Shorts and Stops From Wilson County (Texas) and Beyond

Playlist

School Days

By Susannah Samuels

Soon, kids all around the world will have to make the mental shift from not knowing what day of the week it is to being forced to pay attention to what’s a school day and what is a weekend day. Personally, I believe I’m much too cool for school. But with back-to-school coming up, and the threat of the fast-approaching, much-dreaded first day of school, here are some songs I’m definitely not too cool for. Gorilla Biscuits — “Start Today” My room’s a mess and I can’t get dressed / gotta be out by eight o’clock Gwar — “School’s Out” I kind of had to put some version of this song on the list. Gwar does it best. Pink Floyd — “Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2” Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone! Built To Spill — “Twin Falls” Falling in love with a place you wanted to get away from. Modest Mouse — “Trailer Trash” An anthem for children of divorced parents. It’s a classic Modest Mouse song, but a little more stripped down than their other stuff. The Replacements — “Fuck School” I …

Concert

Summer in Saratoga DMB

Saratoga stays loyal to a bar band that wrote the shittiest part of the soundtrack of the 1990s

‘Crash Into You’ means that he puts his hand down your pants on the SPAC lawn

It’s not the Grateful Dead, but at least they jam

By Ani Wilcenski

My hometown of Saratoga Springs has two main passions — horse racing and jam bands. These hobbies converge in the summer, when the town’s famous racetrack opens and Saratoga Performing Arts Center, the historic concert venue better known as SPAC, kicks off four months of shows. SPAC is a leafy, sprawling venue in the middle of a state park that has hosted performances by everyone from Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles to Eric Clapton and Pink Floyd. The mellow, bucolic atmosphere lends itself to a stable of regulars, with the most beloved returning act being the Dave Matthews Band, which has now performed in Saratoga 49 times. Attending your first Dave Matthews Band concert is a rite of passage for upstate New York teenagers, myself included, characterized by the solemn rituals of determining with your friends whether you should attend “Fridave” or “Saturdave,” securing cheap lawn tickets and a chauffeur who will pretend not to notice the weed fumes emanating from your clothing on the …