But if the far-more-punk likes of Sex Pistols and Black Flag have done it, why would it be beneath the ‘Mats , who loved classic rock and took on the post-punk mantle (as they took on everything) only grudgingly? Sure, these moves are generally about money. But would Paul Westerberg on his own ever get to play to 15,000 people with Dinosaur Jr., Rocket from the Crypt, the Weakerthans and Iggy and the Stooges as his warm-up acts? I find that hard to begrudge. Given the bill, the crowd leaned to the 35-and-up demographic, but I knew lots of younger folk, women especially, who’d been waiting all summer for it. After all, the Replacements aren’t exactly a hard-to-acquire taste—all their screwing around aside, the noise and shenanigans couldn’t be peppered over much more melodic, to-the-gut tunes and heartfelt refrains. The story of pop-punk and even pop-rock since 1990 is pretty much a question of how many parts Replacements to how many units of metal (or water).
For full version, visit http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/music_box/2013/08/the_replacements_at_riotfest_toronto_why_you_should_go_see_your_favorite.html
Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters I worked for Google as a software engineer from 2003 to 2008. I never worked directly with Marissa Mayer (and I didn’t know her socially either), but I saw enough to know that she was very driven and had a firm vision of what she wanted, worked out in the finest detail. She stuck to her guns. Her genius, like Steve Jobs’, was in managing the interface between computers and those difficult-to-fathom humans, making the tech as user-friendly and seamless as possible. You’d think these were good things.
For full version, visit http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/08/marissa_mayer_controversy_what_the_negative_coverage_gets_wrong.html
BlueJar 