Limosaurus.

The track listing for the new Sufjan Stevens Illinois-themed album is awesome. So awesome that it makes one wonder if it’s not a belated April Fool’s gag — they all have the same tone as his Michigan album, but each about three steps further. Among the songs: “A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But for Very Good Reasons”; “Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt From My Sandals As I Run”; and “To the Workers of the Rockford River Valley Region, I Have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament, and It Involves Shoe String, a Lavender Garland, and Twelve Strong Women.” And, perhaps best of all: “Come on! Feel the Illinoise! Part I: The World’s Columbian Exposition; Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream.”

Paul Shirley — 12th man on the Phoenix Suns — has an entertaining blog about his life as an NBA benchwarmer. “At any rate, everyone was relatively happy in the locker room after the game. We had put together a solid road trip and were excited to go home. (I really felt like I had a stellar set of games. Minutes: 0, total points: 0, field goal percentage: Undefined. Bravo.)” And: “I would, if there were such an option, fill in ‘Professional Basketball Player’ on my insurance forms (as it is, I usually have to go with either ‘Self-Employed’ or ‘Other,’ which must raise eyebrows somewhere in the back room: ‘This guy must be either a drug-dealer or in the CIA.’)”

Make your plans now for the fifth-annual Texas Bigfoot Conference this October. Hang out with Rick Noll, who is more than just another pretty mullet: he’s “been researching the sasquatch phenomenon since 1969” and has “has worked with all of the major sasquatch researchers.” Best line in his bio: “[He has] connected with many highly noted anthropologists such as Dr. George Schaller and Dr. Jane Goodall.” Connected with. Which no doubt means “has sent an email to.”

33.33, a blog about the 33 1/3 series of short books, each of which is dedicated to one life-changing album in the writer’s life. (Titles include Franklin Bruno on Elvis Costello’s “Armed Forces,” Warren Zanes on Dusty Springfield’s “Dusty in Memphis,” Colin Meloy on the Replacements’ “Let It Be,” and Joe Pernice on The Smiths’ “Meat is Murder.”) Currently on the site: DJ Shadow talking about his first turntable and his pushback against overintellectualizing music:

“Turntablism is the description of scratching that’s supposed to make people who don’t listen to hip-hop, sit up and go ‘Hmm, maybe it is real music.’ Scratching, to me, is just what it is. Turntablism has this virtuosic aspect to it, and to me, that’s when things start to turn jazzy. And I’m not a huge fan of when things turn jazzy. Because when I think of jazzy, I think of Wynton Marsalis. He came to speak at my African-American Studies class at U.C. Davis when I was a freshman. I remember him just standing up there, and just dissing rap for 20 minutes straight, and just loving the response he was getting from the lily-white audience. As if they were so thrilled that finally a black guy was speaking out against rap. I remember just sitting there thinking, Oh this sucks. I was venting about it afterward in class. Ever since then I’ve had this thing against people who over-intellectualize everything and make it an in-crowd-only thing. So, any time anything starts getting jazzy – and you are going to have to say it [whispers] ‘jazzy’ – I run in the other direction because ‘jazzy’ to me isn’t where it’s at.”

(One more reason to love DJ Shadow.)

08 April 2005

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