The Sounds of the Recession

Over the past year, the recession has touched nearly every aspect of our lives—from the way we travel, to the way we dress, and even the things we eat—which is why it should come as no surprise that the economic downturn has impacted the way we listen to music, too. After all, great depressions have been known to spark cultural revolutions before.

So will this time be any different, and how exactly has the music industry shifted since this current recession began?

Country musicians and rap stars are changing their tune. While pop singers have pretty much ignored the recession so far, country stars have taken the downturn head on, tapping into the angst of the unemployed with songs like “Shuttin’ Detroit Down,” “Red White and Pink Slip Blues,” and “Prayer of a Common Man.” Rap stars have jumped on the bandwagon as well, coming out with albums that reflect the times, like Young Jeezy’s “The Recession,” and announcing the end of bling…

Love in the Time of Layoff: The Appeal of Employment

Raj had me almost at hello, but he didn’t seem to realize it. As so often happens, the same was true in the reverse, as well—but we two somewhat wary people didn’t realize it on our first meeting. We had sat in the park after a friend suggested we meet (we could “be good contacts for one another”) and shared stories from our lives. We parted with no further plans.

As weeks passed, I wondered if there was a way to meet up with Raj again. I planned to invite him to a party I would throw. And then, out of nowhere, an email: “Call me urgently.” Two minutes later, we were on the phone. He was charming and funny—and he had a proposal, a potentially very lucrative project that would come from one of his clients. My thrill at hearing from Raj was a bit deflated by the absence of romance in it, but I was also very happy and relieved to have work fall into my lap, as I needed it very badly.

It’s always tricky to mix up work and romance, but in this downturn, I couldn’t ignore the very real tug of the rent, loans, bills piling up. So if I couldn’t have Raj as my boyfriend, at least there was something else I might get out of this encounter: some much needed peace of mind…

Recession Lexicon: Lazylancing

n./ Just when we wondered whether we might be running out of new downturn words, we got a Tweet from adventurous polymath Christina Davidson: “They miss what all my laid off journo friends R doing now. We call ‘lazylancing’ a way to justify travel.”

Lazylancing is when you subsidize your travel with freelance work, as Davidson did last year after being laid off from her job. “I decided to take a couple of months and go backpacking through Turkey and Syria,” she says. A story she wrote for The Atlantic ended up covering a good part of her expenses for the three months. “You may be hard pressed to get anyone to admit to this,” she says—writers want you to think they’re working hard. At the same time, more people may be lazylancing; they might as well. “There are so few regular jobs out there, and it’s a lot cheaper in the third world…

Twenty Months of Recession, 15 Minutes of Fame

Seems like half the planet is filming the recession—or trying to. Next month, our friends over at The Recess Ends will unveil the documentary they spent four months on the road shooting. Back in May, NBC pulled its casting notice for what seemed like a downturn-themed Apprentice. We’re not sure what happened to Fox’s controversial “Someone’s Gotta Go” series.

Feel like you missed your shot at being a recession celebrity? There are more opportunities out there…

What Unemployed People Get: Friends, Laundry and Thoughts

Yesterday, The New York Times published a very cool interactive graph (throwbacks like me might have seen the static version in the business section) that maps out how people spend their hours throughout the day. What’s so recessiony about that? Based on the 2008 American Time Use Survey, it lets you see in vivid color what people with jobs and without jobs are doing throughout the day, whether it’s eating, watching television, socializing or talking on the phone.

Some trends are obvious, like: unemployed people are working a lot less. No shit. On the other hand, they are also shopping more. (Huh?) And among the upsides of unemployment…

Recession Dispatch from… New Orleans

What an amazing town. The people… The music… The energy… Ahh, it’s so nice and personable, and fun! I love the character in the buildings, too.

I was surprised to get so many stories in New Orleans, especially because so many people told me the city was doing well now. Upon entering the town, I spoke to a dark-skinned man who explained that a lot of the jobs that resulted in stimulus funding went to people who moved to New Orleans to fill those positions. I got the impression he was referring to light-skinned people.

This morning, I met a man from Detroit named Bernard, who lost his job manufacturing nuts and bolts for the auto industry. He moved to New Orleans to look for work, but he hasn’t had any luck. Although he maintained a professional outlook and wore respectable clothing, he explained that he is homeless for the first time. He’s been on the streets for about a month, and it’s extremely difficult, he said…

Recession Diet: Comfort Food

If you’ve noticed more people packing on the pounds as of late, it isn’t your imagination. As the number of unemployed workers has grown over the past year, so has the average American’s waistline, a phenomenon nutritionists are calling “recession obesity.”

Of course this news should hardly come as a surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention at the grocery store checkout line. Sales of junk foods like doughnuts and chips have skyrocketed, while fewer cost-conscious customers are buying organic fruits and veggies at the same rate they were in years past.

For an even better indicator of where our waistlines are heading, the best place to look may end up being the grocery store shelves.

What We’re Consuming
Craft Beers
Although overall beer sales have fallen 1.6 percent this year, business for craft brewers—the kind who make fewer than 60 barrels of beer a year—has actually increased, with sales growing by 6 percent…

Trillion is the New Billion. Or Is It? (Video)

“When you look at it, it doesn’t seem all that big,” says a snappy new video put out by our friends at Mint.com. “But it’s a huge number.”

One Trillion Dollars Visualized is meant to wow us with examples of what you could buy with that vast sum. Like, with $1 trillion, you could buy a $3 latte every day for the next 900 million years.

Thing is, when you look at it, it really doesn’t seem all that big…

Downturn Designers

This economic rough patch has not been kind to clothing. It’s become the norm for retailers to offer 70 percent off. Fashion brands from Christian Lacroix to Hartmarx to Kira Plastinina have filed for bankruptcy. (Though it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that a line by a 16-year-old Russian heiress would last less than a year.) Haute couture houses are struggling to survive.

Yet in last week’s New York Times, designer Diane von Furstenberg, who also heads the Council of Fashion Designers of America, advised “confidence.”

“Everyone else is insecure,” she said. “If you start to take a little bit of everyone else’s insecurity—forget it.” (And btw, you were all spending too much during the boom.)

Sure, DVF has an uber-successful fashion company and a billionaire husband. But does she also have a point? Von Furstenberg debuted her namesake brand in 1973, smack in the middle of a major recession. In fact, some of the most popular and respected designers and innovative materials have emerged in downturns—just further evidence that creativity can flourish in recession, and success can take root in hard times…

Love in the Time of Layoff: Sugar Mama Days

“Let’s stop and get bakery,” he said. I closed the refrigerator, leaving behind the eggs and fruit we might have eaten. We got in my car and drove to the roadside cafe.

I ordered a blueberry muffin; he ordered a cheese-filled croissant. The total was $6. I paid.

He hadn’t even made a move for his wallet. And it wasn’t the first time.

Six months ago, I was laid off from a job I loved and a salary I really, really loved (you would, too). I left with a nice little pile of severance and had accumulated a substantial 401K. My savings were okay, too. But I was single. It makes a difference, it turns out.

When I met Sugar Boy, he was very clear: He was a dog-walker; he was a painter…