Siren Music Festival 2010: We Will be There!

Alarm bells are ringing Willie! No, that's just the sound of the FREE Siren Music Festival in the near future, i.e. tomorrow. That's right, Saturday, July 17 the Village Voice is putting on their tenth annual Siren Music Fest out at good 'ole Coney Island. For some, it means waking up at 11:00AM, rallying the troops, dare we say having a cocktail, then grabbing an hour long F-train out to the home of Nathan's hot dogs and The Cyclone to be cliche. What brings us there? A fantastic line-up of indie's finest and up-and-coming artists, but also the promise of some free beer, sunglasses and some awesome industry company. For some at Stark, this will be our maiden voyage to Siren so keep a keen eye/nose on the horizon for some large straw hats, Nikon cameras dangling from neck and the sweet smell of Banana Boat SPF 70.

This year's line up includes: Matt and Kim, Ted Leo, Holy Fuck, Suffer Blood, Harlem, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Ponytail, Screaming Females, Dom, Wye Oak and more! For more information follow @sirenfestival or check out the link above.

So instead of going to the gym or sleeping late only to justify waking up when it is brunch/drinking time, join us on the island....whhhawwwwwwwww. Bwah.

Music Writer Nat Hentoff's Last Column for the Village Voice

Times for print pubs are tough. We know. We know. But did it have to be Nat?? Really?? Sorry for the cut and paste, but we're busy here people. From yesterday's Gothamist:

"After this week, there's even less reason to touch the grimy handle of those ubiquitous Village Voice corner boxes: today is Nat Hentoff's last appearance in the increasingly irrelevant weekly. After fifty years spent doggedly exploring everything from music to human rights for the paper, the 83-year-old columnist was terminated just before New Year's Eve. But instead of using his last column to carpet Phoenix-based Village Voice Media with F-bombs, Hentoff has bowed out with class, looking back on his illustrious history with the Voice, and forward to his work as an author and syndicated columnist. And he promises to keep sticking it to the man by "putting on skunk suit at other garden parties, now that I've been excessed from the Voice...See you somewhere else. Finally, I'm grateful for the comments on the phone and the Web. It's like hearing my obituaries while I'm still here."

Apologies to the staff of the Nashville Scene. We still love ya'll - live long and prosper.