Wish you were here : an essential guide to your favorite music scenes - from Punk to Indie and everything in between

A snarky, fact-filled look at the people and places that made the indie/punk scene what it is today The American underground music scene is exploding everywhere—not just in New York City and L.A. (although we've got those cities covered too!): In Washington, D.C. . . . Ian MacKaye and Fugazi inspired the straightedge culture, which had kids everywhere drawing black X's on their hands in magic marker. In Omaha, Nebraska . . . A young Conor Oberst, aka Bright Eyes, started writing and performing gut-wrenching love songs at the tender age of thirteen. On Long Island, New York . . . Taking Back Sunday and Brand New battled for emo supremacy and the fragile hearts of a million teenage girls. From the coauthor of the cult-worthy Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture comes Wish You Were Here —a combination travel guide and tortured history covering everything from what constitutes proper rock critic etiquette in Minneapolis to why pop-punk bands in Chicago have so much suburban angst, to how freegans in the Bay Area can feed themselves on a budget that would make frugal Rachael Ray's face blush. Publishers Weekly Simon, coauthor of the emo culture guide Everybody Hurts and an editor at buzznet.com, set out to write an ethnography of sorts about the most cherished music scenes in the country. It's a promise only partly delivered. The selection of indie music-centric cities is spot-on, ranging from the obvious (Washington, D.C.; Seattle; Twin Cities) to the much less so (suburban Florida). In each section, Simon delivers a capsule Music Primer on that scene's history, what kind of bands populated it, during what time period and what happened to them. Other sections include essential album guides and a helpful Mapping Out list that includes travel guide-like notations on local scenester hangouts and record shops. There's helpful information, to be sure, but it's all a bit too slight, made cuter with ink illustrations by Dobi. Simon's text is knowledgeable, and when she actually talks about the music itself the book serves as a helpful jumping-off point for readers looking to learn more. But all too often she resorts to unfunny snark-sniping about categories of scenesters or celebrity rockers. There is too little information here for those who actually know something about the subject and insider-overload for those who don't. (Apr.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. A snarky, fact-filled look at the people and places that made the indie/punk scene what it is todayThe American underground music scene is exploding everywhere — not just in New York City and L.A. (although we've got those cities covered too!): In Washington, D.C. . . . Ian MacKaye and Fugazi inspired the straightedge culture, which had kids everywhere drawing black X's on their hands in magic marker. In Omaha, Nebraska . . . A young Conor Oberst, aka Bright Eyes, started writing and performing gut-wrenching love songs at the tender age of thirteen.On Long Island, New York . . . Taking Back Sunday and Brand New battled for emo supremacy and the fragile hearts of a million teenage girls.From the coauthor of the cult-worthy Everybody Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture comes Wish You Were Here — a combination travel guide and tortured history covering everything from what constitutes proper rock critic etiquette in Minneapolis to why pop-punk bands in Chicago have so much suburban angst, to how freegans in the Bay Area can feed themselves on a budget that would make frugal Rachael Ray's face blush. A snarky, fact-filled look at the people and places that made the indie/punk scene what it is today The American underground music scene is exploding everywherenot just in New York City and L.A. (although we've got those cities covered too!): In Washington, D.C. . . . Ian MacKaye and Fugazi inspired the straightedge culture, which had kids everywhere drawing black X's on their hands in magic marker. In Omaha, Nebraska . . . A young Conor Oberst, aka Bright Eyes, started writing and performing gut-wrenching love songs at the tender age of thirteen. On Long Island, New York . . . Taking Back Sunday and Brand New battled for emo supremacy and the fragile hearts of a million teenage girls. From the coauthor of the cult-worthy Everybody An Essential Guide to Emo Culture comes Wish You Were Here a combination travel guide and tortured history covering everything from what constitutes proper rock critic etiquette in Minneapolis to why pop-punk bands in Chicago have so much suburban angst, to how freegans in the Bay Area can feed themselves on a budget that would make frugal Rachael Ray's face blush. Title Page 3 Contents 5 Preface 7 Washington, D.C. 11 Los Angeles, California 35 Lawrence, Kansas 55 Seattle, Washington 75 Suburban Florida 99 Long Island 125 The Bay Area 145 New York, New York 167 Omaha, Nebraska 193 Chicago, Illinois 213 The Twin Cities 229 Afterword 251 Acknowledgments 253 About the Author 255 Also by Leslie Simon and Trevor Kelley 256 Credits 257 Copyright Notice 258 About the Publisher 259 Presents an irreverent primer on the people and places that have contributed to today's indie music scene, and profiles a dozen cities of historical relevance. Title from PDF title page (viewed on June 2, 2009).