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Simon’s – “Easy Money: Anatomy of a Drug Empire”

Congratulations to SHH’s newest contributor, Brian. Aside from being an avid reader, he’s also a local scholar of HBO’s The Wire. Enjoy!

“Easy Money: Anatomy of a Drug Empire” is a series of five articles written by David Simon that ran in The Baltimore Sun from January 11, 1985 to January 15, 1985. Simon is best known as the creator of the HBO series The Wire, but he started his professional career as a reporter for The Baltimore Sun. He joined The Sun out of college in 1982 and left in 1995, disillusioned by the corporate culture that invaded his newspaper. While reading Simon’s first book, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, I found that “Easy Money” was referenced more than once by Simon and Continue reading →

Tags: Anatomy of a Drug Empire, Avon, Baltimore, beepers, Brian J. Murphy, David Simon, drugs, Easy Money, HBO, hipster, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, Lamont Farmer, Melvin Williams, Nathan Barksdale, review, Stringer Bell, The Baltimore Sun, The Corner, The Wire

The Modern Lovers – The Modern Lovers

10 Jul

The Modern Lovers by The Modern Lovers (1976)

The Modern Lovers were a super group of not-yet-knowns in the 1970s. The band that played on their classic debut consisted of Jonathan Richman on guitar and vocals, Jerry Harrison on keyboard, Ernie Brooks on bass and David Robinson on drums. They disbanded after two short years in 1973 and the album itself wasn’t released until three years later. Richman went on to have a successful (albeit sappier) solo career keeping the band name as his back-up band, Harrison became the keyboardist for the Talking Heads, Brooks Continue reading →

Tags: David Johansen, David Robinson, Elvis Presley, Ernie Brooks, Girlfriend, hipster, I'm Straight, Jerry Harrison, John Cale, Jonathan Richman, Modern World, Old World, Pablo Picasso, review, Roadrunner, rock & roll, She Cracked, Someone I Care About, Talking Heads, The Cars, The Modern Lovers, The Velvet Underground

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Categories Album Reviews
Author the self-hating hipster

American Imported Swedish Vodka

4 Jul

As some of you may or may not know, my birthday happens to coincide with America’s: the 4th of July. You may have also noticed that there are longer gaps in between my posts. I have been working more and writing less. My apologies. My sincerest apologies if you look to my website for regular, entertaining material. Continue reading →

Tags: Absolut, America, American Flag, birthday, Grey Goose, hipster, imported, July 4th, olives, Popov, SKYY, Smirnoff, stars and stripes, Svedka, Sweden, Three Olives, vodka

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Categories Booze, Happy Birthday, Slices of Life
Author the self-hating hipster

Jaill – Traps

19 Jun

Traps is Jaill’s second release on Sub Pop after 2010′s That’s How We Burn and their third record as a band. Their first album, There’s No Sky (Oh My My), was released on Burger Records as Jail. Apparently Sub Pop forced them to change their name as there was a European band named Jail years ago. Continue reading →

Tags: Andrew Harris, Austin Dutmer, Burger Records, Everyone's a Bitch, Flaming Lips, hipster, House With Haunting, Jaill, Madness, Million Times, Perfect Ten, review, Stone Froze Mascot, Sub Pop, That's How We Burn, the dB's, The Shins, The Unicorns, There's No Sky, Traps, Vinnie Kircher, While You Reload

Reynolds – Totally Wired: Post-Punk Interviews and Overviews

18 Jun

Totally Wired: Post-Punk Interviews and Overviews by Simon Reynolds (2010)

Simon Reynolds is one of the most critically acclaimed music journalists of the past decade and has found himself the authority on both 90’s electronic dance music and the post-punk movement of the late 70’s and early 80’s. If his 2006 release Rip It Up and Start Again: Post-Punk 1978-1984 is Continue reading →

Tags: ABC, Alan Vega, Ari Up, art rock, David Byrne, David Thomas, Dennis Bovell, Gang of Four, hipster, Ian Curtis, Jah Wobble, John Lydon, John Peel, Josef K, Joy Division, Lydia Lunch, Mark Stewart, Melody Maker, MTV, New Order, New Pop, NME, Orange Juice, Paul Haig, Pere Ubu, PiL, post punk, Radio One, Rip it Up and Start Again, Scritti Politti, Simon Reynolds, Sounds, Steven Morris, Suicide, Swell Maps, Talking Heads, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, The Human League, The Pop Group, The Slits, Top of the Pops, Totally Wired, TOTP

12 Songs About Extraterrestrial Life

14 Jun

There are two alien-centered blockbusters in theaters currently. To immense anticipation, Ridley Scott tries his directorial hand at sci-fi for the first time since 1982’s Blade Runner with Prometheus, a prequel to his genius Alien. To far less excitement, the third installment of the Men in Black series is out and combines at least three formulaic plot devices. In any event, what better time to visit/revisit some songs about extraterrestrial life? Continue reading →

