April 23, 2007
MUSICAL INFLUENCES
I was flipping around radio stations the other day and found myself listening to a public service announcement that made me sit up and think "What the . . .?" Usually you know where a PSA is going, so to be surprised by the usual telegraphed anti-drug message is pretty rare. This particular PSA, which can be listened to here, features a girl's voice that has been altered to make it sound digitized, like a computer from 1982 is speaking. As the ad progresses, the girl's voice becomes gradually more human, until the final line, when it's just the voice of a girl. Then a male voice pops in with the punchline, or lesson, I'm not certain. Here is the transcript:
Being popular was all I could think about last year.
I wanted to be, like, cool with everybody.
I listened to music I didn't like and laughed at things that weren't funny.
I programmed myself to be a totally different person to everyone.
But I wasn't myself.
Now I'm not pretending to like indie rock or anything like that, and people think that's cool.
Male voice: Live above the influence––above weed.*
In case you missed it, liking indie rock was used there as a metaphor for being a brainless stoner intent on leading an inherently fake existence. So you kids just drop your joints and back slowly away from the Death Cab For Cutie cds. In fact, just leave your iPods over there by the door on your way out. There's no telling what kind of unhomogenized stoner crap might be on them.
*Brought to you by the slightly misguided and bizarre people at abovetheinluence.com.
NB: Apparently I am woefully behind the times. Either that or have enough sense to never listen to the radio. Pitchfork Media wrote about this all the way back in October of last year.
Tagged: drugs, musicPosted by Lexiphane at 3:35 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 29, 2007
SIN-É, FINIS
These New York Times elegies for lost neighborhood institutions are beginning to pack all the poignancy of a roll-call, but it's still nice that they do them. Lower East Side club Sin-é is closing its doors this Sunday, unable to keep up with the Joneses that have moved in around it.
Yes, another one bites the dust: Sin-é (pronounced shih-NAY), after a weekend of goodbye shows, will close for good on Sunday. Over two decades and three locations, the owner, Shane Doyle, maintained it as a cozy, unassuming place for up-and-coming musical acts, charting the perimeters of gentrifying areas as surely as Starbucks now defines them. But two months ago, as wealthy neighbors and city and state regulators encroached, he decided his low-key vision was out of step.
“I look at this block, and I know it’s over,” Mr. Doyle, 55, said in an interview in his club on Attorney Street near Stanton. Once an industrial stretch of liquor warehouses and auto-repair shops, that block is now within spitting distance of several million-dollar apartment complexes. When those buildings’ residents started calling to complain of noise and crowds, he knew. “Then the obvious thing is, O.K., let me go somewhere else,” he said. “But I can’t find somewhere else. And even if I could the lifespan would be too short.”
I liked Sin-é. The short depth of the club combined with the height of the stage provided good sightlines regardless of where you were standing, and if you could grab a seat at the far end of the bar, all the better. Something I learned from the Times piece: Sin-é is Gaelic for "That's it."
(Photo from Crackers United at Flickr)
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March 7, 2007
DB IS YOUR DJ
One of the greatest things about never having to drive is never being required to listen to the radio. I read an article the other month about how people were buying cars to accessorize their iPods, i.e. the first criteria a car had to fulfill was an iPod jack into the stereo system. Everything about the car after that was mostly gravy. I understand that line of consumer thinking. Suffering any commute longer than a half hour while being forced to listen to the "whack pack crazy morning crew" on WSUK is not a good way to starty anyone's day. Not that it's even possible to find a radio station with a half-decent music format anymore--and that's not just old-man crotchetiness talking. The last good radio station I listened to regularly was WHFS in Washington, DC. Sure, they were accused of being sellouts by then, but who doesn't love some good 'ol reliable modern rock, day in and day out by a station with enough cash on hand to sponsor some legitimately good shows in an otherwise musically dead town. 'HFS was killed off a few years ago when its format was switched without warning to all-Spanish one afternoon. No kidding.
Thank God for the Internet. Streaming audio over the Internet has let a million tiny stations bloom. One is no longer confined to a single market. You can tune into commercial radio stations across the country that make their feeds available online. Or you can find tiny boutique broadcasters running their own one-person Internet broadcast booths. While I can't say I've enthusiastically turned on an actual radio in years, I love listening to and looking out for all sorts of interesting Internet radio broadcasts.
