The critics who praise the Hold Steady share a kind of collective relief that at last, someone's making music for men in their 30's who like classic rock.

But since when are men in their 30s who like classic rock such an underserved demographic?

I have had the band pushed on me by aging, formerly disillusioned rock lovers, and pushed again, and again. Nothing works.

I could never get into Craig Finn’s nasal wordiness and self-satisfied smartness, or sense that there was something great in the blustery arena rock of the band’s music.

It’s not that I don’t like smartness or arena rock or even nasal singers (if I could sing, I would most certainly be one).  read more »

Sony has come up with a creative way of generating revenue in the face of the industry-wide slump in music sales. The New York Times reports that executives at the company are tapping into the photo archives in the basement of its New York headquarters, and are expected today to announce a partnership with the Morrison Hotel Gallery—which showcases prominent music photographers—to sell off Sony's "gold mine" of classic rock images.

Apparently there are decades' worth of photos that were taken by staff photographers at Columbia Records, which Sony acquired in 1988. The images were more or less collecting dust until last year, when Sony started selling reproductions of them via its newly created boutique business, Icon Collectibles. Now, an exhibition of photos from Columbia’s 30th Street Studio is slated at the gallery for mid-July. "We're looking to take advantage of all the assets of the company, not just the audio recordings. We have the content, and we found a way to tap into it," John Ingrassia, president of Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s commercial music group, told The Times. Some of the hot ticket items include:  read more »

GREETINGS FROM BURY PARK
By Sarfraz Manzoor
Vintage, 269 pages, $13.95

Among the vast library of written material produced in the wake of Bruce Springsteen’s three-plus decades of superstardom—biographies, hagiographies, magazine profiles, fan testimonials, academic treatises, lyric exegeses, blog and private journal entries—Greetings From Bury Park may be the first to blame Mr. Springsteen for the writer’s inability to get laid.

“If not for Bruce,” Sarfraz Manzoor writes near the end of his sadly unilluminating memoir, “I might have grown up and settled for the love of a sensible girl.”  read more »

THEATER:

Tony Award winner Joanna Gleason will star in the New York premiere of Willy Holtzman’s Something You Did, a play about a notorious sixties radical who is released into the post-9/11 world after spending nearly three decades in prison for her part in the accidental killing of a police officer during an anti-war rally. Previews begin March 18 with opening night set for April 1 at Primary Stages. [On Sale: February 5]

CONCERTS:

Canadian sister duo and indie press darlings Tegan and Sara are hitting the road this spring in support of their fifth and latest studio album The Con, released last year on Vapor/Sire Records. Their 15-date stint will begin April 17 in Salem, Ore., and conclude May 12 at Terminal 5 in Manhattan. Pre-sale tickets went on sale Wednesday, but the regular sale is about to begin. [On Sale: Friday, January 18 at 12 p.m.]  read more »

Kanye West (8 nods) and Amy Winehouse (6 nods) top the Grammy Award nominations, announced today. They better bring big tote bags—green friendly!—to the Feb. 10 ceremony because they're looking to take home a lot of those little record player statues.

Read the Grammy press release after the jump.  read more »

Here’s one not to miss: Michael Bloomberg’s Hanukkah’s party is taking place on December 5th at 49-51 Chambers Street, complete with Glatt Kosher food.

And if you don’t think there’s news at these parties, think again. At a holiday party last year, Bloomberg and some City Hall aides sang a modified version of the Bruce Springsteen song “Born to Run."

I’m currently putting together a list of political parties, so if you have an invitation, email me. (Pictures from the parties I’m not invited to are also welcome).]]> http://www.observer.com/2007/holiday-parties#comments Politics Bruce Springsteen Michael Bloomberg Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:45:03 -0500 Azi Paybarah 60837 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2007/danny-federici-and-maya-stendhal

A few minutes after 11 p.m. last night, two uniformed caterers were shuffling quietly around Pam Gale’s corner apartment on the 26th floor of Trump’s One Central Park West. Carefully laying out platters of glistening sashimi, buckets of ice and neat little clusters of booze bottles, the servers were preparing for the arrival of musician Danny Federici, who had just finished playing the keys and accordion with Bruce Springsteen at Madison Square Garden.  read more »

Last night, there was a party for artist and photographer Marilyn Minter’s eponymous new coffee-table book at the vault-like Tom Ford boutique on the corner of 70th and Madison Avenue (forgot that Tom Ford, former designer for Gucci, has a boutique? We forgive you).

Think low suede chairs, snakeskin-covered coffee tables, and a disproportionately high number of handsome young men wearing slicked-back hair and very tight pants navigating their way through a cloud of Mr. Ford’s Black Orchid cologne. Champagne, white wine and vodka only—no stains allowed in this joint!  read more »

It's that time again. Here, in full, are Howard Wolfson's picks for Albums of the Year:  read more »

Dixie Chicks -- Taking the Long Way and Alejandro Escovedo - Room of Songs

In retrospect, the cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" on their last album was a pretty clear sign of the direction they were headed. Even before Natalie Maines' comments about the President, Lubbock was beginning to recede in the rear view mirror and California lay ahead. Maines' remarks accelerated a process already in place away from country radio; the "incident" as the Chicks call it, was less a sharp break than a final straw.]]> http://www.observer.com/2007/wolfsons-list#comments Arts & Culture Politics Beirut Bruce Springsteen Howard Wolfson Pearl Jam Will Oldham Fri, 05 Jan 2007 06:48:10 -0500 Azi Paybarah 31091 at http://www.observer.com