Why did the number of applicants to Columbia dwindle to a mere 32,000? Perhaps the kids realized  it’s “impossible” to get in so they’ve all stopped applying, or more likely, it’s because Harvard and Princeton brought back early action. (Business Week) Mayor Bloomberg already takes Spanish lessons, but this year he wants to try a new language: […]

A tipster/fan reminds us that campus artist Reni Lane CC ’10 has not only signed with major label Custard/Universal Motown (joining James Blunt, among others), but also will have her song “Place for Us” on tonight’s episode of Showtime’s “The L Word.” You can hear the song right now on her Myspace page. Sure, Showtime […]

Last night’s Postcrpyt show featured a breakout performance by a one Mr.Anthony Da Costa of Pleasantville, New York. According to eyewitnesses, Columbia’s next great folk-music lady-killer already has Postscrypters (men and women, actually) completely swooning. Oh, and he’s only 17 years old. In a move that only heightened his adorableness, he brought along his dad, […]

Ever made your way over to Lerner’s iconic ramps for a midday break only to be inundated, upon arrival, by the wafting of piano scales?  Bwog has also encountered those mysterious etudes on a number of occasions, but today we were in for quite the surprise.  While taking time away from surveying the cracks and […]

Last night (tonight?)  at the intersection of Broadway and West End, friends of the Kitchen Cabinet, Raul, and the Ceiling packed into a room scarcely larger than a Carman double to witness an unlikely succession of bluegrass and rock that satisfied every taste and craving. Perched on a table, Bwog tapped her toe to the […]

Beginning at noon today, a strange face-off between Columbia activist-types and artist-types went down under Alma’s nose. First, the student council-sponsored Arts Fair unfurled on Low Steps, offering free hamburgers, pizza, models (clothed!) and music. Meanwhile, a clot of more than 100 anti-Columbia protesters with home-made noisemakers (corn kernel-filled plastic bottles) marched onto campus and coalesced at the […]

Bwogger Justin Gonçalves weighs in with words and pictures from last night’s ESC Battle of the Bands. Last night, on the storied stage of Roone Arledge Auditorium, the Engineering Student Council capped off its annual E-Week celebrations with the ESC Battle of the Bands. After five bands ran through ten-minute sets, Crown Victoria and the […]

An anonymous tipster let Bwog know that the rock bands scheduled at everyone’s favorite ramped building will not be playing “for security reasons.”  The bands that Bwog knows were nixed include Beta Theta Pi’s The Stolen Cars, jazz/metal Columbia band Wizards of the Coast and Bowie-imitating Brooklyn rockers Dasher.  Bwog is disappointed that we will […]

Columbia’s current favorite sons, Vampire Weekend, seem to be doing pretty well for themselves lately. With their full-length album coming out in three days and two sold-out shows at Bowery Ballroom kicking off a national tour next week. “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” was Rolling Stone‘s 67th best song of the year, and a snarky Pitchfork […]

    Last night, a Columbia band called The Stolen Cars played a show at the Lower East Side bar Fontana’s. Bwog ventured 45 minutes south-east to catch them play with five other bands as part of a larger battle of the bands-type competition. The all-Columbia, all-Beta Theta Pi band is composed of John Luna (SEAS […]

Jeremy Sean and Celtic Warriors brought their own electro-acoustic Celtic pop to the Lower East Side’s 169 Bar last night. The band, led by Jeremy Blackman, C’09, tore through a half-hour set of sweet, succinct pop tunes. The rhythm section, comprised of Jacob Brunner, C’09, and Coleman Moore, C’10, lived up to their name as […]

Vampire Weekend is having a moment. Just today, Kelefa Sanneh of the New York Times wrote a glowing piece about them, and they’ve recently appeared in Rolling Stone, L Magazine, and on hundreds of indie-rock blogs. (Also, they played Bowery, like, omg!) In case you’ve forgotten who they are (and if you missed their hot beats at St. […]

In 1997, Men in Black was a monster of a hit.  It would soon be near- forgotten in the society’s collective consciousness, but later became the inspiration for The Tycho Treaty.  Bwog took a load off with the band, Sam Rosenthal C’079 on bass and vocals, Mason Felton-Reid NYU ‘09 on guitar, and Miles on percussion, […]

In anticipation of their first fall show, Bwog sat down with two members of Ava Luna, a band that bends genres even as it redefines them.  Carlos Hernandez C’07 does guitar and vocals, while Nate Tompkins C’05 plays bass.  Can you describe the band’s birth?  Who was the midwife? Carlos:  My mother is a professional […]

The Midnight Hours don’t belong in New York City. The band, fronted by Michael Harper C’07 and Lauren Marie Hunter ’07, manages to throw its listeners back to Austin circa 1973 while avoiding any cliché.  Rounding out the group of not-so-Texan Texas outlaws are Chris Tomson C’06 on lead guitar, Chris Baio C ‘07 on […]