michaelazerrad.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

It's Lou Reed's birthday so here's a priceless clip of him doing his best Andy Warhol impression at an Australian press conference in 1974. Reporter: What do you like most in life? Lou: Everything. Reporter: Is there any things you like better than others? Lou: No.

submitted 16 hours ago • 0 comments

The great David Johansen has left the building. It's difficult to convey how central he was for those of us of a certain age and mindset. But maybe this rockin' tune he recorded during his eponymous solo career in the late '70s will give you a sense of it.

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

"Woody Guthrie's guitar didn’t actually kill fascists. It was an idea he painted on his guitar and that idea inspired people. That's what music does." — Billy Bragg

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If Conde Nast can make a zine, what does zine even mean? More in the New York Review of Blogs (AKA us when we get upset): hellgatenyc.com/if-conde-nas...

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

I did a Substack thing.

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For 43 years, music lovers have adored "New Sounds," John Schaefer's hugely influential show on @wnyc.org. But now the tone-deaf bean-counters at WNYC have decided to cancel @newsounds.bsky.social. The only way the show can go on is if major donors and foundations step up. Know anybody who can help?

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

The first piece of music I heard this morning was Kool and the Gang's paradigmatically funky "Jungle Boogie" and I'm feeling very good about that.

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

It's Kurt Cobain's birthday. He would have been 58. Kurt loved Chim-Chim from _Speed Racer_ so here's a Chim-Chim in his honor.

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Happy 92nd birthday to the brilliant artist @yokoono.bsky.social!

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

"The reason people feel out of control of their own lives has a lot to do with the media. People just don't believe what they're getting." — Twyla Tharp, "Twyla Tharp Weds Dance to Video," the New York Times, February 10, 1984

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

I am pleased to note that I have heard America's "Ventura Highway" twice in the past three days.

submitted 13 days ago • 1 comment

The most common wishes at @yokoono.bsky.social's "Wish Tree," a vast and often poignant interactive installation at @ParkAveArmory: peace, health, fame (!), love, wealth and better days for the US. And little kids want iPads and Roblox.

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

Great Substack by @loubarlow.bsky.social about the trials and tribulations — intra-band politics, mediocre drummers, tough but fair reviews — of his quintessential indie band Sebadoh. Musicians — and anybody who's interested in the process of being in a band — will want to read it.

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

I don’t give a hoot about people’s ranked lists but this, from the excellent Tom Scharpling of @bestshow4life.bsky.social is interesting: _Lulu_ is #8. Quite a leap up from its early scorn. Maybe @davidbowiereal.bsky.social will be proven correct: _Lulu_ will be rated among Lou Reed's greatest work.

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

The New York Dolls were one of those bands whose influence vastly exceeded their record sales. That's why their singer David Johansen needs some help. He's got stage 4 cancer and a brain tumor. Then he broke his back. Maybe you can hoist him a few bucks.

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

For all you extreme Nirvana fans and drum geeks, I posted an outtake annotation from _The Amplified Come as You Are_ about the actually legendary snare drum that Dave Grohl played on _Nevermind_.

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

I did the research so you don't have to: apparently, it's a coincidence that 33 (RPM) + 45 (RPM) = 78 (RPM). You're welcome.

submitted 23 days ago • 2 comments

I've been a John Fahey fan since I was 17, which is a lot of years. The point being, you can enjoy his music over a very long span of time. Try _Requia and Other Compositions_ — so prismatically beautiful, it's psychedelic.

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

Happy birthday, Philip Glass Hap-py birth-day, Phil-ip Glass HappybirthdayPhilipGlass

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

back from chicago with a truckload of steve albini's treasures. will be working with heather on a site that makes 'em available to the public within the next couple of months. start savin' up.

submitted 33 days ago • 4 comments

RIP Marianne Faithfull. She was the coolest lady and had the most rock & roll walk.

submitted 31 days ago • 0 comments

The Brooklyn band Bodega explains why they called their catchy and provocative new-ish album _Our Brand Could Be Yr Life_.

submitted 33 days ago • 1 comment

From the legendary compilation _Awesome Alt-Rock Tunes of the Early '90s_.

submitted 35 days ago • 1 comment

After my first _Rolling Stone_ cover story, I tracked down my high school English teacher and thanked him for believing in me as a writer. "You're just in time," he said. "I'm dying." It meant the world to him that I got in touch. I'm really glad I made that call. You should do it too. Don't wait.

submitted 36 days ago • 1 comment

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It's Lead Belly's birthday so I'm posting a heartbreaking song about "an old man who had a cow, just one cow, and the cow died. He loved the cow better than his own child."

submitted 38 days ago • 0 comments

It's Daniel Johnston's birthday so I'll post one of his greatest songs, sung by his friend Kathy McCarty. It's from McCarty's really great record of Johnston covers called _Dead Dog's Eyeball_. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kudm...

submitted 39 days ago • 2 comments

In honor of Kiss singer-guitarist Paul Stanley's 73rd birthday, and for your amusement, I highly recommend searching "people let me get this off my chest" on Youtube. It's a rock & roll classic.

submitted 41 days ago • 1 comment

#SonicYouth is one of my all-time favorites…an older piece by @michaelazerrad.bsky.social that is definitely worth the read on this Sunday morning

submitted 42 days ago • 1 comment

Satomi from Deerhoof is, among other wonderful things, far and away the best dancer in rock music.

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

Well, _Our Band Could Be Your Life_ came in 5th. It's an automated ranked list but most of the other books are great.

submitted 47 days ago • 2 comments

Jackie Farry was Frances Bean's nanny when I was writing _Come as You Are_, so I got to know her. She was tough but sweet — perfect traits for a loving, fiercely protective nanny and then invaluable in her long, inspiring fight against cancer, to which she succumbed Sunday. May she rest in peace.

submitted 48 days ago • 1 comment

A Psycher update: they convened in September and jammed very productively — "it’s loose and vibey and super cool," says Kathy Valentine on her Substack. She and Brix Smith formed the best bits into "a few songs" and "there’s more we haven’t touched yet." They record next month! katval.substack.com

submitted 50 days ago • 0 comments

This @dirtyprojectors.bsky.social lyric video dropped today. It is terrifyingly timely. "That all this warming is an arctic saga, unfolding remotely That it is strictly a matter of sea level and coastlines None of this true."

submitted 53 days ago • 0 comments

Just came across this again. It's profound. It's why "our band could be your life."

submitted 55 days ago • 1 comment

This project just got a lot more real and I bet it's gonna be good: Psycher, featuring Cait O'Riordan (the Pogues), Linda Pitmon (the Minus 5, the Baseball Project), Brix Smith (the Fall, Adult Net), and Kathy Valentine (some band called the Go-Go's).

submitted 57 days ago • 0 comments

The wait is finally over: the Czech translation of _The Amplified Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana_ has arrived!

submitted 58 days ago • 0 comments

Not for nothin' but @artnet.bsky.social named _Family Values: Kurt, Courtney & Frances Bean_ by the excellent photo team @lesguzman.bsky.social one of the "10 Must-See Photo Books of 2024." The photos really are beautiful, intimate, revealing and moving, which I tried to convey in the introduction.

submitted 58 days ago • 1 comment

submitted 60 days ago • 1 comment