largehearted boy: a boy, a girl, and his radio

May 13, 2013

This Week's Interesting DVD Releases - May 14, 2013

The Criterion Collection releases two classic Westerns directed by Delmer Daves this week, Jubal and 3:10 to Yuma, which both star Glenn Ford.

Cloud Atlas, the film adaptation of David Mitchell's novel of the same name, hits stores tomorrow.

Beware of Mr. Baker is a documentary that profiles Cream and Blind Faith drummer Ginger Baker.

Television offerings include Dexter: The Seventh Season as well as budget complete series box set editions of
Roseanne, 3rd Rock From the Sun, and That 70s Show.

The 30th anniversary edition of Fraggle Rock, contains the complete series along with a collectible Red keychain and graphic novel.

What new releases are you picking up or adding to your streaming queue this week?

This week's interesting DVD releases:

3:10 to Yuma (Criterion Collection)
3rd Rock From the Sun - The Complete Series
The Adventures of Super Mario Brothers 3: The Complete Series
Back to 1942
Bearcats! The Complete Series
Beware of Mr. Baker
Bill Moyers: Beyond Hate
The Bletchley Circle: Cracking a Killer's Code
Brave New World
Cloud Atlas
Combat!: The Complete Second Season
Dexter: The Seventh Season
Doctor Who: The Visitation (Special Edition)
Face 2 Face
Fraggle Rock: 30th Anniversary Collection
Frankie Go Boom
Frontline: Raising Adam Lanza
Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III
Home Sweet Home
If I Were You
Jubal (Criterion Collection)
Leonie
Liz and Dick
Lynyrd Skynyrd: The Early Years
The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection
The Mulberry Tree
MythBusters: Collection 9
Of Two Minds
Roseanne: The Complete Series
Save the Farm
Second Life
Secrets of War - Vietnam - A War Unwanted
Taz-Mania: Taz on the Loose- Season One, Vol. 1
Texas Chainsaw
That 70s Show - The Complete Series
Tomorrow You're Gone
Top Gear 19
Transmigration
The Unbelievable Truth

also at Largehearted Boy:

previous weekly music & DVD release lists
Soundtracked (directors and composers discuss their film's soundtrack)

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May 13, 2013

Shorties (James Salter on the Diminishing Power of the Novel, Vampire Weekend Gets Pitchfork's Best Review of the Year So Far, and more)

All Things Considered interviews James Salter about his new novel All That Is.

On his character's observation that the 'power of the novel in the nation's culture has weakened'

"I guess I believe it. My feelings are probably more sentimental than rational. The culture is what it is. It reforms itself, it is freshened by certain things, it is polluted by other things, and it continually revives and presents itself. So it's an unfortunate thing for a certain kind of novelist, or maybe for an older novelist. But apart from that, I don't know if it's a grave thing."

Pitchfork gave the new Vampire Weekend album, Modern Vampires of the City (out tomorrow), a 9.3, its highest rating of the year so far.

The Rumpus interviews author Emily Rapp.

Stereogum reviews the new album by the National, Trouble Will Find Me.

Melissa Mohr talks to Morning Edition about her new book Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing.

NPR Music is streaming The Handsome Family's new album Wilderness (out May 14th).

Author Amy Brill interviews herself at The Nervous Breakdown.

Weekend Edition examines MIDI's contribution to modern music.

Tablet profiles author Walter Mosley, who discusses how his Jewish experience shaped his life.

Pitchfork is streaming the new Dillinger escape Plan album, One of Us Is the Killer (out May 14th).

The A.V. Club lists 13 surprising celebrity novelists.

Sabotage Times shares a fanboy's guide to the best Daft Punk songs.

The Berkshire Eagle profiles cartoonist Howard Cruse.

Win new novels by Jennifer Gilmore and Monica Drake plus a $100 Threadless gift certificate in this week's contest at Largehearted Boy.

