« older | Main Largehearted Boy Page | newer »
January 27, 2007
Shorties
Enter the Largehearted Boy 5th anniversary "50 for 5" contest, and win 50 albums or 5 graphic novels.
The Miami Herald posted an excerpt from Evelyn McDonnell's book, Mamarama: A Memoir of Sex, Kids, and Rock 'n' Roll.
Billboard reports that the release of the Shins' new album, Wincing the Night Away, brought back the "midnight sale" at several record stores.
But the drawing power of the indie pop act, as well as a heavy marketing push from Sub Pop, persuaded store managers to keep their doors open. Grimey's owner Dolye Davis says the Nashville store staged its first midnight sale since opening in 1999, and Eric Levin at Criminal Records says he hasn't opened at midnight since the 2004 release of the Beastie Boys' "To the 5 Boroughs."
The New York Times examines what you can buy online, including book reviews.
Booksurge, the self-publishing service recently acquired by Amazon, offers its client authors a review by “New York Times best-selling author, Ellen Tanner Marsh,” Slate noted last week (slate.com). Ms. Marsh was last on the best-seller list in the early 1980s for bodice-rippers like “Reap the Savage Wind.” In her review of “The Beer Drinker’s Diet,” a self-published work, she wrote it was “motivating and significant.”
The Boston Globe profiles two local internet start-ups, Tourfilter and Tourb.us, that offer interactive concert listings and recommend new artists baste on your tastes.
Tourfilter and Tourb.us's solution is to allow users to create a list of bands; when one of those bands announces plans to visit the user's city, the site will send out a notification e-mail. This is not an innovation in and of itself -- Ticketmaster has long provided a similar option for its customers, and Upcoming.org, now owned by Yahoo! , maintains a large national database of events.
411mania lists their top 5 most underappreciated actors.
Broken Frontier examines the future for comic books,.
Minnesota Public Radio discusses Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, the latest book in its Midmorning Book Club.
The New York Times examines black artists and fans in indie rock (and interviews Fresh Cherries from Yakima's Douglas Martin as part of the story).
The Internet has made it easier for black fans to find one another, some are adopting rock clothing styles, and a handful of bands with black members have growing followings in colleges and on the alternative or indie radio station circuit. It is not the first time there has been a black presence in modern rock. But some fans and musicians say they feel that a multiethnic rock scene is gathering momentum.
NPR is streaming singer-songwriter Erin McKeown's Philadelphia show from last night.
In the Guardian, author Doris Lessing discusses the reception her novel, The Golden Notebook, received in 1962.
The book keeps popping up unexpectedly. The first translation in China was a much-bowdlerised edition sold as porn. What I like best is hearing that The Golden Notebook is on reading lists for political or history classes.
Wired's Listening Post blog interviews solo artist Podington Bear.
The Los Angeles Times profiles author Vikram Chandra and his novel, Sacred Games.
"Sacred Games" began generating a huge buzz in spring 2005, when HarperCollins won the U.S. rights over six competing publishers. According to Chandra's agent, Eric Simonoff, Chandra himself was "fairly stunned" that the bidding had reached $1 million. "I know it exceeded our expectations," the agent said, adding that he has been mulling several Hollywood offers for movie rights.
Shins frontman James Merser talks to the Daily Scotsman.
With age, however, Mercer is becoming less troubled. As he says, "Sometime in my late twenties I stopped trying to be cool." He's getting happier in his skin. Even though the idea of appearing on The Late Show With David Letterman, as the Shins will soon, "presses all the buttons: stage fright, anxiety, all that". He's learning to relax a little and enjoy his success.
In the Los Angeles Times, producer Scott Steindorff talks about adapting Love in the Time of Cholera for the big screen.
Steindorff, though skeptical at first, seems to have come around to the idea that the film could succeed with a younger demographic. "My marketing guy wants to market the movie for younger audiences, which also was kind of shocking to me," he says. "But you know, it's a very popular book in universities in America. So I think it can resonate to a younger audience."
Slate wonders if the internet will make film festivals obsolete.
At Babble, Lisa Carver reviews Neal Pollack's parenting memoir, Alternadad.
Reading Alternadad, I felt jealous (of his unbroken, compatible family) and bored (by his unbroken, compatible family). I don't care about how he and his wife came to agreements about circumcision, private vs. public preschool and biting. It's not ironic to have children. In fact, I don't care about anyone's family but my own, really. And I try not to burden my readers by believing for a second that they care about how cute and intelligent and unusual my children are. And since I don't know what else to say about my children, I generally don't say anything at all.
see also: Book Notes contributions by Lisa Carver and Neal Pollack
see also:
Largehearted Boy's favorite albums of 2006
2006 Year-end Music List Compilation
this week's CD & DVD releases
