Bear Hands
I started listening to Bear Hands in anticipation of last fall’s CMJ Music Marathon. “Golden” and “What a Drag” are my favorites. Bear Hands is definitely an example where the lyrics matter more than over-complicated musical stylings. I can’t go further into explaining why I like them, I just do. That’s the way music is. It’s something you just “like”, without having to write a long analytical essay defending its merits. I am also a big fan of how one can download Bear Hands tracks *FOR FREE* by going on BearHandsBand and sharing your email. You then receive a message with a free download link and info about news and their upcoming shows. Bear Hands also has available through their site a white 7″ vinyl for purchase, because we all know that vinyl is making a comeback.
Urs Fischer
This image of Noisette alone along with a recommendation to examine the “wall paper” on the third floor makes me desperately want to see this Urs Fischer exhibit at the New Museum on 235 Bowery, New York, NY. “Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty” is Fischer’s first solo show and is the culmination of four years work. The wall paper “turns the Museum’s architecture into an image of itself—a site-specific trompe l’oeil environment. Each square inch of the Museum architecture has been photographed and reprinted as a wallpaper that covers the very same walls and ceiling, in a maddening exercise in simulation.” (New Museum) The exhibit is finished on February 7th so I need someone to commit to seeing it with me NOW! The New Museum knows you are a broke college student, that’s why we will pay $8.
The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby by Tom Wolfe
Author of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Tom Wolfe writes glimpses into lesser known American lives. The first chapter, “Las Vegas (What?) Las Vegas (Can’t Hear You! Too Noisy)” makes one think of the infamous Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. My favorite are the chapters about life in New York along with sketches of New Yorkers in the chapter titled “A Metropolitan Sketchbook”. If you find yourself rolling your eyes at the élite high society of New York, or you simply are not one of the natives and enjoy being cynical, this book is for you. I’ve becoming a fan of anthologies that you can pick up every once in a while for a second read and not feel guilty about reading some stories more than others. And just because it’s a recession is no excuse to stop reading. Be good to the Earth and buy a used copy.
Kurt Vonnegut was a fan, saying it was an “excellent book by a genius who will do anything to get attention.”
IFC’s Web Series Getting Away With Murder
Gilbert John, the actor playing the main character Seth Silver in Getting Away With Murder, is cute and delightfully awkward as he works as a cold-blooded hitman but still lives with his mom. The series itself is a hilarious take on the blood and gore plots that are gaining popularity (Dexter, Law & Order, CSI). Getting Away With Murder also has the well-known theme of one of life’s ever eternal conflicts: keeping your personal life and your career separate. Besides that, the characters are outrageous and the dialogue smirk-worthy. It reminds me of the independent films (cough student films cough) that my friends and I have been involved with the past few years at Hofstra. I may be biased (I’m a public relations intern for IFC), but all the IFC Web Series are gems. I spent an entire night during Christmas vacation watching the entire series and sincerely feel I am a better person for it.
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There you go. You now have a new band (Bear Hands) to talk about with the cute whatever at the bar this weekend, where you will also talk about the new book you are reading (The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby by Tom Wolfe), take said cute whatever to that cool new art exhibit (Urs Fischer at New Museum), and then snuggle up on the couch with the cute whatever watching the awkwardly cute Gilbert John (Getting Away with Murder). Ta da!
Now turning off Belle & Sebastian and going to Paddy’s Power Pub in Merrick to watch co-workers sing karaoke. Have fun this weekend and I promise to have more entries soon.
My Name Is Reb 