If you're not at the WBAR-B-Q right now, you're missing seeing... approximately thirty thousand bands. While Bwog was only able to get out there briefly and is now safely locked up in class, there's no excuse for you not being there. It's free! (Except the food.)

Now playing: Wizards of the Coast, featuring Bwog's own Justin Goncalves. Be there.

Not 24 hours after WBAR's annual WBAR-B-Q lineup was announced (replete with promises of a "special guest" and instructions to check WBAR's website at a later date), insiders have revealed to Bwog the identity of the "special guest." Despite questionable rumors of Led Zeppelin and Daft Punk, which appeared exclusively in Bwog comments, the mystery performer will actually be (The) Juan MacLean doing a d.j. set.

UPDATE: A second hipster-tipster explains that (The) Juan MacLean will not appear at the WBAR-B-Q. "We thought we were going to have him but it didn't work out, hence why it says secret guest instead of Juan MacLean." Though apparently word of MacLean's unavailability has yet to permeate the ranks of all of WBAR's staffers.

The lineup for Barnard Radio's annual outdoor BBQ and concert has been announced in an email from Milano Chowkwanyun, the Co-Promotions Director of WBAR. The show will take place on Friday, April 25th (on Barnard's lawn, Nexus be damned) and will feature the following:

Wizards of the Coast
Bear
Food Will Win the War
Liturgy
Thee Yetis
Les Sans Culottes
MegaFaun
Tickley Feather
Crystal Stilts
Cause Co-Motion
Awesome Color
Skaters
Videohippos
Japanther

Plus, the titillating promise of a "special guest." Ampire-vay Eekend-way?

Bwog's not sure what it thinks about noise music. After all, what separates it from, well, normal noise? Music correspondent Jamie Johns tries to get at the mystery in this e-mail exchange with Carlos Giffoni.

Since the early 2000s, Carlos Giffoni has been at the center of a burgeoning noise scene in New York as a musician, festival curator, collaborator and label owner. He's released numerous solo recordings as well as collaborations with legendary Japanese noise master Merzbow, Sonic Youth members Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore, and renaissance man Jim O'Rourke to name a few. Oh yeah, and Giffoni's also in two noise supergroups: Monotract and Death Unit, featuring members of Mouthus and Hair Police.

In most of his solo work and collaborations, Giffoni uses a mixture of computers and analog synths to create music that can be aggressive or gentle, throbbing or static. In 2004, he started No Fun Fest, a three day festival of noise musicians and sound makers which just celebrated its third year. On top of all this, Giffoni runs his own record label, No Fun. Is Carlos Giffoni an over achiever? Probably, but he would never let you know it. Whether or not noise music is your thing, Giffoni is definitely someone to admire. I spoke with him via e-mail over the past week and asked him about his music and extra-curricular activities in anticipation of his show at WBAR tomorrow, November 15th.

Full interview after the jump!

Tomorrow night WBAR continues its tradition of solid shows by bands you've probably never heard of with No Age and Double Dagger in Lerner's Party Space. Lucky for Bwog, WBAR staffer Jamie Johns had the opportunity to talk with the duo about health food, Squeeze, and the perks of blossoming rock stardom.

Over the past year and a half, Los Angeles' No Age has gathered a solid fanbase and heaps of positive press through constant touring and a slew of vinyl only releases. The duo, consisting of drummer/vocalist Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall, have just signed to iconic independent label Sub Pop and single handedly took over last week's CMJ music conference with a show stealing performance at Bowery Ballroom. When I spoke with them in late August though, none of the hype or press seemed to have gone to their heads. They were two of the nicest and most down to earth guys you could ever hope to talk to about the joys of live music, what it means to be from Los Angeles, and why everyone should start their own band.

Spunt and Randall met in the early 2000s while they were playing in the now-defunct hardcore band Wives. Concerning the formation of No Age Spunt says "We were together as Wives for about three years I think, we just stopped playing as that band but we didn't want to stop playing together so on April 1st, 2006, we debuted as No Age. Since then our relationship has been really great." When not playing in No Age, Spunt runs the LA based record label Post Present Medium (PPM) and is a stylist assistant for commercials, and Randall teaches high school students.

With all the hoopla surrounding you-know-who coming to town, we figured you could all use a little break. Missed the WBAR shows this weekend? No worries. Here's a recap (photos by Max Friedman).

WBAR had the first of its monthly concerts Thurday night on Lehman Lawn. The weather was beautiful and so was the music. As much shit as WBAR gets for wearing tight jeans or being hip, they really know how to foster a friendly, comfortable atmosphere. Thursday's High Places and Celebration show was no exception.

More photos and reviews after the jump!

