Just had my Amazon order of the new Creem anthology delivered to me at work. Don’t want to say too much about it yet (as I’ve owned it for all of 120 seconds–literally–and also because we have more full-fledged Creem content on the way in the weeks ahead), but… Holy Crap! This is NOT what I expected at all.

What I Expected: A pocket-size collection of various Creem reprints from the seventies.

What It Is: A mammoth, hardcover coffee table-size collection, incredibly and gorgeously designed, with reprints from across the entire history of the ‘zine, many (or maybe all) in their original format. All sorts of feature length stuff, all sorts of the random screwing-around that made Creem the greatest ‘zine ever. So many of my favourite writers are in it, too, of course.

Publishing event of the year–no question about it. Based on weight and design, at least. I’m in heaven right now.

Meant to mention this last week: On the website/blog Cover Stories, Mike Goldstein takes an album cover, and writes about it at length–extraordinary length–including (in some cases) Q&As with the photographers behind those covers. Not all the LPs covered thus far have been to my taste, but it’s a pretty cool idea for a site.

The link comes courtesty of the always invaluable Music Press Report, which also features an interview with Goldstein about this particular venture.

I’ve been ordering some new music books lately, incl. the new Creem anthology (about which, more later), but the one I’m really anxious to read right now is this:

Re-make/Re-model: Art, Pop, Fashion and the Making of Roxy Music, 1953-1972 (Michael Bracewell)

Reviewed recently in:

• The Independent
• The Guardian
• The Telegraph
• The Observer

I’ve had real difficulties getting into the other book I own by Bracewell (England is Mine), so I may be setting myself up for disappointment here. Still, I’m intrigued by the fact that his Roxy book ends, rather than begins, in 1972. (And it surely can’t be worse than any of the other Roxy books I’ve attempted to read.)

pet peeves when it comes to music journalism? This includes reviews, narratives & interview formats. Swing away!

Stylus Magazine, Respected Online Music Publication, Will Fold After Halloween (New York Observer)

This is really unfortunate news. As a reader, I’ve long felt a particular kinship with Stylus. I can’t think of a single other online or newsstand music publication in the last 10 years–I mean an actual publication, not a blog or chat room–that has catered to my own sensibility so well. Not just in the breadth of the music coverage (and no other ‘zine that I’m aware of has anything like the genuine feel for pop music that Stylus has), but in the way they present their material, in their willingness to exclaim for the old as well as for the new, to explore corners of the pop universe otherwise uncharted (i.e., features on album covers, downloading, the art of mastering, etc.). Stylus doesn’t always hit the bulls eye, of course, but even at its most esoteric, it never strikes me as its own little scene–rather, it seems like a wide open space where music writers can try out all sorts of ideas, where offbeat features are encouraged, where there is no real attempt at forcing on the reader a singular “voice” or attitude.

As a sometime writer for Stylus (only on a very few occasions, mind you), I can attest that working for Todd Burns, Stylus’s Ed-in-chief (and William B. Swygart, who handled the what-is-sure-to-be-missed Jukebox) was a genuine pleasure. Todd was one of the most receptive editors I’ve ever pitched to, and his receptiveness to people’s pitches and ideas has obviously shone through in the ‘zine itself, at least at its very best. I hope both Todd and William go on to bigger and better things (and btw, guys: my e-mail hasn’t changed!).

I look forward to seeing Stylus’s “Greatest Hits-style retrospective” in the week ahead, but otherwise… damn, that’s sad.

at an interview or while reviewing a show? This includes en route and return.

Extra points if you work in an abandoned warehouse building. Put your witch/warlock hats on and share.

Luc Sante on “Speakeasy with Dorian talking about his work from 1990-2005, and his new collection of pieces from that time, Kill All Your Darlings.

[Further reading: Sante's great 1998 piece in the Voice on Nuggets: "Every time I hear the voice of Sky Saxon, of the Seeds, for example, I feel like I'm 11 and about to get beat up, so closely do his adenoids resemble those of Johnny K. and Jimmy H. from down the block."]

inadvertently insulted an interviewee or had an otherwise very awkward moment during an interview? C’mon, make them blind items, if you must. It’ll be fun.

Former San Diego CityBeat music editor, Troy Johnson, addresses what many of us are thinking in this short, sweet interview with Culture Lust. He also defends his choice to jump to a “glossy” Riviera. Eat #34 Hi Brite, defector. There’s mention of a book drop, too (”Family Outing,” set for June, 2008).

Troy_Johnson_on_CityBeat_and_How_to_Avoid_Becoming_an_Aging_Rock_Critic

On the eve of Todd Haynes’s Dylan flick, come a couple great new pieces worth highlighting:

• The Ten Most Incomprehensible Bob Dylan Interviews of All Time (New York magazine)… Note: If you press play on all the YouTube clips at the same time, Bob actually starts to make a little more sense (not to mention that it sounds like a lost demo from the White Light White Heat recording sessions).

• Mystic Nights: The Making of Blonde on Blonde in Nashville. By Sean Wilentz in Oxford American.