Yikes. Over 2 weeks from the last time I threw something in the ring here. You can call it general laziness or a lack of time, but I'll call it a writer's block. I've been listening to plenty o' good music, believe you me, but my ability to express it all has hit a bit of a dead spot. Perhaps you should check out the following two entries I found on James "The Hound" Marshall's excellent site, The Houndblog, a wealth of information which has probably been the biggest influence on my musical tastes and areas of audio obsession which have taken hold over me the last six months. Jim's blog gives you the facts, never condescending in its approach (despite the fact that I'm willing to bet that his site is a steep learning curve for all but the obsessed), it gives you the necessary facts straight-up about many artists from the 1940s-'70s you don't often read about in most rock-oriented blogs (everything from Johnny Ray to Sister Rosetta Tharpe), and this is all done usually tinted w/ a supremely black and frequently hilarious sense of humour. The first is Jim writing about his longtime friendship w/ the now-deceased guitar God, Robert Quine, detailing Quine's sad demise following the death of his wife. Quine always came across like a cool guy, and this great piece of writing does nothing to dispel this assumption, though the destructive levels of his drug abuse (something I was totally unaware of) is more than a little depressing. Second up is Marshall's write-up on the career of the perennial "fifth 'Stone", Bill Wyman. The portrait's far from flattering, but if you believe what you've just read - and there's no reason not to - then Wyman doesn't have a hell of a lot going for him: his homely looks and poor song-writing would always make him a background man. It's funny as hell and highly recommended.