Good morning, y’all! Did you miss us yesterday? Bet you did! Especially the theater trolls! Top of the news pile this morning: According to the Student Press Law Center, the University of Maryland’s Board of Regents opted to not make a constitution-violating anti-porn policy for the university. “The students couldn’t be happier,” Sarah Elfreth, the student rep on the board, told the SPLC. Good on the board, I say, and good on the students for defending what’s important; free speech is the shit.

The one band everyone–save for me and NME–forgot to put on their best of the decade list, how to solve a Rubik’s cube, more still on Dave Eggers’ foray into newspapers, and more, after the jump.

Read More “Arts Morning Roundup: Porn Wins the Day at University of Maryland” »

To judge by their tightly wound, country-tinged pop songs, Olivia Mancini and the Mates aren’t shorting their craft. But even the most polished band needs its R&R, and this local act—featuring two former members of Washington Social Club—loves to curl up with a good book. That’s the impression, at least, left by “Graphology,” a rollicking gem from the group’s new album in which Mancini lists maybe a dozen book titles. Apparently, her bookshelf (including 50 Years of Fender, 1776, and Bob Dylan’s Chronicles) is pretty heavy on nonfiction, although some Dashiell Hammett sneaks in (noir does not make its way, it only sneaks). Pretty eclectic stuff: too bad, then, that Mancini concludes each verse with “those are not enough to make me smart.” But we’ve all been there.

Olivia Mancini and the Mates perform tomorrow at the Black Cat with Stripmall Ballads. $8. You can download “Graphology” at the group’s Web site. Here’s another song:

More literary pop songs after the jump, including a nonsensical (what else!) Pynchon tribute, a lucrative (?!) Brontë homage, and Dan Bejar being Dan Bejar!

Read More “Clip Job: Five Songs About Books” »

Arena Stage wants your children, grades 5-12. Specifically, they want your children’s ten-minute plays. If your child’s play wins, he or she “will receive playwriting master classes and participate in further script development with professional playwrights, directors and dramaturgs,” according to an Arena Stage press release. The winning children will receive $250, to be spent on pogs and therapy.

If pleased by the idea of turning your child into the most serious, self-conscious, over-worked kid in the 8th grade, you can find the guidelines for the competition after the jump.

Read More “Calling All Parents of That Kid From the Bobby Fischer Movie” »

1. When Will the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Run Out Of Mainstream Acts to Induct?
2. Meet New Moon Cast Members at Fair Oaks Mall
3. Clip Job: Five Bands with at Least as Many Members as Songs
4. Photos: Miley Cyrus @ Verizon Center
5. Photos: Bruce Springsteen @ Verizon Center

According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, N.C., held an old-fashioned book burning last week (above is an AP video on the same).

Now, my people didn’t burn books when I was growing up, but my youth pastor did ask me to toss my copy of Pyromania, and my grandfather, an Episcopal priest, refused to allow books written by Carl Jung inside his house. Also, I once had to scribble an ode to masturbation on a slip of paper during mass and throw it into a cauldron of fire.

Based on these criteria, I feel qualified to offer the following FAQ for attending a book burning.

Read More “What is the Proper Etiquette for a Book Burning?” »

A few weeks ago Shortstack came out of hiding and performed a show at Comet Ping Pong. I went here instead. Fortunately, All Our Noise was there and shot some footage of the band. And they’re rocking out. The band’s past couple of releases–History of Cut Nails in America and 2008’s Covers EP–had some grit, but this clip has some real aggro-Creedence stuff going on.

Bite Sized Sets at Comet: Shortstack from All Our Noise on Vimeo.

Thereby further cementing his place in the annals of weirdness.

Someone should give Walken the treatment Chuck Klosterman gave Val Kilmer. By which I mean a nice thinky profile that makes you love him more than you already do.

This is the question Mike Conklin asks at L Magazine:

Right around the mid-80s, or 25 years ago, or the exact amount of time that needs to have passed since a band’s debut in order for them to be eligible for induction, when hair-metal came along and ruined everything, it simply became cooler for rock bands to exist below the radar of the mainstream. With the exceptions of a period of a few years in the early 90s, with Pearl Jam and Nirvana, and then again a decade later with the White Stripes and Radiohead, all the best rock bands have been, for lack of a better term, indie rock bands.

Are the Replacements going to be inducted? Sonic Youth? Husker Du? Joy Division? The Go Betweens? Pavement? Guided By Voices? If they’re not, it’s bullshit: for people who actually still really, truly care about rock and roll, these are the bands that have carried on in the tradition the Hall of Fame has always held dear. But if they are inducted, the Hall of Fame will surely lose the massive cultural appeal it so obviously strives for, considering barely any of those bands have sold as many copies of all their records put together as most current inductees have of even their least successful record.

While a good question on its face, a little historical digging says we can prolong answering this one for a while yet.

Read More “When Will the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Run Out Of Mainstream Acts to Induct?” »

1. Area Code: The term “DMV,” brought to you by the hard work of local rappers. And phone cards.
2. Post Profile Brings Up Touchy Subject: What Claim Do Writers Have on Their Bylines?
3. Meet New Moon Cast Members at Fair Oaks Mall
4. Das Racist Goes After Sasha Frere-Jones For Being White ‘N’ Educated
5. Creed Was Never Underrated

What a difference a block makes. For the Long View Gallery, a short move down 9th Street NW may become a major coup in a year when many galleries are struggling. Owner Drew Porterfield has opened a cavernous 5,000-square-foot gallery in an old warehouse across from the convention center—a major upgrade from his previous storefront space. The opening show is a collection of new work from gallery artists, among them, Scott G. Brooks, Anna Davis, Steve Pyke, Dan Ellyn, and Matt Sesow. —Maura Judkis

Read the full City Lights pick here; deets below the jump.

Read More “Today in Galleries: New Works at the Long View Gallery” »