Michael Stipe

Jay-Z Coldplay = Play-Z: A Rundown of Other Oddball Mashups

On New Year's Eve Brooklyn's Barclays Center will be alive with the monster double-bill of Coldplay and Jay-Z. Two titanic musical entities that have spent the past decade being the epicenter of their genres, their alignment for one night is sure to be a colossal way to bring in the new year. But de ... More >>

New York Fashion Week SS13: Liberty Ross Models at Alexander Wang's Glow-in-the-Dark Show; Edun Attracts Alicia Keys, Michael Stipe, Gina Gershon, and a Couple of Strokes

"Alicia! Alicia! Over here!" shouted the front-row photographers at Alicia Keys, who had just arrived at Moynihan Station to see the EDUN show. Decked out in sunglasses, a white blouse, and white jeans with black tuxedo stripes, she pulled another woman with long brown hair into the shot. "Who's th ... More >>

100 & Single: Buy An Adam Lambert Album, Strike A Tiny Blow For Gay Rights

About a year ago, the movie Bridesmaids opened in the U.S. and was the subject of a rather unusual awareness campaign. Female movie fans, largely independently of the film's producers, compelled women to go see the film in its opening weekend and defy common Hollywood wisdom that non-rom-com movies ... More >>

The Wackiest Things Celebs Have Ever Said To Me

In their dealings with a potentially scary press person like myself, celebs are sometimes solicitous, occasionally pandering, at times delightfully ass kissy, but always tons of fun. Here are just a few of the highlights through the years:

Going Back To Wellsville: Six Great Musical Moments From The Adventures Of Pete & Pete

Like a defiant cannonball splash disturbing the tranquility of an adult swim, the Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Pete & Pete lives on. Over three seasons between 1993 and 1996, the show followed the adventures of two brothers each named Pete Wrigley, their parents, their friends, and the entir ... More >>

Pazz & Jop 2011: Michael Tedder On Fucked Up's Majesty, Danny Brown's Cunning Skills, And The Joy Formidable's Outro Power

To supplement this year's Pazz & Jop launch, Sound of the City asked a few critics to expand on the reasonings behind their voting. Here, Michael Tedder breaks down his entire ballot, and along the way he talks about about the operatic heights of Fucked Up, the shredding ability of Annie Clark and R ... More >>

Patti Smith Moving Her New Year's Party Out Of Bowery Ballroom

Last week Patti Smith performed her annual series of year-end shows, and the Times reports that at the end of her Saturday-night gig she had an announcement: This year's New Year's residency would be her final one at the Bowery Ballroom. No word on where Smith's shows ringing out 2012 will be just y ... More >>

R.E.M.'s Reckoning

The band closes the book on their legacy

Eight Posts That You'll Probably See Somewhere On The Internet Now That R.E.M. Has Called It Quits

R.I.P., R.E.M.​8. I Wanted To Be Wrong: Why Around The Sun Is R.E.M.'s Stealth Masterpiece 7. One Time I Stood Across The Street From Michael Stipe's House: A 4,000-Word Memoir About Five Minutes That Changed My Life Forever

McDonald's Inspires Most Brand Loyalty Among Coffee Drinkers; Food Writers Can't Stop Recounting Meals at El Bulli

​A YouTube video gone viral suggests that sugar is toxic. Is our excessive consumption of sugar not only causing diabetes and obesity, but heart disease, hypertension, and many common cancers? [NY Times] McCafé customers are apparently more loyal to the Golden Arches than Starbucks patrons o ... More >>

STAR STRUCK

An all-star collective performs Big Star’s third album

The New Adventures of Old R.E.M.

Collapse Into Now finds our wizened heroes sounding more like themselves than ever

Live: The Roots, The Flaming Lips, Michael Stipe, And Patti Smith Dominate Carnegie Hall's Tibet House Benefit

Patti Smith, leading the charge as always. Pic by Tracy Ketcher.​21st-Annual Tibet House U.S. Benefit Concert Starring The Flaming Lips, the Roots, Taj Mahal, Michael Stipe, etc. Carnegie Hall Thursday, March 3 Better Than: "Auld Lang Syne" "Beauty is power -- violence is weak," we are told ... More >>