Amazon MP3 offers 100 albums on sale for $5 each.
Amazon MP3 offers over 1,400 albums on sale for $3.99.
Amazon MP3 offers over 600 albums for sale for $2.99.
Amazon MP3 offers over 400 jazz albums on sale for $1.78.
Amazon MP3 offers over 56,000 free and legal mp3s.

Follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, 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)

100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
Atomic Books Comics Preview (the week's best new comics & graphic novels)
Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
daily mp3 downloads
Largehearted Word (the week's best new books)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
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 (Eisley, Cheyenne Mize, 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:

Adam Arcuragi: free and legal A Short Compilation of Songs EP [mp3]

Cheyenne Mize: free and legal NoiseTrade Sampler EP [mp3]

The Coyote Affair: free and legal Vietnam EP [mp3]

Darkpine: free and legal 2-track Cognitus (Sacred Tourist) / Ivory single [mp3]

Eisley: free and legal Currents and More Sampler album [mp3]

Graham MacRae: "Game Changer" [mp3] from Dundrearies (out May 21st)

Kin: free and legal Soon EP [mp3]

Liz Wood: free and legal Into My Own EP [mp3]

Lost Tapes: "War in the Netherlands" [mp3] from Eardrums Pop EP

Nicholas Altobelli: free and legal The Lucky Ones EP [mp3]

Free and legal live performances at other websites:

Field Report: HearYa session [mp3]

search for more free and legal music downloads at Largehearted Boy

also at Largehearted Boy:

other daily free and legal mp3 downloads
covers collections
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads

Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Shorties (daily music, books, and pop culture news and links)
Soundtracked (composers and directors discuss their film's soundtrack)
Try It Before You Buy It (mp3s and full album streams from the week's CD releases)

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May 12, 2013

Largehearted Boy Weekly Wrap-Up - May 12th, 2013

A list of the past week's Largehearted Boy features:

Book Notes: (authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates to their book)

Bill Loehfelm for his novel The Devil in Her Way
Cate Lineberry for her book The Secret Rescue
Elanor Dymott for her novel Every Contact Leaves a Trace
Joanna Hershon for her novel A Dual Inheritance
Michael Zapruder for his poetry anthology and album Pink Thunder
Sean Murphy for his graphic novel Punk Rock Jesus

Contests:

Win Jennifer Gilmore's novel The Mothers, Monica Drake's novel The Stud Book, and a $100 Threadless gift certificate in this week's contest at Largehearted Boy.

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
Antiheroines
Atomic Books Comics Preview
Book Notes
Contests / Giveaways
Daily Downloads
Largehearted Word
Lists
music & DVD release lists
musician/author Interviews
Note Books
Soundtracked
Try It Before You Buy It

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Contest - Win Jennifer Gilmore's The Mothers and Monica Drake's The Stud Book and a $100 Threadless Gift Certificate

Since today is Mother's Day, this week's prizes are two of the year's finest literary explorations of motherhood, Jennifer Gilmore's The Mothers and Monica Drake's The Stud Book.

For a chance at winning these novels and a $100 Threadless gift certificate, share your favorite fictional mother from pop culture (books, television, film, or theater). My choice: Rosa Achmetowna from Alina Brodky's novel The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine, one of the most fascinating mothers ever portrayed.

One winner, chosen randomly from the commenters, will receive the following prizes:

Jennifer Gilmore's novel The Mothers
Monica Drake's novel The Stud Book

A $100 Threadless gift certificate to buy book-related t-shirts like Storytellers, The Best Channels Since 1465, Fahrenheit 451, Brainy Rainbow, or Word!, and music-related t-shirts like Death Note, Funkalicious, Music Snob, or anything else that catches your fancy.

If you have already have these books or they don't interest you, I am happy to substitute a second $100 Threadless gift certificate for them.

