Rabbit Fur Coat is the debut solo album by Jenny Lewis, the former child-actress who is also the former lead singer of the cult-indie rock band Rilo Kiley.
Stuart Murdoch is the front man for the Scottish indie-pop band Belle and Sebastian. For the group's new CD, The Life Pursuit, they've broken two long-standing traditions: making quietly precious music, and refusing to embrace the media.
The jazz trio headed by Sam Rivers has a new CD out, Violet Violets (Stunt label). Rivers' horn work is complemented by bassist Ben Street and Danish drummer Kresten Osgood.
Science fiction writer Octavia Butler died Feb. 28 at the age of 58. The cause of death has not been determined. Because she was black and female, Butler was considered atypical of science fiction. But she was also among the genre's most talented writers.
Film critic David Edelstein reviews the films that are up for an Academy award under the Best Foreign Language Film category. They are: Paradise Now, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, Don't Tell, Joyeux Noel and Tsotsi.
A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan is the new history from Michael Kazin. Bryan has been described by Kazin as "one of the most crucial Americans never to win a presidential election."
Abortion has been a defining issue since 1973. But for Eyal Press, it was a defining element of his childhood. A colleague of Press's father was killed for performing abortions. And Dr. Press received threats. Eyal Press offers a front-row view in Absolute Convictions.
James Allen is the 81-year-old director of the Addicts Rehabilitation Center. Soon after he founded the center in 1957 — after kicking his own habit — Allen founded the a cappella Addicts Rehabilitation Center Gospel Choir (ARC). Their song "Walk With Me" was heard recently as a sample on the Kanye West song "Jesus Walks."
A new book details the scandalous, sensational, partisan press — of the 1700s. Fox News journalist Eric Burns' Infamous Scribblers: the Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American Journalism tells the stories.
A hardened young South African gang leader steals a woman's car -â then finds out her baby is in the back seat. So starts the South African film Tsotsi, which is up for an Academy Award for best foreign film.
Not long ago, "new journalism" referred to changes in approach and style, ushered in by such writers as Hunter S. Thompson and Joan Didion. They're the subject of Marc Weingarten's new book.
Several recent DVD releases feature great black entertainers of the 20th century. For classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz, his favorites feature the great tap dance team of Harold and Fayard Nicholas.
A new Hamas-led government; protests against cartoons of Muhammad; a re-started nuclear program in Iran: It's a busy time for journalists specializing in the Middle East. Christopher Dickey is the regional editor for Newsweek.
Despite what his supporters say, President Bush has far more in common with Richard Nixon than Ronald Reagan. That's the idea put forth in economist and syndicated columnist Bruce Bartlett's new book, Impostor.
The British music press is hailing a new band, the Arctic Monkeys, as being as big as the Beatles — or at least as big as Oasis. The first-week release of the band's debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, sold over 118,000 copies.
Actor, comedian, composer and musician Michael McKean is best known for co-starring in the spoofs This Is Spinal Tap, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind. He is currently co-starring in the Broadway revival of The Pajama Game.
Twilight of the Superheroes: Stories is a collection of short stories by Deborah Eisenberg that describe the attack on the World Trade Center and its aftermath.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Sonia Nazario talks about her new book, Enrique's Journey, which traces the path of a young boy from Honduras to the U.S. as he reunites with his mother. Nazario found that 48,000 children, some as young as 7, make the journey alone each year.