Five Pavement Songs They Should Pull Out For Their Last Night In Town

C'mon, Steve, indulge us.​So Pavement Week ends tonight, with one more show in Central Park. We all had a good time, though, right? Dredged up some memories? Sung a few half-remembered choruses? Got rained on? Made some money? (Actually, no, we didn't make any money.) And though the set lists ... More >>

1965 Arizona wax museum not much creepier than Arizona today

​Each Thursday, your Crap Archivist brings you the finest in forgotten and bewildering crap culled from basements, thrift stores, estate sales and flea markets. I do this for one reason: Knowledge is power. Wax Museum Souvenir Guides from Miami, Dallas, and Scottsdale, Arizona Date: 1960s & ... More >>

The Dirty Projectors Played Opening Ceremony's Kick Off Party at the Ace Hotel; Solange Knowles Guested on "Stillness Is the Move" and Groove Theory's "Tell Me" (!!)

The scene at the Ace Hotel was pretty rowdy on Saturday night, as Opening Ceremony threw a party to celebrate opening a bizarre and tiny store in the chain hotel's lobby. Further research undertaken by SOTC over the weekend seemed to indicate that the store is long on McSweeney's and Levis-collabo ... More >>

Week in Review: Let Us Soak in Positive Forces

New Year's Eve...no idea, basically. Photo by Rebecca Smeyne.​In the week we learned that Animal Collective's manager is apparently endowed with a baby leg, in the one dark place where that would be a meaningful statement, we did our best to otherwise cleanse the ol' SOTC soul, apologizing to ... More >>

Both Michael Stipe and Terence Koh Were at Salem's Glasslands Show Last Night

The deathgaze, Gucci Mane-remixing, mystery-goth act Salem played Glasslands last night and found themselves experiencing the classically weird New York experience of playing in front of representatives of every major media outlet in the city, plus artist Terence Koh (who's photographed the band b ... More >>

News Roundup: Wavves, Julian Casablancas, The Pixies, Miracle Legion Tribute Album

--Wavves' Nathan Williams has been on a very bad streak. In May, his drummer dumped a bottle of beer on his head at Spain's Primavera Sound Festival. (Williams later apologized, admitting he was on ecstacy, then deleted his apology.) Now, just before the band's first shows since that "meltdown," W ... More >>

A Quarter-Century of R.E.M.'s Murmur

Revisiting the debut they never quite topped

Exclusive Download: Vic Chesnutt and Elf Power, "Little Fucker"

In Praise of Chunklet

Hailing the most affectionately insulting 'zine in music history

The One You Love

Michael Stipe signs his new photo book

No Age Rides the Zeitgeist

Robyn and Kylie Minogue

Vital, addictive, architectural Europop

R.E.M.'s Rebirth of the World as We Know It

Keeping hope and their youthful idealism alive

SXSW: R.E.M., D.O.A.

Provincializm: Vic Chesnutt's North Star Deserter

In This Week's Voice: Pink Naked, Lou Reed in Tie-Dye, Bryan Adams Alive

The Birthday Party

Reminisces on last night's, last year's, and the last half-decade's parties as Fly Life turns five

Riding the Shortbus

Sex-starved East Village hippies get naked for John Cameron Mitchell's latest perverse utopia

Nostalgia = Death: Gay Pride, Gay Shame Part 2

A podcast of a more experimental bent

Mythology

Maripol's photos at the Soho Grand induce '80s nostalgia

Exit Stage Left

Earnest celebrities support the troops with jokes and anger

Iraq Turns Four: To Rock or Protest?

Get Your War Off

Susan Sarandon, Cindy Sheehan, and Peaches bring it home

Three Years Later

As the war in Iraq reaches its third anniversary, the world prepares to march

Famous

NYC celebs take over Fontana's, Annex, Slipper Room, Corner Billiards

Boys in the Well

Stipe and Co. regain propulsion, hooks, political purpose

Going, Going, Gone!

Moby, Jay McInerney sold to the highest bidder; Interpol go undercover

Over It!

Politicking With Michael Stipe; Hanging With The Hansons; Slash In Soho

A Murray Murray Christmas!

Music

Three-Legged Dogs

NY Mirror

White Lines (Do It)

Girls Interrupted

NY Mirror

Ivana Trump made a surprise appearance at the Roxy and special-requested a visit to the go-go boys' dressing room—no doubt to compare jewelry.

38 Special

Rubicon Beach

Sonic Youth in Occupied America