Haven’t done a roundup-y sort of thing in… well, forever far as I know. A random bunch of things (via Twitter, mainly) to kick off your weekend house parties:

• New York Times podcast featuring Nik Cohn and Ben Ratliff discussing (the newly remastered) The White Album.

• Decade-end listmaking is well underway: Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, etc.

• Info from Sasha Frere-Jones about an upcoming compilation of Ellen Willis’s rock writing.

• Info from Robert Hilburn about his just-released compendium of reviews, etc.

• 800 + pages of Manny Farber, also now available in good stores everywhere (except, apparently, Toronto). Early review here by Ken Tucker.

• Page flip through this Amazon link to get to the Table of Contents for the newest in the Da Capo Best Music Writing series. Guest Edited by Greil Marcus (w/Series Editor, Daphne Carr).

• Hours of critical fun here: Can you name the winners of the Pazz and Jop Critics Polls?

• Chris de Burgh hates our kind. (And to think of all the times I endured “Lady in Red” at weddings on his behalf. You think I’m kidding…)