Route 1 recommends

For your listening pleasure...
I know, I know. Every music blogger on Earth (well, almost) has been gushing about Brooklyn, N.Y.'s Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! I didn't really know what all the fuss was about... until I downloaded the album after attending a funeral today.
The band is great. Singer Alec Ounsworth sounds like a cross between early David Byrne and Bends-era Thom Yorke, backed by a band that is as likely to jam on harps and accordions as they are on Stratocasters and Les Pauls.
Check out the band at their Web site, located here. You might like them. Or love them.
For your reading pleasure...
To take my mind off my grief this week, I delved into Lawrence Donegan's "No News at Throat Lake." It is a fabulous memoir.
Some background...
1) Donegan played bass in two of my favorite bands in college, the Bluebells and Lloyd Cole and the Commotions. When Lloyd Cole went solo, Donegan entered journalism school.
2) Donegan became a reporter for the Guardian.
3) He took breaks to live in rural Ireland, sell used cars in California, and caddy for a golf pro.
All three of those breaks resulted in side-splitting books.
"No News at Throat Lake" details his time at Ireland's Tirconaill Tribune, a small newspaper in County Donegal. I loved this book not only because it is hilarious, but also because Donegan's experiences seemed to mirror my own toils while serving on the staff of the Lake County Examiner newspaper in rural Oregon.
Seek out this book. Enjoy!