I attended Artsplosure in Raleigh again this year, lots of excellent photography on display. If you care to give some of the photographers' work a looksee, you can do so here. I was particularly intrigued by the work of Michael Bryant from Atlanta who uses a Holga brand camera (essentially a toy camera) to create his work. To learn more about how he gets the effects he does, click here. Here is one of his images:

Nix' obituary from The Florida Times-Union: Drummer Robert Nix, whose career began in Jacksonville, died Sunday by Heather Lovejoy Robert Nix, a drummer whose music career began in Jacksonville, died on Sunday morning at age 67. Early on, he played in Roy Orbison's backing band Candymen, then went on to co-found the Atlanta Rhythm Section. He had been living just outside Memphis. His brother, Michael Nix of Jacksonville, said he had sugar diabetes and was in the hospital for more than a month after undergoing surgery. Robert Nix grew up in Jacksonville and graduated from Paxon Senior High School in 1962. He was close friends with Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd since childhood, his brother said. He played on the song "Tuesday's Gone" on the band's debut album, "(Pronounced 'lĕh-'nérd 'skin-'nérd)." After Van Zant's death in 1977, Robert Nix purchased the Van Zant home in Doctor's Inlet, and he lived there for many years, his brother said. He was working on a book about his life in the music industry, "The Days of Love and Blood," but his brother said the family is unsure if any of it will be published.

That is supposedly the outer bands of Tropical Storm Alberto.

For those that are interested, you can currently watch Pearl Jam Twenty on PBS' American Masters site for a limited time.

I beg to differ. Do artists who paint never start over and paint all of their masterpieces from scratch? What about musicians, think they've never had to re-do a song or erased tape in the studio in order to perfect their art?

Wasn't that how some people referred to them in their early days, much like "the Pink Floyd"?

Long but well worth the read.

Rare, vintage performance from John Prine shot at a roast for Sam Phillips in April of 1984. Joining in on the fun are Billy Swan, Cowboy Jack Clement and Johnny Cash.

Classic Todd Snider storytelling.

Outer Banks of North Carolina

Really. Just not my cup of tea musically.

"Jive Talkin'' is one of the first 45's I ever owned but it didn't take long for me to come to my senses. No disrespect meant to Robin Gibb, the Bee Gees or to the fans of either.

I should have worded that differently, I'm not at all excited about another Eagles tour as I have no desire to see them in concert whatsoever. I much prefer the James Gang to anything the Eagles ever did.

I'm much more excited about that than I am another Eagles tour.

Even though in the grand scheme of things it wasn't that long ago, it's still hard to imagine a time when one had to actually get up to go change the channel. Harder still to imagine the generations that have come along since that have no conception of that time period whatsoever.

For all intents and purposes, Led Zeppelin ended in 1980. I'm perfectly content with each member pursuing their own projects.

Geddy Lee's Ludicrous Machines: Rush Frontman Talks New Album, Tour (Spin)

Plant doesn't know where his "real self is"? To my ears Zeppelin were a musically adventurous band that knew no boundaries. Plant continues to embody that very spirit.

From UltimateClassicRock.com: ORIGINAL ATLANTA RHYTHM SECTION DRUMMER ROBERT NIX DIES by Billy Dukes Tom Hill, Getty Images During a career that spanned five decades, Robert Nix held down the beat for many famous rock ‘n’ rollers while writing and recording songs with the band he helped start in 1970. The co-founder and longtime drummer for the Atlanta Rhythm Section died on Sunday morning (May 20), according to a statement on the band’s Facebook page. “Our thoughts today are with Robert Nix, our founding drummer, who passed away this morning,” a statement attributed to co-founder and vocalist Rodney Justo reads. Few details about the circumstances of Nix’s death have been released. The band has yet to respond to a request for more information. Nix, like Justo, got his start as part of Roy Orbison’s band the Candymen. During the ’60s and ’70s however, he freelanced to befriend and jam with southern rockers like the Allman Brothers Band and Ronnie Van Zant, while spending time with the era’s A-listers like the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. He recounted his story in an undated interview with Sweet Home Music. Along with lending his talents to Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s ‘Tuesday’s Gone,’ Nix wrote and recorded songs on nine ARS records. ‘Spooky,’ ‘So Into You’ and ‘Champagne Jam’ (the title-track from the band’s platinum selling album from 1978) were co-written by Nix. He was with the Atlanta Rhythm Section from 1971 to 1979.

This is a status update from The Baseball Project page on FB. I can only guess they're alluding to Peter Buck's solo album.

Q&A: Joe Walsh on His New LP, Eagles and James Gang Plans (Rolling Stone)