SOTC March Madness

VOTE NOW: Will John Coltrane Or Blondie Make It To The Finals In Our Quintessential New York Musician Search?

By Maura Johnston Thu., Mar. 29 2012 at 12:00 PM
Categories: Blondie, John Coltrane, SOTC March Madness

As March comes to a close, so does our month-ish-long battle royale between 64 New York musicians, all of whom were put in the mix to decide which one best embodied the spirit of the city. Each of the divisions—Uptown, Queens, Downtown, and Brooklyn—has now crowned a winner, and for our first semifinal matchup, we pit the saxophonist and composer (and No. 1 Uptown seed) against the scrappy New Wavers Blondie (who rose to Queens' summit all the way from the No. 12 seed). The ballot is below, as is a look at how both musicians arrived at this exalted point. Vote now; the polls close at midnight tonight!

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SOTC March Madness

VOTE NOW For The Elite Eight: Coltrane vs. Keys; Blondie vs. Diamond; SY vs. VU; Wu-Tang vs. Rakim

By Maura Johnston Wed., Mar. 28 2012 at 12:00 PM
Categories: Alicia Keys, Blondie, John Coltrane, Neil Diamond, Rakim, SOTC March Madness, Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground, Wu-Tang

elite_eight_2012.jpg
After three weeks of feverish clicking and arguing, the final eight contenders in our search for the quintessential New York musician have been finalized—you can peruse the bracket here—and it's time for you to vote. Representing the Uptown division are No. 1 seed John Coltrane and No. 14 seed Alicia Keys; No. 12 seed Blondie will have it out with No. 3 seed Neil Diamond in Queens; No. 5 seed Sonic Youth will match Downtown bona fides with Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground (No. 3); and No. 6 seed Rakim will take on No. 4 seed Wu-Tang Clan in Brooklyn.

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SOTC March Madness

Presenting The Elite Eight: John Coltrane, Alicia Keys, Blondie, Neil Diamond, Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground, Wu-Tang Clan, And Rakim

By Maura Johnston Wed., Mar. 28 2012 at 9:00 AM
Categories: Alicia Keys, Blondie, John Coltrane, Neil Diamond, Rakim, SOTC March Madness, Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground, Wu-Tang

elite_eight_2012.jpg
After three weeks of feverish clicking and arguing, the final eight contenders in our search for the quintessential New York musician have been finalized. Representing the Uptown division are No. 1 seed John Coltrane and No. 14 seed Alicia Keys; No. 12 seed Blondie will have it out with No. 3 seed Neil Diamond in Queens; No. 5 seed Sonic Youth will match Downtown bona fides with Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground (No. 3); and No. 6 seed Rakim will take on No. 4 seed Wu-Tang Clan in Brooklyn. The polls will roll out at noon and close at midnight.

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SOTC March Madness

SOTC's March Madness: Sonic Youth, Miles Davis, Neil Diamond, And The Rest Of The Round Of 16

By Maura Johnston Tue., Mar. 27 2012 at 12:00 PM
Categories: Beastie Boys, Blondie, Carole King, Miles Davis, Neil Diamond, SOTC March Madness, Sick Of It All, Sonic Youth, Velvet Underground

beastie-boys.jpg
Will the Beastie Boys prove to be triumphant?
​This week, our search for New York's quintessential post-1955 musician is about to get hectic, with the winner crowned as the calendar flips to April on Saturday night. (A rundown of all the matches so far is here.) So for the Round of 16 matchups--four of which kicked off yesterday, four of which begin right now--we're going to dispense with the punditry and get to the voting. The combatants, which hail from the Downtown and Queens quadrants: the still-kicking No. 16 seed Sick of it All and Sonic Youth; the Velvet Underground and the Beastie Boys; Carole King and Blondie; and Neil Diamond and Miles Davis. Ballot below. Please note that you have to vote in all four races in order for your vote to count.

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SOTC March Madness

Blondie (12) And Nas (4) Tangle In SOTC's March Madness

By Phillip Mlynar Thu., Mar. 22 2012 at 11:00 AM
Categories: Blondie, Nas, Phillip Mlynar, SOTC March Madness

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Last round, Blondie safely navigated past Hollis, Queens icons Run-DMC and the trio's aggressive, raw rap sound. This time, the Debbie Harry-fronted new wave ensemble faces off against Nas, hip-hop's one-time prodigal son turned full-time Bill O'Reilly antagonizer. Will the quasi-rap stylings of Blondie's "Rapture" prove to be the key weapon in the group's arsenal against Nas's single-genre steez?

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SOTC March Madness

Blondie (12) Faces Off Against Run-DMC (5) In SOTC's March Madness Tournament

By Maura Johnston Fri., Mar. 16 2012 at 3:00 PM
Categories: Blondie, Run-DMC, SOTC March Madness

roundof64_blondierundmc.jpg
​The Round of 64 for Sound of the City's own version of March Madness—in which you, the Sound of the City voting public, help determine the quintessential New York musician—finishes up this week, with the Round of 32 scheduled to kick off Monday. (The schedule and results so far are here; the full, updated bracket is here.) Taking a cue from our neighbors at the Curbed Network, we're going to have a power hour—new polls every 15 minutes until 4 p.m., at which point we'll reveal more results. This time out, we're pitting Blondie against Run-DMC—check out the arguments in favor of each below, and vote at Facebook for your favorite.

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Blondie

Interview: Chris Stein of Blondie

By Rob Trucks Fri., Jun. 20 2008 at 8:30 AM
Categories: Blondie

Blondie plays the Nokia Theatre in Times Square on Sunday, June 22. Tickets still available here.

"I was waiting for Debbie to come home, and across the street is a bunch of the neighborhood guys kicking this shit out of this black guy, right, for whatever reason. You know, just for the hell of it. Because he was in the neighborhood probably. And I'm just observing this and I hear a voice going, 'No, no. Stop. Call the police.' And it's fucking Debbie who has just arrived on the scene from visiting her parents, and after that we were like ostracized."

Brooklyn-born Chris Stein moved to Manhattan shortly before his 20th birthday. By the age of 30 he was a founding member of Blondie, the most commercially successful act to spring from the city's CBGB's heyday.

This year the band's best-selling album, the multi-platinum Parallel Lines, turns 30. And to celebrate--kind of--a retrospective disc will be issued later this month and all summer long the band will perform the record, start to finish, on dates that stretch from New Jersey to St. Petersburg (Russia).

We talked to Stein about the fiction of Cormac McCarthy, the writing of "Heart of Glass," New York City real estate and why Parallel Lines isn't even his favorite Blondie album.

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