Last week Rolling Stone published their annual Hot List (usually a summer issue, but I guess Guns & Roses was a more relevant cover topic at the time).

In general the Hot List was filled with boring stuff that I heard about three months ago, but one article especially made me laugh: Hot Scene - Philadelphia. (1MB JPG / 2MB PDF)

Yes, us. We're the hottest (or, at least, most worthy of highlighting) music scene in the country.

The designation sounded a little suspect to me. We're definitely alive with music, and there are definitely a lot great bands in Philadelphia, but as a big music fan (and frequent musician) I've never felt that Philly has the brimming-over-the-top musicality of a Boston or an Austin, to name two other music-friendly cities.

I could have maybe bought an explanation that mentioned how newer venues like World Cafe Live, Milkboy Coffee, and even the Kimmel have jumpstarted our local scene over the past few years. However, Rolling Stone they seem to have chosen us based on the logic that our low rent allows musicians to craft their sound without having to hold down a day job.

Um, what?

Maybe RS was mostly hanging out in the Great Northeast (thus the highlight of Johnny Brenda's), but otherwise their low-rent thesis is pretty much an outright lie.

Also, though they ever-so-briefly mention AKA - a legitimate hot-pick - they prominently feature aphoto of The Last Drop coffee shop, which was already tired ten years ago when my bandmate and I stopped attending open mic nights there because of the unpalatable mix of talentless hacks and creepy older men. As actual music fans we didn't usually fit in.

Maybe that's just the point; ten years later and that's Rolling Stone's target audience to a tee, isn't it? I mean, we're talking about a magazine with Kid Rock on its cover.

What do you think? Do we qualify as one of the country's hottest music scenes? If so, what am I missing out on as a listener, and as a performer?

I am so very behind the times when I need Rolling Stone to tell me that a tune from PJ Harvey's forthcoming piano-based record Under The Chalk has leaked onto the internet a month ago.

What the hell?

Luckily, the internet forgives and provides. Check out a rather transfixing performance of "When Under Ether" on YouTube or stream the leaked track at CK, and then head to Philly-based mp3 blog Some Velvet Blog to check out the cover and tracklist of Chalk.

I really like it. I'm looking forward to the huge number of Tori comparisons her record draws, as if PJ is suddenly a pianist - the entire point of her is that every album is completely different.

(Also discovered in my mad PJ hunt - The Yellow Stereo. Very good music writing, and taste.)

This blog was excerpted from Crushing Krisis. You can also read the original version. Or, subscribe to the Crushing Krisis RSS feed via your favorite feed reader (or, friend it on LiveJournal).

How to write this post and not get fired? It'll be tricky.

You all know by now I work in communications for a major Philadelphia company (which, incidentally, is visible in the PhillyFuture header), and I love it. I get paid to do things I would probably be doing at home by myself anyway, as frightening as that concept is.

What you might not know (because I haven't mentioned it in about seven years) is that I had a childhood obsession with the Price Is Right. I loved the One Bid, I loved the Showcase Showdown.

But, I loved nothing more than I loved Plinko.

I was obsessed with the way the penny slid into the board and plunked back and forth and to and fro down the pegs before it finally wound up in a prize slot.

You might not understand how those two facts are connected to each other. Here's a hint:

Right now, somewhere in Philadelphia, there is a fully functional Plinko board.

I can't tell you why there is a Plinko board, or where the Plinko board is, because it's ... well, it might be a trade secret? Like, if I were to reveal the purpose and location of the Plinko board, the reason behind my termination would be "dissemination of trade secrets on the internet." I think.

What I can reveal is that within the last month my co-workers' "duties as assigned" meant they had to acquire said Plinko board, and that when I walked one of said co-workers to the parking lot today I came within one hot second of climbing onto the roof of her mini-van like a fucking ninja and riding that sucker through rush hour to the location of the Plinko board.

I have been promised photos, and possibly even a video demo, of the Plinko board in action. Yet, pester, plead, and outright beg as I might I could not obtain permission to play, touch, or even view the Plinko board at its secret location. And, after tomorrow, it will be gone, whisked away by the cruel whims of fate (and/or the decrepit liver-spotted claws of nigh unknown game show dieties).

However, though I may be barred from visiting the Plinko mecca, or enlisting you to help me gain entry to it by some nefarious means, I have taken away one important thing from this experience:

I now know that there is a life-sized, fully-functional Plinko board that can be delivered to the Philadelphia metro area.

And, I'm pretty sure I have a high enough credit limit to rent it for the weekend...

This blog was excerpted from Crushing Krisis. You can also read the original version. Or, subscribe to the Crushing Krisis RSS feed via your favorite feed reader (or, friend it on LiveJournal).

I spent the majority of my day yesterday moving my best friend & bandmate Gina and her boyfriend Wes into their first house.

We were a small team of movers - just five, plus one in the truck - yet the move went as smoothly as it could possibly go... with the exception of one instance of Gina and I collapsing into giggles while trying to carry her futon around a bend in the stairs, and the fact that the laws of physics bar them from sleeping on a queen-sized box spring anywhere other than their living room.

Gina and I have now known each other for over half of our lives - through middle school, high school, college, post-college, and now whatever this is. It was amazing thing to be a part of her big move yesterday, just it continues to be amazing to be able to see so far into the past of someone, someone with whom silliness comes so easily, and with whom I am the epitome of comfortable, willing to speak my mind even when I know we disagree.

Crushing Krisis has now been alive seven years - since August 26th, 2000. That's more than half as long as I've known Gina, and nearly as long as I've known the rest of my best friends.