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On “C’Mon”: “‘C’Mon’ is a really…fun song. That song…the lyrics…I’m like, really excited about it, because I get to say, ‘I’m feeling like a saber-tooth ti-GER, sippin’ on a warm Bud-wei-SER.’ That’s probably my favorite lyric of that song.” On “Thinking of You”: “It is a breakup song…and it’s kind of like a sweet song…except for, it’s…actually a total fuck-you song.” On “Crazy Kids”: “So, ‘Crazy Kids’ is an anthem for people like me, which are all my Animals [fans], and so many people in...

Though Peter Ames Carlin’s new Springsteen book Bruce isn’t technically an authorized biography, since Carlin didn’t give Springsteen the right to approve what he wrote, the Boss did cooperate with Carlin—the first time he’s cooperated with a biographer since Dave Marsh published Born to Run in 1979 and Glory Days in 1987. (Marsh’s two books were combined into a single volume titled Two Hearts, with a new concluding chapter, in 2003.) Bruce is not a great literary achievement: it reads like a giant booklet from a box set, and...

In retrospect, my retreat from Bruce Springsteen fandom seems like a necessary break in our relationship. We got too serious too soon, and I needed some space before I could commit to loving the Boss for the rest of my life. We got back together last night, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul—my hometown. Though my friend Kristen and I drew the 1,190th and 1,191st worst out of 1,200 numbers in the lottery for the general admission “advance barricade area” (in other words,...

She first took interest when she noted the gray hair at my temples, and when she learned that I drive a ten-year-old Ford, she was mine…for the night, at least. She stepped on my thigh and swung her ass up onto the bar. Leaning her sharp elbows into my shoulders and then my back, she drove my face down into her crotch, which smelled like Walmart-brand fabric softener. When the bartender told her that state law required her to put out her cigarette, she yelled...

“Sauteéd soft-shelled crab with roasted garlic emulsion, charmoula, and radish. Butternut squash soup with Bleu d’Auvergne cheese and toasted pumpkin seeds. Grilled chicken roulade with sweet corn succotash and crawfish demi-glace.” The words I’ve just read to you are printed on a single sheet of paper that I found taped to the host’s station, affixed there, I presume, by the host himself as instructed by our employer, the owner and chef of this restaurant. I understand those dishes to be tonight’s prix fixe special, available at...

Posts referenced: Quit Being Indignant About Shit You Read On the Internet 10 Reasons Why One Direction is the Next Backstreet Boys, But Way Better If I Did Stand-Up at My High School Reunion - Jay Gabler

A romantic comedy that involves a meet-cute when I go upstairs to borrow some vegetable oil and happen to mention the fact that she constantly plays the same Spoon album over and over, which she responds to by mentioning my frequent playing of Robyn, Rihanna, and Cher Lloyd and asks whether I have a boyfriend. A thriller in which my upstairs neighbor is a serial killer who likes to discourse on the merits of Spoon while wrapping his victims in plastic—like American Psycho but with a...

Bob Dylan had sealed his place among the artistic immortals with the groundbreaking body of work he’d created by the time he was 30, but as he ambles into his 70s, he’s earning another distinction: is there any rocker who’s aged more impressively than Dylan? The most acclaimed surviving artists among his peers, Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones’ “Glimmer Twins” (Mick Jagger and Keith Richards), remained sort of interesting into the 1980s but in recent years have settled into coasting on past triumphs, dying...

I enjoyed Gaby Dunn’s Thought Catalog post “Songs for College in Massachusetts,” and as an alumnus of Boston University (undergrad, ’93-’97) and Harvard (grad school, ’97-’07), I immediately started making a sequel—or, perhaps, prequel—playlist in my head. Whereas Gaby’s playlist comprises songs about Boston, this is more of a Massachusetts Music 101 primer. I’ve listed the songs below, and created a playlist on Spotify that includes first the songs on this playlist, then the songs on Gaby’s (except Ted Leo’s “Bridges, Squares,” which isn’t on Spotify). Enjoy! 1....

Invitations often refer to “light” or “heavy” appetizers. But what, exactly, does that mean? There’s no hard-and-fast rule, but here are a few examples to give you an idea of what people might expect if you promise “light” or “heavy” hors d’oeuvres. Light Appetizer: A few handfuls of popcorn consumed on the couch before a “movie watching” party (for two, or more) turns into a sex party. Heavy Appetizer: The frozen pizza you put in the oven later and scarf down in taco shape because you’ve already...