Sufjan Stevens, David Byrne, Jon Stewart Rock For Literacy

yes, los angeles' line up looks great but how are they going to schedule that during sunset junction?

Posted by: carlos at 07/12/06 4:07 PM | Reply
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sunset junction? aren't the cramps finishing that line up? lucky.

Posted by: booboo at 07/12/06 4:54 PM | Reply
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dammit, i'll be in iceland. any chance they'll have one in reykjavik?

Posted by: jason at 07/12/06 5:12 PM | Reply
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dammit, i'll be in iceland. any chance they'll have one in reykjavik? bjork and her pretentious boyfriend can headline!

Posted by: jason at 07/12/06 5:15 PM | Reply
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what the hell was up with that stupid stephen erlewine article, anyway? i saw that earlier today. is it just me or does his major point seem to be, "sufjan stevens was only cool as long as he was underground. now people like him and that makes his music annoying." fuckin' snob. this is why music journos have a bad name.

Posted by: nathan at 07/12/06 5:31 PM | Reply
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Is there any more info on this tour? Other venues, etc.? I can find no web site.

Posted by: J at 07/12/06 5:46 PM | Reply
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Jon Stewart is pretty funny but sometimes he resorts to stupid accents to get half-bad jokes across.

http://www.musictimes.com.au

Posted by: Music Times at 07/12/06 8:17 PM | Reply
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I agree, that Erlewine article was ridiculous. The title intimates that he has a case against Sufjan, but it never really comes together into some definitive thesis--it's just a classic example of a critic deciding that they have to hate an artist that is relatively popular and wear it like a badge, then spew this meandering bullshit manifesto.

He did a similar thing (as he mentions in the Sufjan article) when "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" came out, and the entire "review" seemed more like a reaction to people calling Oberst "the next Dylan" rather than some true piece of criticism.

Posted by: Edgewin at 07/12/06 11:51 PM | Reply
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valencia is where it's at

Posted by: chico at 07/13/06 2:15 AM | Reply
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"Jon Stewart is pretty funny but sometimes he resorts to stupid accents to get half-bad jokes across."
Ah, blog comments. Where I go to find the world's comedy experts.

Posted by: Halo at 07/13/06 2:48 AM | Reply
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Before everyone pillories Tom Erlewine for the federal crime of being tired of Sufjan Stevens, please keep in mind a couple of things: One, he's AMG's Senior Editor, and I'm sure he's the one responsible for AMG's unspoken but apparent policy of generally going with "conventional wisdom" for its album reviews--that is, you'll seldom see an AMG review that doesn't basically follow the general critical consensus on any given record (the only exception I've noticed is Tom's own trashing of Bright Eyes' 2005 releases, and I wouldn't be surprised if he someday replaces it with a more positive review written by someone else). I have no problem with this approach; it's gotta be great for a developing music fan to have a single resource that provides a distillation of the majority of journalists and fans' opinions of, say, "Exile on Main St." vs. "Let It Bleed." Metacritic.com can't do EVERYTHING.

Second--keeping the above in mind--please note that "Illinois" retains its four-star rave review in AMG. Since the Guide seems to see itself more as a one-stop music encyclopedia than as a stable of Lester-Bangs-style journalistic mavericks, it's certainly not wrong or hypocritical for Erlewine to let one of "his" writers praise a record Erlewine himself doesn't like. But, as Senior Editor, he retains the right to post a personal "think-piece" about Sufjan's shelf life. He's not necessarily saying that Stevens gets worse as he gets more popular; it's just that to Erlewine's ears (and mine, I'll admit), a little Sufjan goes a long way--and, at this point, we have all had MUCH more than a little Sufjan. Surely even his biggest fans can see that he could easily be a love-him-or-hate-him kind of artist, and people who heard "Illinois" first may well be sick of Sufjan three albums later, just like Erlewine was.

Maybe he'll even make the "wussiest rockers" list next time around.

Posted by: Darren at 07/13/06 11:45 AM | Reply
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Seattle may not still be the best (that NY lineup is something else), but it's certainly the original. Hodgman should be a hilarious host for the 2nd edition.

More info: http://www.bumbershoot.org/826/

Posted by: Hobo Expert at 07/13/06 1:01 PM | Reply
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my main problem with the erlewine thing is not that he has an opinion (god knows we all do) but that he put what is essentially a blog rant about the "shelf life of Sufjan" up on the AMG site as a piece of "criticism" or a "think-piece" when in reality all it was was a music fan whining about the popularity of a once underground artist. it's prime real estate on a music journalism/criticism site gives it a sort of illogical legitimacy that the article itself wouldn't otherwise have. i say it's crap criticism on the merits of the writing, not the opinion the writer is expressing.

Posted by: nathan at 07/13/06 1:14 PM | Reply
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Where'd the info on the LA show come from? Jenny Lewis isn't listed on the show's website or anything.

Posted by: . at 07/13/06 1:20 PM | Reply
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I dunno, Nathan. While it's justifiable to give a guy hell for crying "sellout" when an underground artist goes mainstream (especially when the musician in question didn't change one bit), I don't think Erlewine's your dude. His "desert island discs" list includes Meat Loaf, Paul McCartney, Bob Seger and Elton John...no indie snobbery there.

I'm not down with everything Erlewine does, by any means. I was just relieved to see a rock critic doing something other than kissing Sufjan's ass, I guess...

Posted by: Darren at 07/13/06 4:02 PM | Reply
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