Pitchfork

"Youth can be a minefield," the description for the documentary Inside Straight Edge reads, what with "drugs, sex, violence and peer pressure." Not to mention those unsightly pimples! Still, "one group has an extreme way of dealing with it." Nah, not goths: "they call themselves Straight Edge."

Ah, yes, straight edgers! The cult of MacKaye. Those teetotalin' perpetual naysayers to all things mind altering and socially lubricating. "Here, it's no drugs, no drinking, no smoking. They're rebels against society where everything goes."

We bring this up not so much to proselytize-- do your thing, people, just don't hurt anybody-- but to inform: Inside Straight Edge, which premieres tonight (April 9) on the National Geographic Channel, is narrated by none other than Sonic Youth frontguy Thurston Moore.

Though Thurston's personal xedgex status is unclear-- I hear he's done with all the stuff he used to dabble in way back when, though I could have sworn I saw him with a beer in the front row for Clipse at last year's Pitchfork Music Festival-- he's as good an example of how to live your life awesomely as anybody else I can think of in any field.

When not reminding us that crack is, in fact, whack, Thurston plays shows with Sonic Youth, including one upcoming gig too wacky not to highlight anew. The crew also has a trio of European festival appearances way the hell off in August.

SY, as we've mentioned, have just reissued 1987's Master-Dik EP, while the seventh installment of their SYR series will be available April 22. Plus, Kim Gordon and her long-dormant Free Kitten project are back in full force this year, with a new album due May 20 and talk of a tour.

As for Thurston himself, he'll open for Lou Reed on 4/20 (ha), help provide a live soundtrack to Amos Poe's new flick Empire II at New York's Gershwin hotel on the 29th, join Nancy Garcia at No Fun Fest in May (at which Lee Ranaldo will also appear), and perform along with Bill Nace as Northampton Wools in September. Plus, he's got a tune (as does Ranaldo) on the Table of the Elements singles series. Boy, sober folks are productive, huh?

Thurston:

04-20 Northampton, MA - Calvin Theatre *
04-29 New York, NY - Gershwin Hotel ^
05-16 New York, NY - Knitting Factory (No Fun Fest) #
09-27 New York, NY - Stone (as Northampton Wools)

* with Lou Reed
^ with Tom Surgai and Matt Heyner, performing live soundtrack to Empire II
# with Nancy Garcia

Sonic Youth:

04-25 Nashville, TN - City Hall
04-26 Fayetteville, AR - Walton Arts Center Parking Lot
07-04 New York, NY - Battery Park *
08-07 Oslo, Norway - Øya Festival
08-08 Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08-09 Saint-Nazaire, France - Escales Festival

* with the Feelies