My latest find comes from a well-known source. It's RADIO DAVIDBYRNE.COM The former Talking Heads frontman streams a great radio station from his own site (it's also available through iTunes Radio under the Eclectic category). Byrnes's formula is fairly simple. He picks a bunch of songs (March's playlist is 45 songs lasting 2hrs51mins) and he just streams them in a loop. Each month he picks a new overarching theme for the music he's playing and replaces the entire playlist. Examples:
March: Pop
Pop as in popular. That's where this playlist falls apart. Not all of these songs reached or will reach a wide enough audience to be considered truly popular, but it wasn't for want of being poppy, catchy or sticking to your brain pan.
February: Icicles
It's winter here in the Northern Hemisphere and our thoughts turn to Scandinavia. I'm kinda crazy getting ready for the Carnegie shows, but here's a quickly pulled together selection of Northern European artists — almost all of them female vocalists! (Hmmm, what's that about? Even the voice of the Sigur Rós singer often gets mistaken for being a girl's.) Don't know if they see any similarity amongst themselves; probably not, but others no doubt will. Here goes: The mixing of grand cosmic sentiments and the extremely personal — I'd hazard that the land, the extraordinary light and the cultural history all play a part in the sensibilities of these composers and singers. Think of the Northern "classical" composers: Sibelius, Grieg and more contemporaries like Per Nørgård and Part, and many others — well, I sense a cosmic mythic connection and tendency among many of them.
The North is also known for other music. Perfect pop, Abba and their descendents. And for Metal subgenres, which I would say are in sensibility not that different from some of this dreamy stuff here, though the metal genres — Nature Metal and others — evoke the same sky looked at as an ominous weight, a frightening portent. But the transcendent feeling is there in both cases.
January: Welcome to Dreamland
Full disclosure: many of these artists will be together in a concert that I am presenting at Carnegie Hall in February, so this playlist is a blatant plug.
I think one might trace the roots of these contemporary singers and songwriters back to John Jacob Niles, a singer who recorded in the 40s and 50s who interpreted traditional songs accompanied by a dulcimer. His interpretations were so unique — he changed the melody of a songs if he didn't like it — that in his case one could say interpretation is a form of creation. He sang in a high tenor voice, which sent some listeners round the bend, as do some of these artists.
"Over coffee and liqueurs we would sometimes listen to John Jacob Niles' recordings. Our favorite was 'I Wonder As I Wander,' sung in a clear, high-pitched voice with a quaver and a modality all his own. The metallic clang of his dulcimer never failed to produce ecstasy. He had a voice which summoned memories of Arthur, Merlin, Guinevere. There was something of the Druid in him. Like a psalmist, he intoned his verses in an ethereal chant which the angels carried aloft to the Glory seat. When he sang of Jesus, Mary and Joseph they became living presences. A sweep of the hand and the dulcimer gave forth magical sounds which caused the stars to gleam more brightly, which peopled the hills and meadows with silvery figures and made the brooks to babble like infants. We would sit there long after his voice had faded out, talking of Kentucky where he was born, talking of the Blue Ridge mountains and the folk from Arkansas..."
— Henry Miller, Plexus pp. 366-367.
I would then suggest that this musical line moved through the 60s via the Incredible String Band, Vashti Bunyan and many others who added sitars, flutes, harpsichords, cellos and anything else at hand to the musical mix. And they wrote songs about ducks, blades of grass, stars and cosmic bliss in a way that I have never been able to. Their choice of subjects echoes that of William Blake, the visionary poet:
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
The poem (Auguries of Innocence) then continues for many many stanzas along these lines:
A Robin Red breast in a Cage
Puts all Heaven in a Rage.
A dove house fill'd with doves & Pigeons
Shudders Hell thro' all its regions.
A dog starv'd at his Master's Gate
Predicts the ruin of the State.
Allen Ginsburg recorded the Songs of Innocence and Experience by Blake on a record that while not that well known may have had its influence, too. I found Allen's passionate wobbly singing voice very moving and inspiring on that record…and of course Blake's visionary spiritual and political messages struck a chord as well. When one sees the world going to hell in a handbasket, manipulated by cynical old men, one senses that seeing the world more clearly, through child-like eyes, might be one way out. The wisdom of babes, as they say…it's also a form of brutal honesty. There's anger in this innocence as well.
