Members of the media -- and the blogosphere -- can lose their skepticism at the wrong moments. A few days ago Pitchfork admitted that it had been part of a prank and retracted its story that singer-songwriters Sufjan Stevens and Rosie Thomas were going to have a child together. Days before an amateur video taken a Death Cab For Cutie concert started making the Internet rounds...and surprisingly a lot of people bought into it.

For its part, Pitchfork claims it followed procedure and checked the story for accuracy. "We fell for it-- hell," admitted news editor Amy Phillips, "our information came directly from the source (Rosie), was corroborated by a close friend (Denison), and even Sufjan's publicist was being slippery about it." Hey, when it's a conspiracy even a by-the-book news editor can be duped. What can you do?

Then there's the case of the amateur video (watch at YouTube) taken by a fan at a Death Cab For Cutie concert during which a fan calls out for the song "Talking Like Turnstiles" and is so overjoyed when the band starts playing it that he hops on stage. The Tripwire went haywire at the fan and calls him a "big stupid douche." At Stereogum's post only a few called it staged and noticed how well the fan knew the backstage area where he was taken by security.

Frank Chromewaves thinks it "seems just a little too staged to be real" and points to a Philadelphia Daily News article that talks about the band's upcoming DVD, Directions. It includes a bonus track that's a live performance "captured in looney, slapstick fashion by a camera-phone-toting Lance Bangs," says the article.

How should people have known the YouTube clip was staged? Didn't anybody notice the name of the YouTube member who uploaded the video, John10104? That's a zip code for midtown Manhattan, home to many record label offices. As it so happens, that's the zip code for the Atlantic Records offices at 1290 Avenue of the Americas in New York, NY. Those paying attention will know that Death Cab is signed to Atlantic Records. Ahem.

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