WHO THE F*@% IS FRANK ZAPPA?

Don't eat the yellow snow, but by all means support this Kickstarter. Brought to my attention by Kat Dennings, this is an absolute no-brainer for music history fans;  a cause we can all get behind. Click here.

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF ARTISTS

Jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter just dropped some serious truth if you are a creatively inclined person (or want to be). This is a great read that elevates above simple platitudes and hollow advice. Click here.

CAMERA OBSCURA AUCTIONS BELOVED ITEMS FOR SARCOMA UK CHARITY

Camera Obscura, one of my all-time favorite bands, suffered some terrible heartache late last year when their bandmate Carey Lander passed from a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer. Before she passed, she set up a fundraising campaign to help future victims of the affliction and got to see it reach and exceed her initial goal. With a level of support and hope seldom seen these days, the band publicly has handled the ordeal with immense class, and continues to find ways to make sure Carey's passing was not for nothing. 

Just today, the band began auctioning off prized band artifacts that would be of great interest to super-fans like myself. 100% of the profits go to Carey's charity, and you can own some of their guitars, rare recordings and even clothing. Click here to see the active bidding. And even if you can only manage a dollar or two, you can send it here. 

Whether it's someone we're close to, or someone we only know through music, this kind of forward-thinking effort is an excellent antidote to the helplessness that follows loss.

YOU'RE PROBABLY LISTENING TO SPOTIFY WRONG...

Ok, I wouldn't say I listen to it wrong, because I'm a music nerd like that. Still, WIRED has some excellent suggestions if you're a regular user. Click here.

And then there's this: Forgotify

I GOT TWO WORDS FOR THAT: "LEARN TO F@#*ING TYPE"

The mighty Cory Doctorow over at Boing Boing offers some interesting insight to a troubling document by Saru Jayaraman of UC Berkley about the pratfalls and fallacies of tipping. As someone who once relied heavily on tips, and regularly engages in tipping at my local breweries, this is some heavy food for thought. 

   

 (It crossed my mind it has been too long since I've seen this movie...look how young everyone looks! Buscemi...Madsen...where does the time go?)

UNDERWORLD ON TELEKOM ELECTRONIC BEATS RADIO

March is shaping up to be an epic month for anticipated releases, and at the top of my list is the return of dance music godfathers Underworld and their first long player in six years entitled Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future (Caroline). Here the always-interesting Karl Hyde joins the Electronic Beats Radio podcast for an excellent look behind the curtain of how it all came together. Among the topics: how he and bandmate Rick Smith source new sounds, beatnik influences and David Bowie. A great hour that will whet your appetite. Great job, EBR!

RESPECT: FROM DECO TO ATOM

I'm a card carrying member of the mid-century modern craze, to the continual puzzlement of older family members who labored for years simply to be able to rid their homes of such epherma. And with Mad Men gone, I've needed some new methadone for my addiction and was delighted to stumble upon FROM DECO TO ATOM; colorful, beautiful and endlessly satisfying if you're even a minor fan of this niche. Highly recommended.

ETSY ECSTASY: ANDRE WOOLERY

New York artist Andre Woolery has a knack for a visually stunning portrait (check out, in particular, the Erykah Badu and Muhammad Ali in his shop). But perhaps his most pointed (pun intended) and stunning work his recreation of Jay Z ("The Tackover") entirely out of thumb tacks. If you can't afford the original, he also offers some sharp photo prints of the work. And a good cause to boot: 20% of proceeds go to Harlem School of Arts.

REVIEW: LEON BRIDGES 'COMING HOME' (Columbia)

I admit I fell for it. The retro packaging, old-school typography, the classic outfit...I thought somebody had gotten to work reissuing some classic 60's R&B star that we had never heard of. I was immediately interested, and nothing after dropping the needle suggested otherwise.

It wasn't until I Googled our new friend Leon Bridges that I realized he's very much a current artist, an artist carrying a Motown-lit torch and making the kind of records that simply are not made anymore. Recently the title tune justifiably lit up Spotify with a "Most Viral Track".

He's simply fantastic. Smooth like glass, this album is like a treasure of lost Sam Cooke songs. There's nary a bad song in the bunch, and I can't stop listening it. His ace backing band, complete with sax, doo-wop singers and boogie piano envelope with an unheard-of authenticity that you would otherwise need a time machine to replicate.  Haters will cry that he's peddling the wares of a bygone generation, but I'll argue he's peddling the best ones, and in here 2016 he has made a peerless album.