So, a few years ago there appeared an efflorescence of singers and songwriters, in a variety of styles and shapes, who shared a little of this attitude, or so I would suggest. Many, though not all of them, chose to make recordings that were somewhat rough, and slightly unpolished technically, thereby showing obvious disdain for the commercial indie pre-thought planned and considered careerist path. By being willfully uncommercial they attracted an audience tired of being marketed to and tired of the slick and beautiful but empty packages being offered by the music business. Their occasional eccentricity is unforced, honest.
Although I remember Talking Heads being lumped in with the punk bands to our repeated annoyance and continual protests, it didn't really hurt that much in the end. We did share a DIY attitude, though our musical expression of it may have been very different than that of other bands. I'd suggest that such an attitude exists here too — as it did in early hip hop — it has a resurgence every few years and produces a wave of innovators. Many of these musicians not only perform together, but they collaborate, play and sing in each other's concerts and recordings and generally create a floating and changeable sense of identity. Time passes, and some are exploring what their next musical steps will be — orchestral arrangements (Joanna Newsom) Indian tablas and chants (Coco Rosie) or larger bands and electronics (Animal Collective).
How cool is that? And unsurprisingly, Byrne's taste in music is fantastic. I haven't heard of most of what he's playing, but I like almost all of it.
NB: Of course, no good deads go unpunished. This was published Monday: "RIAA Pushes Through Internet Radio Royalty Rates Designed To Kill Webcasts".
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February 24, 2007
HOLY ROCK & ROLLERS
As I write this, I'm listening to a recording of Arcade Fire's February 17th performance at The Judson Memorial Church near Washington Square. It was originally broadcast live on NPR and the station is generously making it available for download on its site (Right-Click on the Download The Arcade Fire Concert link [or this one] and select Save Link As). The sound quality is middling, but a fun recording nonetheless.
Arcade Fire is promoting its sophomore effort Neon Bible. I don't have that album yet, but if it's near as good as the band's debut Funeral, it'll be a must have. The band is actually the musical guest tonight on Saturday Night Live.
NB: Neon Bible won't be released until March 6.
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January 13, 2007
BUSINESSWEEK GETS COOL IN '07
(L-R, Thom Monahan, Joe Pernice, Patrick Berkery, Peyton Pinkerton)
In the January 22, '07 issue of BusinessWeek Magazine, the ExecutiveLife "My Tunes" column is written by Mike Marrone, the program director for XM Satellite Radio's channel The Loft. His piece is titled "The One Album I Can't Stop Playing" and it certainly constitutes high praise.
"Although I am often asked what my real personal favorites are, I rarely make lists because I'm always afraid of leaving something off. But I can safely attest that
Live a Little (Ashmont), the sixth full-length release from the Pernice Brothers, is not only my absolute favorite album of 2006 but will unquestionably reside on my list of Best Pop Albums of all time."
Marrone gushes on in that vein for the pages three columns. That is the Pernice Brothers pictured above. The drummer Pat Berkery (second from right) played with my brother Ed for many years as a member of The Bigger Lovers. I'm embarrassed to say that I don't have The Pernice Brothers' latest album, but it's now on my list of things to pick up.
The "My Tunes" column is currently only available online to BusinessWeek subscribers, but the issue is still on newsstands if one wanted to pick up a copy or just peruse page 84. Also, visit the band's site. There's a lot of great audio and video content that's worth checking out.
(Tip of the pixel to reader M.M. for correcting us on the identity of band member Thom Monahan pictured above.)
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December 26, 2006
CHRISTMAS IN HEAVEN
The Godfather of Soul and the Hardest Working Man in Showbusiness, James Brown, passed away Christmas Day from congestive heart failure after being hospitalized in Georgia with pneumonia two days ealier. Despite his illness, doctors gave Brown permission Sunday to perform a New Year's Eve show at B.B. King's in NYC. He was 73 years old.
While younger readers may know James Brown more for what seemed ridiculous run-ins with the law, he was a pioneering musician and performer whose style cut a swath through the landscape of American music. He came from all-too-typical humble roots:
Mr. Brown was born May 3, 1933, in a one-room shack in Barnwell, S.C. As he would later tell it, midwives thought he was stillborn, but his body stayed warm, and he was revived. When his parents separated four years later, he was left in the care of his aunt Honey, who ran a brothel in Augusta, Ga. As a boy he earned pennies buck-dancing for soldiers; he also picked cotton and shined shoes. He was dismissed from school because his clothes were too ragged.