The winner will be chosen randomly at midnight ET Friday evening (May 17th).

also at Largehearted Boy:

previous and ongoing contests at Largehearted Boy

100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads
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)
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 (James Salter Profiled, A Hip-Hop Tour of Brooklyn, and more)

The Observer profiles author James salter.

Who is James Salter? It may be that you have never heard of him. Salter is not famous the way Philip Roth and John Updike are famous, nor half so prolific; his reputation rests on just two collections of short stories, five (now six) novels and a memoir, Burning the Days. But he is, nevertheless, the kind of American writer who is sometimes called great: a stylist, a purist, a guy who really socks it to you, however elegantly. His books, which are about valour and women and the sadness that doggedly inhabits the everyday, are strangely timeless – they skirt politics, and even brand names, as if such things are a little dirty – and yet they seem also to belong to another age; something in them brings to mind Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, even Graham Greene, beside whose papers Salter's own notebooks lie at the Harry Ransom Centre at the University of Texas.

The New York Times shares a hip-hop tour of Brooklyn.

The Observer profiles 12-year-old comics sensation Zoom Rockman.

Zoom Rockman is a 12-year-old prodigy who writes, illustrates and biannually publishes his own internationally acclaimed comic, The Zoom! It's a snappy, satirical critique of urban life – the new issue tackles the horsemeat scandal – with characters like Skanky Pigeon and celebrity cameos such as Boris Johnson. It's genuinely hilarious.

BBC News reports that New College Nottingham is offering a two year degree in heavy metal.

The Guardian profiles composer Van Dyke Parks.

The Guardian lists the top 10 books on Burma.

The Telegraph features an exclusive stream of "Blackbird" from Paul McCartney and Wings' remastered album Wings Over America (out May 28th).

All Things Considered interviews Neal Thompson about his new book A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not!" Ripley.

Members of the National talk to the Guardian about their forthcoming album, Trouble Will Find Me (out May 21st).

Weekend Edition talks to Anchee Min about her new memoir The Cooked Seed.

Minneapolis band Crimes visits The Current studio for an interview and live performance.

Follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, 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)

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Daily Downloads (13 Radiohead Covers 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:

Every Sunday, Largehearted Boy shares a collection of cover songs.

Today's songs were all originally performed by Radiohead.

Check out the entire list of cover song posts at Largehearted Boy.

Free and legal live performances at other websites:

Red Wanting Blue: LaundroMatinee session [mp3]

search for more free and legal music downloads at Largehearted Boy

also at Largehearted Boy:

other daily free and legal mp3 downloads
covers collections
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads

Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us

May 11, 2013

Shorties (Searching for Daisy Buchanan's House, How Music Blogging Has Evolved, and more)

WFPL reports that people in Louisville are searching for the inspiration behind Daisy Buchanan's house in The Great Gatsby.

Hypebot contributors explain how music blogging has changed over the years.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks to Weekend Edition about her new novel Americanah.

The Vancouver Sun profiles the Icelandic indie folk band Of Monsters and Men.

New York Times technology writer David Pogue revisits the e-book piracy debate.

Weekend Edition interviews guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen about his new memoir Relentless.

At Publishers Weekly, Jennifer Gilmore lists the 10 worst mothers in books.

The Chicago Tribune lists memorable mothers in literature.

All Things Considered interviews the music supervisor of the new Great Gatsby film adaptation about its soundtrack.

A Blog Supreme offers a "DIY guide to the history of women in jazz."

Flavorwire shares Merchandise with The Great Gatsby theme.

Follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, 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)

Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us

Daily Downloads (Josh Ritter, Low, 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:

The Deep Dark Woods: 2013-04-20, Zurich [mp3,ogg,flac]
The Deep Dark Woods: "Diamond Joe" [mp3]

Josh Ritter: 2013-04-20, St. Louis [mp3,ogg,flac]
Josh Ritter: "New Lover" [mp3]

Low: 2013-05-03, Stockholm [mp3,ogg,flac]
Low: "Amethyst" [mp3]

Meat Puppets: 1999-10-24, San Francisco [mp3,ogg,flac]
Meat Puppets: "Six Gallon Pie" [mp3]

Mike Cooley: 2012-11-29, Chicago [mp3,ogg,flac]
Mike Cooley: "Pulaski" [mp3]

Mission of Burma: 2008-01-19, Brooklyn [mp3,ogg,flac]
Mission of Burma: "Careening with Conviction" [mp3]

Smashing Pumpkins: 2000-04-21, Dayton [mp3,ogg,flac]
Smashing Pumpkins: "Rock On (David Essex cover)" [mp3]

Summer Hymns: 2006-09-26, Athens [mp3,ogg,flac]
Summer Hymns: "Bombay Brown India Ink" [mp3]

These United States: 2009-098-28, Brooklyn [mp3,ogg,flac]
These United States: "Slow Crows Over" [mp3]

Vic Chesnutt: 1999-06-05, Amsterdam [mp3,ogg,flac]
Vic Chesnutt: "Betty Lonely" [mp3]

Free and legal live performances at other websites:

Alo Brasil: Key Studio session [mp3,ogg,flac]

search for more free and legal music downloads at Largehearted Boy

also at Largehearted Boy:

other daily free and legal mp3 downloads
covers collections
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads

Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us

May 10, 2013

Book Notes - Joanna Hershon "A Dual Inheritance"

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, Aimee Bender, Myla Goldberg, Heidi Julavits, Hari Kunzru, and many others.

Joanna Hershon's A Dual Inheritance is a sweeping and impressive character-driven novel, one that follows a compelling and vividly drawn love triangle over decades and generations.

Booklist wrote of the book:

"Sharply observed and masterfully constructed, Hershon’s fourth novel is her strongest yet, a deft and assured examination of ambition, envy, longing, and kinship."

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 Joanna Hershon's Book Notes music playlist for her novel, A Dual Inheritance:

I don't write to music—I prefer the dead silence of The Brooklyn Writers Space—but music runs throughout my new novel, A Dual Inheritance. Because it's a multi-generational story, spanning about fifty years of the twentieth century, there's a tremendous aural arc. Sometimes music in the novel speaks to the changes happening in the popular culture, but--more often than not—the music that the characters relate to (or the music that reminds me of my characters) has little to do with the current culture. Music commands such nostalgic power, and my novel is, among other things, a exploration of nostalgia; though the characters often fight against its powerful - even brutal - force.

"Back on the Chain Gang"—The Pretenders

If this novel has a theme song, this is it. Chryssie Hynde's sensibility—dark yet melodic, kohl-rimmed eyes, British Punk (from Ohio but has lived for ages in London), tough but vulnerable—it's irresistible. One afternoon, in the early days of this project, I went running, and when I heard this song (a long-time favorite) through my headphones, I realized it captured the combination of longing and anger that I was working with. I jumped through plenty of hoops to attain the rights to use the following as the book's epigraph:

"I found a picture of you, oh,
What hijacked my world that night
To a place in the past
We've been cast out of, oh,
Now we're back in the fight."

"Body and Soul" - Billie Holiday

The first part of the story is set in 1962-63, mainly on the Harvard campus, and it tracks an unlikely friendship between Ed and Hugh. Hugh is a broken-hearted music lover and during the years of writing this book, I'd often imagine the songs that moved him. Can anyone ever really top Billie Holiday in terms of expressing raw desire?

"My Favorite Things" - John Coltrane

I can't help but think of how a cheerful song from an American musical being interpreted through Coltrane's brilliant jazz is a great example of American opening up and our culture changing from being one of set strictures to one of great questioning.

"Arabesque #1" - Debussy

Hugh's character begins as a melancholy romantic. As a student, he lies around a good deal - listening to music, smoking, brooding—but through the course of the novel he ends up taking action, much of which is pretty turbulent. Claude Debussy's compositions evidently reflected an individualistic life filled with torrid affairs and tragedy. His expansive, impressionistic sound seems a perfect fit for Hugh.

