Diplomatically put

Western Mass, where are we doing this? Amherst Cinema? One of the colleges?

Reviewed the latest from Neko Case for Paste. "Neon Grey Midnight Green" is steeped in imagery of the natural world on songs paying tribute to musician friends she has lost in recent years: www.pastemagazine.com/music/neko-c...

New in Freak Scene: The Mammals' double album "Touch Grass" is both a protest album and a more personal reflection, and Adeline Hotel comes back to Northampton for a not-quite-hometown show: buttondown.com/freakscene/a...

New in Freak Scene: The Mammals' double album "Touch Grass" is both a protest album and a more personal reflection, and Adeline Hotel comes back to Northampton for a not-quite-hometown show: buttondown.com/freakscene/a...

Has anyone done a 50th-anniversary appreciation of "The Changer and the Changed" by Cris Williamson? That album is a classic, but there are definitely people more qualified than I am to write about it

Connecticut people: News 8 (WTNH) is on this list. You could reach them, if you wanted to, here: www.wtnh.com/about-us/

Track I'm obsessed with this week: "The Doldrums" by the Mammals, from their new double-album "Touch Grass." Think of this as a little preview of this week's newsletter: themammals.bandcamp.com/track/the-do...

Don't sleep on this bargain

Connecticut people: News 8 (WTNH) is on this list. You could reach them, if you wanted to, here: www.wtnh.com/about-us/

Do we bring post-game ivermectin instead of orange slices?

Recently learned that the coach of a youth soccer team my kid plays against is an antivax, conspiracy-theorist podcaster, which should make this year's post-match handshake fun

Anyway, support independent local media like Freak Scene, whose RTO policy covers any of the local coffee shops where I sometimes work buttondown.com/freakscene/a...

Seeing the Pitchfork listing for a news director, and it looks like a great job — if you're willing/able to uproot and move to NYC. Condé Nast's return-to-office policy makes sense, though, because everyone knows music and music coverage only happen in New York

In the dumbest possible timeline, at least Aitana Bonmatí won her third-straight Balon d'Or. Superstar. En el momento más tonto posible, al menos Aitana Bonmatí ganó su tercer Balón de Oro consecutivo.

In Springfield, 22 News (WWLP) is a Nexstar station #westernmass

WTF, @mtametronorth.bsky.social?

Purchasing an ebike must also mean tacitly agreeing to ride it while listening to electronic music at high volume?

Have you seen the latest Freak Scene? This week, featuring CT band the Sawtelles, plus the intersection of indie rock and pizza in New Haven: buttondown.com/freakscene/a...

"Little tip: if you tell a Maga supporter that his huge flag only has 49 stars on it, he’ll still be counting them half an hour later."

I always thought John Montanari was a blowhard at the classical concerts he would introduce around the Valley, but TIL he also espouses virulent trans- and homophobic viewpoints, based on the letter he wrote to the Gazette. Can't link -- they haven't even posted it online.

Some chud with a Texas Tech email address is trying to come for Sonya Clark, but given that she barely uses social media, you have to wonder whether it's Kirk-related or because her work involves literally picking apart Confederate Flags. Tech Chud didn't bring receipts, per usual

You can say "radio on!" à la the Modern Lovers anywhere in the middle of Jeff Tweedy's new song "Lou Reed Was My Babysitter," and it totally works www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJdp...

Saw the phrase "Parton parcel" this morning instead of "part and parcel," and now I'm hoping Dolly Parton launches a bespoke delivery service

Great take by @sulliview.bsky.social on the double-standard (or, perhaps, bad-faith nonsense) between violent rhetoric from the right and what amounts to insufficient deference from the left. margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/what-gets-...

PR pitch: This guy made an ambient album for dogs and he's hoping for a Grammy nomination! Me: Pass, but thanks. PR pitch: Mind telling me why so I can improve the pitch?

New in Freak Scene: the Northampton musician Charlotte Malin Collins, aka Althaea, this week released her debut in conjunction with an album release show at Bombyx: buttondown.com/freakscene/a...

Anyway, Lori McKenna has a new song (goregous, of course), which is as good excuse as any to ugly-cry at the sheer perversity of it all. youtu.be/YXqg16w8D8k?...

There was a guy at the intersection in the center of town this morning waving an American flag with a hand-written sign reading "RIP Charlie," and the performative provocation of it all made me feel derisive and also deeply sad. How do you reach that guy?

Three pitches from three different publicists at the same PR company in the space of two minutes. Who do they think can even listen to all this stuff, never mind cover it?

New in Freak Scene: the Northampton musician Charlotte Malin Collins, aka Althaea, this week released her debut in conjunction with an album release show at Bombyx: buttondown.com/freakscene/a...

Witnesses Assumed Charlie Kirk Shooter Was Just Ordinary Gunman On School Campus

Comedians in Cars Endorsing Genocide

Saw a guy at the grocery store in a t-shirt that read "Taxation Is Theft" and I didn't realize incels had their own clothing line

The sip of brandy or whatever and grimace at 0:56 is award-worthy

New in Freak Scene: The Flywheel Arts Collective is ramping up for fall as part of their 26th year promoting DIY shows in Western Mass: buttondown.com/freakscene/a...

The "screen grab" of a Bill Ackman tweet consisting of a pointless Grandpa Simpson story is top-notch work

It's Bandcamp Friday, which means the platform waives its fee and the musicians get it all. Here are a few things to consider picking up: Brian Dunne's new album "Clams Casino," which features his best songwriting yet: briandunne.bandcamp.com/album/clams-...

New in Freak Scene: The Flywheel Arts Collective is ramping up for fall as part of their 26th year promoting DIY shows in Western Mass: buttondown.com/freakscene/a...

new song out on bandcamp rn, on streaming at midnight

Tomorrow is Bandcamp Friday. Kinda feels like we should put something new up on our Bandcamp tonight…

"Don't blame me, I'm from Massachusetts"

Don’t know which I’m more excited about: new Byrne album that is gloriously eccentric or a review of it by Danton.

David Byrne is at his most gloriously eccentric on his new album "Who Is the Sky," an album that is effusive and optimistic and, at its core, an act of resistance against gathering gloom. My take on the album, for @pastemagazine.bsky.social: www.pastemagazine.com/music/david-...

Connecticut people: Rilo Kiley was excellent last night at the Pines in Northampton. You should go see them tomorrow in New Haven!

if you wrote the words "allegorically," "polysyllabic," and "hillbilly" 25 times each you would still have fewer Ls than the Trump administration

Get the hell off Substack before you literally can’t anymore without blowing up your business

I can definitely vouch for the album

My favorite-ever moment at the Three County Fair in Northampton came yesterday at the demolition derby (aka "enduro-race") when the pickup with "TRUMP" painted across the tailgate got t-boned and the entire grandstand erupted in cheers

Look, Gavin Newsom is no progressive hero and I'd never support his candidacy for anything, but if his social media staff can provoke Trump into a coronary, don't we all win?