He was imprisoned for petty theft in 1949 after breaking into a car, and paroled three years later. While in prison he sang in a gospel group. After he was released, he joined a group led by Bobby Byrd, which eventually called itself the Flames. At first, Mr. Brown played drums with the group and traded off lead vocals with other members. But with his powerful voice and frenzied, acrobatic dancing, he soon emerged as the frontman.
His incredible work ethic and disciplined performances won out against his hardscrabble origins and his place in history was soon assured.
Mr. Brown led a turbulent life, and served prison time as both a teenager and an adult. He was a stern taskmaster who fined his band members for missed notes or imperfect shoeshines. He was an entrepreneur who, at the end of the 1960s, owned his own publishing company, three radio stations and a Learjet (which he would later sell to pay back taxes). And he performed constantly: as many as 51 weeks a year in his prime.
James Brown will lie in state Wednesday at Harlem's Apollo Theater with a eulogy to be given by Al Sharpton. He will then be transferred to his native Georgia for a funeral and burial. Fortunately, we'll always have his music to remember him by.
"Christmas In Heaven" is Track 16 off of James Brown's Funky Christmas.
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December 25, 2006
EVERY PAGE'S A HOLIDAY
I'm sorry. I really have no excuse for this. Merry Christmas. I'm pulling for good things in the community and the best things for friends, family, and humanity in general this New Year. Still, who else is bringing you Bettie Page, naked, on Christmas Day? No place else but up for us in '07!
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December 14, 2006
PLAN AHEAD FOR THE INTRA-HOLIDAYS
What, what is one to do in the few fallow days between Christmas and New Year's Eve/Day? Christmas falls on a Monday. New Year's Eve falls on a Sunday. And just like that, everyone's got two Mondays in a row off from work. I don't think anyone's expecting that shortened between-holiday work week to be the most productive on record. Many people may be taking the whole week off.
One might consider heading over to NorthSix in Williamsburg on Thursday the 28th. Americans are on the bill before the headliners Peelander Z. Doors open at 8pm; the show starts at 8:30pm. I've seen the Americans a few times and count myself a fan [see IT'S GOOD TO BE THE AMERICANS, 9/7/06]. NorthSix is just a few blocks from the Bedford Ave. stop on the L Train, shortly past Wythe Ave. While you're in the neighborhood, swing by Relish Diner on North 3rd St. and Wythe. Have a cocktail and a dish of their 5-variety Mac & Cheese before the show.
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November 6, 2006
BITTER BITTER--SWEET!
Head down to Ludlow St. this Saturday evening and try to get into neighborhood nightlife and music mainstay Pianos. The former instrument showroom cum restaurant/venue is hosting the band Bitter Bitter Weeks [NB: The preceding site has strangely little to do with the band itself]. BBWs will be going on early as they are opening for BC Camplight, who I saw several months ago at Joe's Pub. It should be a good evening all around.
What's the basis for the recommendation? My brother is currently playing with BBWs. His former bandmate Bret is now the drummer for BC Camplight, so it's a near reunion of the performing sort for two of The Bigger Lovers. Plus, Pianos is a pretty decent venue, the LES is a great neighborhood to visit, and I'll be there. One doesn't need much more reason than that.
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October 18, 2006
I RECOMMEND NOT MISSING IT
Tomorrow night, AMERICANS are playing at The Annex on Orchard St. between Rivington and Stanton on the LES. They're playing with The Waylons, Aerovox, and The Coast. I know that neighborhood pretty well, but have never been to The Annex. A good friend did drag me to the Americans' show at The Mercury Lounge a few months ago, and between hanging out after that show and recent encounters, I got to tell one of the members that their unreleased album kicks ass. I listen to it constantly.
Truly good bands don't last forever. Hear them while you can.
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October 12, 2006
BEST ALBUM TITLE EVER
Yo La Tengo released a new album yesterday with possibly the best title ever issued. I'm not a fan of violence or personal confrontation, but there is a certain poetry to the adjoinment of an idiotic challenge with arcticulatness that makes the album title pure poetry.
"I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass"
I'm sorry, there's just something about that that makes me smile a little and giggle.
