January 31, 2012
Book Notes - Hanne Blank - "Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Bret Easton Ellis, Kate Christensen, Kevin Brockmeier, George Pelecanos, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, David Peace, Myla Goldberg, and many others.
Hanne Blank's Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality is a cultural history of heterosexuality, thoroughly researched and persuasive in its arguments. This important examination of sexual identity is always entertaining, eye-opening and thought-provoking.
Kirkus Reviews wrote of the book:
"The author uses wisdom and wit to substantiate her contention that love and passion are not definable by biology."
Stream a Spotify playlist of these tunes. If you don't have Spotify yet, sign up for the free service.
In her own words, here is Hanne Blank's Book Notes music playlist for her book, Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality:
One of the things you realize when you start working on a book about the concept of heterosexuality is just how damn pervasive it is, and how relatively rare it is, for example, to come across a song that isn't in some way about some aspect of heterosexuality. Love songs, breakup songs, oh-god-I've-got-it-bad songs, songs about the one that got away, lust songs, biographical songs, and that isn't even touching the love-story song. Even songs that don't appear to be about anything relating to relationships between men and women in any way at all will so often suddenly reveal themselves as part of the whole inescapable matrix with throwaway phrases, stray metaphors, little suspended expectations that only work if you fill in a heterosexual premise.
These songs are thus not really chosen on the basis of whether or not they have something to do with heterosexuality. So many songs do. Rather, these are plucked from what ended up in a folder on my computer entitled "WRITE FASTER," a sentiment with which most any working writer can empathize.
1. Janelle Monáe, "Tightrope" from The ArchAndroid
So infectious, so danceable, so driven. Monáe’s voice and manner make me realize what’s missing in so many other young singers I hear these days: direction and self-awareness. Her imagination, too, puts her in a league of her own, with her spectacular science-fictional worldbuilding and her exploration of the relationship between narrator and context.
2. Andrea Eccheverri, "A Eme O" from Andrea Eccheverri
This is a glorious little upbeat song about what it feels like to be in love, but from a deeply female, utterly embodied perspective. Colombian singer/guitarist Eccheverri somehow makes you feel the wriggling excitement of being so alive in your body that every tube and duct and internal organ seems miraculous.
3. Emm Gryner, "Pour Some Sugar On Me" from Girl Versions
Holy crap is this a great cover. I know, I know, Def Leppard as a torch song doesn’t sound like it should work, but God almighty does it ever. I was skeptical when a friend turned me on to this, because honestly the original tune leaves me cold and stiff as last night's pizza. But Gryner’s from-the-tips-of-the-toes singing and thoughtful piano make something completely seductive, wrenching, and absolutely compelling out of it.
4. Florence & The Machine, "Lover to Lover," from Ceremonials
Anthemic, hooky, and compulsively listenable. The transitions between pop-operatic chorus and oddly fragile bits of verse initially drew me in, but the keyboards and the sweeping scale of the thing keep me coming back. I secretly suspect that Freddie Mercury visits this woman in shamanic visions.
5. Rufus Wainwright, "Going to a Town" from Release the Stars
This post-9/11 elegy has anger in all the right places, combined with a weary longing for a nation that no longer exists and maybe never did. Wainwright’s nasal ennui plus the Schubertian simplicity of phrase somehow combine to create something brutal, strong, and true.
6. Amanda Palmer (and friends), “Map of Tasmania”
When is a goofy song about letting your pubic hair grow out not just a goofy song about letting your pubic hair grow out? When it’s "Map of Tasmania." Letting your own personal freak flag fly is one of Amanda Palmer’s specialties, and in this song she makes it seem like a ludicrous amount of fun. If you haven’t seen the video, you owe it to yourself.
7. OK Go, "White Knuckles," from Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky
You can keep your LOLcats. This song, and especially the video for this song, make my heart sing. Even better, when you’re a writer, is realizing just how much work went into making something that looks and sounds so joyous and effortless and fun. Helps keep things in perspective, you know, and there are days when that’s no small thing.
