Band explores new emotional territory on new album The Ugly Organ

Singing with only half of a left lung might seem heroic, like playing the piano with only one hand. But for Cursive front man Tim Kasher, it's simply routine.

While the band was on tour in June of last year, Kasher's left lung collapsed, requiring surgery to remove part of it. Perhaps the injury had something to do with Kasher screaming his lungs out in jagged hard rock songs since 1995. [Read article]

Hip-hop as a form of expression started in a localized community. Its first visible presence surfaced from DJs playing and scratching records in New York City parks back in the mid to late '70s. A buzz began and people started huddling around to listen. Eventually, it is said a man would speak with a microphone over the DJ's music to announce when the next gathering would be. Soon enough, the man would start rhyming words over the DJ's beat. As message spread, it quickly became common practice for a DJ to spin a beat while an MC spoke rhymes over it. [Read article]

There is always more to be said than what we are hearing. Tom Brokaw reads cue cards a little too well. The second he is off-air, Walter Cronkite probably mutters a definitive statement in opposition of whatever he just reported to an entire nation. Relying on reporters and the news to tell us "the facts" on war seems crucial, but insufficient at the same time. It is unnatural not to hear people's opinions and emotions in a time of intense fighting. [Read article]

Clowns are scary ÷ just ask the main character of a new public access show who suffers from a reccurring clown dream.

As weird as that sounds, wait 'till you hear the show's name: "Scazz-Rik-Tobin." That's actually what the scary dream clown says to the unnamed narrator of the show. Unfortunately, the narrator can never remember what the clown says, and encounters action-packed adventures while trying to figure it out. [Read article]

Tim Harrington is one sexy motherfucker. OK, from that picture you see next to this article, he may look a little odd. And balding. And bearded. And one magazine did say he looked more like a high school gym teacher than say, the lead singer of a band.

But for those in the know, Harrington represents rock's real great white hope (and it's not, just so you know, any of those other, better color-coordinated, more finely facially structured bands you may be thinking of). [Read article]

I was fascinated by D. D. Pennebaker's 1965 documentary portrait of Bob Dylan in "Don't Look Back." I realized then, even though I must have known, how really mad and complicated that young guitar-strumming man of my parent's generation was. There were, I realized, things about Dylan that his songs would never reveal.

I also remember seeing "Woodstock" the documentary for the first time and the engulfing awe I felt from watching Joe Cocker, sweaty and wild, belt out the line · "What would you do if I sang out of tune · " For the first time I was able to put a face to that raspy voice that still encapsulates precisely what the country's youth was feeling during that time over 30 years ago. [Read article]

Mmmmmm · delicious. I want to eat the television. Food Network ÷ that's what I'm watching these days, even though I don't cook and don't even have a stove in my dorm.

I know what you're thinking ÷ "That young man in the mug shot must be the grandson of the old woman who is actually writing this article." ÷ but no, you are mistaken.

You see, it's natural for me to want what I can't have, whether it be a nicer car or a larger · bank account. And living with only a microwave (which I think exceeds the wattage limit for the dorms), means I can't make delicious food. [Read article]