Did you read this NYT piece when it came out last month? I’m surprised I’m still thinking about it these weeks later.

It’s a year-end retrospective on how bad big-label rock was in 2011, and it’s just awful. Not because it’s wrong — of course it’s too bad that Sublime with Rome is filling the airwaves with Sublime-lite filler, and of course it would likely be difficult to listen to the new Nickelback album from start to finish. But who with a vested interest in music in 2012 would have the bad sense to check in with Nickelback to see how they’re getting along?

The author cites “bands well past their sell-by date” like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Limp Bizkit, R.E.M., and Sum 41, as further evidence of the decline, forgetting that expired bands have been with us forever, and we have been ignoring them for just as long.

As Dan from Brussels puts it, “This year gave us terrific records from Wilco, the Decemberists, Radiohead, Adele, Bon Iver, M83, Cee-Lo, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z & Kanye among many, many others — and you’re sitting here bemoaning the fact that Nickelback and friends are making boring music? Please.”

“Yes, the center is rotting,” Elizabeth from Illinois says. “But the fringes are increasingly important in the world of rock music. In a world of globalization, the internet, and the arguable decline of major labels, is it wise to dismiss alternative and indie music as the fringe? In my eyes, ‘fringe’ artists ARE the new center.” Should Elizabeth really have to say this as if the year is 1999?

One of the easiest things a struggling newspaper (every newspaper) can do is hire good critics who are paying close attention to culture. Not radio culture — actual culture. They will do it for cheap or for free, just for the cred. The Times is better than this.

Mud Luscious Press is no stranger to the seductive art of the bundle.

$40 gets you the 2012 subscription bundle: Gregory Sherl’s The Oregon Trail is the Oregon Trail, Matt Bell’s Cataclysm Baby, Ken Sparling’s Dad Says He Saw You at the Mall, & Robert Kloss’s The Alligators of Abraham.

I love this design of the reissue of Dad.

Not being much for gossip, I found it strange that I wanted to talk with my endodontist and his assistant yesterday morning. But, while the two of them worked on my root canal, they discussed a certain type of dog that I know a thing or two about (Springer Spaniel — I own one) and I kept trying to add to their conversation. Alas, as I was unable to speak, I was left to my own thoughts, which led me to thinking about thinkers. What does a philosopher look like? (good question) How well is Don DeLillo’s book of short stories doing? (Story Prize finalist) How abusive was Ernest Hemingway? (gin soaked) Who is the next author to be published by Amazon? (a librarian)  And what’s up with the Obamas? (why not?)

I had the pleasure of publishing Part 1 of Jonathan Callahan’s terrific 3-part novella, Notes from a Burning Underground, in Keyhole 11 last year. Now the whole novella is available online! Block out some time and dive in:

Part One – Keyhole (PDF)

Part Two – Used Furniture Review

Part Three – Quarterly West

Callahan’s first book, The Consumation of Dirk, is coming out with Starcherone in a year or so.

“A lot of contemporary fiction basically takes place unabashedly in somebody’s head. Then it’s a head to head exchange, which it is already, so why not be explicit about that? So goes the logic, which I understand. But I don’t really want to be trapped in this rainy day head exchange the whole time. I’d rather something sort of carry me, Tinkerbell-like, or in its talons, over a larger vision. There is something very claustrophobic about being stuck in someone’s “imagination project.” It’s like, Jesus, do you ever leave your bathroom? Do you leave your headphones on all the time? I do honestly have a good time reading a lot of that stuff, but it makes me anxious. Maybe you have all this dream logic you want to showcase, which is great, but there is also this whole category of other things, which is the eavesdropped, which is the observed, which to me is very mystical because it’s made up of the active byproducts of other peoples’ imaginations.” – Mike Young interview in Hobart