I finally had a chance to see noon:30 play last night. I know two members of the band and have been trying to make it out to one of their infrequent shows for almost as long as I’ve lived in DC. They play with a ton of intensity and clearly have a lot of fun doing it. noon:30′s sound is punk/experimental with great, sometimes en Français vocals. The show started with some noisy drone guitar work and some improvised percussion involving a wooden plank. A fantastic version of Jim Carroll’s “People Who Died” finished off their first set with a couple of friends joining the trio on stage and made a great fit alongside the rest of their music. I’m not going to do their sound justice describing it here, so maybe you should check out the clips on their MySpace page, friend noon:30 on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter.

1. My old stomping grounds at documentaries.about.com are up and running again. Stop by and say “hi” to to Jennifer Merin, your new guide to documentary film.
2. Good luck to Agnes Varnum, who is moving to Austin to work for the Austin Film Society.
3. I’ve been pondering A.J. Schnack’s About A Son Soundtrack Challenge for the past week or so. Perhaps I take these things too seriously. 14 songs to score a biopic about yourself? Maybe I’ll have the answers before Thanksgiving.

When the flag was created in 1917 there were two stars, one for the 1871 fire and one for the 1893 World’s Fair. In 1933 a star was added for Chicago’s second (and less noteworthy) World’s Fair. In 1939 a star was added to commemorate the Fort Dearborn Massacre of 1812 (well before the city was founded).

All of this means that it has been 74 years since anything star-worthy has happened here. Since half the stars are for tragedies, we can be half-thankful. At the same time, the symbolism of the stars seems to require that one be added every so often to show that the city is alive and still doing great things.

I might suggest adding a star for Sonic Youth’s recently announced performance of my favorite album of all time, “Daydream Nation,” in its entirety at this year’s Pitchfork music festival, but somehow I’m not sure the rest of the city would agree that this is as star-worthy. I can’t think of anything as potentially important to the city as the the two World’s Fairs other than an Olympics, so perhaps the ongoing bid for the 2016 games will bring with it a flag upgrade. Taking the next logical leap, in 1,000 years will there be twenty stars on the Chicago flag?

• This American Life
• Jazz in Chicago Podcast
• Harry Shearer’s Le Show
• From NPR: Driveway Moments, Shuffle, Pop Culture, Talk of the Nation Opinion, Science Friday
• BBC NewsPod – best of BBC news
• Economist – more world news from the UK. Ryan recently was raving about the print version – which caused me to add this to my rotation.
• Filmspotting – based in Chicago, this podcast discusses film and often has running themes discussed over several weeks (recently: Herzog, Animation, Documentary)
• …and some random podcasts that are published sporadically like Barack Obama’s podcast, and POV’s documentary previews

And I play ear candy when I’m writing or doing work that requires a little more attention from the left side of the brain. Actually, when I’m writing I usually turn things way down or off.

• In Over Your Head – I actually listen to this more for Julien Smith’s rants from Montreal, but the indie hip-hip tracks he plays are also amazing
• Local Support – Philadelphia bands
• CBC Radio 3 – Canadian Indie music
• KEXP Music that matters – long eclectic chuncks of time spent with Seattle indie DJs
• NPR All Songs Considered – a nice mix of new music and discussion of it
• …and a handful of random ‘song of the day’ or ‘song of the week’ type podcasts I’ve run across here and there, making for a nice mix of new music

I really love being able to listen to what I want, when I want and being able to skip ahead, pause, and rewind whenever I feel the need. Sometimes I miss the immediacy of live radio and the surprises that come with it, but since moving to Chicago I haven’t adjusted well to the daytime schedule offered by Chicago Public Radio – though overall I prefer their offerings over Philly’s WHYY.

So, what are you listening to?

For some reason, the first perfect days of Spring weather always seem to coincide with the opening of the Philadelphia Film Festival. Faced with a choice between biking past blooming cherry blossom trees and sitting in a darkened theater watching strange tales from far flung places, I’ll go for the dark theater almost every time. In past years, I’ve volunteered for the fest in order to see as many films as I could. This year, my gig with About.com means I’m seeing as many documentaries as I can.

This Film is Not Yet Rated, and 51 Birch Street are high on my list. I’m also excited about some of the music documentaries playing at the fest, including Danielson: A Family Story (pictured), The Devil and Daniel Johnston, and Beijing Bubbles (about China’s emerging protest punk scene). Of course, there is plenty of fiction on the bill as well. Anyone up for Alexander Sokurov’s take on the relationship between Emperor Hirohito and General MacArthur? Something lighter maybe? How about Wassup Rockers about “L.A. Chicano punk skateboarders?”

A dilligent young gumshoe covering the tough church basement concert beat cornered me and Rachel on Sunday. At least one of these people knows how to have fun.

Thanks to Joe for the Image.