 changeover, Ryan is very specific about his choice:

But there is one major reason why: time travel. That’s right. It’s free time travel, and when you are a shut-in reclusive wash-up like myself, you need dreams baby. Big dreams to keep your sails full of hot air.

Ooookkaaaayyyy Ryan. Happy New Year’s anyway.
More after the jump »

What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?

Seriously, I can’t believe that 2009 is right around the other side of tomorrow. There are about a billion things going on in this great city of ours, but I just wanted to bring your attention to one in particular.

If you are nowhere near the homebody that I am, you might be tempted to head out to the last night of the Knitting Factory on Leonard Street in downtown Manhattan.

On NYE, the club will be celebrating the legendary space in a three floor event curated by the Akron Family with friends Deerhoof, Dirty Projectors, Deer Tick, Megafaun and more.

knit_nye2008

Tickets are on sale now, including a limited number of tickets for the best deal in all of New York City- VIP access, open bar and three floors of incredible bands all for $100.

Trying to Beat Monday Morning Blues

The Monday after a holiday weekend is, in a word, depressing. As I rode the subway this morning, everyone looked so glum, kinda schlepping around with their heads hanging low (a la George Michael on Arrested Development)–no real smiles or chipper demeanor. Offices are half filled–our luckier co-workers are probably off in exotic locations or still sleepily rising from bed.

So in honor of those of us schlubs who are working during this last week of December 2008, here are a few videos of Monday-themed songs to get you through the day.

What are some of your “get-me-through-Monday” songs?


“Manic Monday” by the Bangles


More after the jump »

The Christmas Spirit

If you haven’t already realized, Christmas is only HOURS away.

Almost all the presents are underneath/near the Christmas bush (there is hardly any room in my tiny NYC apartment for a tree, hence the bush), and I keep singing “Here Comes Santa Claus” while walking down the street.

xmas_bush

Hope Xmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa 2008 is going great for you and your family…

I’m really tempted to buy one of these yule logs for the ol’ TV.

Ryan Adams: The Most Prolific L’Homme Fatale?

My friend Alyse sent over this humorous/terrifying story from the New York Observer that dissects the practices of a type of New York male they call the Homme Fatale–he’s a man who’s not necessarily attractive, but always seems to be surrounded by scores of beautiful (and eventually heartbroken) women.

Ryan Adams Heartbreaker

And despite the fact that the author Irina Aleksander makes clear in the first page that the “the Homme Fatale, while related, is not the same as the oft-bemoaned indie rock or emo boy,” she specifically names Ryan Adams as one of the archetypes of l’homme fatale kind of man.
More after the jump »

Phantom Planet Plays Last Show: Still Pissed at Jason Schwatzman

Last week, SoCal band Phantom Planet played The Troubador in LAs for their last show for a very very very long time. The group, who are signed to Pete Wentz’s label Fueled By Ramen, announced that they were going on an indefinite hiatus in late November.

While their goodbye show was a mix of sad and happy (and complete with an appearance by lead singer Alex Greenwald’s former flame, Kirsten Dunst), there was still room for a little bitterness directed at former drummer Jason Schwartzman.

As you may recall, Jason Schwartzman abruptly left the band in the middle of recording their self titled album in order to pursue his acting career. Watch as Alex lets the insults fly:

No word on whether Kirsten giggled at the expense of her Marie Antoinette co-star.

More over at Bolt of Blue.

Blast from the Whirlwind Past: Discovering New Old Favorites

I finally discovered the benefit of having thousands of megabytes of emails stored in my Gmail account–when Gmail finally tells me that I’m almost up to my limit in storage, I’m forced to try to rid my account of unnecessary emails. As a result, I start going through really old emails that have mp3 attachments and I end up finding songs I’ve never listened to before the first time around.

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Such was the case today. Going through an email titled “You still love the Whirlwind Heat but do you love the Lightspeed Heat?” (Do you remember them? The Whirlwind Heat/ Lightspeed Champion/ Former Test Icicles) found some attachments to some of Steve Damstra’s (Whirlwind Heat bassist and one-time [all-the-time?] TMA rock ‘n’ roll crush) solo work.

I guess I never made it to the email (it was unread), but I wish I had, because I would have discovered about two years ago that Steve Damstra has some pretty great solo music.

His solo stuff is so very unlike the raucous, out-of-control sound of Whirlwind Heat. In fact, his solo stuff sounds very much like…dare I say it?…Beck.

Check out his stuff… you likey?

Blind Item: Rock Star Turned Subway Star?

This just in from a loyal reader who randomly spotted a well-known NYC musician busking:

Hey there- On Friday night I was taking the F train downtown from 14th Street with a friend. As we walked down the platform, we heard some music playing a familiar song (“Ceremony” by Joy Division), and my friend joked, “Oh look it’s [name REDACTED] playing!” I went to go look who it was, I said, “It’s definitely was not [name REDACTED]….but I do know who that is!” Turns out it was, [name REDACTED]! I couldn’t believe it. The last time [band name REDACTED] played New York, their shows were completely sold out. Guess he was just working out some skillz.

Go ahead, leave your guesses as to who it was…

busker-des
Image from Sawlady.com.

Jack White and Ryan Adams Both Try Their Hands at Journalism

Tired of simply of blowing our minds with amazing music, both Jack White and Ryan Adams have decided to only let their pen and papers do the talking.

In the latest issue of Interview magazine, Jack plays journo and interviews the stunning Cate Blanchett.

And according to Page Six, Ryan Adams has been making good on his internship at BlackBook Magazine. He’s just been promoted to staff writer:

The singer who shuns baths will write a weekly column about life on the road as he traverses the country promoting his new album, “Cardinology.” Let’s hope Adams, who likes to ramble on incessantly on the Web, has a good editor.

Now who do you think makes the better journalist? Jack or Ry Ry?

Thanks to HT for the links.

Sophia Coppola’s Miss Dior Cherie Video

Is it just me, or is this Miss Dior Cherie advert shot by Sophia Coppola is what that Lily Allen video for “The Fear” so desperately was trying to emulate?