8. Compay Segundo, "Yo Vengo Aquí" from Yo Vengo Aquí
Cuban legend Compay Segundo, singing (and playing) a gorgeous close-harmony lovesong, classic for good reason. Like a cup of sweet strong coffee, with a smooth spicy, sophisticated finish. Tu me a robado el Corazon, indeed.
9. Over The Rhine, "Poughkeepsie," from Good Dog Bad Dog
A hymn of resilience and resistance, arcing and glorious, fine-boned and sweet. Sometimes you just need to be reminded of how it should be done.
10. Jane Siberry, "Writers Are A Funny Breed," from Jane Siberry
I've been listening to this song for a quarter of a century and she's right, you know. We are. Thank goodness there are people who get it, and love us anyway.
Hanne Blank and Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality links:
Kirkus Reviews review
New York Times review
Publishers Weekly review
Urbanite review
Feministing interview with the author
Haaretz interview with the author
The Jewish Daily Forward interview with the author
Largehearted Boy Book Notes essay by the author for Virgin
Salon interview with the author
also at Largehearted Boy:
other Book Notes playlists (authors create music playlists for their book)
List of Online "Best Books of 2011" Lists
List of 2011 Year-End Online Music Lists
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
52 Books, 52 Weeks (weekly book reviews)
Antiheroines (interviews with up and coming female comics artists)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (weekly comics highlights)
Daily Downloads (free and legal daily mp3 downloads)
guest book reviews
Largehearted Word (weekly new book highlights)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Shorties (daily music, literature, and pop culture links)
Soundtracked (composers and directors discuss their film's soundtracks)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from the week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
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January 31, 2012
Try It Before You Buy It - January 31st, 2012 Music Releases
Try It Before You Buy It features free and legal mp3 downloads and full album streams from the week's music releases:
Ana Tijoux: La Bala
full album stream
Aretha Franklin: Knew You Were Waiting: The Best of Aretha Franklin 1980-1998
full album stream
Asteroids Galaxy Tour: Out of Frequency
full album stream
The Big Sleep: Nature Experiments
full album stream
Continue reading "Try It Before You Buy It - January 31st, 2012 Music Releases"
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Shorties (Stream the New Heartless Bastards Album, Literary Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels, and more)
Stream the new Heartless Bastards album Arrow (out ) at NPR.
Damien G. Walters recommends seven literary science fiction and fantasy novels. (via)
Tablet profiles singer-songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen.
Rolling Stone interviews Cohen about his new album, Old Ideas (out today).
The Millions interviews Ben marcus about his new novel The Flame Alphabet.
Shirley Manson of Garbage talks to Pop & Hiss about her new record label.
Releasing an album on your own label: scary or liberating?
Free at last! Free at last!! Collectively and individually for that matter, we probably have more experience making records and releasing them than 99% of people working at labels these days. Nor do we have anyone to answer to other than ourselves. People at record companies live in fear of being wrong. Music cannot thrive in that environment. It is an unruly art form. You can’t keep treating it like sausage meat. You have to let it morph and move and breathe. So are we scared? Not a jot.
Dankland lists pothead novels.
Drowned in Sound interviews Bryce Dessner, guitarist of The National.
Advice to Writers, the blog.
The Pines visit The Current studio for a live performance and interview.
All Things Considered interviews Susan Cain about her new book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking.
"Many people believe that introversion is about being antisocial, and that's really a misperception. Because actually it's just that introverts are differently social. So they would prefer to have a glass of wine with a close friend as opposed to going to a loud party full of strangers."
Morning Edition profiles Philip Glass on the composer's 75th birthday.
At NPR, author Margaret Fragoso recommends Margaret Atwood's novel Cat's Eye.
There is so much to savor in Cat's Eye's lushly imagined landscape where sorrow and beauty merge. This novel is as philosophical as it is emotional, as poetic as it is psychological. It's the story of Elaine and her best friend Cordelia, a histrionic, well-to-do girl who puts a defiant blond streak in her hair and refers to her mother as "Mummy." Although she's only 9, Cordelia plays vicious emotional mind games and conducts rituals that resemble hazing — like telling Elaine to stand out in the freezing cold for hours. Like a surgeon going straight for the valves instead of the heartstrings, Atwood expertly conjures how doubly disorienting and painful it is when the proverbial mean girl also happens to be your best friend.
