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Verlyn Klinkenborg, a New York Times editorial board member and author of the paper's ''Rural Life'' column, spends most of his time on his upstate New York farm, gazing across meadows and musing on The Splendor of the Goldenrod, The Wisdom of the Barn Mouse, and The Majesty of Henry the Pig's Feed Bag. But occasionally the philosopher-rube ...

Several weeks ago in this space, I noted a curiosity of National Public Radio's musical coverage: that NPR has ''a strict preference for music that few actual living African-Americans listen to.'' NPR's taste in black music, I wrote, can be described by the acronym DORF—it prefers black musicians who are Dead, Old, Retro, and Foreign. I asked ...

On June 12, 1970, the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Dock Ellis pitched a no-hitter in a game against the San Diego Padres. In an interview 14 years later, Ellis stated that he had dropped acid before the game and was tripping the entire time. The claim might have seemed farfetched coming from another player. But Ellis, who died last year of ...

Jonah Weiner: Hi, Jody. I'll start this week's chat with a confession. Or maybe it's a brag about my advanced teenage tastes. Sixteen-year-old Jonah loved him some Jamie Foxx Show, the WB sitcom that ran from 1996 to 2001. Before he was an Oscar winner and R & B superstar, after all, Foxx was a B-list comedian. Okay, my love was fleeting, ...

Jonah Weiner: Hi Jody. In 2004, Norah Jones released her second album, Feels Like Home. It sold 1.02 million copies in its first week, putting her in the rarefied company of 50 Cent, Usher, and Lil Wayne—artists likely to go down in history as the last ones to ever muster seven-figure CD sales in seven days. Which one of these four is not like ...

Mommy, Santa's scaring me! Just in time for Halloween, Bob Dylan's Christmas album is here, its arrival harkened by the 68-year-old legend's fearsome wheeze—a sound more Beelzebub than Jolly Old Elf. Christmas in the Heart is being called a goof, the latest of Dylan's many efforts to épater la bourgeoisie, confound his worshipful fans and ...

Jody Rosen: Hello, Jonah. Today we'll be discussing the new Bruce Springsteen song ''Wrecking Ball,'' which the Boss debuted during his recent five-night stand at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. The Springsteen shows were the last concerts scheduled to take place at the big colosseum in the Meadowlands prior to its demolition. (They're ...

In August, National Public Radio's flagship music program All Songs Considered published ''The Best Music of 2009 (So Far),'' a rundown of the top 30 songs and albums of the year-to-date as voted by the show's listeners. The results of the survey suggest that the All Songs Considered audience has a fuzzy understanding of the word ''all.'' ''The ...

As fans of Elvis Presley and Tupac Shakur are aware, death is no impediment to a prolific career as a recording artist. Michael Jackson's posthumous run kicks off today with the release of ''This Is it,'' which popped up overnight on Jackson's Web site.''This Is It'' was originally recorded by Jackson in a spartan piano-and-vocal version, ...

  Last Thursday, the 19-year-old singer-songwriter Taylor Swift played Madison Square Garden. A headlining show at the Garden is a watershed moment for any musician. For Swift, it was exclamation point on the obvious: singing smart, catchy songs about teenage romance in the suburbs, she has become the biggest pop star in the United ...