I heard a piece on Radio4 about David Byrne's new project - playing a building in Battery Park, New York, prior to its demolition.

I found this on Youtube:

It's 10 minutes long, but the playing of the building is only the first 5 minutes.

The new issue arrived and can I congratulate you on the brave decision to put John Martyn on the cover.
I love most of John's music and think every home of discernment and taste should have a copy of Solid Air, if not One World and Live at Leeds as well. But he's hardly the best known singer in the land and I guess his popularity is somewhat lower than it was 15 or 20 years ago. So will the average music magazine browser scanning the shelves in Smiths or Menzies exclaim "Aha, the article on John Martyn I've been waiting years to read" or just pass it by. I hope it's the former and you don't end up with record numbers of unsold issues returned for pulping.
I've also got to say I'd rather see John's grizzled visage than Tiny Whiny Tommy's "serious moody artist" look.

There was an article in Saturday's Guardian Weekend where Felicia Pearson (Snoop) and Jamie Hector (Marlo)talked about the series and life outside it.

It's available at the Guardian website:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/24/the.wire.season.five

with the bonus of an audio extract from the interview.

Season 5 starts in July on FX.

Vulpes Vulpes mentions Sir John in another thread. Is anyone else here a fan of Betjeman's Banana Blush album or any of his other albums of poems set to Jim Parker's music? i love it. Indoor Games At Newbury and The Arrest Of Oscar Wilde At The Cadogan Hotel being a couple of particular favourites from that album.

The Word Worst Mistakes chart in the current issue got me thinking of things written in reviews that were just plain wrong. Things that a bit of close listening might have avoided.
A couple of things have stuck with me over the years. In a review of John Cale's album Slow Dazzle (in Sounds I think) the reviewer stated that opening track Mr Wilson was about our then Prime Minister, Harold W. When I got the album I recall trying to work out how the lyrics related to the PM. How was "And you know it's true Wales is not like California in any way and when I listen to your music you're still thousands of mile away" associated with Downing Street? The final line being "California wine is fine" repeated a number of times. How did that relate to the Huddersfield born Pipe Smoker Of The Year? After a few listens it clicked that this song was of course not about Harold, but was about Beach Boy Brian. A very bad mistake for a music journalist, especially with the Beach Boy harmonies in the background.
I also remember an article in some magazine about drug references in song. The author asserted that The Byrds' song Chestnut Mare was a paean to brown heroin, on the basis that horse was slang for heroin. I believe the same reasoning did see the then South African government slapping a very unlikely ban on Crazy Horses by The Osmonds. For my part I cannot link the lyric "Always alone, never with the herd, prettiest mare I've ever seen, you'll have to take my word" with images of street corner drug dealing. Or "I was up on the stony ridge, chasing after this chestnut mare, been chasing her for weeks" in a drug song would suggest that it was very difficult to get hold of, so why would you bother? While The Byrds had undoubtedly taken a few drugs in their time, Roger McGuinn was by this time immersed in his religious cult and had eschewed drugs.
Anyone else with memories, or current examples, of sloppy journalism, be it related to music, films, books or whatever?

So Madonna has made her debut as a film director. No surprises to hear the consensus is that it is a turkey. Possibly to pre-empt any claims that the film, titled Filth and Wisdom, is a box office flop it may be an internet release only.
Madge claims that "Filth and Wisdom is the ultimate duality". I guess I'm too conventional. For me the dualities surely are: filth and cleanliness; stupidity and wisdom.
Would a film called "Cleanliness and Stupidity" ever sell?

I'm listening to Bob Harris Country and he's just played Poco's Rose Of Cimarron. Poco aren't (weren't) a bad band at all. I've got a couple of albums, but this one song towers above everything else they've ever done. It is truly a GREAT song, which Bob confirmed when he spoke about the number of requests he constantly gets for it.
So what other bands have one superlative song that humbles the rest of their catalogue? I'm not talking about One Hit Wonders here, but bands who have an otherwise respectable catalogue with that one song that many people might consider as a Desert Island Disc.