The Record profiles pop singer Lana Del Rey.
Lana Del Rey is a particularly polarizing figure for two reasons. Her persona relies on classic femme fatale allure, but without the usual "girl power" update — the sassy shake of the finger that makes a phrase like "put a ring on it" seem almost feminist. So women find her troubling; she embodies the worst part of being a girl. And her music — well-constructed and catchy, but also strangely incomplete, with lyrics that feel slapdash sung by an unpolished voice — is neither fish nor fowl, too awkward for corporate pop and too distant-feeling for indie.
More Intelligent Life shares tips on how to write like Shakespeare.
Paste lists the top 10 solo albums by members of the Beatles.
TS Eliot award-winning poet John Burnside discusses poetry's life-changing power at the Telegraph.
Win Sara Levine's debut novel Treasure Island!!! and a $100 Threadless gift certificate in this week's Largehearted Boy contest.
Amazon MP3
Follow me on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous Shorties posts (daily news and links from the worlds of music, books, and pop culture)
List of Online "Best Books of 2011" Lists
List of Online Year-End 2011 Music Lists
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
Atomic Books Comics Preview (the week's best new comics & graphic novels)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (the week's best new books)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
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Daily Downloads (Emily Wells, Shearwater, and more)
Every day, Daily Downloads offers 10 free and legal mp3 downloads, plus free and legal live sets from around the internet.
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
Ane Brun: "Do You Remember (with First Aid Kit)" [mp3] from It All Starts With One (out May 1st)
search for more Ane Brun posts at Largehearted Boy
The Boxing Lesson: "Better Daze" [mp3]
search for more Boxing Lesson posts at Largehearted Boy
Emily Wells: "Passenger" [mp3] from Mama (out April 10th)
search for more Emily Wells posts at Largehearted Boy
Joshua McCormack: "Terminal Velocity" [mp3] from The Phantom King (out April 3rd)
search for more Joshua McCormack posts at Largehearted Boy
Liz Green: "Hey Joe" [mp3] from O. Devotion! (out February 7th)
search for more Liz Green posts at Largehearted Boy
Schwervon!: "American Idle" [mp3]
search for more Schwervon! posts at Largehearted Boy
Shearwater: "Whipping Boy" [mp3] from Winged Life (vinyl reissue out February 14th)
search for more Shearwater posts at Largehearted Boy
Those Lavender Whales: free and legal Tomahawk of Praise album [mp3]
search for more Those Lavender Whales posts at Largehearted Boy
Water Liars: "$100" [mp3] from Phantom Limb (out February 28th)
search for more Water Liars posts at Largehearted Boy
The Young Things: "Dead End Street (Kinks cover)" [mp3]
search for more The Young Things posts at Largehearted Boy
Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:
Low Roar: 2012-01-19, Manhattan [mp3]
search for more Low Roar posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
other daily free and legal mp3 downloads
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
List of 2011 Year-End Online Music Lists
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD and DVD release lists
Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us
January 30, 2012
This Week's Interesting Music Releases - January 31st, 2012
Legendary poet and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen releases a new album this week, Old Ideas.
The Big Sleep's Nature Experiments, Gotye's Making Mirrors, and The Pines: Dark So Gold are all albums I have heard and can strongly recommend.
One Model Nation's Total Werks Vol. 1 (1969-1977) is the companion music to Dandy Warhols frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor's new graphic novel, One Model Nation.
Tally Ho! Flying Nun's Greatest Bits is a 2-CD, 40-track compilation from the New Zealand label with contributions by The Clean, The Verlaines, Tall Dwarfs, and many others.
What new releases are you picking up this week? What can you recommend? Have I left anything noteworthy off the list?
This week's interesting music releases:
Adam Arcuragi: Like a fire that consumes all before it...