"The Tower" by Radionics

My husband Derek Buckner is a musician (in addition to his career as a painter) and because he's usually playing guitar and/or listening to music at home, whatever he's working on usually makes its way into my consciousness. His current music project (with drummer Jim Bracken) is called Radionics and their song, The Tower - with its bluesy hard-hitting sound - sticks in my head for weeks at a time whenever I hear it. I recently realized that the lyrics remind me of one of the main storylines of this novel. I love the image of building a tower as a physical expression of an emotional retreat. It also strikes me as very very male.

"Zombie" - Fela Kuti

Pan-Africanism plays a part in A Dual Inheritance. When Hugh and many educated idealistic Americans were heading to Africa with or without the Peace Corps, it was a heady time and the ideas of returning to traditional African values and self-reliance after colonial rule were intoxicating (though obviously nothing that followed was remotely simple and much corruption and violence ensued). Fela Kuti is one of the best-known African voices—beautiful, powerful and haunting.

"Beast of Burden"-The Rolling Stones

Such a sexy song. It also perfectly expresses the kind of contention that's present in the relationship between Ed and Jill, a character who comes into the story about mid-way through the novel and becomes Ed's wife. He thinks of her as out of his league, and his fierce attraction is laced with anger at her power.

"Riders on the Storm" - The Doors

The scene that ultimately brings Ed and Jill together is an awkward evening during which Jill's younger brother Mark surreptitiously vets Ed. Ed is completely outside of any cultural revolution (he's a player on Wall Street) and Mark is right inside of it. When he puts The Doors on the record player, Ed finds himself getting depressed and agitated. And while I love The Doors, and particularly this moody and fierce song, I had fun imagining Ed's take on their music.

"Summer, Highland Falls" - Billy Joel

Much of Billy Joel's oeuvre is cheesy but some of it is amazing. And I am, after all, originally from Long Island. New Jersey had Bruce and we had Billy. I just think this song is beautiful and dramatic and I also listened to it over and over after locking myself in my bedroom at age fourteen. There's also something about it that reminds me of Ed after he goes through a professional and personal crisis in the novel.

"Over the Hills and Far Away" - Led Zepplin

When Ed's daughter Rebecca (born and raised on Manhattan's Upper East Side) tells her friend that she's going to go to boarding school, he says, "I don't know what it is about boarding school, but I swear it's, like, relatively preppy arrival, followed by quick descent into patchouli cloud." Which is not exactly what happens to Rebecca, but there was a distinct hippie nostalgia happening—at least amidst a certain crowd--when I attended boarding school in the late 80's. In retrospect it seems a bit strange - even cautious--that most of the music we listened to was from more than a decade in the past, but it was undeniably great music and I still can't listen to Led Zeppelin without feeling like I'm sixteen and about to get into trouble.

"Scarlett Begonias" - The Grateful Dead

See hippie nostalgia. I was never a deadhead, though I liked them fine and went to a show or two. After the age of eighteen I began to see "The Dead" mostly as a joke—all those stupid dancing teddy bears, smiley face tattoos—and then recently I heard Scarlett Begonias on the radio and was unaccountably happy. It's all I wanted to listen to for the day. I forgot how much I loved some of those songs. (Nick Paumgarten recently wrote a fascinating piece in the New Yorker about the Grateful Dead and their recordings, which also rekindled my interest.) I enjoyed writing about the fringe hippie culture of boarding school and Rebecca's place in it. I rarely relate to books or films about boarding school, with the exception of Wes Anderson's Rushmore, which showed the genuine oddness of the experience as well as kids' creativity. Rushmore also had a great (nostalgic) soundtrack, come to think of it.

