STEVE ALBINI

You're thinking of the Blink-182 from Earth 31.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SqhSfx2TkE

John Mayer (of all people) said something recently about David Letterman in this interview that got me thinking along similar lines:

Letterman was this trusty depot: 5 nights a week you could hang out in this place where, if you were a bright person — but one who also didn’t want to use their intelligence manipulatively — you could watch someone use their intelligence for entertainment purposes. Basically misappropriate their intelligence! I grew up in Fairfield, Connecticut, and if you grew up in New England and you were bright, there was a good chance you were going to go into some dark art, like become a defense attorney. But Letterman was sending up erudition by misappropriating it for nonsense, and I always found that heroic.

The idea of misappropriating talent and entitlement feels like something Letterman and Belushi brought to Gen-X American men.

And where the edgelord business ties in, as a model for Gen-X men to imitate, is the idea morrisp said of "intentionally being a dick" -- from Dr. (fun honorific!) Hunter S. Thompson to Bill Murray, being kind of a self-aware dick and leaning in to the entitlement.

Thanks for that Maggie Nelson quote, jaymc — loved it so much I ran out and got a copy of her book of essays you mentioned, On Freedom.

I've ordered it too.

Haven't listened yet, but the description implies it will be good:

http://vishkhanna.com/2021/12/15/ep-656-steve-albini/

Steve Albini talks U.S. politics, Electrical Audio and pandemic life, Shellac’s 30th anniversary and updates on their new record and new singles collection, Get Back and the Beatles he has met and spoken with, why he unlocked his twitter, owning his own insensitive socio-cultural mistakes, his Norm Macdonald encounters, Poverty Alleviation Charities’ 24 Hour Improv event on December 18-19, future plans and more!

His McCartney story (cameo appearance by the Auteurs) is funny

They're finally gonna put the early singles on CD/Bandcamp (presumably)? Nice!

It’s gonna be nice to finally own these limited edition items and really dig into them.

Listening to that episode now.

Better than winning a Grammy. https://t.co/kkvQ5KiiHf

— steve albini (@electricalWSOP) January 4, 2022

I'm enjoying Eve 6 guy's sparring/burgeoning friendship with him, even if he couldn't get him into Counting Crows

Yeah, that's been entertaining. I could have sworn the Eve 6 person has a real/fake beef with Patton Oswalt going, too.

Are they still going??

oh god jim goad

that interview was really good

You think I'm lying about that radio station @LinBrehmer can vouch. Occasional Joan Armatrading or Squeeze joints aside, it's all crow. (Lin I hear there's a new Eve6 song just dropped and the promotions budget is unlimited @FalconryFinance merchandise) (beef is so hot rn)

— steve albini (@electricalWSOP) January 5, 2022

no one has played Counting Crows in at least 24 hours. But thanks for listening.

— Lin Brehmer (@LinBrehmer) January 5, 2022

Oh shit, not a beef with Lin Brehmer. Chicago will tear itself in two!

Au contraire! https://t.co/5Q7fVeNVXZ pic.twitter.com/O7eu9etKhM

— Eric Ziegenhagen (@ericzieg) January 5, 2022

lol, I saw that!

not sure why Albini thought that Lin, of all people, would vouch for his minor (but completely accurate) XRT swipe though

so this is what albini does now

based on the timestamps, lin was right. it had been about 24 hours and 10 minutes since xrt played the counting crows.

How do you figure? Counting Crows was played at 2:47 pm the previous day and his tweet was at 2:12 pm today, that's less than 24 hours in my book.

And yes, I am disappointed in myself for spending this much time thinking about it.

It's OK, it was a long December

lol

STEVE ALBINI WAS MR. JONES THE WHOLE TIME!

surely there's a poker game happening somewhere that would be happy to deal ol' Steve in

xpost

oh shit you’re right..i thought i saw 3:12 for lin’s tweet

Not to get super-pedantic (and certainly not on Twitter), but according to the same source, XRT played "Round Here" at 6:01 a.m. this morning!

Can’t believe Albini missed the Black Crowes spins

Apropos of nothing, but an Albini Black Crowes album would've owned.

Crowes did a Zep cover album, and Albini recorded a Page/Plant album, so pretty close!

just to say that 'the back BONE of this country is the independent TRUCK!' is one of the most *bombastic intro*s to a record of all time. that squeal and thud.

He won his second World Series of Poker bracelet last night, taking first out of 773 players. $1,500 entry fee led to $196,000.

pic.twitter.com/vzWCXWmIe4

— steve albini (@electricalWSOP) June 18, 2022

That'll buy a lot of Travis Bean guitars.

Or go towards the staff at Electrical's take-home.

presumably gets his poker face from bands asking “how did you like that?” after a take

presumably gets his poker face from bands asking “how did you like that?” after a take

10/10!

It was a HORSE tournament too, that’s awesome

xxp hahaha kudos

Steve's 24-hour Letters to Santa fundraiser is livestreaming until 6 p.m. Central on Tuesday 12/20.

Scroll down for the music schedule -- Fred Armisen in a few minutes (9 p.m. Central), Will Oldham at 5 a.m., David Pajo at 10 a.m., Nina Nastasia 4:20 p.m., lots more in between.

The funniest thing about the fundraiser is that when you buy a ticket iirc you don't get to pick when during the 24-hours you get to be seated.

Bummer they moved it from Second City. I just don't understand how anyone could sit in the seats at Constellatioon for more than a couple hours. My back hurts thinking about it.

er, Constellation

It used to be that the ticket allowed you entry at any point in the 24 hours. Have seen some great acts (Jason Molina, Oldham, Nina Nastasia, Shellac, John D.) at odd hours. Never tried to make it in during the Tweedy prime time.

I snagged tickets to one of Tweedy's May all-request charity shows. He can be pretty funny.

He has not budged an inch since 1985/86, a time when he inveighed against "horrible beatbox rap" to John Leland in Spin… going forward to eight years ago, when in consenting to let an electronic musician use something he did, simply HAD to let it be known that he still considers dance music to be dogshit and exclusively the province of Al Jourgenson and other insufficiently punk rock Chicagoans he disliked in the 1980s… there was also a guy from Tortoise talking about that he was bewildered unto indignation re: house music (as pure an underground musical phenomenon as there has ever been) and remixes…

in my experience, it was very commonplace for his ilk in the 1980s to sneer at all black music as showbiz, sellout, pandering pop crap… has he ever evinced enthusiasm for any black music ever? other than the Bad Brains or Mick Collins? Does he like Chuck Berry and Little Richard, or jazz music? Or does those acts sound too much like the SNL band?

he is a big bill withers fan

Not always a fan of Steven Hyden, but I thought this was pretty lol in response to one of Albini's recent mini-rants:

You're a 60-year-old poker player from the Midwest. You're more Steely Dan than punk at this point. https://t.co/nVjhEKOhNG

— Steven Hyden (@Steven_Hyden) February 6, 2023

Saw 2 tweets mentioning this . One was from 2015

Steve Albini:
"[Jazz] is a signifier for musical adulthood. To embrace jazz is to don a kind of graduation cap, signifying a broadening of tastes outside 'mere' rock. This ostentatious display of 'sophistication' is an insult & I find the graduation cappers transparent & tedious

— giant fossil (@dolgthvari) October 13, 2020

My all-time favorite Steve Albini rant. In which he compares jazz to a squalid, drug-filled string of alleys pic.twitter.com/tkrzmfXOJC

— Zach Schonfeld (@zzzzaaaacccchhh) September 29, 2015