Aretha Franklin: Knew You Were Waiting: The Best of Aretha Franklin 1980-1998
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour: Out of Frequency
Aufgehoben: Fragments of The Marble Plan
The Big Sleep: Nature Experiments
Black Bananas: Rad Times Express IV
The Bloody Beetroots: Church of Noise [vinyl]
Blue Cheer: Outsideinside (reissue)
Blue Cheer: Vincebus Eruptum (reissue)
BT: Laptop Symphony
Buxton: Nothing Here Seems Strange
Carsie Blanton: Idiot Heart
David Bowie: Hours (remastered)
The Doozer: Keep It Together
Doug Jerebine: Is Jesse Harper [vinyl]
Elephant Micah: Louder Than Thou
Errors: Have Some Faith In Magic
The Ex-Girlfriends Club: Boo Hoo Hoo
Golden Calves: Collection: Money Band + Century
Gotye: Making Mirrors
Gretchen Peters: Hello Cruel World
Grimes: Halfaxa
Hospitality: Hospitality
Imperial Teen: Feel the Sound
Jason Isbell: Sirens of the Ditch [vinyl]
The Jealous Sound: A Gentle Reminder
John Cage: Number Pieces 6: Five / Seven / Thirteen
John Hiatt: Open Road [vinyl]
John Zorn: Mount Analogue
Lacuna Coil: Dark Adrenaline: Limited Boxset
Ladytron: Witching Hour [vinyl]
Lana Del Ray: Born to Die
Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas
Loops of Your Heart: And Never Ending Nights
Lymbyc Systym: Shutter Release (reissue)
The Magnetic Fields: Andrew in Drag / When Next I Fall in Love [vinyl]
Metallica: Beyond Magnetic EP
Mike Doughty: The Question Jar Show
Mr. Gnome: Madness in Miniature
Night Genes: Like the Blood
One Model Nation: Total Werks Vol. 1 (1969-1977)
PacificUV: Weekends
Pepe Deluxe: Queen of the Wave
Pet Shop Boys: Before (Remixes EP)
Phish: Live At Madison Square Garden New Year's Eve 1995
The Pines: Dark So Gold
PJ Harvey: Let England Shake: 12 Short Films By Seamus Murphy [dvd]
Prinzhorn Dance School: Clay Class
Richard Thompson - Live at Celtic Connection [dvd]
Ringo Starr: Ringo 2012
Ruthie Foster: Let It Burn
Shonen Knife: Osaka Ramones: Tribute To The Ramone
Susumu Yokota: Dreamers
Talking Heads: Chronology [dvd]
Terry Riley: Aleph
Tomb: Uag
Various Artists: Matador: Intended Play 2012 [vinyl]
Various Artists: Putumayo Presents Brazilian Beat
Various Artists: Tally Ho! Flying Nun's Greatest Bits
Various Artists: Tucson Songs: Exciting New Sounds from Southern Arizona [vinyl]
Various Artists: Underworld Awakening (soundtrack)
also at Largehearted Boy:
other weekly CD & DVD release lists
List of Online Year-End 2011 Music Lists
100 online sources for free and legal music downloads
Try It Before You Buy It (music from this week's CD releases)
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This Week's Interesting DVD Releases - January 31st, 2012
Three music films stand out among the week's DVD releases. Talking Heads: Chronology shares video of the band's live performances from 1975-2002. The Other F Word is a documentary about punk rockers and fatherhood. PJ Harvey: Let England Shake: 12 Short Films By Seamus Murphy offers Murphy's music videos for each song on Harvey's 2011 album of the same name.
The Ryan Gosling vehicle (pun intended) Drive and the modern prelude to the horror classic The Thing are the week's theatrical highlights.
What new releases are you picking up or adding to your streaming queue this week?