"Just Like Heaven" - The Cure

This glittery 80's pop masterpiece conjures the whirl of potential sex and love and everything intense that is either happening to you when you are a teenager or is maddeningly out of reach. Rebecca meets her best friend Vivi and the world—as it does when you meet the right friend—cracks open.

"Nocturne Op.9 No.2" - Chopin

When Rebecca invites Vivi to her father's apartment, he isn't home, and she tries to see the apartment through Vivi's eyes. When Vivi sits down at the piano and starts to play, Rebecca realizes it's the one piece her own mother plays on the piano, and because her mother no longer lives in the apartment, and because her friend is butchering the beautiful piece, it's a complicated moment, one heightened by the sorrowful beauty of Chopin.

"Pale Blue Eyes" - Velvet Underground

Oh the druggy seduction of the Velvet Underground. The sense that nothing could be more compelling than those pale blue eyes. There is a girl who is obsessed with another girl's father. There is a great deal of uncomfortable and complicated desire. His eyes are blue.

"Carolyn's Fingers" - Cocteau Twins

Who knows what they are saying? Who cares? The Cocteau Twins=Heavenly Sound. To me it's the sound of a humid summer in a small room with a fan deliciously whirring. But it could also be fall, coming in from the cold to someone good. The sound makes me think of interiors, and getting lost in a dream.

"Strange Boy" - Joni Mitchell

There is no better mistress of spiritual/erotic/jazzy mystery than the great Joni Mitchell. (Zadie Smith wrote a marvelously digressive piece "about" Joni in another recent issue of the New Yorker) This song is on the album Hejira, which Joni Mitchell evidently wrote out of a period of restless travel, and the music reflects this—there's Joni's moody guitar and Jaco Pastorius's fretless bass lending an exotic sound - but for me it is that image of a boy weaving his way through traffic on a yellow skateboard that keeps me coming back again and again. Her crystalline lyrics ground the restlessness and it's perfect.

"Pictures of You" - The Cure

Another nostalgic gem that says it all. Many of these songs are love songs, which are—of course - nostalgic songs. Is there a difference? If a song is a love song about the here and now, it's only a matter of time that it becomes a nostalgic song. We're always longing for that moment. The moment in this song.

"I'll See You in my Dreams" - Ella Fitzgerald, also by Django Rhinehart

I love these two recordings of this enchanting song. In the final chapters of A Dual Inheritance, there is a wedding reception on a lush green lawn and the band is singing this. Ed is almost seventy years old at this point, and his daughter Rebecca is almost forty. He hears the music to this standard from the 1920's and reflects that the singer is a young woman and the song is much older than Ed himself. I think that's what I love most about music. It's so outside any linear reality. It's even outside of nostalgia. It certainly lends fascinating context to know when a song was written or recorded, but when we close our eyes and listen, it doesn't matter. The sound is deeper and more intimate than anything we can possibly describe.

Joanna Hershon and A Dual Inheritance links:

the author's website

January Magazine review
Kirkus Reviews review

GQ interview with the author
The Great Books Summer Program interview with the author

also at Largehearted Boy:

Book Notes (2012 - ) (authors create music playlists for their book)
Book Notes (2005 - 2011) (authors create music playlists for their book)
my 11 favorite Book Notes playlist essays

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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Shorties (Claire Messud on Her New Novel, A New Galaxie 500 Oral History, and more)

Fresh Air interviews Claire Messud about her new novel The Woman Upstairs.

"As a reader since very early I have found myself drawn to rants," she tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "I was in my senior year of high school when I read Notes From Underground by Dostoyevksy and it was an exhilarating discovery. I hadn't known up until that moment that fiction could be like that. Fiction could say these things, could be unseemly, could be unsettling and distressing in that particular way, that immediate and urgent way. And in the many years since I have read and loved a number of ranting narrators, and it struck me eventually that they were all men and that I didn't know of a book in which a woman expressed her anger and I thought perhaps I should write one."

