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July 15, 2008
Shorties
Forbes examines the growing number of musician endorsements of cell phones.
Musicians, in turn, see phone endorsements as a respectable way to earn money amid sinking album sales. "At the rate the industry is turning, cellphones will matter more than any other mobile device [in terms of music sales]," said Usher at the press conference announcing his Sony Ericsson deal.
The Lower Hudson Valley Journal News interviews actress Debra Winger about her memoir, Undiscovered.
Your book is the antithesis of the behind-the-scenes Hollywood tell-all; for every story that mentions a Jack Nicholson, there are ruminations on mowing lawns or spotting wildlife. Did you consciously set out to make sure that this was so, or is the gossipy side of the business simply uninteresting to you?
Just the word 'gossip' can give a person hives. It has gotten completely out of control, and we have lost sight of how truly damaging and hateful it is, on any level. We are all guilty of it to a degree, but I am never happy with myself when I participate in it. I would not have thought it worthy of the paper it is written on.
theBookseller.com lists the longlisted books for the Dylan Thomas literary prize (for authors under 30).
The longlisted books:
Ross Raisin's God's Own Country
Joe Dunthorne's Submarine
Ceridwen Dovey's Blood Kin
Susan Barker's The Orientalist and the Ghost
Priya Basil's Ishq and Mushq
Edward Hogan's Blackmoor
Ben Dolnick's Zoology
Susan Fletcher's Oystercatchers
Adam Green's Satsuma Sun Mover
Kei Miller's There is an Anger that Moves
Caroline Bird's Trouble Came to the Turnip
Zoe Brigley's The Secret
Porochista Khakpour's Sons and Other Flammable Objects
Nan Le's The Boat
Karen Russell's St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves
Dinaw Mengestu's Children of the Revolution
The Chicago Daily Herald profiles the local band, Mahjongg.
When singer Jeff Carrillo hears Mahjongg's latest album, "Kontpab," he envisions it in stages of construction that have less to do with creative process and more with physical labor associated with band saws, plywood, sweat and brief periods of near homelessness. And rightfully so. During Mahjongg's creation of their debut album with K Records, the Chicago collective of artists was waist deep in building what would eventually be their studio and, in turn, their home on the city's West Side in Humboldt Park.
The New York Times reviews Benji Hughes' debut album, A Love Extreme.
Mr. Hughes is casually tuneful, fond of Beatles-ballad chord progressions, observant and droll; he knows when he’s come up with a hook to exploit, but he’s also wily enough to make some songs meander and take last-half detours. While “A Love Extreme” includes some indulgences, particularly on the second disc, most of the songs are endearingly blurred pop.
The New York Daily News, New York Sun, Popmatters, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Glide magazine, and Washington Times review the Hold Steady's new album, Stay Positive (out today).
Writers Mugs is an online art gallery of block prints of famous authors.
Beattie's Book Blog points out Hang the DJ: An Alternative Book of Music Lists, a book out in October.
Jonathan Lethem contributes “10 Smutty Moments from Bob Dylan”, David Peace offers his “10 Favourite Japanese Bands”, and Cargill has also included his own list of “10 Songs of Heartache, Misery and Woe”, which include “Let Me Down Easy” by Betty Lavette and Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”.
BookSprouts is an online community for book clubs.
At Pitchfork, Marc Masters examines the history of the Sub Pop Singles Club and lists some of the more interesting releases.
Sub Pop has always wielded that kind of blunt irony like a hammer, but the real irony of the Singles Club was that it was far from crass. Rather than make it a quick-cash repository for outtakes and throwaways by label mainstays, Sub Pop founder Bruce Pavitt used the series to continue the eclectic curatorial vision he started with his mid-1980s fanzines and cassette compilations known as Subterranean Pop.
see also: Masters' Largehearted Boy Book Notes essay for his book, No Wave
The Ask Metafilter community recommends indie rock lesbian love songs.
The Guardian examines the flow of literary archives from Britain to the United States.
Feist's appearance on Sesame Street will debut on August 11th but you can watch the video below:
The A.V. Club lists examples of "the Darrin effect," jarring casess of recast roles in television series.
Whitman's Brooklyn is a blog focusing on Brooklyn circa 1850.
Moshcam features streaming live concert videos, including shows by CocoRosie, Built to Spill, and many more.
KPLU lists 5 songs for the "gas-guzzling blues."
also at Largehearted Boy:
daily mp3 downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
this week's CD releases
tags: music books popculture indie news
