Jeff Chang, whose Can’t Stop Wont Stop I just can’t recommend enough for anyone interested in the history of hip hop, has a great piece in the LARB on rap music and the 1992 LA Riots. The LA Times also ran a compelling essay on Toddy Tee, N.W.A. and other prescient west coast MCs, the forefathers of what became commercial gangsta rap.
I work nine to five and ain’t a damn thing changed
Tuesday New Release Day: Fassnacht; Gottlieb; Egan; Kleeman; Goolrick; Gaiman
Out this week: A Good Family by Erik Fassnacht; Best Boy by Eli Gottlieb; A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan; You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman; The Fall of Princes by Robert Goolrick; and a limited edition of Neil Gaiman’s The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains. For more on these and other new titles, check out our Great Second-Half 2015 Book Preview.
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Press Play
The New York Times unveiled a new music blog entitled Press Play. Each week, the blog will “present tracks from an upcoming new album.”
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Table 4 Ready to Award New Grants
Last year, Millions staffer Bill Morris reported on a group of Elaine’s regulars seeking “ways to repay Elaine [Kaufman] for all the encouragement she gave to writers and other creative people” at her restaurant. What emerged was The Table 4 Writers Foundation, and this year the group is ready to award its latest batch of $2,500 grants to promising writers. The application deadline is October 20.
AIP calls for Mortensen’s resignation
Months after 60 Minutes aired its damning profile of Central Asia Institute’s founder Greg Mortensen (Three Cups of Tea), the American Institute for Philanthropy has called for his resignation. The call comes on the heels of Jon Krakauer‘s investigation into Mortensen’s use of the CAI’s finances.
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Paul Harding’s Book Notes Playlist
Enon author Paul Harding made a playlist to accompany his latest book, which was recently reviewed on our site by Joseph M. Schuster.
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No Fanfiction, Please
For those of you who were not on Twitter yesterday, the novelist Elizabeth McCracken tweeted a series of tips for applying to MFA fiction programs. Among other bits of good advice, she says it’s generally best to apply with a solid short story rather than a novel chapter.