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September 7, 2006
IT'S GOOD TO BE THE AMERICANS
The other night I went to the Mercury Lounge to see a band called the Americans. They were an opening act for a band from NOLA called the Morning 40 Federation. As is usually the case, the back room at the Merc was underpopulated prior to the main act. I'm happy to report that the Americans--a NYC-based band--completely rocked. They play a very up-tempo mix of power pop and neo-new wave that's full of power chords and harmonics. It's fun without being stupid.
Afterwards, I went to d.b.a with the Americans and The Morning 40 Federation and am happy to report that they're all real nice guys--and girl (Meredith is the drummer for the Americans). I was counseling the lead singer of TM40F to not park their passenger van with UHaul trailer full of equipment on the street, because a padlock really isn't a deterrent in NYC. He assured me they were okay because they were heading to Brooklyn and going to park on the street in Greenpoint. Oh Christ. I reiterated, but I'm sure they were fine. I would hate to have to say "I told you so."
Thanks to K for strong-arming me into going, Chris Butler of the Americans for strong-arming K into going and being a good host, and Becky of the Mercury Lounge for comping me a copy of a rough mix of the Americans' rough-mix CD of their album Margarine. Look for it in a few months.
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August 13, 2006
WHAT IT TAKES TO BREAK
(Nick Kroll and Chelsea Peretti)
If you're an indie band, you may want a rep, or an enforcer. Clell Trickle may be your man, 'cause when you finish a show this should be your wrap up to create buzz with bloggers:
"When you go home tonight after this show, I want you to blog about this band; I want you to post pictures. 'Cause if you dont, I will come to your fucking house and kill your dog! And if you don't have any dogs, I'll come to to your house and kill the weakest member of you family!"
That's Clell Trickle, as portrayed by Aziz Ansari. Music-bloggers beware. Ted Leo was probably not harmed in the making of the short film linked to above.
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May 26, 2006
LISTEN UP!
I personally love NYC in the summer. A lot of people don't and they head to the Hamptons and their summer shares. Those are the people I don't particularly like to hang out with so their absence only improves the city. Thus, my initial statement is fortified. It's a perfect circle of convenience for everyone.
True, it's a hot time, summer in the city, back of my neck gettin' dirty and gritty (thank you Lovin' Spoonful) and there can be cruel cruel summers (thank you Bananarama), but that's what summer's about! Embrace it! Go to some shows and sweat like you're supposed to while getting your groove on! There's lots of opportunities:
Fiona Apple and Damien Rice play Central Park's SummerStage on the 26th of July. I went to a baseball game last summer and caught my friend's daughter singing the lyrics sotto voce to a Damien Rice song. Fortunately, my friend is a skillful manager of the volume knob in her car so the young'un didn't utter anything graphically obscene, 'cause I blush easily. $50
Bloc Party play the McCarren Pool Park in Williamsburg on July 29th. Their "Silent Alarm" album was wearing a hole through my iPod a few months ago and it seems like it would be interesting to hear an extremely electronic band like it take it outdoors. $30
The New Pornographers follow up at SummerStage in CP on August 3rd. Power-pop featuring Neko Case? You'd have to be dead if you didn't think this band got your head bobbing. $30
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals visit Rumsey Playfield in Central Park at East 72nd on the 5th of September. Do you or do do you not want to meet ladies this summer? Do you have any soul whatsoever? $40
But this is the best part about people skulking about the asphalt jungle in the dead of summer, you can get by just fine if you're a broke, cheap-ass, deadbeat! All of the following shows are 100% completely free:
Belle & Sebastian celebrate our independence on the 4th of July at Battery Park around 3:30 pm. Pry yourself from the grill for the music. Stay for the fireworks.
Alex Chilton is featured with the Box Tops on August 18 at South Street Seaport on the 18th of August at 7 pm. Maybe they'll play some Big Star. Maybe they won't. Do you want to risk it?
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists appear at South Street Seaport on August 25th, which leads me to believe that I need to meet whoever's booking that venue's acts, 'cause that's only part of what Pier 17 has lined up for the season.
If you want to head to the Hamptons this summer and see Billy Joel singing "Piano Man" as he's pulled from his car after crashing into the buffet table at a polo match, be my guest. I'm sticking right here.
