If yoire reading Patti Smith’s new memoir, BREAD OF ANGELS, & want to learn more about her life may I recommmend WHY PATTI SMITH MATTERS, currently on sale (as all all UTP books!) for 40% off with the code UTXGIFTS utpress.utexas.edu/9781477320112/

a bucketful of pure 1986 w/ this set (even the Kansas is very '1986' Kansas)

Since 2022, Horsegirl, Lifeguard, and Friko have gone global—but what happened with the teen scene they grew out of? I talked to 18 different people about the Hallogallo scene now chicagoreader.com/music/music-...

Eagerly awaiting tomorrow's new Mavis Staples album, playing the remarkably good new album from Dion, and feeling grateful that there are still folks whose careers started in the 1950s who are making great and vital records all the way over here in 2025.

about 10 of these new tracks are "Peter Criss drum solo"

ah man, RIP--a wonderful drummer, akin to Pete Thomas of the Attractions. dynamic (the patterns of "Pulling Mussels from a Shell"), hooky (the intro of "Up the Junction" alone), just suited the songs perfectly.

40 years old now. The first 'box set' that my family owned & my intro, at 13 or so, to Dylan. One thing about it was just how *well-sequenced* it was, esp the LP sides: my mind still hears these some of these songs in "Biograph order" (like that amazing live '75 Isis-Caribbean Wind-Up to Me stretch)

Eno diary, 6 Nov 95: "Dull day at work, not getting into anything properly. I should be finishing Anton’s thing but I can’t get round to it. Mounted one of the pyramid groups on the wall, where it looks less good than on the floor. I did a tedious piece on Koan & another tedious piece on sequencer."

5th, November 1977 The sex Pistols album 'Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols' reviewed by Jon Savage. "As rock 'n' roll, can't be faulted." @sexpistolsofficial.bsky.social @glenmatlock.bsky.social @jonsavage.bsky.social

"I want it to sound like a big band of Hell's Angels on acid" Bowie, describing his ambition for "Black Tie White Noise" to Nile Rodgers, late 1991.

James Talley's "Got No Bread, No Milk, No Money..." is an all-timer for me. A superb @natalieweiner.bsky.social interview w/ Talley on its half-century mark ("I'm still writing..I still got the calluses on my fingers...I love playing my songs for people"): www.dontrocktheinbox.com/james-talley...

Happy (belated) birthday to the ever-wonderful @nicholaspegg.bsky.social seen here in his hardest-working-man-in-showbusiness-mode hosting a Bowie quiz in London last year. Cheers to you!

AI stuff is obviously very big, but IMO grossly overstating the economic impacts is doing the industry's work for them. They want people to think "it's totally unregulated AI or no economy, pick one" knowing they'll pick economy, and pushing misleading data helps them create that narrative

"I have always thought that the world was unkind Cheese and onions Do I have to spell it out?" www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePaH...

Eno diary, 4 Nov 1995: "Bono in an interview: ‘A lot of English bands went to art school. We went to Brian.’ Flattering to think of myself as a sort of one-man version of the art-school experience."

I think they pulled it off

Farewell, Joseph Byrd.

Diane Ladd, RIP Here she is on the set of Inland Empire with her daughter, Laura Dern, talking about how many great directors she's worked with in her career. Lynch's return volley is of course wonderful as well. We lost them both this year. Legends!

goodbye, Diane Ladd: www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

"it's only 2 PM?!? how is that possible?" ah, the first workday after Standard Time returns

Bye, Claudius. I'm happy to present my review of the final episode of I, Claudius, a show that is as good as television can be, and is more vital to understanding our world now than when it debuted half a century ago.

RIP Lô Borges, read @andybeta.bsky.social: pitchfork.com/reviews/albu...

