MUSIC
Bas As Me by Tom Waits
On the cover of this most rare of releases — the 13-track Bad As Me by Tom Waits — the grizzled man is smiling. That means that this is a collection of happy music from a man who used to regale us with tales of backwoods homicide and down-and-out lives in Minneapolis. But his voice still sounds like a bottle of well whiskey … if those could talk. That’s the appeal of Waits, a genre-transcending artist who’s been an under-appreciated hero for as long as he’s been in music. This album won’t change that, but for fans, hearing his voice again is like visiting an old friend in the county jail.
WEB
Storify
The Inlander staff recently got Twitter accounts. It hasn’t been going well: Our Arts and Culture editor is already banned (apparently Twitter is offended by cute dog pictures and metal videos?). But a new website called Storify takes Twitter’s 140 characters to a new level. Like a social-media octopus, it allows you to take information from social-media websites and put it all together in one story. Want to only see pictures of cute dogs? Done. How about tweets about hair metal? Yep. You can then embed the story on your blog or, yes, link to it on your Twitter.
BOOK
Damned by Chuck Palahniuk
Legend has it that Chuck Palahniuk once wrote a short story so gory that, when it was read in public, listeners wretched and fled the room. His latest, Damned, is a book about hell. Will it make readers breathe hellfire? Puke magma? A combination of the Wizard of Oz and The Breakfast Club, this latest from the man behind Fight Club and a host of other treasures promises the same sort of twisted, creative perspective on life that has made him famous.
