Ned Raggett
@nedraggett.bsky.social
Hi! I write about music at various spots (@thequietus.com, @thewiremagazine.bsky.social, Shfl and my Patreon, also in the past @allmusic.com, @pitchfork.com, @bandcamp.com etc. etc.). Plus podcasting about #Tolkien with friends at @bythebywater.bsky.social
Pinned
Ned Raggett
@nedraggett.bsky.social
· Nov 14
Given the very specific circumstances, I'd either check to see if I'm on drugs or if the baby is on drugs and if the latter find out where I could get some because clearly those are some gooooood drugs.
Well, it's time for some honest to god Bluesky lore.
A year ago, the site was still invite only, and one morning I posted something random and didn't think much about it beyond my own amusement.
This is the story about the #ChristianSkydivingBaby and how it completely took over @bsky.app (1/x)
A year ago, the site was still invite only, and one morning I posted something random and didn't think much about it beyond my own amusement.
This is the story about the #ChristianSkydivingBaby and how it completely took over @bsky.app (1/x)
Reposted by Ned Raggett
This week on the COYOTE Calendar... queer chess! A hangout for typeface nerds! A Bad Bunny halftime show watch party! And lots more fun as hell events to liven up your life in the Bay Area, hand-picked by the COYOTE team. To see our full listings, check out coyotemedia.org 🌱
February 4, 2026 at 6:08 PM
This week on the COYOTE Calendar... queer chess! A hangout for typeface nerds! A Bad Bunny halftime show watch party! And lots more fun as hell events to liven up your life in the Bay Area, hand-picked by the COYOTE team. To see our full listings, check out coyotemedia.org 🌱
Reposted by Ned Raggett
COYOTE's featured alongside a handful of our fellow worker-owned outlets in @niemanlab.org today, talking about the reality of doing democratically managed journalism. Summary: It's a lot of fucking meetings! www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/jour...
Journalism coops seem utopian. What’s it like working in one?
"If I was less self-directed, I'd probably be freaking out."
www.niemanlab.org
February 4, 2026 at 6:21 PM
COYOTE's featured alongside a handful of our fellow worker-owned outlets in @niemanlab.org today, talking about the reality of doing democratically managed journalism. Summary: It's a lot of fucking meetings! www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/jour...
Reposted by Ned Raggett
There are no atheists in foxholes.
SOUTH CAROLINA MEASLES VACCINATIONS UP OVER 7,000 DOSES IN JAN 2026 Y/Y, LED BY 72% SURGE IN SPARTANBURG COUNTY SOUTH CAROLINA REPORTS ONE CASE OF MEASLES-RELATED ENCEPHALITIS AMID OUTBREAK
February 4, 2026 at 6:14 PM
There are no atheists in foxholes.
Very cool. Got to see a small campus show with them in the _Cure for Pain_ run, chatted with him briefly, low key but personable. The power blew out a few songs in but they kept going, which was really great. Both he and Conway shoulda been with us longer.
February 4, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Very cool. Got to see a small campus show with them in the _Cure for Pain_ run, chatted with him briefly, low key but personable. The power blew out a few songs in but they kept going, which was really great. Both he and Conway shoulda been with us longer.
Reposted by Ned Raggett
When I saw the Melvins (so loud that I couldn't hear for a week), they closed with their Pop O Pies cover, with each member of the trio progressively leaving the stage until the drummer was just going at it by himself, then he slipped away and that was it
February 4, 2026 at 6:42 PM
When I saw the Melvins (so loud that I couldn't hear for a week), they closed with their Pop O Pies cover, with each member of the trio progressively leaving the stage until the drummer was just going at it by himself, then he slipped away and that was it
55 next month and how do you think I feel. "Oh...three bands on this bill and you're starting at 9 pm, which almost certainly means more 9:30? Catch ya next time, maybe?"
February 4, 2026 at 6:41 PM
55 next month and how do you think I feel. "Oh...three bands on this bill and you're starting at 9 pm, which almost certainly means more 9:30? Catch ya next time, maybe?"
The Wedding Present I think famously have never done them and say so. Definitely was the case in the past at least.
