Henry Louis Gates’ Life Upon These Shores: Looking at African American History, 1513-2008 spans nearly 500 years in as many pages. So, it’s understandable if reading about the Middle Passage, post-Civil War Reconstruction, and the Rodney King riots might get exhausting. There’s also the fact that Gates wrote his tome free of any centralized argument. [...]

David Byrne's had his hands in many a cookie jar. The ex-Talking Head and Luaka Bop label founder played a building (literally), designed cheeky bike racks, and released one of 2008's best records with fellow '70s-era musical-genius-who-just-won't-quit Brian Eno. Now Byrne's got a new concept album in the works (via Stereogum via BBC).
Inspired by Imelda [...]