This week's interesting DVD releases:
Adaptation [Blu-ray]
Adrift (Choi Voi)
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Series 1
Agatha Christie's Poirot: Series 2
B Gata H Kei: Yamada's First Time Complete Series (Limited Edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
The Big Year
Bollywood Beats
Calder - Sculptor of Air
Chalet Girl
Cold Mountain [Blu-ray]
The Comic Strip Presents: The Complete Collection
Das Boot (Director's Cut) [Blu-ray]
The Double
Dr. Jekyll Vs. The Werewolf
Dream House
Drive
Ef: A Tale of Memories Complete Collection
The English Patient [Blu-ray]
Fairy Tail: Part 3 (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
Fernando Di Leo crime collection [Blu-ray]
Frida [Blu-ray]
The Hammer
Hell On Earth
Hey Dude: Season Two
In Time
Janie Jones
Lost River: Lincoln's Secret Weapon
The Magnificent Ambersons
Malcolm X (Blu-ray Book)
The Mill & The Cross
Monkeybone
Monsignor
New in Town: John Mulaney
The Other F Word
Outrage: Way of the Yakuza
Phantom: Requiem For the Phantom (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
PJ Harvey: Let England Shake: 12 Short Films By Seamus Murphy
The Piano [Blu-ray]
Poldark: The Complete Collection
Queen: Days Of Our Lives
Resurrect Dead - The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles
Richard Thompson-Live at Celtic Connection
Scout
Shakespeare in Love [Blu-ray]
A Soldier's Story [Blu-ray]
Spork
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Next Level [Blu-ray]
Styx: The Grand Illusion / Pieces of Eight- Live
Talking Heads: Chronology
Texas Killing Fields
The Thing
To Kill a Mockingbird 50th Anniversary Edition
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Three-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy)
Transformers Limited Edition Collector's Trilogy (Seven-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Boxed Set: Transformers / Transformers 2 / Transformers 3 (+ Blu-ray 3D Version))
Underground Railroad: The William Still Story
You & I
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous weekly music & DVD release lists
Soundtracked (directors and composers discuss their film's soundtrack)
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Shorties (Stream Sharon Van Etten's New Album, Craig Thompson, and more)
Stream Sharon Van Etten's new album, Tramp, at NPR.
The Panel Borders podcast interviews cartoonist Craig Thompson about his graphic novel Habibi.
Mountain Xpress profiles John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats.
The Mountain Goats originated with Darnielle writing songs on his guitar and recording them on a cheap boombox, an arrangement that sometimes represents the act still — just him, his guitar and his lyrics. It is, admittedly, a pretty simple formula, one you can find somewhere on a street corner in just about every city in the country (and on more than a few street corners in our little city). Darnielle transcends the sum of this simple equation, in both style and substance. The songs he has recorded and disseminated to the public exceed 500, and yet there isn't the dilution of quality one might expect from someone so prolific.
Flavorwire lists the most iconic accessories of famous authors.
The Comic Book Road Show podcast interviews cartoonist Jeff Lemire.
The Daily Trojan profiles the band Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.
Stylist lists its predictions for cult books of 2012.
Handbags, iPad cases, and Kindle cases made from vinyl album sleeves and books.
NDTV interviews author Salman Rushdie about returning to India. (via)
Book Boroughing interviews author Shalom Auslander.
The Nervous Breakdown lists 10 essential rock movies.
Book Stalker interviews Kamala Nair, author of The Girl in the Garden, about her literary reading experiences.
Girl in a Coma plays a Tiny Desk Concert at NPR Music.
The Other People podcast interviews author Caroline Leavitt.
Madonna talks to the Los Angeles Times about her film directorial debut, Super Bowl performance, new album, and tour.
The New York Times profiles singer-songwriter Ben Kweller, who has started distributing his music himself.
"It's fun, fascinating and a ridiculous amount of work to go from sitting back and letting a major label decide my fate to doing everything myself," said Mr. Kweller, who after 10 years on the major-label offshoot ATO Records will release his new album, "Go Fly a Kite," on Feb. 7 through his own label, The Noise Company. "We run our label like a mom-and-pop business. I feel like record labels shouldn’t be operated any differently than a shoe store or a bakery."
Author Jonathan Franzen is no fan of e-books.
