Category personal
Obligatory ‘I suck for not updating my blog but I’m going to be better at it now’ post
Yeah, so pretty much I haven’t updated my blog since this time last year when I posted my end of the year music lists for 2013 music. Seeing as it’s time for my 2014 end of the year lists I figured now is as good a time as any to re-commit myself to blogging more […]
Remembering Lou Reed through his relationship with Lester Bangs
“Lou, as you were courageous enough to be our mirror, so in turn we’ll be your family.” – Lester Bangs, The Bells Review, Rolling Stone I don’t think I knew what good music was until I heard the Velvet Underground for the first time. As a graduate student at Syracuse University I discovered Lou Reed […]
The Promise of the City
I love the city. In The Perks of Being Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky captured exactly how I feel whenever I see a city skyline, whether driving down Interstate 75 and Atlanta slowly comes into view or crossing a bridge as New York poses for a picture or descending down a hill in what feels like the […]
ars liberalis: ramblings on education
“The importance of the humanities in educating citizens is why we have undoubtedly seen the consequences of the decline in of the liberal arts nowhere more than in the quality of the public debate. The disappearance of the liberal arts from American education has meant the disappearance of the liberal arts from American culture. . […]
155 mph: A Farewell to Andy Roddick and Reflections on My Life
Andy Roddick—the last American tennis player to win a Grand Slam tournament when his supersonic serve garnered him a 2003 US Open title at the age of 21—played his last match, game and point today. When I saw he had called a press conference last week, on his 30th birthday and on an off day […]
A portrait of Irish artists after economic crash
“But everywhere I turned I saw evidence of a kind of social compact between artists and landlords you’d be hard-pressed to find in New York or London—a loose alliance that benefited both parties.” – Lisa Abend Yet another reason to love Ireland—the pop-up art scenes. In the September issue of Afar magazine, Abend explores young Irish artists […]
Cold Specks – Heartbreaking Soul
I first posted about Cold Specks almost one year ago, and since then I pitched and wrote a feature on the band and Al Spx (the essence of the band). The feature was just published in Paste’s digital magazine the mPlayer as part of its Best of What’s Next issue. From the article: “You can […]
Your Ability to Dance: An Ode to Tennessee
Yesterday was a momentous occasion in Bristol, Tenn. British breakthrough band Mumford & Sons turned the city into a mustache-plastered music festival for one day when it chose Bristol as one of seven destinations from around the globe for its Gentlemen of the Road Stopover shows. And they rekindled my pride as a Tennessean. “One of the […]
samccarty.com 
An Artist’s Commentary
I’ve been listening to The Origin of Love, the new Mika album, on Spotify (if I decide I really like it, I’ll buy the CD). But, what’s interesting is the bonus version that has commentary for all the tracks. At first, I was in love with this idea. One of the things that fascinates me […]