Voting, Vinyl and Vintage Memes This Week on BTRtoday

It’s difficult to identify the point where an obscure fad becomes a mainstream craze or the point where no one wants it anymore. Trends can be cool, profitable and healthy. Ask any Brooklyn record store owner or someone diagnosed with a gluten allergy. But there’s also a point where pop culture and lifestyle trends become annoying. No one wants to see white girls appropriating native dress at a corporate music festival. This week and every week on BTRtoday, we help make those points plain.

The Cure Memes to Cure Your Soul

Screenshot of The Cure red carpet interview

Boys don’t cry. Unless it’s from laughter caused by these Cure memes.

Coachella Sucks And You Shouldn’t Go

Photo by Mina Knudsen

Care about equality? Then you have to give the festival a hard pass.

Is Sleep Deprivation Actually Voter Suppression?

Photo by Kevin Grieve on Unsplash

A new study suggests the negative effects from lack of sleep reach as far as the ballot box.

The Beginners Guide to Life After Gluten

Photo by Kat Jayne from Pexels

Tummy troubles run in my family. Getting tested for Celiac Disease kept me from constant sprints to the bathroom.

Brooklyn Record Exchange Grand Opening

Photo by Jeanette D. Moses

The Brooklyn Record Exchange opened in Bushwick this weekend!

recommendations

3/9/21 // Birmingham, Alabama

The March edition of Spotlight on the City features bands and musicians from Birmingham, Alabama. | listen

3/16/21 // "Mustang" by Bartees Strange at Home

Bartees Cox is a songwriter and producer who spent years playing in bands in Brooklyn before making the move to Washington, DC, where his solo project, Bartees Strange, took focus and grew - from an album of reinterpretations of The National’s music to his stunning full-length, genre-bending… | watch

3/18/21 // The Psychology of TikTok vs. Helen Keller

The Helen Keller hoax possesses the toxicity of a traditional conspiracy theory even if it doesn't quite fit the definition. | read

3/19/21 // Priestess Evolves to Reverend Mother & Releases Debut Seven-Inch

Whether you're a metalhead or not, this NYC trio will have you wrapped up in its soothing dark thrashers. | read

3/10/21 // Ep 19: Nikki Aliah

Aliah Sheffield is the singer/songwriter also known as Nikkie Aliah. Her song, “Earth is Ghetto,” recently went viral and she chatted with Nikkiesha about what led her to her viral moment, her musical inspirations, and what she hopes and plans to do next… oh, and tequila. This podcast is… | listen

3/17/21 // Ben // Contracting COVID-19, II

Ben details his experience of contracting the coronavirus back in late February/early March of 2020, before lockdowns shut NYC down. He also shares how the city and local indie rock scene he’s a part of reacted to the pandemic. | watch