Category: ruminations

Where I’ve Been and Where I’ve Gone

UPDATE: June 28, 2017
If you want to reminice about living in NYC during the era in which I wrote this blog, please check out my friend Lizzy Goodman’s book, Meet Me in the Bathroom, which is an amazing oral history recounting the time. I was lucky enough to be intereviewed for the book, so you will even see a few quotes from lil’ ol’ Miss Modernage in there!

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Oh, hi! You’re still reading this ol’ thing?

I started this blog on November 18, 2001 from my New York City college dorm room. I was probably downloading something on Napster at the time.

Since then, I’ve watched the NYC music scene rise and fall, quietly morned the death of my favorite bands, and witnessed “web journals” morphing into an entire blog culture.

This blog has served as the gateway to introducing me to amazingly interesting, kind, and wonderful friends; allowed me to witness mind-blowing concerts that I will never forget; and acted as the creative outlet for all my crazy thoughts, emotions, and ideas surrounding what it is to be a music fan.

I’ve published a total of 5,481 posts on this blog, but it’s been over a year since I wrote something new.

By now you’ve probably guessed I’ve actually gotten old, gotten slow, and gotten annoyed over having to elbow people who were born in the 90s (I effing remember the 90s) just to get a good sight line at a crowded concert — and you would be right.

Now here are some things you probably didn’t see coming:

  • I got married
  • I moved out of New York City
  • I started a new blog where I actually show my face

Yup. Even I don’t know who I am anymore.

I really don’t write much about music anymore. I now live in Denver, Colorado (seriously). I now write a lot about food, travel, and the outdoors.

I hope you’ll keep this thing we had going by joining me at my new blog, NewDenizen.com, or follow me on Instagram @newdenizen.

Signing off.

Your loyal fanatical Strokes/White Stripes fan,

Laura / Miss Modernage

Jack White with the White Stripes at Union Square, NYC

1980s Flashback: Puffball Popple

I have tons and tons of old paraphernalia at my mom’s house, and I’ve been going through some of it and some of the stuff I saved is just too good not to share with the rest of the world. So for your first installment of “Stuff I’ve Saved” I brought out the big guns — my 1980s Popple. This one was called Puffball — it was one of the original nine Popples that came out.


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A-Holes Reveal How Big of A-Holes They Are to the NY Times

Have you read this New York Times story about people who leave their air conditioning on all day long? The reason many of them leave their AC on? Because electrical utilities are included in their monthly rent!!!

Many of these people claim that they keep their AC on in sympathy for their pets, which I get, but c’mon — you do NOT need all units in your apartment turned up full blast. News flash — your dog/cat WILL LIVE if your apartment is 78 degrees!!

Listen to this quote from Danielle, a social worker living in Stuyvesant Town who leaves two units running all day long for her purse-size dog:

“I don’t want to walk into a hot apartment at the end of the day… It’s nice to not have to worry about it.”

I guess Danielle’s empathy only runs as far as helping people. She probably comes home to her arctic chilled apartment and slips into a nice and comfortable “eff the environment” t-shirt. I wonder if that’s after she turns off the TV that’s been blasting all day long because her pint-sized dog really likes to watch soap operas between 1-3 (watching it on DVR later just isn’t the same as watching it live).
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Keane Make Waves at the Williamsburg Waterfront

Long-time readers already know that whenever I mention the word “Keane,” a mention of my mom couldn’t be too far behind. As I’ve explained over and over on this site, my mom LOVES Keane. Basically every time Keane is within the tri-state area I get an email from my mom alerting me of the concert and a request that I get tickets for her to go to the show.

We’ve already been to Keane shows at Radio City and Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan, but I was pretty excited to find out that my next Keane-venture would be in Brooklyn at the very beautiful Williamsburg Waterfront venue which has a fantastic view of Manhattan across the East River.

The weather was perfect — warm, but not sweaty, with a cool breeze. The crowd was in high spirits. By the time Keane came on stage I think my mom had already worked herself to the third or fourth row of the crowd. Singer Tom Chaplin was looking a bit like a ’50s greaser, with a shortly cropped ‘do, skinny black jeans, black and yellow Fred Perry polo shirt, and slim light-colored sneakers.
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Can Someone Please Destroy All Vuvuzelas?

Hey folks — for those of you who watch some of the first two matches of the World Cup, is it just me or are those damn vuvuzelas (those plastic horns everyone has) making the most AWFUL non-stop buzzing sound throughout the matches?

I know that the horn has a 15-year history as THE defacto noise maker of South Africa, but to the rest of the world it’s the tool that makes the horrible sound of a giant swarm of bees buzzing over and over and over. It’s pretty much the most annoying background sound during a world sporting event. Will FIFA please put an end to the constant honks of the vuvuzelas and ban the damn things from the stadiums from now on?

Anyone else POed about the vuvuzelas?

Other people who hate vuvuzelas:
– Wall Street Journal writer Robb Stewart
– Tons of people in this New York Times article
– The folks at Hear-the-world.com really hate the vuvuzela and present data that states that the horns are more detrimental to your hearing than an air-horn.
– South African Times Live writer Mondli Makhanya
– Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press

Everything Changes…and Dead Weather on the Woodies

You may have noticed the lack of updates — sorry about that, but I just made a big move from my beloved (but tiny) Lower Manhattan apartment to… Brooklyn. Yup, I’ve officially defected to the “other” camp, and although I had my reservations, I’m loving it so far.

Anyhoo, finally got the internet and cable set up this week, and I just happen to catch the tail end of MTV’s Woodies awards last night, with a performance by the Dead Weather. Was it just me or was the sound AWFUL, and the camera work equally as disorienting?

Definitely not their best performance. What a shame, since their show at MHOW was so fantastic the night before.

Check out the video of their performance of “Cut Like a Buffalo”:

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