Linthead Stomp: The Creation of Country Music in the Piedmont South by Patrick Huber (North Carolina) A new, canny take on Old, Weird America, this colorful, contrarian book does much to dispel a spate of antediluvian tropes, musical and otherwise. The myth holds that prewar country music was a grassroots phenomenon, made and popularized by pickin'-and-grinnin' farmhands. But Huber, a history professor and co-author of The 1920s: American Popular Culture Through History, argues that it was Piedmont cities and mill towns and their industrial … [Read more...]

Also: random … [Read more...]

COVER OF THE MONTH Jon Berkeley for the Economist … [Read more...]

...It was nearly noon, and since I was nearby, I decided to go to Langer's Delicatessen, renowned for its pastrami sandwich. I was about to turn off my car when a song came on the radio that grabbed me. I recognized the lyrics: "Just a little lovin', early in the morning." I'd heard the famous Dusty Springfield version of the song, "Just a Little Lovin'," written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, many times before and liked it. But this was not Dusty's version. It was smoky and jazzy and extraordinarily uplifting. So I sat and listened to the … [Read more...]

Last night we finished watching Tropic Thunder, which was too brilliant for comment. Made me think of Ben Stiller's Oscar beard, and then I saw Thomson praise Phoenix's "awesomely nasty Commodus in Gladiator, one of the best villains of modern times - creepy, depraved, lethal and smart with it; his Jimmy Emmett in To Die For, the over-medicated, under-motivated high school kid who becomes Nicole Kidman's thug and bedmate of choice - very little of that great role is in the script, so much comes from Phoenix's presence; and don't forget his … [Read more...]

Why isn't she a huge star yet? Yo Tina! And from this same podcast, Jeffrey Tambor: The Sound of Young America … [Read more...]

For my birthday, family took me to this show at the Boston ICA, where I marveled at the detail, twists on Warhol and Ono, and all manner of originalities. So where does Schjeldahl get off? Oh right, it's pop not art, that's a pretty clear distinction, no problem there. (Whatever happened to Vandalism Is Art?) This gives Shepard's very prodigious progression from and through appropriation into mammoth, commanding voice the shirk. It makes the New Yorker ring very old school, especially since a lot of Warhol fans thought his inimitability lay in … [Read more...]

You'll come for the camp, you'll stay for the yucks: "What nerds listen to on prom night as they cry themselves to sleep..." (Don't forget the wallpapers.) … [Read more...]

Conduit your proctor if your election lasts wronger than four trousers. … [Read more...]

(adapted from the hit facebook meme, expanded and enlarged) BLONDE ON BLONDE, DYLAN PLASTIC ONO BAND, LENNON MCCARTNEY, MCCARTNEY GET HAPPY and/or KING OF AMERICA, COSTELLO SMALL MIRACLES, DRONGOS VERY GREASY, DAVID LINDLEY EL RAYO-X PINKER PROUDER PREVIOUS and/or LABOUR OF LUST, NICK LOWE LEFTY FRIZZELL ERNEST TUBB RARE DEMOS FIRST TO LAST, HANK WILLIAMS SING ME BACK HOME, MERLE HAGGARD ELVIS IN MEMPHIS, ELVIS PRESLEY BIG STAR LIVE, BIG STAR LIVE AT BBC, FLEETWOOD MAC (W/PETER GREEN) NEBRASKA, SPRINSTEEN BUDDY HOLLY COLLECTION, BUDDY HOLLY I … [Read more...]