I've been a fan of Weezer ever since they came out with "Buddy Holly" and "(Undone) The Sweater Song" back when I was in middle school. You can imagine my jealousy when I found out that, last week, Pleasantville musician Alex Yacovelli got to play with the band onstage at Madison Square Garden. I badgered him for all the juicy details so I could live vicariously through him.

Yacovelli, who is currently majoring in vocal performance at NYU, entered the contest to play onstage with Weezer through 107.1 The Peak—and he came very, very close to not winning. In order to enter, he...

When Bedford resident Glenn Close accepted her award during the (mostly lame) Emmy Awards on Sunday, she noted that television is finally starting to realize that strong women can anchor great shows. I couldn't help but think of Judge Jeanine Pirro, whose new daytime court show debuted on Monday. We know how she operated as Westchester D.A., but how does she work on the D.V.R?

 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that it has chosen Ossining resident Thomas P. Campbell to succeed Philippe de Montebello as its director and CEO. (Um, wow!) Rather than devote himself to cutting-edge, Damien Hirst-dominated modern art, Campbell made his bones in the museum as curator behind two shows that focused on tapestries. Let's see how the announcement resonated with people who cover the art world:

"Mr. Campbell, untested in a director’s chair, has...

A few months ago, I said we should judge our political candidates based on what mattered most—their taste in popular culture. Now that the conventions are over and the presidential race is really heating up, it seems like election coverage is unavoidable in all media (which, in my opinion, is a good thing). Most of the attention and speculation is focused on the candidates' newest running mates, so it's only fair to look at their tastes and see what kind of pop-culture aesthetic they bring to the tickets.

However, these potential veeps are playing it close to the chest. While Barack Obama,...

 

At the top of the long weekend, I saw a screening of the film Choke, based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk. It was filthy. The main character had a messiah complex. The outlook on life was bleak. It starred Sam Rockwell. In short, it was a fall movie. To me, that signaled the end of summer more so than the passing of Labor Day.

As sad as I am to see summer go, I consider this a good thing. Pop culture gets much better in the fall—and that's thanks in part to the work of some of our county residents. Here's a guide to where you'll see some of your neighbors this season,...

Labor Day weekend is typically the dead-zone for popular culture—the Olympics and big summer movies are over, but fall TV and Oscar films haven't started up yet—so there's not much to distract you from the fact that summer is ending. What's a staycationer to do?

 

It's the tail-end of summer, but man, you guys haven't been slacking off at all. I've gotten so many e-mails recently about Westchester residents who, instead of whiling away the days reading at the park like a certain pop-culture editor, devoted their summertime to making new music. Here are a few:

Artist/Band Name: Two Shots of Rye
Hails From: Harrison
Sounds Like: "The band plays unabashed, hooky pop-rock. Some people tell them they sound like Elvis Costello, or Third Eye Blind."
FYI: After releasing their debut album Hooks on Tape, in addition to getting some radio...

 

So the Olympics got off on the right foot with some totally insane opening ceremonies. I wish I had a legion of people in boxes at my command that I can make pretty patterns with. That was awesome.

At first, I was bummed because it looked like no current Westchester residents were going to Beijing. (Are we a county of couch potatoes?) But it turns out one Westchester resident was represented at the games: Ralph Lauren. The Bedford designer created the outfits worn by the U.S. team in the opening ceremonies. I'll leave my colleague over at

Posted at 07:45 AM | Permalink | Comments: 2

On July 14, Wiley Hausam stepped in as the new executive director of the Performing Arts Center.

As pop-culture editor, I feel like I should keep tabs on all of the rabid fan groups out there. You have your Trekkies, your comics addicts, wizard rock bands, and so on. Not that I belong to all of these groups. I just try to be aware of them the way ecologists might tag flocks of birds. I observe, and then move on.

Which is why I'm flabbergasted that one big fandom missed me completely: Twilight fans. If you're unaware as I was, the Twilight series is a set of young-adult books by writer Stephenie Meyer. The books follow a star-crossed romance between Bella, a teen transplanted from Arizona to Washington State, and the dreamy...