Some news on other and sundry projects:

First off, Da Capo Press’ “Best Music Writing 2008” is out soon (I just got my copy.)It includes my essay on contemporary R&B from the Chicago Reader (reprinted in a slightly altered version here The book is edited by Nelson George. The rest of the table of contents is below:

* CARL WILSON * The Trouble With Indie Rock: It’s Not Just Race, It’s Class * Slate
* BILL WASIK * Annuals * Oxford American
* CLIVE THOMPSON * Sex, Drugs and Updating Your Blog * The New York Times
* JEFF WEISS * Soulja Boy: Cranking the Chain * LA Weekly
* DANYEL SMITH * Keyshia Cole: Hell’s Angel * Vibe
* NOAH BERLATSKY * Underrated Overground * Chicago Reader
* SOLVEJ SCHOU * First Person: Auditioning for this Season’s ‘American Idol’ * Associated Press
* BEN SISARIO * Wizards in the Studio, Anonymous on the Street * The New York Times
* BRANDON PERKINS * Wu-Tang: Widdling Down Infinity: Can a Bunch of old, dirty bastards save hip-hop for a third time or will the math just collapse upon itself? * URB
* JONATHAN CUNNINGHAM * Freaks Come Out at Night: Grandmaster Dee Cuts a Wide Swath on the Comeback Trail * Broward-Palm Beach New Times
* NADIA PFLAUM * Pay 2 Play: Hip-hop Hustlers are making Off with Kansas City Rappers’ Hard-Earned Cash * The Kansas City Pitch
* ANN POWERS * It’s Time to Kick this Addiction * Los Angeles Times
* NIKE D’ANDREA * Bad Habits: NunZilla’s Punk-rock Catechism Will Leave you Praying for More * Phoenix New Times
* J. BENNETT * Dimmu Borgir * Decibel Magazine
* ERIC PAPE * “We Sing Everything. We have Nothing Else” * Spin
* ANDY TENNILLE * Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings * Harp
* MARKE B * Gayest. Music. Ever.: The Death of Circuit, Energy 92.7, and the New Queer Dance Floor Diaspora * San Francisco Bay Guardian
* PHIL SUTCLIFFE * Pete Seeger * MOJO
* JEFF SHARLET * The People’s Singer: the Embattled Lee Hays * Oxford American
* LARRY BLUMENFELD * Band on the Run in New Orleans * Salon
* DAVID KAMP * Sly Stone’s Higher Power * Vanity Fair
* MATT ROGERS * Beast from the East: Mandrill’s Musical brew is Equal Parts Brooklyn and Motherland * Wax Poetics
* OLIVER WANG * Boogaloo Nights * The Nation
* SAM KASHNER * Fever Pitch: When Travolta Did Disco; the Making of Saturday Night Fever * Movies Rock
* SEAN NELSON * Dead Man Talking: “Kurt Cobain: About a Son” * The Stranger
* JODY ROSEN * A Pirate Looks at Sixty: Jimmy Buffett’s Mid-Life Crises * Slate
* ALAN LIGHT * The Notorious BIG * Blender
* ALEX ROSS * Apparition in the Woods * The New Yorker
* GARY GIDDINS * Back to Bossa: Rosa Passos and Fifty Years of Bossa Nova. * The New Yorker
* DAVID MARGOLICK * The Day Louis Armstrong Made Noise * The New York Times
* CRAVEN ROCK * On Lynyrd Skynyrd and the White Trash Thing * Around the Bend * Ten Years * Eaves of Ass #6
* TOM EWING * The History Book on the Shelf: ABBA * Pitchfork Media

Second, Comixology (where I have a new column) is sponsoring the Harvey Awards at the Baltimore Comic Con this year. They’re giving away a pair of tickets to the Con and to the Awards (including cocktail hour and dinner). The winner will bring a friend with them to sit with the comiXology guys including Tucker Stone and the comixology iPhone developer at the Awards dinner. The giveaway page is This entry was posted in Blog by Noah Berlatsky. Bookmark the permalink.