Anni Rossi
The Daredevil Christopher Wright comes in from Eau Claire, Wisconsin with indie folk that, not unlike These United States, has the crossover appeal to charm both the ironic hipster and the NPR listener (this may be the same person). The debut album from this trio (none of whom are named Christopher Wright, FYI) is called In Deference to a Broken Back and has been getting love from Paste Magazine, Daytrotter and others. Catch them here for free on the small scale while you still can.
Not to be outdone, as previously mentioned there’s a ton of great local talent. There will be plenty of chances for you to shake your rump when all this songwriter stuff is done, with local stalwarts the School of Flyentology as well as Fairfield duo Porno Galactica. PG’s got their new album, Romance in the New World, coming out July 14 on, well, us. Rounding out the bill will be Olivia Rose Muzzy performing her divine loop pedal upright bass compositions, as well as the dance friendly indie rock of Be Kind To Your Neighbor and Beast Wars. What else do you need, fireworks? It’s not a tough decision. It’s Friday night, and there’s a ton of great bands playing for free, all in one place. Doors are at 9pm.
Download: Anni Rossi - The West Coast
Des Moines is about to get straight-up wild. Iowa’s biggest and best summer music festival returns for its second year and the theme is “something for everyone”. 
It is extremely difficult to stomach that tough, nailbiter of a loss by the United States to Brazil 
The NBA Draft is tonight, meaning a couple things - barring some LeBron James for Kobe Bryant trade, this is the last time you’ll hear me talk about basketball until around October. It also means that this is one of my favorite sports days of the whole year, with the NBA Draft being actually exciting, as opposed to the other major American sports drafts. It’s also the sport that probably most leans on individual contributions, which means that it’s easy to imagine right away what Blake Griffin is going to mean to the Clippers, and how it’ll go down if he’s not successful. In this year’s draft, beyond Griffin, there’s plenty of intrigue, and already there’s been plenty of dealing, with Richard Jefferson going to the Spurs for a trio of aging contracts, and the Wizards peddling their #5 pick to the Wolves for Mike Miller and Randy Foye. And there’s reportedly more dealing going down, with none of this years prospects looking like locks aside from Griffin. I’d say go to a bar, but there’s too much to hear tonight at Madison Square Garden, so it looks like you’ll be better off picking up a six pack and camping out at home before heading out for the evening. At least, that’s how I see it. Draft is at 6pm, meaning you will be able to catch the first round and still have all your night to get busy. 
Not sure when exactly this track dropped, but I just stumbled across what’s being called the first single from the upcoming Clipse record Til the Casket Drops (due out who-the-fuck-knows-when in 2009). It is, to be honest, not the way to start the weekend, with brothers Pusha T and Malice sounding bored, lazy, and lacking the fire that makes the best of their recordings so compelling. We can only hope that this does not actually end up on the record. Clipse are traditionally at their best when they’re feeling overlooked, disrespected, or unappreciated. On “I’m Good,” they take over four minutes to appreciate themselves, somehow managing never saying one meaningful thing over the course of a track. Pharrell puts down a faux lounge beat that could probably never be rescued, even by the best of ‘em. And with the Clipse message starting to get stale as recently as late 2008 on the mixtape Road to Til the Casket Drops, this could be the album that finds Clipse stuck in the “nothing left to say” rut, something 
It is the pinnacle of sports season right now. The French Open, my favorite tennis Grand Slam, just wrapped up with Roger Federer probably cementing his legacy as tennis’ all-time greatest. The Stanley Cup Finals are headed for the ultimate - game 7 between Pittsburgh and Detroit, in what has been an exciting (I’ll not say epic - some of these games have been less than close) series. The Stanley Cup playoffs are one of the most grueling events, and to be playing in a game 7 means going the distance. The NBA Finals are in full swing, with Orlando getting a crucial win on Tuesday to make this a series. It had looked in the first two games like the Lakers were going to be too strong, but it is now, officially, a series. And what’s left? Well, in the blink of an eye it’ll be Wimbledon, which just happens to be Roger’s favorite surface. And as soon as all this playoff glory is over, then we’re in the heart of the baseball season, which I can never really concentrate on until the NBA or NHL is done anyway. Sooooo…bottom line is, if you’re getting to the point where every night seems like there’s a great show (pretty much true) and you need a night to catch your breath, there’s probably some pretty great sports going on - if that’s your thing.
A little late on this post, but June has inexplicably been off the chain for music performances, with more coming up. It’s hard to top some of the reunion shows coming up, but we’re particularly excited for the return of Toronto’s 
