The Week Social Media Broke My Heart

I wrote a bit about R.E.M. and Troy Davis and the hikers jailed in Iran and pop critics and The Interwebs, for The Rumpus. Here’s a peek:

By evening, my various feeds took on a competitive tone. Many on Twitter commented humorously they could feel the attention of white people shifting away from Davis and onto indie rock nostalgia as homages to R.E.M. started making the rounds. Later a graphic went viral on Facebook. It showed Troy Davis’ face next to text that read: “I’m glad everybody’s upset about Facebook changing.”

Point taken – some things are a bigger deal than others and it’s good to have perspective. White people like indie rock and are not frequently killed by our government. I got it. But also … something about the mean-spiritedness of it all didn’t sit right with me. Why are we so invested in judging each other’s real-time filtering of current events online? Of course a rock band breaking up isn’t as important as Troy Davis being killed. But that doesn’t mean people aren’t touched in real and important ways by it.

… MORE

All I ever wanted…

The Record Daily is on vacation! This means no new posts until after September 5. In better news, the frequency of posts will be more … frequent after that. Have fun, kids. Listen to lots of records and tell me all about them….
-Manjula

The Rumpus Daily: Time (The Revelator)

I wrote a feature for the Rumpus series “Albums of Our Lives” and it’s live on the interwebs today! The topic: Time (The Revelator), by the great Gillian Welch. Also some stuff in there about my life and Santa Cruz and earthquakes and old cars. Here’s a snippet:

There is a feeling you have at a pivotal moment — a big, almost spiritual, tilt-a-whirl feeling — that your next phase is lying in wait close by. Whether it pounces isn’t up to you; you’ve put something in motion and now you’ll reap whatever time chooses to do with it. I heard this song and I swore right there, on I-5, in the old car with the bad radiator smoking its way over the mountains that connects California to its greenest of neighbors:

I’ll go back to Cali / Where I can sleep out every night
Watch the waves and move the fader / Time’s the revelator.

Now get thee on over to The Rumpus and read the rest. And don’t forget to comment – the internet loves it when you comment on it.

-Manjula

And now, a word from our proprietor…

Hey, listeners of the internet! So, it’s been a week or so since you heard from me. Sorry ’bout that. But lots is happening. To wit:

I was on NPR! Well, on their awesome podcast show, All Songs Considered. I recorded a snippet of my thoughts on “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” and sent it to the All Songs guys for their “Summer Music Memories” show– and to my surprise, they used it! So, so cool. Listen to “the discussion” at the link below, and at minute 11:13 you can hear me talking about Neil Young and Santa Cruz!

All Songs Considered: Summer Music Memories

In related news, watch for me to be switchin’ up the format of this here weblog a bit in the coming weeks and months. I have figured out I have a few (2? 3?) months left of records to listen to, and I have also, honestly, felt this project is in a bit of a rut with regards to style and personal time management. So I’m thinking of ways to keep it going while not taking up all the writing time in my world (I do write other things, ya know) and not boring myself and my few regular readers to death. Here are some ideas:

–Audio segments! Like the one on All Songs Considered, or similar.

–Guest bloggers! I do have a few friends who are awesome writers and awesome listeners, and I’m thinking of inviting some folks to help share the workload. Not sure how this would play into the whole “my record collection” aspect of this site. Maybe we’d find albums we both own or something.

–Summaries! In which I sometimes post a summary of a few days’ listening in one post, a kind of audio “roundup” of my week. Shorter segments, more records, potential for thematic record groupings. Less of a scheduling burden on moi.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Scolds? Drop me a line in the comments or here.

Momentary pause in programming…

The Record Daily is taking a sick day/week. Everything’s fine, it’s just hard to review records with a nasty sinus cold/flu/thing. I’ll resume regular programming on Monday, June 6. Until then… poke around the archives, or keep yourself busy catching up on some of the greatest hits:

The Strokes: Is This It

Neutral Milk Hotel: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Pavement: Wowee Zowees

The Best of Bill Withers

Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

X-Ray Spex: Germ Free Adolescents

Eric Dolphy: Outward Bound

M. Ward: Transistor Radio

Willie Nelson: Red Headed Stranger

John Fahey: America

John Fahey: Volume 2 – Death Chants, Breakdowns, and Military Waltzes