« older | Main Largehearted Boy Page | newer »
May 25, 2011
Shorties (Death Cab for Cutie, A Canterbury Tales Board Game, and more)
Ben Gibbard talks to Time Out New York about the new Death Cab for Cutie album, Codes and Keys (out May 31st).
The Guardian Books Blog points out The Road to Canterbury, a board game based on Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.
The Broward New Times interviews singer-songwriter Will Oldham.
Within the budding progressive folk scene here, I've found that all the musicians involved played punk rock at some point. What do you think the connection is?
I started out playing Ramones songs too, but at the end of the day, the idea of DIY really drew me to what I do now. It is crucial to not rely on electricity and play your music anytime, anywhere. Also, you can shove so much down the audience's throat in punk rock, but what is really cool is demanding the audience put forth an effort and listen.
LAist interviews author Aimee Bender.
Your stories frequently explore elements of the fairy tale, and often these qualities of the fantastic are juxtaposed with more common experiences, much in the way LA has an idealized vision and a contrasting reality. How does living in LA inspire the fairy tale aspect of your writing?
What people say commonly about LA is that it's a city where you can reinvent yourself constantly. It's very open to a person changing or a sort of strangeness in the world and I think that does supply permission and space. There is a kind of magical shimmeriness to that. LA is packed full of fairytale-like film discovery stories, which are very compelling. I remember I saw the opening night of Pretty in Pink when I was in high school. John Hughes was in the audience and I remember just feeling awe-struck and star-struck and feeling like 'someone will get discovered' and 'I want to be Molly Ringwald,' and that whole LA fairy tale/myth. So I did really grow up with that. But I feel like I would have liked fairy tales even if I was in Russia.
American Songwriter interviews Dead Confederate frontman Hardy Morris.
BBC News and the Guardian profile the shortlisted titles for the Desmond Elliott prize for debut fiction.
CBC Radio interviews legendary singer-songwriter Brian Wilson.
The Guardian examines critic Harold Bloom's continuing influence on literature.
At Pop & Hiss, Ben Westhoff (author of Dirty South: OutKast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers Who Reinvented Hip-Hop) lists his top five Southern rap albums.
NPR reviews and excerpts from Sarah Burns' new book The Central Park Five: A Chronicle of a City Wilding.
Nerve ranks Bob Dylan's albums from worst to best.
Our Stories interviews Cara Hoffman about her novel So Much Pretty.
All Things Considered interviews singer-songwriter David Bazan about his new album, Strange Negotiations.
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 (news and links from the worlds of music, literature, and pop culture)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's new comics & graphic novels)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's new books)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