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April 10, 2006
ROCKIN' ROMA
One of the most interesting albums someone's loaned me this past year was by a band of gypsies. Literally. The group's name is Gogol Bordello and its music is a fusion of Ukranian, Slavic, Gypsy, Eastern European, Folk, and Punk. GB formed around DJ Eugene Hutz and musicians who performed regularly at a Ukranian dance club/bar on the Lower East Side. It's hard to describe what the music is like because I really haven't heard anything like it before. I'm not generally a fan of "world music", but can say that the band would receive a warm welcome anywhere between LA and Siberia (traveling east).
This particular week, however, Gogol Bordello finds itself in Greenpoint, Brooklyn where they are playing a show at Warsaw on Wednesday. Tickets are available here. The band has its own blog here. The Gogol Bordello site is here. Warsaw is located at 261 Driggs Ave. in Greenpoint. Map available here. Subway travelers would be best off taking the G train to the Nassau St. stop or the L train to Lorimer St.
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March 28, 2006
SHOW OF THE WEEK
Man it's been a long time since I've been to The Mercury Lounge. One of my earlier visits to the Houston St. venue was in the summer of 2001 at the invitation of a friend who wanted me to see a high school friend's band. If I'd known what a phenomena The Strokes were going to become, perhaps I would have stayed. On the other hand, the fact that The Mercury Lounge's A/C was malfunctioning that evening resulted in temperatures that must have exceeded one hundred degrees; it was too much. I'm not really one to suffer for others' art. Multiple visits have occurred in the interim to catch my brother when he's in town.
This Friday there will be an appearance by The Spinto Band, in from Philadelphia. They're a talented bunch and a hell of a lot of fun to listen to. Although almost a year old, the album Nice and Nicely Done remains one of the most unexplainably underrecognized albums I listen to regularly. A full example of their work can be found at the 2 minute mark into the KAC Podcast (Episode 10), available for free at the iTunes music store.
Friday's show at The Mercury Lounge opens with Human Television and Aeroplane Pageant. The Spinto Band will probably go on around 10:30 p.m. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at Ticketweb here.
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March 9, 2006
LISTEN ALL YOU NEW YORKERS
I am not a fan of huge arena-style rock concerts. It's hard for the energy level to reach a point in a giant cavernous hall that you feel like there's a real connection between a band and 20,000 or so fans. That was not a problem in October 2004 when the Beastie Boys took the stage at Madison Square Garden. For two hours it seemed like the roof was either going to be blown off the place or the entire arena would be crashing down through 34th St. into Penn Station. The Boys know how to put on a show; and as they hit their 40s touring for an album (To The 5 Boroughs) that was a post-9/11 tribute to their hometown, the MSG concert had the feeling of a sendoff for a band that had been rocking the town faultlessly for 20 years.
I have a friend who is such a huge BBs fan that he as gone as far as stalking them down near their Lower East Side studio. Upon leaving that October show, we excitedly speculated on the possibility of a DVD releas of the concert. The Beastie Boys have done us one better. On March 23rd at midnight, theaters nationwide will begin screening Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That!, a full-length concert film recorded with handheld cameras and presented in full ear-blowing stereo. It should be the next best thing to having been there. Full release is scheduled for March 31st. Watch the trailer here. Screening locations are available here.
Hat Tip: Thanks to JC for keeping me on top of breaking BBs news.
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February 18, 2006
CRIMSON WEEZER
The New York Times has an interesting article online today, visiting Rivers Cuomo, the frontman for Weezer, at his Harvard dorm room. Rivers is a semester away from completing his degree in literature after a multi-year on-and-off-again stint in Cambridge.
In the video for the song "Beverly Hills," which was nominated for a Grammy Award and ranked as the second most downloaded song from iTunes last year, Mr. Cuomo plays power-pop chords on the lawn of the Playboy Mansion surrounded by shimmying Playboy bunnies. By comparison, his life as a student is almost comically austere. He lives alone, in a modest 14-by-9-foot room with the standard-issue desk, bureau and bed, to which he has added only a map of the world, taped to the wall, and a small Oriental rug bought for less than $200 by Sarah Kim, his personal assistant. "Most people wouldn't expect a rock star to be happy living in a dorm room," said Ms. Kim, "but he is."
According to the article, returning to Harvard necessitated Cuomo giving up the closest thing he'd had to a conventional adult home: a converted one-car garage he'd been renting in Hollywood. It's an interesting piece about an interesting guy.
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