Tags: Alien, Alien Being, Alien Boy, Alien She, androids, Ash, Bee Thousand, Bikini Kill, Blade Runner, Books About UFOs, Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, David Bowie, Fred Schneider, Gary Numan, Greg Norton, Guided by Voices, Hardcore UFOs, hipster, Husker Du, Illinoise, Is This Real?, James Carville, jeff bridges, Joe Satriani, Kathleen Hanna, Life on Mars, Men in Black, New Day Rising, OK Computer, Philip K. Dick, Planet Claire, Praying to the Aliens, Prometheus, Pussy Whipped, Radiohead, Replicas, Ridley Scott, soundtrack, Starman, Stephin Merritt, Subterranean Homesick Alien, Sufjan Stevens, Surfing With the Alien, The B-52's, The House of Tomorrow, The Magnetic Fields, The Pleasure Principle, The Soft Boys, Tubeway Army, Underwater Moonlight, Wipers, Ziggy Stardust

Psychedelic Furs at The Egg (6/2/2012)

12 Jun

At 7:41AM on Thursday May 31st I received a text message from my father:

“I’m sure you read that the Psychedelic Furs are at The Egg Saturday at 8PM?”

I hadn’t heard. And so, this article is going to prove two things: Continue reading →

Tags: Albany, Amanda Kramer, Heartbeat, hipster, Imitation of Christ, India, Into You Like a Train, live, Love My Way, Mars Williams, Mirror Moves, Paul Garisto, Pretty in Pink, Psychedelic Furs, review, Rich Good, Richard Butler, Talk Talk Talk, The Egg, Tim Butler

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Categories Live Shows
Author the self-hating hipster

Lower’s “Craver” Will Have You Gasping

6 Jun

Punk as a genre has seen countless quick and powerful bursts followed by unbearably long dwindles in mainstream mediocrity. Punk seems to thrive in bleak, industrial cities that are otherwise devoid of culture. Surprisingly, the brightest spot on the punk map of late is the burgeoning scene in Copenhagen, Denmark, a city known for its jazz, architecture and clean environment.

Early last year, the Copenhagen-based punk quartet Iceage released their debut LP New Brigade to near universal acclaim. In late March 2012, Iceage’s Escho Records lablemate Lower released Continue reading →

Tags: Adrian Toubro, Copenhagen, Craver, Denmark, Escho Records, hardcore, hipster, Iceage, Lower, New Brigade, post punk, punk, review, Walk On Heads EP

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Categories Music
Author the self-hating hipster

Indie Canon Inductee: Black Tambourine

31 May

Most people think of Beck’s Guero when they hear “Black Tambourine,” but Black Tambourine was a band long before a song, and a musical anomaly at that. The four-piece of Pam Berry, Brian Nelson, Archie Moore and Michael Schulman formed in the greater Washington D.C. area in 1989, recorded a total of ten original songs, played a small handful of live shows and then disbanded in early 1992. They released only two EPs and Continue reading →

Tags: 'Allo Darlin, Aggi Wright, Archie Moore, Beck, Black Car, Black Tambourine, Brian Nelson, Buddy Holly, C-86, Can't Explain, Chickfactor, Complete Recordings, Crystal Stilts, Cub, Dream Baby Dream, Dum Dum Girls, For Ex-Lovers Only, Go Sailor, Guero, Heartbeat, Henry's Dress, hipster, I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend, Indie Canon, Jesus and Mary Chain, Lazy Heart, Michael Schulman, noise rock, OneTwoThreeFour EP, Pam Berry, shoegaze, Slumberland, spinART, Stephen Pastel, Suicide, Talulah Gosh, Tears of Joy, The Aislers Set, The Pastels, The Ramones, Throw Aggi Off the Bridge, twee pop, tweegaze, We Can't Be Friends, What's Your Game

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Categories Music
Author the self-hating hipster

Sun Kil Moon – Among the Leaves

22 May

Mark Kozelek made his name during the early 90’s as the leading man and singer/songwriter behind Red House Painters. Since the Red House Painters’ disbanding in the late 1990’s, Kozelek has continued to release acclaimed albums under the guise Sun Kil Moon. Kozelek’s latest installment as Sun Kil Moon, Among the Leaves, comes 20 years after the RHP’s epic debut Down Colorful Hill. With the possible exception of the confused Modest Mouse cover album Tiny Cities, he has a critically untarnished record. Sun Kil Moon is Continue reading →

Tags: Admiral Fell Promises, Among the Leaves, boxing, cats and martinis, Down Colorful Hill, Elaine, hipster, Mark Kozelek, Peter Collopy, Red House Painters, Red Poison, Sun Kil Moon, Sung-Kil Moon, Sunshine in Chicago, That Bird Has a Broken Wing, That Was the Greatest Night of My Life, The Moderately Talented Yet Not So Attractive Middle Aged Man, The Winery, Tiny Cities, Track Number 8, UK Blues