We don’t buy any of the insane, tin foil hat, 9-11 conspiracies, but we must admit, the collapse of Building No. 7 still has a lot of unanswered questions. The official explanation is that the building collapsed due to a fire caused by falling debris. Still, the head of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the group that led a three-year, $24-million investigation into the structural failure of the building has this to say about its collapse: [From New York]

“We are studying the horizontal movement east to west, internal to the structure, on the fifth to seventh floors.” Then Dr. Sunder paused. ‚”But truthfully, I don’t really know. We’ve had trouble getting a handle on building No. 7.”

Adding to the mystery, the BBC reported on the collapse of Building No. 7 before it even happened. This week, they finally posted an explanation, albeit a half-ass one, on their blog. Turns out, they “no longer have the original tapes of our 9/11 coverage.” Read the whole response here. Prison Planet has some interesting commentary here and images here as well.

Watch the video here. [Via ThinkProgress]
Meanwhile, in reality, here’s the true story of our “progress”:

Seymour Hersh
From ThinkProgress:

Appearing on CNN’s Late Edition to discuss his new article, ‚”The Redirection,” Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh warned that the Bush administration is ‚”very far along” in its plans for a war with Iran.
Among the other highlights from the interview:
– Hersh said U.S. special forces and intelligence operatives have been conducting a lot of ‚”very aggressive” activities inside Iran on the border of Iraq.
– Inside the military, they are planning ‚”a 24 hour package” — that is, a plan to operationalize a strike on Iran within 24 hours of Bush’s order.
– Noting Bush’s steadfast refusal to talk with Iran, Hersh said, ‚”Maybe we just have to really listen to what he is saying. And I don’t know what can stop him because he is president.”

Watch the video here. And don’t miss Hersh ‘s essential New Yorker article, The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefitting our enemies in the war on terrorism?

Evan Dando was quite possibly the most disappointing interview of my career as a music writer thus far. I was a huge Lemonheads fan back in the day, and when he did a solo show in Portland a few years back, I jumped at the chance to see and talk to him. Unfortunately, he seemed lost on stage, the crowd was beyond annoying (most of them sat, Indian-style, for the entire performance, and my friend and I were yelled at by some lazy woman for standing), and the interview was a disaster. Dando smoked pot throughout, and when asked questions like ‚”So, Evan, when is your next record coming out?” he responded, ‚”Um….uh, like, the record….(big weed inhale)…it’s, uh…what was the question?”
I’ve heard from other sources that Dando has since become more lucid and the Lemonheads are putting on a pretty good live show these days. I’m still not convinced enough to get tickets, but if someone does go, tell me what you thought. Fadar faves Vietnam open.
The show is happening tonight at Southpaw in Park Slope. Tickets are $20 and doors are at 8pm.
-Cortney Harding

French Kicks
Not much editorializing here, just a honkin’ huge list of excellent event, brought to you by the good folks at BAM. There are some safe bets (the French Kicks are generally solid, as are the Double and O’Death), but there are also plenty of unknown groups and sounds to explore. The overall line-up serves as a nice reminder that Brooklyn music is about more than stylish indie bands; I’m particularly excited to check out the Haitian Rara music happening at fivemyles.
Full list under the cut.
-Cortney Harding

(more…)

In case you missed this story yesterday. [From the Washington Post]:

So this is truth: About eight nanoseconds ago Williamsburg was the national-magazine-certified coolest hood in America, with more vaguely employed white hipsters per square inch than anywhere on the continent. There are 22 clubs and 61 art galleries and enough pubs pouring fine Belgian beers to pitch any 22-year-old into a state of bleary-eyed ecstasy.
Makis Antzoulatos was fine with all that.
But something nagged. As the neighborhood went hyper-hip and rents spiked, where would all the Puerto Ricans go? Or the old Poles who run the delis, and the Italians in East Williamsburg, where you can wander into a pasta joint at 11 p.m. and get a plate of scungilli and okay-but-slightly-headache-inducing Chianti?
Antzoulatos gathered pierced hipsters on the bare floor of his tenement living room and founded Gentrifiers Against Gentrification. They vowed to make common cause with Puerto Rican teachers and Italian bus drivers — who, not incidentally, gave Williamsburg the working-class edge that made it hip in the first place — and repulse the moneyed waves.
Whatever. Condos kept flipping. Antzoulatos dialed for a moving van.
“I realized the struggle was about negotiating the terms of departure,” says Antzoulatos, 28, who now lives in a working-class precinct of slightly less rapidly gentrifying Boston.
Much has been written about gentrification and its discontents, but in few places has the speed and finality of that transformation been more startling than in Williamsburg, a formerly working-class Brooklyn neighborhood of 180,000 people along the East River. A wall of luxury glass towers is rising for 25 blocks along the “East River Riviera.” Wander inland and check out the needle condo towers with three-bedroom places retailing at $1,135,000.
Overnight, another preserve of working-class American culture is rendered unaffordable to thousands of families — and to the hipsters themselves. Want to know the next move? Toll Brothers, the nation’s preeminent McMansion builder, has built a new luxe waterfront condo. Its ad features a preppy and distinctly unpierced blonde and the line: “Williamsburg, All Grown Up.” READ IT ALL

Ira Glass
As much as we like the popular NPR show, we’re not sure how we feel about this. After all, part of the show’s appeal is the very fact that it’s a radio show. Still, we’re willing to give it a chance. It will premiere March 21 on Showtime. You can watch the trailer here. [Hat tip audihertz]

Fall Out Boy, ‚”This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race”

Weezer, ‚”Buddy Holly”
Ultragrrl got in big trouble last year for calling My Chemical Romance this generation’s Nirvana, and I’m sure I’m going to make some enemies by declaring that Fall Out Boy are Weezer for today’s teenagers. Both bands embody the teenage girl crush aesthetic of the time: in my day, girls liked brainy indie nerds, and teenage girls nowadays apparently like assholes with ridiculous haircuts. Visuals aside, both bands are so incredibly, painfully catchy that it almost hurts to listen to them. Rivers Cuomo from Weezer once told an interviewer he was trying to come up with a formula for the perfect pop song, and then Pete Wentz beat him to the punch.
-Cortney Harding

From Lullabyes

Playing to a packed house, Kevin played a full 10 song set that included Of Montreal favorites, a brand-new song “Something To Be Laughed At” and various covers. Be sure to check out his interpration of The Beatles “I Will” and the beautiful, heart-breaking rendition of Neil Youngs “Harvest Moon”

Download the whole thing here

The Sea and Cake’s follow-up to 2003′s One Bedroom is slotted for an April release and what we’ve heard thus far sounds great. Obscure Sound has a few samples.
The Sea and Cake – Crossing Line; from Obscure Sound
The Sea and Cake – Introducing; from Obscure Sound
The Sea and Cake – Exact to Me; from Obscure Sound