“You follow drugs, you get drug addicts and drug dealers. But you start to follow the money, and you don’t know where the fuck it’s gonna take you. ”
– Detective Lester Freamon, The Wire
New York City may have some of the best campaign finance laws in the country, but running for office still ain’t free. In this series, we’ll take a look at who’s stocking the war-chests of our local political candidates, particularly the group running to replace Mayor Bloomberg in 2013. Continue reading
Votes due by Wednesday, April 18th at 5:00 PM EST: After some feeling out the water, it looks like a number of these coaches are pushing it up to 11- which makes for a great set. Enjoy these match-ups…if there were any Monday morning playlist, this is it. Listen to the tunes here, and good luck to all:
Champion vs. Challenger: Dyermaker (Led Zeppelin, 1-1) vs. Uptight (Everything’s Alright)(Stevie Wonder, 1-1)
Challenger Championship: Pale Blue Eyes (Velvet Underground, 0-1) vs. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (AC/DC, 1-0)
Last LBS Group:
Sloop John B (Beach Boys, 0-1) vs. Down South In New Orleans (The Band, 1-0)
Spoonman (Soundgarden, 1-0) vs. Where The Streets Have No Name (U2, 0-1)
You (Atmosphere, 1-0) vs. Freewill (Rush, 0-1)
Ramblin’ Man (Allman Brothers, 0-1) vs. Mary Jane’s Last Dance (Tom Petty, 1-0)
These three layers together make up the...
After a wild 3 days of voting, the results are in. Big winner here is Led Zeppelin, whose “Ramble On” rambles all over “Boogie On Reggae Woman.” 76.3-69.3 is the final score, and Zeppelin knots the series against Stevie Wonder at 1 a piece. Home court advantage switches to Stevie for the next three games (i.e., nominating second as opposed to first.)
The closest final score of the day goes to the 90s battle. There were some comments on Dan’s choice of a fairly obscure U2 song to kick things off, and Soundgarden takes advantage. “Fell On Black Days” over “Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around The World,” 69.3-68.3.
Game 1 of the Challenger final goes to…AC/DC. “Heroin” is certainly a killer song of historical importance, but the Aussies rocked hard and rocked out. “Whole Lotta Rosie” takes it, 64.9-59.6. Continue reading
Votes due by Saturday at midnight: And we’re back with a bang! After our last call for coaches, people popped up out of the woodwork left and right- so much so that we ended up with eight new bands in addition to the four survivors from past groups. And this is a killer, killer dozen of artists. I say only appropriate since the Facebook event for Marathon Day V was recently released. Welcome back to coaches Salem (Rush) and Jenn (Tom Petty) who take another shot, and welcome new coaches Janos(Beach Boys), Tats(Soundgarden), George+George’s Wife (Allman Brothers), Greg (Atmosphere), Alex (The Band), and Dan/”Team MarComm” (U2). We’ve got some killer match-ups for all below- listen to the tunes here, vote by commenting on the post. Extra time since we’ve got extra songs- hey, make a weekend party out of this killer set. With this many players, no reason to not break some voter records… Continue reading
“I went to the market to realize my soul, cause what I need I just don’t have.”
-The Clash
Jammin’ was shattered when Micah got kicked out of camp. That morning he wandered around camp dazed underneath his green trucker hat, sometimes helping his brother pack, other times cursing the decision made. You didn’t break up the brothers. The rules were the rules. The decision had been made. Fuck it all, he said to Jane and I. You two lead Team Hope today, wI need to help Micah move and figure out what’s happening next.
He took Scuba Jen to Florida for a well-needed vacation. Or more, Scuba Jen accompanied Jammin’ on his well-deserved vacation. Around the same time, Billy and Sarah got along on their way. Billy never stopped fuming about his argument with Dingo, up until the end. They drove off Vermont-bound with a little dog named Loxi they adopted. So all of the sudden in the crew leaders were gone.
Jane and I took over Team Hope. We had an experienced crew by this point. And it was around this time that problems began to emerge.
It’s spring, and that means we’ll have some great podcasts coming your way. Mark Updegrove is the director of the LBJ Presidential Library, and the author of a new book, Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency. During the podcast we talk about the numerous achievements of the Great Society, the complexity of the Vietnam War, the library, Robert Caro, and a host of other scintillating topics. Check it out, and prepare yourself for more to come.
The results are in, and after being unable to wrangle up a fourth coach for the tournament, also an announcement. The announcement first- namely without a fourth coach and given recent low turnouts, we’re pausing the tournament to give everyone a breather. When we return, Stevie and Zepp will continue their battle, AC/DC and
Alright, voters- good to be back in the driver’s seat after a three month admin hiatus. Hats off to Janos and his masterful launch of this tournament through eighteen independent days of match-ups (click here to see a full record of everything that’s happened to date.) It is not easy driving solo, and to return the favor I look forward to launching the third flight of four new challengers in the coming days.
The results of the most recent set of match-ups are in, and there are fond farewells to be had.
“This shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S.”
-Gwen Stefani
The Depends Diapers incident is aforementioned, and although urine was not involved in any of the antics I witnessed afterward, there was revelry. It was calm at first, nothing more than bearded, gruff tree guys and whiskey and guitar. Sure, Billy set Ronnie on fire that one time, and sure sometimes people got loud, but for the most part it was a contained sort of fun. There was talk of banning hard liquor, but nothing really happened with that for a long while. And then all of the sudden, many things happened at the same time and the scene in the back of the field changed. For starters, it was sometime around now that Jungle Jim came; he was a former Angel Flights pilot, a couple screws to the wind, and had been living in Belize for the last five years. Great guy, definitely had a brain a little off from too many hallucinogens in his past. Anyways, Termite didn’t take too kindly to him, so he set up shop in the brush of the opposite corner of the back from where the Termites set up shop.
Simultaneous to this, the Termites started getting into it with the administration. Continue reading
Before Rolling Stone wasted space slamming Dartmouth College
Now that Led Zeppelin has been crowned champion, it eagerly awaits the opportunity to defend its title. Enter Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon. Stevie goes for the series win this weekend. Listen here and vote by commenting before 8pm Tuesday (EST). I’m giving an extra long voting session, with Joy Division and the Who also facing elimination, and me transitioning the administration over Guillermo.
I Know What I Know (Paul Simon) vs. Stevie Wonder (Higher Ground)
Thunderstruck (AC/DC) vs. Squeeze Box (Who)
Disorder (Joy Division) vs. The Story of My Life (Velvet Underground)
And last call for new coaches this weekend.
Living the Dream 