February 4, 2026 at 6:40 PM
The Wedding Present I think famously have never done them and say so. Definitely was the case in the past at least.
Reposted by Ned Raggett
What seems like more of an ignored cul de sac (save for jam bands and jam-adjacent bands like Yo La Tengo) is the late 60s ballroom model - two to three acts, two hour long minimum sets each, with most or all of the same audience
February 4, 2026 at 6:36 PM
What seems like more of an ignored cul de sac (save for jam bands and jam-adjacent bands like Yo La Tengo) is the late 60s ballroom model - two to three acts, two hour long minimum sets each, with most or all of the same audience
I love acts that fuck with it. (The Melvins once just stood there for a minute, Gruff Rhys closed his show last year with a huge sign reading "Resist false encores" or something like it and just walked out of the room strumming and singing.)
February 4, 2026 at 6:38 PM
I love acts that fuck with it. (The Melvins once just stood there for a minute, Gruff Rhys closed his show last year with a huge sign reading "Resist false encores" or something like it and just walked out of the room strumming and singing.)
Reposted by Ned Raggett
Steve Waksman's "Live Music in America" is really good on this
February 4, 2026 at 6:17 PM
Steve Waksman's "Live Music in America" is really good on this
And obviously some of those trappings are notable — phone recordings, huge screens, improved sound, formalized ticketing, senses of an ‘experience,’ etc. But by the time I was vaguely aware of what a ‘rock concert’ was in the late 70s, I had a basic grasp that hasn’t needed to alter much.
February 4, 2026 at 6:17 PM
And obviously some of those trappings are notable — phone recordings, huge screens, improved sound, formalized ticketing, senses of an ‘experience,’ etc. But by the time I was vaguely aware of what a ‘rock concert’ was in the late 70s, I had a basic grasp that hasn’t needed to alter much.
A corollary I’ve long thought on but have had a hard time putting into words is how the big rock/pop etc show experience seemingly formalized pretty rapidly in those years — even more quickly, I’d guess — and has remained essentially static since. Trappings change, the core does not.
one constant of audience gripes is that DB playing a 90 minute show is considered to be way too short. it's fascinating that less than 8? 9? years before, you were lucky if an act played a half-hour as part of a rock revue. the concert experience changed so much from '69 to '76.
This tour anniversary series from Chris has already been delightful/telling for the recorded observations of normie fans/attendees. Most of us now would kill to be transported to even at an off night in this era. At the time? Well, to quote from the _Oregon Journal_'s reporter on the scene:
February 4, 2026 at 6:15 PM
A corollary I’ve long thought on but have had a hard time putting into words is how the big rock/pop etc show experience seemingly formalized pretty rapidly in those years — even more quickly, I’d guess — and has remained essentially static since. Trappings change, the core does not.
Reposted by Ned Raggett
one constant of audience gripes is that DB playing a 90 minute show is considered to be way too short. it's fascinating that less than 8? 9? years before, you were lucky if an act played a half-hour as part of a rock revue. the concert experience changed so much from '69 to '76.
This tour anniversary series from Chris has already been delightful/telling for the recorded observations of normie fans/attendees. Most of us now would kill to be transported to even at an off night in this era. At the time? Well, to quote from the _Oregon Journal_'s reporter on the scene:
February 4, 2026 at 6:08 PM
one constant of audience gripes is that DB playing a 90 minute show is considered to be way too short. it's fascinating that less than 8? 9? years before, you were lucky if an act played a half-hour as part of a rock revue. the concert experience changed so much from '69 to '76.
Reposted by Ned Raggett
I think a *lot* about CS Lewis’s The Great Divorce
Hell not as demonic torture but as a blandly miserable place full of petty miserable people who can’t stand each other
Hell not as demonic torture but as a blandly miserable place full of petty miserable people who can’t stand each other
February 4, 2026 at 5:45 PM
I think a *lot* about CS Lewis’s The Great Divorce
Hell not as demonic torture but as a blandly miserable place full of petty miserable people who can’t stand each other
Hell not as demonic torture but as a blandly miserable place full of petty miserable people who can’t stand each other
Reposted by Ned Raggett
wild that the Olympics start this week, huh?
