Probably not. "The Representative from Corwood Industries" has put out 53 albums in the last 30 years, none of which you can find in stores or libraries (except ours, now, see Jody's post below), and he is rarely played on the radio. Jandek performs live in Ann Arbor at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater on Saturday, May 17 at 7:30, and a lot of people there will have never heard a single Jandek song.

Jandek is more famous for his unusually secretive nature than his music: he has only granted 3 interviews in the last 30 years and only began playing live in 2004. In fact, his real identity was not even known until a few years ago, and it has yet to be officially confirmed by Jandek or Corwood Industries, the record label that puts out Jandek records exclusively and can be contacted only through a Houston P.O. box.

If you have heard Jandek's music, you probably didn't like it. It is often dark and depressing, lacking structure, melody and harmony, and is sung and played out of tune. But he has a tiny, devoted following. Intrigued? Come see this free performance sponsored by WCBN and UMMA to find out if this is all as weird as it seems.

Folk guitarist Richie Havens burst onto the scene at the famous Woodstock Folk Festival of 1969. Since then, he has been wowing audiences with his high energy guitar playing, powerful voice and stirring lyrics. Havens comes to The Ark this Sunday, May 11. You can buy tickets online at Ticketmaster or in person at the Ark ticket office, the Michigan Union or at the Herb David Guitar Studio.

“Jimmy had soul way back when people weren't using the word,” observed Ray Charles. Legendary 84-year-old jazz vocalist Jimmy Scott is a male soprano who has influenced Stevie Wonder, Frankie Valli and Lou Reed, to name a few. Scott's singing has a high piercing quality that's the result of a hereditary hormonal deficiency that kept his voice from developing beyond boyhood. "He sings with the melodic concept of an instrument," says Quincy Jones, who was a trumpeter with Lionel Hampton's band when Scott made his debut as a vocalist with Hampton in 1949. "He'd put me on my knees, give me goose bumps." Go get goose bumps yourself. Friday, May 9, 8pm. The Ark, 316 S. Main. Tickets $15.

The other night my son asked me a very profound question. "What would you do if you found out you only had two days left to live?" I told him that I'd spend it with my family. No parties, no wild adventures, no spending sprees, just time with my wife and kids. That got me thinking. What would I read if I could only read two books in my life. My first pick is the Bible. My second is The Hobbit.

Why The Hobbit you may ask? Well, the story of Bilbo, Gandalf and the thirteen dwarfs is a classic for all ages. Written by J. R. R. Tolkien, the story was originally intended to amuse his three sons. The library has several different versions of the story: Book on CD, Book on Cassette, DVD, graphic novel, large print, Spanish translation, and Korean translation.

So, if you could only read two books, what would they be?

If five guys in heavily embroidered matching blue leisure suits with cowboy hats aren't cool, then I just don't know what is anymore. Los Tigres del Norte, or The Tigers of the North, are one of the most popular bands in Mexico playing in the Norteno style of music. Norteno, or Northern, music often includes a blend of accordion, banjo, violin and brass ensembles. Here's the press release for their latest album, Raices, and a feature article from the Boston Herald. Look for them in the World--Latin/S.America--Mexico CD genre.

When people talk about 90s bands, the conversation always begins and ends with Nirvana, but frankly, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are my idea of the prototypical 90s band. Granted they started in the 80s, though they didn’t really fit in with the sounds at the time (try and compare the Chilis’ idea of Heavy Metal with… I don’t know, Skid Row’s idea of heavy metal.) But once the 90s “alternative scene” rolled around, they sounded right at home: a funky guitar, a lead singer that doesn’t really have a great voice, but he sang about those dark early 90s LA themes, not to mention heavy drums and absolutely mind-blowing bass (Flea can go from Entwistle-esque “lead bass” to soulful or melodic bass in the vein of Stax or Motown.) And now that they’ve entered a new decade, they haven’t tried to mainstream their sound, and still stand out from their peers.

Stadium Arcadium a few years ago, for all its flaws, still contained that great Chili Peppers sound, a mix of melody, funk, metal, and immaturity that was present on Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik and all their other records. When promoting Stadium, they popped up on SNL and did a mind-blowing rendition of "Give It Away,” which, I think, is lyrically about the virtues of charity, but I could be wrong. Oh, and I’m really warming up to By The Way.

Some twelve year olds might be prodigies. Artemis Fowl, however, is a criminal mastermind. While plotting to restore his family's wealth after his father's disappearance this young Irishman discovers an entire world below Ireland, full of fairies, elves, and all manner of creatures of legend. But gone are the days when magic is their only weapon. These mythical folk are armed with high-tech gadgetry and they bring it all out in defense of their gold.

All the audiobooks are read by Nathaniel Parker who does excellent Irish accents and voices for all the characters. The stories also start and end with a techno-rock theme that, while some may find cheesy, I quite liked and I thought it definitely fit the tone of the story. I liked the audio versions so much that I listened to the entire series which is currently five books long with a sixth (Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox) scheduled to come out July 15th. It is also worth noting that the audio versions are the original Irish editions and not changed or edited for America. There are very few changes, but if you'd like the original versions, audio's the way to go.

In Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey tells the story of Lessa. She is the sole survivor of the noble family ruling Ruatha Hold, located on the northern continent of Pern. Lessa eventually becomes a dragon rider and attempts to save Pern from an impending Thread reappearance, which would destroy the existing civilization. If you enjoy this story, you can find other Pern stories. You can also listen to Dragonflight on CD.

About three minutes into The Darjeeling Limited, we watch a close up of a businessman running to the titular train pulling out of the station. All of a sudden, Adrien Brody’s character pops into frame and overtakes the man to the crunching opening chords of The Kinks’ “This Time Tomorrow,” and is able to throw himself aboard while the businessman falls into the distance, all in slow motion no less, and I knew I was going to love this movie already.

No one makes a film quite like Wes Anderson does. Bottle Rocket showed promise, Rushmore fulfilled said promise, and his unique filmmaking style culminated in The Royal Tenenbaums. And even though I actually liked The Life Aquatic (so much so that its cool reception actually surprised me,) I will admit it didn’t offer anything particularly new, and when a director releases a movie only every three years or so, especially a director so unconventional, one so-so movie will raise the questions, “Does he still have it in him, or is he just rehashing a formula?” making this next movie much more important.

Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass) follows the story of Lyra Belacqua, the secrets surrounding her birth and future, and travel between the worlds.

With the recent film and a revival of the controversy that has always surrounded the Golden Compass series, these books are once more in the public eye. I've been told that even people who like them find the books difficult, but I throughly enjoyed listening to them on audio. This is possibly because they're performed by a full cast complete with sound effects and narration from Philip Pullman himself, making the whole experience more like an old fashioned radio drama than your average audio book. I highly recommend the entire series.

What happens when you take L. Frank Baum's classic The Wizard of Oz and turn it inside out? You get Gregory Maguire's book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Follow the story of Elphaba as she grows-up and eventually becomes know as the infamous Wicked Witch of the West. The book was made into a musical. We have the CD and sheet music. Enjoy!

Folks ask us, "Where do you find kid songs?".
The answer is ... "From listening to CDs."
Here are some all-time favorites.
Raffi's Baby Beluga and Rise And Shine. Sharon, Lois, and Bram's Mainly Mother Goose and Sing A to Z. HarpBeat's Around the World In a HerpBeat. Tom Chapin and Some Assembly Required ... And a new favorite, Dan Zanes with Catch That Train! and Family Dance.
Tune-up and Sing!

Today, March 26 marks the birth of one of our foremost mythologists, Joseph Campbell who was born in New York City in 1904. Entranced by Native American culture from an early age, he began to make associations with myths from other cultures and in 1949 published a seminal study of mythology called The Hero with a Thousand Faces which looked at the common theme of a spiritual quest. But it was only when Campbell was featured in a series of penetrating interviews with Bill Moyers in the 1980's called Joseph Campbell and the The Power of Myth that his name became known to the more general population. In the first of the series, they take on the subject of heroes who range from Buddha and Jesus to metaphors present in Jungian psychology and the movie, Star Wars. Filmmaker, George Lucas was heavily influenced by Campbell in his making of the film and the interviews were conducted at his Skywalker Ranch.

Few people realize Rod Stewart retired in 1974, at which point he was replaced by a dyed-blonde doppelgänger (much like what happened to Elvis,) but up to that point, Rod had one towering career. As the front man of the quintessential bar band The Faces, they played perfect, rough blues, with occasional hits like “Stay With Me” and “Ooh La La” (which actually features Ronnie Wood on vocals.) Rod Stewart’s gritty, hoarse, and whiskied vocals (along with Jeff Beck’s guitar) powered the heavy metal defining 60s band, The Jeff Beck Group. They were so influential in fact, Led Zeppelin used Beck’s debut Truth as their—ahem—blueprint for Led Zeppelin I, lifting a few riffs as well as Beck’s version of “You Shook Me,” forever causing a rift between Beck and Jimmy Page, who also appeared on Truth. At this same time, Roderick had a solo career with music as hard driving as everything else he did, but with an acoustic, country/folk base, with his classics like Gasoline Alley and Every Picture Tells A Story.

Rod’s box set Storyteller might be the best for seeing the big picture of this guy’s career. But, if you do check it out, be sure to stop after disc two of the four disc set. Like I said, the guy retired in ’74. Look at the mole. I’m telling you; it’s different.

In Terry Pratchett’s The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, and Wintersmith we meet Tiffany Aching, a young girl learning to be a witch and helped along the way by the formidable Granny Weatherwax, the Discworld’s most renowned witch and an entire colony of tiny little blue men….

Stephen Briggs, does a hilarious rendition of the tiny Scots men known as the Wee Free men in the audio versions of the Tiffany Aching series, the story of a young girl learning to be a witch. Briggs also does an amazing Tiffany as well as all the other voices. Briggs has been in many Discworld plays and reads many of the other audiobooks in the Discworld series.