"Someone worked really hard to make the language just right, just the way they wanted it. They were so sure of it that they printed it in ink, on paper. A screen always feels like we could delete that, change that, move it around. So for a literature-crazed person like me, it's just not permanent enough."
Singer-songwriter Bhi Bhiman visits The Current studio for an interview and live performance.
In the Guardian, Ewan Morrison predicts the burst of the self-epublishing bubble.
Amazon MP3
Follow me on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous Shorties posts (daily news and links from the worlds of music, books, and pop culture)
List of Online "Best Books of 2011" Lists
List of Online Year-End 2011 Music Lists
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
Atomic Books Comics Preview (the week's best new comics & graphic novels)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (the week's best new books)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
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Daily Downloads (The Darcys Cover Steely Dan, Ume, and more)
Every day, Daily Downloads offers 10 free and legal mp3 downloads, plus free and legal live sets from around the internet.
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
Adios Amigo: free and legal Adios Amigo album [mp3]
search for more Adios Amigo posts at Largehearted Boy
Bellwire: free and legal (name your price) Waterbed album [mp3]
search for more Bellwire posts at Largehearted Boy
Butterknife: free and legal Do the Needful EP [mp3]
search for more Butterknife posts at Largehearted Boy
The Darcys: "Josie (Vol. 2) (Steely Dan cover)" [mp3] from AJA (free and legal album download)
search for more Darcys posts at Largehearted Boy
Isidore: "Song of the City" [mp3] from Life Somewhere Else (out February 14th)
search for more Isidore posts at Largehearted Boy
Now, Nows: "Dead Oaks" [mp3] from Threads (out March 6th)
search for more Now, Nows posts at Largehearted Boy
Our Orthodox: "We're Not the Only Ones" [mp3] from We Are Not the Only Ones
search for more Our Orthodox posts at Largehearted Boy
St. Paul de Vence: "Actually" [mp3] from St. Paul de Vence (out January 29th)
search for more St. Paul de Vence posts at Largehearted Boy
Ume: "Gleam" [mp3]
search for more Ume posts at Largehearted Boy
Wild Nothing: "Nowhere" [mp3] from Nowhere (out February 21st)
search for more Wild Nothing posts at Largehearted Boy
Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:
Portugal. The Man: 2012-01-20, Brooklyn [mp3,ogg,flac]
search for mor Portugal. The Man posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
other daily free and legal mp3 downloads
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
List of 2011 Year-End Online Music Lists
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD and DVD release lists
Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us
January 29, 2012
LHB Weekly Wrap-Up - January 29th
A list of the past week's Largehearted Boy features:
Book Notes: (authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates to their book)
Bret Lott for his novel Dead Low Tide
George Pelecanos for his novel What It Was
Keshni Kashyap for her graphic novel Tina's Mouth: An Existential Diary
Stewart O'Nan for his novel The Odds: A Love Story
Sara Levine's debut novel Treasure island!!! and a $100 Threadless Gift Certificate
Weekly New Book Recommendations:
Atomic Books Comics Preview (recommended new comics and graphic novels)
Largehearted Word (recommended new books)
New Music Recommendations:
Try It Before You Buy It (full album streams and mp3s from this week's music releases)
The Week's Interesting Music Releases
New DVD recommendations:
The Week's Interesting DVD Releases
And of course, the daily music and news posts:
Daily Downloads (10 free and legal mp3 downloads every day, plus links to free live recordings online)
Shorties (news & links from the worlds of music, books, and pop culture)
also at Largehearted Boy:
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
52 Books, 52 Weeks
Antiheroines
Atomic Books Comics Preview
Book Notes
Book Reviews
Contests / Giveaways
Daily Downloads
Largehearted Word
Lists
music & DVD release lists
musician/author Interviews
Note Books
Soundtracked
Try It Before You Buy It
Why Obama
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Contest - Win Sara Levine's Debut Novel Treasure Island!!! and a $100 Threadless Gift Certificate
In Sara Levine's captivating debut novel Treasure Island!!! her protagonist, a recent college graduate, adopts Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Treasure Island as her personal self-help guide. Of course, this made me wonder what artistic work would I personally choose for life guidance? Probably Saul Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March.
