Image via WikipediaIt's a Wrap: Muckrack's Review of the ReviewsNew Fav Tools: feedly.com, pinboard.inTop Internet Memes of 2010, and moreUndercovered: Veterans Chained to the White House FenceDiscographies, the New Anonymous: "Like you, I also get asked whether I write @Discographies. My response is to say lie and say no ("...but that's really flattering!") and then briefly muse aloud about who it might actually be; I'm sure you'll be delighted to learn that I've invoked you as a possible suspect once or twice. All of which … [Read more...]

Funk & Soul Covers, by Joaquim Paulo, Ed. by Julius WiedermannTaschen site has a "leaf-through" feature, better to search google images for obscure desktoppers. Links to funk underworld reviews. Related articlesTake Cover: Dâm-Funk: Adolescent Funk (pitchfork.com)The Big Books (punjapit.wordpress.com)A Night Of Funk, A Chance At A Year Of Free Concerts (chicagoist.com) … [Read more...]

40: A Doonesbury RetrospectiveFrame completely at odds with content: This elite cinder-block of a book begs the question, "why print?" Where's searchable digital media with thematic tags, index, and instant social accessibility when you most want it? There are so many strips in here you want to send to friends -- right now -- that its dinosaur frame feels more tragic than bulky. Trudeau's also so over-exposed and overpraised you'd think he'd be giving tips to Tony Kushner. Made for a sudden-death question on a journalism … [Read more...]

Cover of Richard MeltzerScribes We Turn To: Richard Meltzer, the Beefheart of rock critics: Graham JohnsonGary LucasTen Random Discs (Beat Patrol)Drummer John French's memoirsbeta blog(I interviewed Meltzer a couple years ago for my Lennon bio, he remembered seeing both Shea Stadium shows, 1965 and 1966.)Site of the Week: Wondertonic, fromhttp://wondertonic.tumblr.com/ Micke Lacher Related articlesDave Douglas/Gary Lucas - review (guardian.co.uk)"Lindsay Lohan -- The Chick Touched Me First" and related posts (tmz.com)"Census Numbers … [Read more...]

Image via WikipediaMUSIC MONDAY from Muckrack daily: Don Van Vliet, or Captain Beefheart, died at the weekend aged 69. Tim Riley of NPR retweets Billy Bragg's link to Beefheart's "10 Commandments of Guitar Playing: Your guitar is a divining rod". Rolling Stone's coverage is here and the first part of a BBC documentary here. OK Go's Damien Kulash writes in the WSJ today about "The New Rock Star Paradigm" or how to make it without a record label. Jon Healey at … [Read more...]

COHEN, SANCTIMONIOUS: Next thing you know, Red Sox fans will be swaying to this song in the stands.Another year over: Fimoculous continues its list aggregating, send yours to Rex.see also: Huffposts's List of Best Book ListsBillboard Year-End ListsHip-Hop Dominates iTunesPublisher's Weekly Best Books … [Read more...]

QUOTES OF THE WEEK: "Oh How I Love Jesus" (Disc 30, Track 16): "...a tremendous amount, as it happens," Jon Caramanica, reviewing Presley's THE COMPLETE ELVIS PRESLEY MASTERS (30 CDs, RCA) (see completeelvis.com)Related articlesHoliday Gift Guide: Music Boxed Sets (nytimes.com)Beethoven: Late Quartets - Tokyo String Quartet (guardian.co.uk)David Thomson on Tina Fey: "If there's anyone Fey reminds me of, it's Elaine May (maybe the funniest woman in America in the early 1960s)." (Don't resist that killer link, chuckles galore.)Jack Shafer on … [Read more...]

DRUNK, STONED, BRILLIANT, DEAD: The Writers and Artists Who Made the national Lampoon Insanely Great, by Rick Meyerowitz "Well, this is a book done by an artist. I waited 35 years for some writer to tell the story. And they didn't do it. When I decided to do this book, my thought was, here's a chance to do a book that includes the artist. The magazine really was built, in a lot of ways, around its imagery. And its imagery was fantastic. There was a team of people that were supplying those images. Like Michael Doret, who did a few … [Read more...]