Archive for August 2010
Frontier Cyclist, vol. 17 – Bike Nostalgia
Posted by: Keith Meatto on: August 31, 2010
- In: Bikes
- 2 Comments
[Our weekly urban cycling column appears on Tuesdays] I’m often guilty of nostalgia for things I never experienced: the California Gold Rush, Los Angeles in the 1940s, other people’s childhoods. This summer I had it bad. Summers are for nostalgia, after all, especially summers on bikes. When I was a kid, we rarely went to [...]
Ask a (Frontier) Psychiatrist
Posted by: L.V. Lopez on: August 31, 2010
Dear Frontier Psychiatrist, What can you copyright in music, anyway? There are only so many notes and so many chords one can use in Western Music. You can’t copyright the 12-bar blues. Or a I-IV-V progression. Or can you? What about artists like Sufjan Stevens who “borrow” lyrics? Or hip-hop artists who use samples? -Need [...]
Frontier Gastronomy: Gordita!
Posted by: Frontier Gastronomist on: August 30, 2010
The season of the Hatch green chile is upon us. For those of you not finely attuned to the various harvest times of the crops of the Southwest, the region of Hatch, New Mexico is known widely for its chile production. I am friends with transplanted Arizonans and New Mexicans who wait all year for [...]
Oh, La! – Ra Ra Riot Returns
Posted by: Keith Meatto on: August 30, 2010
Their name suggests that Ra Ra Riot makes either raucous or humorous music. Or maybe this is what your English teacher calls irony. On their second record, the Syracuse sextet offers more orchestral pop tunes tinged with the ache of love gone wrong. Released last week, The Orchard continues on the path that Ra Ra [...]
Frontier Mixology, Vol. 18: Mo’ Better Booze
Posted by: Roddy Rickhouse on: August 27, 2010
- In: Drinks
- 3 Comments
The Frontier Psychiatrist editorial board is meeting tonight to enjoy some serious cocktails. We certainly will not be drinking Conjure, the cognac brought to you by Ludacris. Indeed, there seems to be a certain compunction among those in the public eye — artists, sports stars, etc. — to pursue endeavors well-outside the established areas of [...]
Indiephemera Friday, vol. 20 – Appropriation Edition
Posted by: Keith Meatto on: August 27, 2010
Good musicians borrow. Great musicians steal. First, Sufjan Stevens appropriates Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence” on his new EP, All Delighted People, which we reviewed on Monday. Now Stevens has announced his forthcoming album The Age of Adz, which appropriates the art and ideas of the late Royal Robertson, a Louisiana artist whose work [...]
Frontier Archaeology, vol. 16: Stevie Ray Vaughan
Posted by: L.V. Lopez on: August 26, 2010
(Each Thursday, we celebrate music before 1990) It’s difficult for those of us who picked up a six-string at a young age to evaluate Stevie Ray Vaughan objectively. Others might argue that his music is derivative, banal, even (gasp) boring. And perhaps they are correct. But for those who spent time listening to records and [...]
Two Poems by Allyson Paty
Posted by: Keith Meatto on: August 26, 2010
PATRIA My father like every good father has fingers sturdy as boulders. Like boulders they make no sound. Every morning he buttons his shirt in the dark. He won’t take notice if the cat spends the night hunting and drops a cockroach at his feet. Whenever he steps out, the hall light catches his face. [...]
You May Need A Sick Day: DC Beer Week
Posted by: Peter Lillis on: August 25, 2010
Most (all) of us have been to college, right? During college, most (all) of us learned to drink beer, right? Hopefully, as you age, so do your preferences. So, say, during college, we thought Keystone Light was an actual tasty beverage. Now, not so much. In steps DC Beer Week to keep your aging taste [...]
FP Top 5 International: Bands from Australia
Posted by: L.V. Lopez on: August 25, 2010
- In: FP Top 5
- 2 Comments
(Our Weekly Wednesday Countdown) Most American music fans are intimately familiar with the history of popular music in their home country and that of Great Britain. Occasionally a popular act will surface from less familiar shores (Sweden, Iceland, France), but for the most part we Yanks remain musically isolationist. Whether this is a result of [...]
