Orpheus Records in Arlington is still open despite staff predictions that the store would be closed by now.

According to store owner Rick Carlisle, “it seems likely” that the bricks-and-mortar version of Orpheus will now stay open through the end of April.

In case you haven’t been following this story, here’s the original news item from Black Plastic Bag and an excellent article from the Washington Post.

Boston is not the kind of band that gets hung up on their singer dying. No, when life gives Boston lemonade, Boston just picks itself up, dusts itself off, and calls…the dude from Stryper? Yes, that’s correct, Michael Sweet, the man who taught bazillions of Christian kids to shout at the devil and tease their hair to unheard-of heights, is replacing poor Brad on Boston’s upcoming tour of casinos, fairs, and races. But wait! That’s not all! Sweet will be spelled by Tommy DeCarlo, who attracted the attention of Boston on MySpace, where he sung their hits.

God, what did Brad Delp ever do to you? (Press release follows the jump. Enjoy some Stryper NOW!)

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A friend just sent me a link to a PopMatters post about the demise of Silver Spring’s Harp Magazine. I asked a colleague who would know and I was told that it is indeed true.

Looks like the issue with Dain Bramage’s Dave Grohl on the cover might be the magazine’s swan song.

Overheard yesterday at Orpheus Records in Arlington: the store might be closing within the next week. They have yet to hear from the landlord about an extension and they need time to pack up thousands of LPs and CDs (not to mention furniture and stereo gear).

Got some great deals yesterday on Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Pentangle and Julian Priester LPs.

Sale aside, this place has been around 31 years–that’s longer than either 9:30 Club or Dischord or most D.C. rock institutions. I’ll be real sad to see Rick go. Drop by while you still have the chance.

Wouldn’t Ramiele Malubay and David Archuleta make, like, the nicest couple ever? I think the two of them together might be able to achieve world peace.

Back in the late 90s, when I first started writing about underground metal for the Washington City Paper, music critics tended to ignore the so-called extreme underground or they specialized in it to the exclusion of everything else. Now it’s different. Pitchfork, which barely existed back then, has an extreme metal column. And Spin reviews records by the likes of Dillinger Escape Plan, Xasthur, and Mastodon.
So, I was kind of surprised to see the following sentence in Idolator’s “Anono-Critic” history of Revolver magazine (via Metalsucks):

“YB has been told by someone who should know that many [of Revolver’s] edit staffers and freelance writers…do not swear undying allegiance to the varieties of extreme metal, hardcore and screamo covered therein.”

Granted, the magazine cultivates a certain lifers-and-true-believers image (full disclosure: I am a contributor). But this ain’t 2002. Here’s one example of the new brand of metal critic: Kory Grow, the Revolver contributor who snuck “yenta” into an Ozzy live review, is not only a non-metal musician (“I played viola for 10 years,” he told me in an e-mail), but also—whaddya know—a generalist.

Here’s his bio:
Kory Grow is a New York-based writer and musician. He is currently associate editor for Revolver magazine and assistant editor for PaperThinWalls.com. He was recently an editor at both CMJ New Music Monthly and CMJ New Music Report. He’s written for the Village Voice, Magnet, Decibel, Harp, Signal to Noise, Alternative Press, Rockpile, Long Island City Ins & Outs, Red Flag Media’s in-store magazines and Mass Appeal.
Highlights have included talking music theory with Ornette Coleman, skirting Vincent Gallo with Jenny Lewis and discovering what David Yow really keeps in his pants. Check out his blog at http://sadnessisdelicious.blogspot.com/.

Kory adds, “I write a monthly classical-music column for Red Flag Media’s in-store mag Snap.”

Sigh.

Word from the DC Baltimore Punk Rock Showlist: “[M]ark your calendars, set your TiVos, or VCRs. Washington’s own Georgie James will be on Late Night with Conan O’Brien on Wednesday the 27th. [L]et’s give Conan a huge ratings boost that day. Plus, John and Laura are really nice folks.”

Heard in a cab yesterday: Club Envy, a NE nightspot described as a “dance club that is also used as a music venue,” has been closed by D.C. police after a fatal shooting that happened at 4:20 Sunday morning.

According to this Washington Post article, a man was killed and a woman was injured.

What is it with Vampire Weekend, who’ve already sold out their second-ever D.C. show next week at the Rock & Roll Hotel? They seem to have avoided the introductory stage of “low-level buzz.” One day nobody’d ever heard of them; the next they’re everywhere, on the strength of a couple of self-produced singles that you had to buy off their MySpace page. Vampire Weekend’s debut album came out this week, and its reviews managed to steal top billing on Pitchfork, Popmatters, and WaPo. What gives?

Well, according to world-renowned expert Wikipedia, “They came to public attention via a variety of music blogs, first on New York’s EAR FARM and then four months later on Stereogum, leading many to cite them as another example of the ‘blog band’ phenomenon.”

I’m sure this is another indication of the Internet’s transformation of the music industry - so call me crazy, or a reactionary old coot, but I don’t like it one bit. It worries me when a band can become the Indie Sensation of the Minute when they’ve barely registered their own existence. Even The Arcade Fire–the last band to reach this level of hype–had to put their LP out first, for God’s sake. So let’s pretend I haven’t just stoked VW’s blog-fueled fire, shall we?