Sara Levine will read from the novel and be interviewed on Wednesday, February 1st at Brooklyn's WORD bookstore in an event hosted by this blog, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, and Europa Editions.
To enter, name the book (or movie, play, musical, or television series) you would choose for life advice.
One winner, chosen randomly from the commenters, will receive the following prizes:
Sara Levine's debut novel Treasure Island!!!
A $100 Threadless gift certificate to buy book-related t-shirts like A Voyage of Discovery, A Book Lover, November Was a Good Month, Brainy Rainbow, or Word!, music-related t-shirts like The Official Guide to Music, Boom Box, Sound of the Dark, or anything else.
The winner will be chosen randomly at midnight ET Friday evening (February 3rd).
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous and ongoing contests at Largehearted Boy
2011 Year-End Online Music Lists
Online "Best Books of 2011" Lists
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
52 Books, 52 Weeks (my yearly reading series)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (highlights of the week's new comics)
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
Daily Downloads (daily free and legal music downloads)
guest book reviews
Largehearted Word (highlights of the week's book releases)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Shorties (daily links from the worlds of music, literature, and pop culture)
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Shorties (Craig Finn, Gender Bias in NPR Book Coverage, and more)
Craig Finn shares the influences behind several songs on his solo album, Clear Heart Full Eyes, with the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
"Honolulu Blues"
"A lot of it was inspired by this book 'Democracy' by Joan Didion, which talks a lot about all the profiteering that took place out of Hawaii during the Vietnam War. It was sort of a jumping-off point for a lot of the bad stuff that we did. Not just the war itself, but all the money being made off the war. We went [to Honolulu] with the Hold Steady, and I thought it was nice, but noticed that the streets are kind of edgier than you'd guess."
Finn also discusses the solo project with the paper.
The Boston Phoenix examines the gender bias in NPR's books coverage.
As it turns out, public media is worse than even the New York Times. Far worse. NPR and WBUR talked about male writers about 70 percent of the time. Of the roughly 60 works of fiction discussed on NPR, only about 20 were written by women. Of the six novelists featured on more than one program, all but Amy Waldman, author of The Submission, were men. Of the three novelists interviewed on more than one program, all were men. Terry Gross interviewed twice as many male as female novelists, and Morning Edition apparently dedicated no coverage at all to women fiction writers.
The Scotsman has news of a new film collaboration featuring Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian.
Stuart Murdoch, the lead singer of the Glasgow-based group, has now teamed up with twice Oscar-nominated Barry Mendel, producer of movies such as Bridesmaids, The Sixth Sense and The Royal Tenenbaums, to produce the film, which is described as "a musical love letter" to the city. The pair hope to start filming in June.
All Things Considered profiles Ezra Jack Keats's children's book The Snowy Day, which turns 50 this year.
Keats received thousands of fan letters from children, featuring their own versions of his deceptively simple collage illustrations. Even children in places like decidedly un-snowy Florida could relate to Peter's adventures. But one of the most touching reports came from a teacher whose students had read The Snowy Day.
"There was a teacher [who] wrote in to Ezra, saying, 'The kids in my class, for the first time, are using brown crayons to draw themselves.' " Pope says. "These are African-American children. Before this, they drew themselves with pink crayons. But now, they can see themselves."
Crib Notes interviews Twin Sister lead singer Andrea Estella.
Kevin: Do you have any current day influences that give you a sense of inspiration?
Andrea: I really like Ariel Pink and the new band that he’s in now. Hercules & Love Affair I think is really cool. Bear in Heaven, I look up to them. And Lost Boy, I love Lost Boy!
The New York Times explores the future of Barnes & Noble.
The Observer profiles the band the Ting Tings.
The Observer notes that more women authors are writing horror stories.