February 4, 2026 at 6:04 PM
wild that the Olympics start this week, huh?
Reposted by Ned Raggett
the only good news to come from today is about Carly Rae Jepsen finally releasing Disco Darling
February 4, 2026 at 6:06 PM
the only good news to come from today is about Carly Rae Jepsen finally releasing Disco Darling
Meantime on RuPaul's #DragRaceUK vs. the World
February 4, 2026 at 5:37 PM
Meantime on RuPaul's #DragRaceUK vs. the World
Reposted by Ned Raggett
Thread.
It’s hard to put into perspective how truly massive the warehouse is that was recently sold by the Rockefeller Group to the Department of Homeland Security for $70 million to build a concentration camp in Surprise, AZ. Across the street is a huge neighborhood and a school. It’s 400,000-square-feet.
February 4, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Thread.
Reposted by Ned Raggett
journalists are workers who deserve to be paid fairly for our labor and I think that far too few consumers of media recognize or even care about this fact
February 4, 2026 at 5:20 PM
journalists are workers who deserve to be paid fairly for our labor and I think that far too few consumers of media recognize or even care about this fact
Reposted by Ned Raggett
INBOX: Washington Post Ukraine Correspondent Lizzie Johnson announces that she has been laid off in the middle of a below-freezing war zone without power, heat, or running water.
February 4, 2026 at 5:11 PM
INBOX: Washington Post Ukraine Correspondent Lizzie Johnson announces that she has been laid off in the middle of a below-freezing war zone without power, heat, or running water.
Reposted by Ned Raggett
I think one thing people outside Minnesota don't understand is that after Good and Pretti were killed by feds while observing, the most normal people you could imagine have made peace with the fact that they could be next, and they are still out there because they say it's the right thing to do.
“If I am killed doing this, throw my body at the White House, martyr the shit out of me & raise hell. Do not be sad. Do not think I would do anything differently. I would do it over & over again — this is too important to sit down & shut up and not do anything.” www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Pursued by federal agents, suburban ICE observers remain resolved
After a frightening pursuit by federal agents, suburban ICE observers say fear hasn’t stopped them from protecting their communities.
www.mprnews.org
February 4, 2026 at 4:30 PM
I think one thing people outside Minnesota don't understand is that after Good and Pretti were killed by feds while observing, the most normal people you could imagine have made peace with the fact that they could be next, and they are still out there because they say it's the right thing to do.
Reposted by Ned Raggett
Thirty-five years. What more can I say?
The thing about the _Tremolo_ EP (and the preceding _Glider_ EP) is that both are their own distinct works, they're not just the singles from _Loveless_ in advance. You can't understand MBV without understanding them in turn.
Plus, a fave story... (1/x)
The thing about the _Tremolo_ EP (and the preceding _Glider_ EP) is that both are their own distinct works, they're not just the singles from _Loveless_ in advance. You can't understand MBV without understanding them in turn.
Plus, a fave story... (1/x)
February 4, 2026 at 12:46 AM
Thirty-five years. What more can I say?
The thing about the _Tremolo_ EP (and the preceding _Glider_ EP) is that both are their own distinct works, they're not just the singles from _Loveless_ in advance. You can't understand MBV without understanding them in turn.
Plus, a fave story... (1/x)
The thing about the _Tremolo_ EP (and the preceding _Glider_ EP) is that both are their own distinct works, they're not just the singles from _Loveless_ in advance. You can't understand MBV without understanding them in turn.
Plus, a fave story... (1/x)
This tour anniversary series from Chris has already been delightful/telling for the recorded observations of normie fans/attendees. Most of us now would kill to be transported to even at an off night in this era. At the time? Well, to quote from the _Oregon Journal_'s reporter on the scene:
February 4, 2026 at 5:16 PM
This tour anniversary series from Chris has already been delightful/telling for the recorded observations of normie fans/attendees. Most of us now would kill to be transported to even at an off night in this era. At the time? Well, to quote from the _Oregon Journal_'s reporter on the scene: