allow me a minute to rave about joanna newsom. i first read about her a couple of days ago in kelefa sanneh's review in the new york times. kelefa is the man. he could be a little harsher in his reviews sometimes, but he rarely steers me wrong; and in this case he steered me extremely right. andy and i were so intrigued by her music video (see below) that we ran out and bought the CD from newbury comics. joanna plays a full-size classical harp, but in a very folk style. it really reminds me of appalachian music, which is a bit weird that i recognize it, but i heard bits of it growing up in kentucky. anyway, she somehow taps into this odd mix of whimsy, childhood wonder, wise musings, and flat out craziness. it's been really addictive. her voice has been compared to bjork's in its style rather than its sound: immediately distinctive, free-wheeling, and reckless. definitely the best CD i've heard in a while. andy and my favorite lyric so far: "i killed my dinner. with karate." intrigued? check out these links: - record label: has a good video of one of her songs - official site: has three mp3s, esp. check out the third one - really good SF interview - boston.com review/interview in other news, ani difranco has hopped on the bootleg series bandwagon, via her site. i got the first one today (man, how much do i love getting stuff in the mail?), a solo concert from her 2003 tour. it's pretty good, although i'm not sure if i'm going to be getting all of them. supposedly a new one will be coming out every 6 weeks.