Temperature's Rising: Galaxie 500: An Oral and Visual History is a new book by Mike McGonical about the seminal indie band.

McGonical talks to CBS News about the book.

The New Yorker examines the state of English translation in Japan.

PopMatters excerpts from the new book Democracy of Sound: Music Piracy and the Remaking of American Copyright in the Twentieth Century.

The New Republic examines the publishing industry's recent celebrity imprint launches.

That the publishing world—buffeted by the forces of Amazon and apathy—has turned to celebrities for salvation is not surprising. Considering how much of a premium our society places on fame—independent of how that fame is achieved, regardless of whether it is deserving—it makes perfect sense that at HarperCollins someone said, "Hey, we should have that guy from Pirates of the Caribbean edit some books."

Drowned in Sound interviews singer-songwriter Frank Turner.

Is it even possible to separate politics and music.

I think it’s entirely up to individual artists and how they want to handle it. For me personally, I was kind of thinking along those lines before all of this kicked off. One thing that music can do is bring people together and be a uniting force. It’s a beautiful thing when you have a room full of people from all different walks of life who put aside their differences and leave their baggage at the door. For a moment you create something that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

Forbes examines what Microsoft's purchase of Barnes and Noble's Nook ebook reader and digital content business could mean for readers, writers, and publishers.

Stereogum lists the best Deerhunter songs.

Flavorwire lists 10 disappointing film adaptations of classic American novels.

Pitchfork is streaming Sam Amidon's new album, Bright Sunny South.

Robert Birnbaum recommends books about activism at the Virginia Quarterly Review.

Win Anthony Marra's debut novel and a $100 Threadless gift certificate in this week's Largehearted Boy contest.

Follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, 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)

Posted by david | permalink | post to del.icio.us

Daily Downloads (Torches, Lake Isle, 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:

The Anatomy of Frank: "Bill Murray" [mp3] from Pangaea (out July 16th)

German Error Message: "There's a Place" [mp3]

Graham MacRae: "Game Changer" [mp3] from Dundrearies (out May 21st)

Lake Isle: "Steel Rails" [mp3] from Winter Lights (out June 30th)

Last Good Tooth: "What's What I Do" [mp3] from Not Without Work and Rest (out May 28th)

Matt LeMay: free and legal Right Jacket Pocket/If And or When single [mp3]

Memoryy: "Electric City" [mp3] from Electric City (out June 4th)

Niku: "We Still Fight" [mp3] from Body Perspective

Torches: free and legal (name your price) If the People Stare EP [mp3]

Way Yes: "Macando" [mp3] from Tog Pebbles

Free and legal live performances at other websites:

Lucius: 2013-04-10, New York [mp3,ogg,flac]

search for more free and legal music downloads at Largehearted Boy

also at Largehearted Boy:

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100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads

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May 13, 2013

This Week's Interesting DVD Releases - May 14, 2013

May 13, 2013

Shorties (James Salter on the Diminishing Power of the Novel, Vampire Weekend Gets Pitchfork's Best Review of the Year So Far, and more)

Daily Downloads (Eisley, Cheyenne Mize, and more)

May 12, 2013

Largehearted Boy Weekly Wrap-Up - May 12th, 2013

Contest - Win Jennifer Gilmore's The Mothers and Monica Drake's The Stud Book and a $100 Threadless Gift Certificate

Shorties (James Salter Profiled, A Hip-Hop Tour of Brooklyn, and more)

Daily Downloads (13 Radiohead Covers and more)

May 11, 2013

Shorties (Searching for Daisy Buchanan's House, How Music Blogging Has Evolved, and more)

Daily Downloads (Josh Ritter, Low, and more)

May 10, 2013

Book Notes - Joanna Hershon "A Dual Inheritance"

Shorties (Claire Messud on Her New Novel, A New Galaxie 500 Oral History, and more)

Daily Downloads (Torches, Lake Isle, and more)

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