To Andrea Graham, the unofficial anthem of the Confederate States of America has no place soundtracking the Fourth of July. “They lost,” she says. “We don’t play Japan’s patriotic song.”
For years, the Potomac, Md., resident had been griping about WETA’s annual DC Fireworks Extravaganza show. Every July 4, the public television station follows its broadcast [...]

Morning, readers.
*John Prine gets a lot of love on a new star-packed tribute record called Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine. Conor Oberst, Deer Tick, My Morning Jacket, and the DBT are all, apparently, implicated. Sounds like a recipe for awesome. (Via Pitchfork, which also has the track listing.)
*The Independent zings the [...]

In which the author discusses five books he'd read, were he not distracted by Haiti's unfolding humanitarian crisis.

1. Elvis: My Best Man: Radio Days, Rock 'n' Roll Nights, and My Lifelong Friendship with Elvis Presley, by George Klein and Chuck Crisafulli.
Woe to those overachievers who went to school with Elvis Presley. Even with the [...]

A belated answer key to our Rolling Stone: Parse that Platitude contest!

There is a difference between people who sing and those who take that voice to another, otherworldly place, who create a euphoria within themselves. PLATITUDE REFERS TO: Elvis Presley

You know a force from heaven. You know something that God made. And [blank] is [...]