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Take care of your axe! Electric Guitar Review has a great article titled “10 Guitar Maintenance Steps You Should Always Follow, But Probably Don’t”.

Political prescription. Chicago Sun-Times interviews Ted Leo about being stereotyped as a political songwriter:

Leo grants that he sometimes feels typecast as a political songwriter. “But the whole thing is ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t.’ People want to talk about the more political songs because there’s more to talk about, and that’s an interesting entree for them into the album. Some people will complain that there’s too much political stuff, and others will chide me for not being political enough — for putting a song like ‘Colleen’ on there. At the end of the day, I guess there are worse things than having people time and time again refer to me as ‘the political guy’ or ‘a political singer-songwriter.’ People are going to box you in no matter what, and there are worse ways I could be boxed.” (Link)

Reminder. Singer-songwriter Leslie Feist’s upcoming album, The Reminder is out. The site All Things Feist is keeping up with all the press surrounding the release and response of the album.

We hate it when our friends become successful. The Observer examines the musical legacy of the songwriting duo Morrissey & Johnny Marr.

No other group carried such a weight of expectation - and tradition - as the Smiths. Had they not risen to the occasion, it is not overstating the case to say that the entire trajectory of recent British rock music as we now know it - that’s the line from the Smiths to the Stone Roses to Oasis and on to the Libertines and today’s indie darlings, Arctic Monkeys - would not have been traced. (Link)