Tynan's Anger

SONGS OF THE DECADE #64

[For more info, read the Ground Rules of The Song of The Decade List]

Marnie Stern - Transformer (2008)

Here I was ready to heap on the praise to Marnie Stern—that she's the best female guitarist of all time, one of the most creative songwriters of the past decade, a hallmark of creativity, yada yada—and before I could get into full rock critic mode, I heard Marnie pleading, "I cannot be all these things to you." It's one thing to be as creative as Marnie Stern. It's another thing to acknowledge that creativity and its limitations. It's even more impressive that she was able to wrap this lyrical-self reflection ("I turn this moment into something new/ It's true") in the most anthemic song Stern has released to date.

This is one case where the limits of the current music industry affected the music in a positive way: lyrical honesty that didn't diminish the power of a song that was never going to be a hit to begin with. Form even follows function in Stern's ultimate call to arms: "the future is yourself fill this part in."

Labels: 2000s, lists, marnie stern, pop music, songs of the decade, transformer

I went to the Rangers game tonight because I thought it would be less depressing than the debate. Boy, was I wrong.

In addition to exceedingly sloppy, uninspired hockey, tonight also featured the worst "Potvin Sucks" chanting I've ever heard. The first 30 minutes of the game practically begged for the chant about 90% of the time, but the only time it managed to get chanted was when something actually important was going on. In sum, the whole night just seemed.

Too tired to do a full on blog post on theater, but here are the links that have drawn my eye today:

-Time Out Chicago covers marketing: Elizabethan style. You may Marnie Stern's new album had a long title, but she ain't got nothing on Marlowe.

-Frost/Nixon: not so much, says the L.A. Times. This is particularly depressing, because the main knock on the play crtics had was that it would be better off as a movie.

-CNN Newsanchor says the worst word in the English language—twice!


-Milan Kundera, former Soviet informant (though still not as big of a hypocrite as Gunter Grass).

Labels: bad words, christopher marlowe, cnn, frost/nixon, hockey, los angeles times, marnie stern, milan kundera, new york rangers, politics, potvin sucks, shakespeare