It's a big city out there. Bwog continues its (fledgling) series of artsy picks to help you navigate the world below Morningside.

Orhan Pamuk

Pamuk--winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature--is taking time off from his part-time professorial duties to read from his latest, Other Colors: Essays and a Story, a collection of essays about his own life and, well, the world.

Barnes & Noble Union Square, 33 E. 17th St., (212) 253-0810, 7 p.m. Free.

The Brooklynites Party

Writer Anthony LaSala and photographer Seth Kushner have teamed up to present a documentary on the Brooklynite. Photographing people from Greenpoint, Coney Island, Flatbush, and beyond, the duo has sought to create a portrait of the borough in The Brooklynites. Works from the book will be on display; DJ J.Period and Maya Azucena will be performing.

powerHouse Arena, 37 Main St., Brooklyn, (212) 604-9074, 6-9 p.m. Free with RSVP.

Today's Sunday Times is chock-full of Columbia nuts. First, the lead story in the Magazine, by Mark Lilla, is regurgitated CC, and any good humanities student worth his or her weight in Enlightenment and secular/liberal theory should be able to follow his argument and add a dash of insight to boot. Then, the Lives essay is by a J-school prof who meets up with a former story subject and has a ball. Over in Arts, there's a long article about "mumblecore," a micro-genre of indie film in which Barnard grad Greta Gerwig (and the WBAR station) are key elements. And, finally, there's a pretty long piece about the guys behind Indoctrinate U, which we know you all love.

Yesterday was a perfect day in our ever-more perfect union for a perfect sport: kickball. Emma Jacobs writes in that WKCR crushed WBAR in the semi-annual Station Game, held in Central Park. The final score was 13-2, 'KCR. Unfortunately WBAR members forgot to bring the trophy. They did, however, remember their vintage boombox.

Which station's programming reigns supreme? You be the decider. Or the commander guy.

More skinny jeans and kickin' kicks after the jump!

News has it (or shows, rather) that Barnard radio station WBAR has unleashed a new website, featuring a new-and-improved albeit bizzarely colonial layout. Noteable changes also include a "Now Playing" sidebar that features a photo for the show currently on air, a more organized online schedule, and a "Show of the Week" feature if you're uncertain about what's playing.

As far as our suggestions go for specific radio shows, we hear that Play With Your Radio is pretty badass -- although for a real explanation of what it's about, you should listen for yourself. Also a good bet (and with a two-year [plus?] WBAR history) is Turtles All The Way Down with David S. Another favorite, Side A/Lado B, plays a mix of Latin and English rock on late Thursday afternoons. Also, Friday morning talk show Disgruntled Optimism promises an interview with Senator Joe Lieberman every week, "as well as taped segments with various members of Columbia's most outspoken housing staff."

Only on freeform college radio.

Outside of the typical airwaves: a team of Columbia students premiered their own new station, S.O.A.P. Box Radio Collective, from of a campus dorm room last Friday. Defined as an alternative media project, that is a "collective first and a radio station second," S.O.A.P. Box has been publicized around campus and within some grassroots activist circles, as well as IndyMedia.

For something away from the vicinity of Morningside Heights, Bwog editor Jessica Cohen suggests Fordham Radio WFUV's CityScape and CD of the Week. The award-winning CityScape covers an array of New York City issues every Saturday morning while CD of the Week promises a newly released album on Thursday nights.

College radio lives?

- MIP

Ambition is the theme of today's minutiae: presidential, artistic, or otherwise. Below, Bwog catches up with opportunities taken-- and opportunities you could take.

It's All About Obama

Bwog's favorite headline generator has stolen the day once again. Barack Obama C'83 lurched ever closer to outing his potential presidential plans today when he announced he was forming an exploratory committee to help decide whether to commit to the role a year's worth of rumor and speculation has seemingly already assigned him. His official announcement will come on February 10.

Whatever luck he's had in the court of public opinion, however, hasn't necessarily followed Obama in the media. After images of Osama bin Laden were broadcast above the headline "Where's Obama?" on Wolf Blitzer's program on CNN (a move the network dismissed as a typo, to which an Obama spokesperson noted the distance between the "s" and "b" keys), a Minneapolis TV station broadcasted images of the Illinois senator's supporters marching while its anchorman detailed a story about a local sex offender.

Miller Madness

It seems CU Arts isn't the only campus organization seeking to lure students with the most hyperbolic email invites possible. From Miller Theatre's recent circular on the upcoming Edgard Varèse concert:

"Like tornadoes or vast electrical storms, performances of the music of Edgard Varèse are always landmark occasions."

Bwog thinks they may have been better off soliciting Music Hum students' concert reports than evoking deadly natural phenomena.

More morsels after the jump...