I haven’t listened to the new album, but my colleague Tito Perez has, finding it “disappointing listening on the first pass.” Now I’m even more curious and will give it a few listens over the weekend.
Also of note: The Hold Steady Guide to the Twin Cities.
Powell’s Jill Owens talks with Richard Powers.
Christopher Hitchens on Izzy Stone: “Even the slightest piece written by Izzy was composed with a decent respect for the King’s English and usually contained at least one apt allusion to the literature and poetry and history that undergirded it: an allusion that he would expect his readers to recognize. Who now dares to do that? Who would now dare to say, as he did as an excited eyewitness, that there was still something ‘saccharine’ about Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ oration? The rule of saccharine rhetoric and bland prose is now near absolute, and one could almost envy Izzy the sad deafness and myopia that allowed him to tune out the constant bawling from electronic media.”
New Scientist: “The map may give scientists a better clue as to where the Milky Way may be heading.”
Reuters: “The Swedish Academy announces the winner of the world’s top literary prize, founded by dynamite millionaire Alfred Nobel, along with four other awards, on a Thursday in October. It refuses to say which until days beforehand, but this year’s announcement is expected to fall on October 12 or 19.”