I had no idea Carol King was still alive. Not only is she alive and well, she has an iTunes celebrity playlist. So does Frank Black, and, in perhaps the most punk rock iTunes celebrity playlist ever, Mr Thompson has selected Burl Ives and only Burl Ives. The Bacon Brothers (Kevin and whatshisface) have one too. I saw Kevin Bacon on the street a couple weeks ago with his guitar. In his celebrity playlist he describes Rancid's "Time Bomb" as "classic punk." Which would be fine, except it's actually a ska song, albeit a hyphenated one, and debates about the construction of canons and the periodization of punk notwithstanding, it came out in like 1995, a good sixteen years after "post-punk," and treads on ground already covered by guitarist Tim "Lint" Armstrong's first band in the late 1980s, which was itself strongly influenced by both the 2-tone ska revival in the UK, the reggae-punk of the Clash (no, seriously, the clash influenced someone. Who'da thunk?) and the US disciples -- e.g., Bad Brains and Fishbone, for two. All of these bands were total genrefuckers. Maybe punk rock's at its best when it's hybridizing and diffusing and infiiltrating (not expropriatng and enclosing.) Which is to say that "classic punk" is a deeply problematic notion. What is "classic punk" anyway? The Stooges? The Ramones? '77? The first three notes of and only the first three notes of "Clash City Rockers?" It's 1:03 AM. Do you know where your univerdsity's endowment is?

So it turns out Conrad Harper resigned because the rest of the Harvard Corporation wanted, after a no confidence vote from the faculty, to reprimand Larry Summers for his rousing odes to eugenics by, uh, giving him a %3 raise. Meanwhile no one on the Yale corporation seems thus far capable of the show of scruples necessary to make plain the discontent (which they, granted, seem not to possess) with Levin's own callous indifference cum vituperative vehemence towards the academic workers who make his presidency and his university work, contributing to the starkly gendered hierarchies in fields like psychology and political science which, as GESO argued in February, are as unnaceptable as Summers' comments.

Boycott The Intercontinental Boston

Bostonist's post on the AFL-CIO/CtW split big-ups Local 26, where I worked last year, and links to their brand new website on the Intercontinental hotel, which is building a massive luxury hotel and trying to sell condos right next to the Big Dig, and whose operators have refused to agree to a card check agreement with the union so that their workers can have the freedom to organize free from harassment, intimidation, and fear. Intercontinental, a British corporation, is deeply implicated in last year's lockout and the continuing contract stalemate in San Francisco.

If anyone reading this blog is at the stage in his or her life where he or she can afford and is looking to purchase a luxury condominium in a luxury hotel in the second most expensive real estate market in the U.S., you should eschew the Intercontinental for all the labor, construction, and environmental and safety issues enumerated by the fine folks at Local 26 on the web site and instead think about a union property, lke The Ritz Carlton Boston, or The Ritz Carlton Boston Common. The Ritz Carlton Boston Common is a block away from the Hyatt Regency Boston Financial District, which you damn well better boycott as well. And stay out of the Hyatt Regency Cambridge too.

commuting while "foreign-looking?"

This has been emailed around this morning. Is it a culture jam or simply the grotesque irony of administrative racial violence written into the mundanely disruptive format of subway service changes? I hope the former but fear the latter.

re:location

Well, I finally did it. I am now no longer a resident of the upper west side. I've moved out of my parents' apartment to Sunset Park, Brooklyn. I'm pretty excited about this. Sunset Park is an amazing, diverse neighborhood. My apartment is great - though i need an air conditioner and a bunch of furniture. The next step, though, is figuring out how i actually enroll in graduate school.

The UFCW dissafiliates from the AFL-CIO.

Given the union's track record in many areas, one could make the argument that a lot of what Hansen is saying is pretty hypocritical. Let's hope, for the sake of workers everywhere, that this signals a new direction on the part of the union and its leadership rather than a cynical PR maneuver.

friday iTunes shuffle fun

Charlie Parker - "The Hymn"
The Coup - "Wear Clean Drawers"
Slint - "For Dinner..."
Wilco - "Jesus, Etc."
John Lennon- "Working Class Hero"
The Breeders - "Invisible Man
The Flaming Lips - "Buggin'"
Yo La Tengo - "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House"
Suicide - "Rocket USA"
Curtis Mayfield - "Little Child, Runnin' Wild"