When you left them back on the farm
for the city at dawn
the drone of youth and the hum
of the pretty were songs
you thought you'd never forget
it's a pity they're gone.

-stephin merritt

photo by hinius

There's an awesome show on the online television station VBS now called Balls Deep. In the first episode I saw, the host (Baby Balls) goes to some New York leather bars and investigates the dying leatherman scene. Interesting, especially if you have seen one of my fave Al Pacino movies, Cruising (1980) (BTW, here's a cool interview with William Friedkin, the director of Cruising).

In the other episode of Balls Deep, the host goes into the sewers of Bogota, Columbia to meet some of the poor street kids who live down there. Originally these kids went down there to escape the violence on the streets--a total nightmare. In order to deal with the fact that they are living in complete darkness, knee deep in human waste, they take a lot of drugs. To add to their problems, death squads made up of cops and off duty soldiers periodically go down into the tunnels to perform "urban cleansing." This either consists of shooting them, torturing them, or dousing them in gasoline. It's a frightening documentary.

Check it out on VBS.

Last weekend I was reminded of the incredible transformative power that music can have. Seeing Arcade Fire on Randall’s Island--the feeling and wonder they brought into that place was simply awe inspiring. It’s not often you see a group so sincere. There was no gimmick, and not even a hint of fakeness. It was just pure energy, feeling, soul, and heart.

This video really doesn’t do them justice, but of all the ones I’ve seen, I think it at least imparts a fraction of the insanity and scale of it all.



Right before the first encore, one of the musicians went berserk and started climbing the scaffolding. The place was just going nuts. The crowd went on humming the chorus of this song until the band came back out. Pretty rad.