The other day, while aimlessly roaming through the overpriced yet drool-worthy home goods at Urban Outfitters, I came across some adorable vinyl record bookends. They looked so cute hugging a stack of blogs-turned-books on the table and I just needed to have them. I have this problem where my books always tip over on my bookshelf and then it gets all messy and then my studying gets interrupted because I’m OCD…

Anyway, after looking at the price tag I realized that I didn’t need to fork over my hard earned money for some organization and sanity – I could make these myself! And so can you.

You don’t even need a good taste in music. In fact, it’s probably better if you don’t like the record you’re melting… All you need is a little time and some H2O and you’re on your way to adorable dorm decor.

Materials:
2 vinyl records – you can get these super cheap at flea markets, old-school record stores or from that collection that’s been gathering dust in your parents’ basement.
1 pot of boiling water
1 heat resistant bowl (or another large pot)
1 flat piece of wood Read More »

I am not a musical person. I can’t hit the beat on Guitar Hero and anyone who has ever heard me sing tries to block out the memory. But if you love the whole music thang (and are actually good at it) this may just be your lucky day.Converse and Journeys have paired up to bring you the “Get Out of the Garage” music contest! Basically, you can win a free trip to NYC for 4 days, 3 nights of free studio time to create and mix your own song!

Yeah, that’s right: record your own freaking song.

All you have to do is head to the mall and pick up a self-addressed envelope at any Journeys shoe store. Pop a recording of your jam into the envelope (only one song, ladies) and get that badboy in the mail. Not a fan of snail mail? Don’t feel like wasting precious gas goin’ to the mall? No problemo; you can upload your song here. Easy as pie.

There will be a whole lot of judging, but Downtown Records will choose the top song . The winner will take the prize of a free trip to NYC for 4 days, 3 nights of free studio time to create and mix their own song.

The remaining 9 finalists will receive a pair of Converse shoes, a gift certificate from Converse, and prizing from Guitar Center to be determined. All songs submissions must be sent to Cornerstone for judging by September 15th.

Not a music fan? Have no fear. The people over at Converse/Get Out of the Garage love CC so much they have given us a prizepack to award to one lucky reader. After all, we can’t all be rockstars, but that doesn’t mean we don’t deserve cool sh*t. Read More »

If someone were to ask me to list my favorite bands, Of A Revolution (O.A.R.) would most definitely be at number one. Which is saying a lot, considering I am a Michigan grad and the boys of O.A.R. got together at Ohio State, a school I have learned to loathe in the deepest part of my core. But I can’t help it; these guys are good. Really good. And no matter what is going on in my life, popping in one of their 6 albums always makes me feel better.

Imagine my excitement, then, when I found out that their newest album, All Sides was coming out July 15th (tomorrow!), I was going to be able to listen to it before it was released, and I was going to be able to interview them! Life doesn’t get much better than this. Below is my dream realized – a jovial chat with Jerry DePizzo, the ridiculously talented man behind the sax for O.A.R.

CC: I have been listening to the new album-I think it’s fantastic. Why did you call it, All Sides?

O.A.R.: Well, we wanted to make it self-explanatory, we always kind of like to – not necessarily wear our emotions on our sleeves – but kind of let everything hang out. It just means you see all sides of the band, what we can do musically and stylistically and different subject matters of which we speak out. It’s an all-encompassing perspective of OAR. Read More »

Every once in a while I’ll be walking down Second Avenue and see a guy with a cat on his head and think, damn! Why don’t I have something to record this with?! Or I’ll be home after a night on the town and catch my roommate spouting off some of the best drunk philosophy ever and wish there was a way to capture her wisdom.

But being the poor individual that I am, I can’t even afford a digital camera, and the tiny, no sound video application on my phone takes such a long time to start working that whatever I wanted to record is gone and over by the time I’m ready.

And what about those of you about to go abroad? Don’t you wish you had something to capture the exotic sights and sounds with that didn’t cost an entire semester’s tuition to buy?

Well, I think I might have found something that could help us all.

The Flip Video camera is a pocket sized digital camera that comes with a built in USB port and it’s own simple editing software—all for less than about what it would cost you to buy a new outfit. Read More »