Where once an accomplished "lady novelist" in search of a change might have attempted a neat whodunnit or perhaps a cosy "Aga saga", suddenly the unholy desire to create a horror or ghost story has seized a range of established talents. Even the television book club presenter Judy Finnigan has been drawn to the genre for her debut novel, a ghost story that will be out this autumn.
The San Francisco Examiner profiles singer-songwriter Jessie Baylin.
The Observer profiles John Lanchester, whose book Capital is being called "the great British novel of the early 21st century."
Murk Avenue has pinpointed the exact date Ice Cube sings about in "Today Was a Good Day."
McSweeney's interviews Diane Williams about her new collection of short fiction, Vicky Swanky Is a Beauty.
At Slate, Kate Roiphe defends John Updike's literary reputation.
"25 Things I Learned from Opening a Bookstore."
25. No matter how many books you've read in the past, you will feel woefully un-well read within a week of opening the store. You will also feel wise at having found such a good way to spend your days.
British house music star Maya Jane Coles shares some of her favorite tracks with the Guardian.
Author Jonathan Evison on writing and the importance of independent booksellers:
Reading is, at its best, not an escape; it is genuine experience. A novel is not a monologue, but a conversation, a collaboration between writer and reader, an invaluable exchange of human conditions.
Amazon MP3
Follow me on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, and Stumbleupon for links (updated throughout the day) that don't make the daily "Shorties" columns.
also at Largehearted Boy:
previous Shorties posts (daily news and links from the worlds of music, books, and pop culture)
List of Online "Best Books of 2011" Lists
List of Online Year-End 2011 Music Lists
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
Atomic Books Comics Preview (the week's best new comics & graphic novels)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (the week's best new books)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from this week's CD releases)
weekly music & DVD release lists
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Daily Downloads (Mike Doughty and Mason Porter)
Every day, Daily Downloads offers 10 free and legal mp3 downloads, plus free and legal live sets from around the internet.
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:
Every Sunday's Daily Downloads features 10 live performances recorded over the course of a single artist's career.
In my to-be-read pile is singer-songwriter Mike Doughty's new memoir, The Book of Drugs. As I read the book, I can assure you that I will queue up several of these live performances that feature the former Soul Coughing frontman.
Mike Doughty: 2011-113, Cleveland [mp3,ogg,flac]
Mike Doughty: "I Hear the Bells" [mp3]
Mike Doughty: 2010-01-20, Bremen [mp3,ogg,flac]
Mike Doughty: "Rising Sign" [mp3]
Mike Doughty: 2009-01-23, Ithaca [mp3,ogg,flac]
Mike Doughty: "Looking At The World From the Bottom of a Well" [mp3]
Mike Doughty: 2008-12-07, South Burlington [mp3,ogg,flac]
Mike Doughty: "Thank You Lord For Sending Me The F Train" [mp3]
Mike Doughty: 2007-11-13, Annapolis [mp3,ogg,flac]
Mike Doughty: "27 Jennifers" [mp3]
Mike Doughty: 2006-10-31, Burlington [mp3,ogg,flac]
Mike Doughty: "Madeline and Nine" [mp3]
Mike Doughty: 2005-10-15, Chicago [mp3,ogg,flac]
Mike Doughty: "Busting Up a Starbucks" [mp3]
Mike Doughty: 2004-04-23, Boston [mp3,ogg,flac]
Mike Doughty: "The Book of Love (Magnetic Fields cover)" [mp3]
Mike Doughty: 2002-06-22, Portland [mp3,ogg,flac]
Mike Doughty: "Soft Serve" [mp3
Mike Doughty: 2000-04-28, Ames [mp3,ogg,shn]
Mike Doughty: "Janine" [mp3]
search for more Mike Doughty posts at Largehearted Boy
Free and legal mp3s of live performances at other websites:
Mason Porter: Key Studio session [mp3]
search for more Mason Porter posts at Largehearted Boy
also at Largehearted Boy:
other daily free and legal mp3 downloads
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
List of 2011 Year-End Online Music Lists
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and album streams from weekly CD releases)
weekly CD and DVD release lists
Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us
