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January 28, 2011
Shorties (Destroyer, Virginia Woolf, and more)
The National profiles Destroyer's Dan Bejar.
Over the course of a career filled with flashes and feints, Destroyer's Dan Bejar has established himself as one of the best, and most reluctant, lyricists in rock. His songs are almost always searching and grand, restless in pursuit of elusive truths. He makes a powerful case for the use of words like "sublimation" and "hitherto" in popular music. His subject matter, however, tends towards the deflated, the hopeless, the bleak - states of malaise that would seem to call into question the entire enterprise of songwriting itself.
Flavorwire lists 59 things you didn't know about Virginia Woolf.
Yesterday's final update to the online "best books of 2010" lists included The Utne Reader's books of the year, About.com's best poetry books, the PopMatters' best fiction and nonfiction books, and more.
The Rumpus interviews Justin Taylor about his new novel, The Gospel of Anarchy.
The Bay Bridged interviews singer-songwriter Chuck Prophet about his current tour, where he covers the Clash's London Calling album in its entirety.
Liz Phair talks to BlackBook about the Chicago of her Exile in Guyville years.
The Raleigh News & Observer profiles singer Bettye LaVette.
Pop & Hiss gathers musician reactions to the passing of Charlie Louvin.
The Washington Times interviews music manager Emily White.
Highway Five Music shares mp3s of Smiths demos and instrumentals.
At NPR, Sigrid Nunez shares her love for Jean Stafford's novel The Mountain Lionlub.
John Lydon talks to Pop & Hiss about his current projects (musical and otherwise).
In the Guardian, author Laila Lalami discusses recent political unrest in northern Africa,
The Guardian First Album award has been awarded to Gold Panda.
The most recent update to the list of 2010 year-end online music lists included two album lists from Donewaiting, NYCTaper's best concerts, and much more.
My own "best of 2010" book & music lists:
favorite albums of 2010
favorite graphic novels
favorite nonfiction books
favorite novels of 2010
favorite short story collections
Coming later this month: my favorite free and legal mp3 downloads and favorite debut novels of the year.
Follow me on Twitter and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous Shorties posts (daily links from the worlds of music, literature, and pop culture)
Online "Best Books of 2010" lists
Online "Best Music of 2010" lists
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's comics & graphic novel releases)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