RIP Donna

So long, Donna Jean ... 😭

50 years ago today: Bowie tapes his appearance on "Soul Train." He's visibly rattled up and barely able to lip-sync---to the point where Don Cornelius, after a few blown takes, told him to get his act together: vimeo.com/172115011

The new episode of A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs is now up! Racial slurs! Tolkien! West Coast jazz! Dancing pigs! Lawsuits! So many lawsuits! It can only be the story of Creedence Clearwater Revival and "Proud Mary".

Eno diary, 2 Nov 1995: "Bowie talked about how he was looking forward to the London shows. Still full of the enthusiasm & energy of his teens! Unfortunately, I suspect the shows may be met with the full sourness of people in their early 30s: ‘What right does he have to enjoy himself at our expense?’

Song for the early dark ("how can there be another day?"): youtu.be/UJf_zoIWnDA?...

Admittedly it would have been funny if the benches cleared during a manager interview.

Hey it's game 7 in the World Series, and that's a good thing

The Free Jazz Blog has posted a roundtable discussion of the Anthony Braxton QUARTET (ENGLAND) 1985 set that you really should read. I'm so honored to have helped put this music out into the world and really hope it shows up on people's year-end lists. www.freejazzblog.org/2025/10/anth...

In addition to his work on Star Trek, Ralph Senesky directed hundreds of other episodes including The Fugitive, The Wild Wild West, Mission Impossible, The Twilight Zone, Naked City, Mannix, The Partridge Family, Night Gallery, Planet of the Apes, James at 15 & so many more. What a career. RIP sir.

Works as Halloween music. First side still hits hard

Happy halloween!

“#SST was not a label you could pigeonhole. They had #Minutemen, they had #SaccharineTrust, they had #MeatPuppets. None of the bands on SST sounded like Black Flag, except for #BlackFlag.” Plans That They Made: #HüskerDü Interviewed buff.ly/k3f6SEV

"Privilege"---a wonderfully bizarre film--- is almost certainly an influence on "Tommy," "Ziggy Stardust" & various other "popstar messiah" works

"I like classical composers. I've always listened to the impressionists for guitar lines. Debussy wrote incredible guitar lines, though he didn't know it." Richard Thompson, to the NME, 1979

The triumphant return of Last War in Albion, featuring the somewhat less triumphant Image Comics work of Alan Moore. www.eruditorumpress.com/blog/chapter...

an excellent interview for a book that I'm reading now, & enjoying so much. "it’s a cautionary tale of how not to run a band, you know?..Ric had been through all this stuff, so he was like, “It’s gonna be this way.'"..I think Ric almost regrets it not being Ric Ocasek and The Cars."

Bob Dylan: “Did you like that one?” John Hammond: “Sure, it’s alright. Who wrote that?” Bob: “I don’t know. I don’t know who wrote that.” John: “Has it been recorded?” Bob: “Not that way.” John: “How has it been recorded?” Bob: “A different way I guess.” www.flaggingdown.com/p/a-track-by...

turning 50, 40, 30 & 20 in November, respectively

Honored and elated to have won a 2025 ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award for “Extinctophonics: The Game Of Jim” in Maggot Brain #18. Hugest gratitude to @mikemcgonigal.bsky.social and Mairead Case for giving it a home. MB remains analog-only, but you can read the piece here:

Iggy, Bowie, Lou: new product for '79 (NME, 5 May 1979)

Compleat Beatles, dated as it is, remains important as it's the one non-"house approved" Beatles documentary that got to use all the music & images etc. Plus Malcolm McDowell's narration was never bettered. & it does the job in 2 hours!

Eno diary, 30 Oct 1995: Eno mixes the remake of "Man Who Sold the World," says yet again that Outside could've used more "clarity"

Happy 50th to the GOAT of #tabloidheds

For context, that means "Bohemian Rhapsody" is as old now as this track was when "Bohemian Rhapsody" came out

This really is pretty crazy. Five years ago this week there were 16 rap songs in the Hot 100's top 40 — and by 12 different lead artists. Now it's a big ol' zero. www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip...

a good night to see a show in Aylesbury (Friars Club flyer, 30 June 1979)