My First Rodeo

Today, Richie Unterberger's remarkable, comprehensive, narrative history of the Velvet Underground hits bookstores. Here's the blurb I wrote for it:

"The legend has been told in scraps and patchwork for decades but now, finally, the story of the Velvet Underground is delivered to us in a way that feels very much complete. Unterberger's story treats the band with reverence without ever fawning and considers the legends alongside the facts with great expertise. It's a highly entertaining, informative creation worthy of one of the greatest bands of all time." — Ryan H. Walsh, author of Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968

In addition to this being a great book, it also begins to reveal a secret I've had to keep for many years. Here's the relevant sections from the acknowledgement section and the text of the book itself:

What if I told you, that during the pandemic, Phil Milstein, founder of the Velvet Underground Appreciation Society, reached out to me to see if I wanted to work with him on a VU mystery he had stumbled upon, and that this led to the discovery of an unheard Velvet Underground recording, and, most astonishing of all, a "new" VU song no has ever heard before that is pretty darn fantastic? Phil and I were calling it "I Don't Really Care About You." Richie's going with "I Don't Much Care for the Things That You Do."

Phil and I shepherded the recording along to a party that aims to get it officially released. I still have high hopes that's going to happen sooner than later. But that's all I can say about it for now.

One year ago today, DECK's cards were laid on the table! 365 days later, have you listened to all 54?

"Album of the Year" — Boston Magazine "A magnum opus" — Discologist Wilco's Favorite Records of 2025 "Album of the Year" — Matt Besser, founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade Alt/Indie Artist of the Year — Boston Music Awards

"For the first few years, they spent hours underground, watching the flow of passengers getting on and off trains and moving through stations. They studied their habits. Where did they go? Where did they look for information?" — How graphic design legend Massimo Vignelli cracked the NYC subway system

WOW

"The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music is a collection of nearly one thousand songs culled from the private record collection of the late Harry Smith."

I came upon this page which compiles everything James Joyce said about Ulysses to others in letters and otherwise. I was stunned to find this fairly straight forward structure of the novel broken down like this:

Why are industrial control rooms so often seafoam green?

"In the fall of 1919, Faber Birren entered the Art Institute at the University of Chicago, only to drop out in the spring of 1921 to commit himself to self-education in color, as such a program didn’t exist. He spent his days interviewing psychologists and physicists and conducted his own color studies, which were considered unconventional at the time. He painted his bedroom walls red vermillion to test if it would make him go mad."

"Birren and DuPont created a master color safety code for the industrial plant industry, with the aim of reducing accidents and increasing efficiency within plants. These color codes were approved by the National Safety Council in 1944 and are now internationally recognized, having been mandatory practice since 1948."