I’m From Barcelona sings We’re From Barcelona with all of their friends. Can you tell someone is from Sweden by their haircut/style? Before you answer, watch the video…

Over at Asthmatic Kitty’s Sidebar Sujan Stevens laments Friend Rock,

Friend Rock is a nebulous genre, often difficult to define. How does one isolate the variables? The first step to recovery is recognition; self-inquiry is key. Consider carefully your motivations for being at the show in the first place. Are you bringing to the performance an anxious, pathological obligation (by sheer, relational proximity) and an unfaltering, unquenchable desire to chatter, gossip, and talk about said friend onstage, capsizing your ability to enjoy anything about the music at all? If so, you may be in the midst of Friend Rock. But there you are, biting your tongue, with an iron will, the will to love, a stoic cheerleader, a loyal comrade, a cheap listener, you are sticking it out because that person onstage is your Friend.

In college I once attended a concert at a music hall in Asheville, North Carolina because the band was fronted by my suitemate’s brother. It so happened that the concert was on a Thursday night, or more accurately, a Thirsty Thursday night. Does suitemate’s brother’s band playing Thirsty Thursday count as Friend Rock?

Speaking of Thirsty Thursday, Andy Whitman at Paste has a beautiful essay on what he thinks is the best rock and roll band in the world, and the drunk frat boys who missed it.

Every so often these little rock ‘n roll epiphanies remind me why I even bother to care about disposable, four-minute songs. And I experienced more than a few of those moments Saturday night, and I realized that, at its best, and in spite of crowds who are more interested in getting drunk and rowdy than listening to good music, rock ‘n roll can still carry the seeds of redemption.

Take a listen to Cattle and The Creeping Things by The Hold Steady for a taste of the “seeds of redemption” Whitman writes about.

All for now. Have a great weekend and may your Friday (Saturday and Sunday too) be filled with friends.

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