Last night was my second Elvis Costello show, a little more than 17 years after my first one. This year he's been touring with the Spinning Songbook, a huge wheel full of song titles. With the help of a lovely assistant, he brought audience members to the stage to spin the wheel and stay up there for a couple of songs. The lucky audience members ( Read more... )

"Walk On," Aung San Suu Kyi!

Burma has released political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. U2 wrote the song "Walk On" in her honour and this performance is from a couple of months ago in Moscow. It seems a fitting time to post it.

Click to view

Today I found this on Twitter and I'm telling everyone who I think might be interested. Tamara Cimmerian, singer for a band called KatZen, has fibromyalgia and the band has released a 3-song EP called Overcome. One-third of the proceeds will go to the National Fibromyalgia Association. It's only $2.97, available at iTunes, Amazon, and other online ( Read more... )

Happy International Left-Handers Day!

Too bad I don't have an appropriate icon to use with this post. Instead, I shall use Dumbly-dorrr in all his badassitude, because we sinistrals are indeed badasses.

I grew up on the news with Walter Cronkite, as I'm sure many of you did as well. Even though he was 92 and had been ill, that doesn't make the news any less sad. May he rest in peace.

It shocked me to hear that Michael Jackson had died when I read it a few hours ago -- I thought it was just some Twitter joke. Say what you will about what became of Michael Jackson in later years, but he was truly something extraordinary during his prime. Apart from his incredible dancing and his many hits, let's not forget that he's the one who ( Read more... )

Star Trek was everything I had hoped it would be and more. Every role was perfectly cast, especially Spock. There were moments that made me cry followed immediately by comic relief, giving me the impression that the writers were flipping the switch on my emotions in a way I didn't mind at all ( Read more... )

This is a poem by the great Langston Hughes, who would be proud today.

I, Too, Sing America
by Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then ( Read more... )

This is the cover art for U2's forthcoming album, No Line on the Horizon. It could just as easily have been a Joy Division album cover. I love its stark simplicity. Given how their previous album art has matched every album's sound (in my opinion), this really suggests things about the album's sound... things that I like. :)

( Click here to see. )

David Bowie is 62 years old today. Happy birthday to Bowie!