This first list ran in the Kirkus newsletter this week, the second list got dumped: Riley's 10 Favorite Lennon Tracks"Ten is way too hard, but it's a very illuminating exercise," Riley said when asked to list his favorites. "Once you do it, you realize Lennon remains among a handful … [Read more...]

Image via Wikipedia My favorite memory of REM: driving around upstate New York in 1985 to catch encores, which could include everything from "I'll Be Your Mirror" to "Hang on Sloopy." In an interview for Rochester's City Newspaper, Buck turned me on to the Plimsouls. Favorite obscurity: … [Read more...]

I have often wondered how long it would take for people to stand up for Sinead O'Connor and proclaim how right she was on SNL in 1992, or how demoralizing it was to watch her get booed off Dylan's stage a few weeks later. Like how many years will it take for people to start using the dreaded Vietnam … [Read more...]

Kirchherr, who is 73, gave up photography in the late 1960s, frustrated by the unending requests for her Beatles images. Yet she remains an indelible presence in the mythology of pop. It can be a heavy legacy. "I had a great time sharing my memories, but I'm getting a bit tired of performing," … [Read more...]

BUT SCOUSERS DON'T READ THE SUN: Lennon's immigration form, c. 1980 FANTASY HITS: Eddie Floyd's "Big Bird," London, 2011 CHAIN OF FOOLS: Origins of Hip-Hop … [Read more...]

Image via WikipediaOverflow Chautauqua Festival crowd last Friday night for these bluegrass giants, and they reverse booted a set that made grandmothers snicker and grown men giggle. Krauss has developed into the least cloying sentimental singer imaginable, and she presides … [Read more...]

--From the Evolution of the map of Africa --See also: Sean Kuti on how the West can't save AfricaRelated articlesSeun Kuti drops new album (vanguardngr.com)The Rise of Seun Kuti (jambase.com)Femi Kuti: Africa for Africa (Review) (popmatters.com)Seun Kuti and Fela's Egypt 80 … [Read more...]

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Image by AWKWORDrap via Flickr...SO LADIES AND GENTLEMAN... ALWAYS LAST, BUT NEVER LEAST. LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE MASTER OF DISASTER, the BIG KAHUNA, the MAN WITH A PHD IN SAXUAL HEALING, the DUKE OF PADUCAH, the KING OF THE WORLD, LOOK OUT OBAMA! THE NEXT BLACK PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES EVEN … [Read more...]

Sir Richard Thompson O.B.E. … [Read more...]

Image via WikipediaNational Public Radio's On Point show with Tom Ashbrook, devoted to Springsteen's Big Man, Clarence Clemons. Thursday, June 23, 2011. Related articlesPhoto Profile: Clarence Clemons (wzlx.radio.com)New Jersey Will Fly Flags At Half-Mast For Clarence Clemons … [Read more...]

CHOICE QUOTE: "...When they saw that cover, one woman vomited and another guy poked his eyes out, then shot himself because he was so bored... [Penguin] said they had showed it to the salespaeople and the salespeople thought it was a great cover. So great it should go into a book of Penguin's most … [Read more...]

ZINGER OF THE WEEK: Mr. Tyler was a delight in the early audition rounds, like a Ritalin-starved grade-schooler let loose in a Twinkie factory. By midseason, though, he barely appeared to be paying attention, his flights of wild grammar more frustrating than novel. -- Jon Caramonica in the Nytimes … [Read more...]

OR: KIND OF LIKE THE OPPOSITE OF AN AERIAL VIEW: Unifying the conceptual approach to Day Glow Freaks is the particular use of names. The album's title is borrowed from the "Kid Charlemagne" lyric "all those dayglow freaks who used to paint the face / they've joined the human race..." and is tied … [Read more...]

 "When I first heard Elvis's voice I just knew that I wasn't going to work for anybody, and nobody was going to be my boss," Mr. Dylan once said. "Hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail..." Bob Dylan, quoted in David Hajdu's NYTimes Op-Ed Bob DylanRelated articlesBob Dylan … [Read more...]