The self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics" has had an illustrious past, which didn't stop the powers that be at the Village Voice from ousting him as music critic when they were watering the brand down in 2006.

But now Christgau has popped up in an unlikely spot: a columnist for the Barnes and Noble Review, an online collection of book writing. His first column is a review of "1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die." I usually hate those "1,000 blah blah blahs Die" books, but this one sounds intriguing. Both Christgau's column and Bob Boilen's two "All Songs Considered" hours on the book make it sound like a worthwhile read. That being said, the book has been sitting on my shelf unopened for weeks now.

Deschanel wowed us all with her vocal chops in "Elf," and proved it wasn't a fluke partnering with M.Ward for She & Him. For the movie "Yes Man," she picks up the mic again and becomes Munchausen by Proxy -- a dreadful (and funny) gothy synth pop band.

Britney Spears' catalog has proven eminently coverable, from "... Baby One More Time" to "Toxic" and now "Womanizer."

Here's Lily Allen's cover of that last single, via Mark Ronson's radio show "East Village Radio."

Taking a cue from the Oscars, Stereogum produced a tribute to all the indie bands who have fallen in the last year.

(The Long Blondes' story is particularly sad as the guitarist suffered a stroke earlier this year, limiting mobility in the right side of his body. But! His rehabilitation involves a 'bionic hand' that may enable him to play again one day.)

(via Current)

This gorgeous 2007 cartoon by John Raskin animates a 1969 interview with Lennon done by "a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck [who] snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview."

Some of the stuff he says is still amazingly, and sadly, relevant.

On the "I Met The Walrus" official site, Levitan talks about the encounter:

I skipped school and made my trek at 7:00 a.m. to a hotel I guessed he would stay in, went to the top floor, knocked on every door and woke a lot of disgruntled people. A cleaning lady asked, “Are you looking for the Beatle?” I said yes and she told me where he was. Kyoko, Yoko’s daughter was lying on the floor, colouring in front of a suite. I knew I’d found him, barged in, and made myself at home. John laughed at the spectacle, and let me stay.

Some self-lothing, -destructive streak has compelled me to do a round up of Christmas albums for y'all. This took me two whole days to listen to all of these. I hope you appreciate the effort involved. (If you've read "Heart of Darkness," you know a little bit where I'm coming from.)

Sarah Brightman, "A Winter Symphony"
This first album makes me want to abandon this project right away. SB is a pop-opera crossover "star" in the vein of Andrea Bocelli. I hate the whole sub-genre of adult contemporary soft classical, and the holiday sheen is not improving the quality of this dreck. It's emotionless and overblown and I hate it.

Rahsaan Patterson, "The Ultimate Gift"
Less bad. An R&B collection of original compositions and old standards. It's jaunty and fun and doesn't take itself too seriously. I feel like many of these songs could run over the end credits of a family friendly holiday film, if that makes any sense.

He also covers (with heavy use of the Auto-Tune) my favorite Christmas song, "Wonderful Christmastime" (video above). Seriously, that song makes my hardened little grinch heart smile every time I hear it.

Aretha Franklin, "This Christmas"
A mix of carols and more recent popular tunes, including "My Grown-Up Christmas List," the most maudlin, preachy song ever put to tape. But the rest of the CD is alright. It's Areatha, after all. Her son Eric sings on a track or two, and he's good as well.

More after the jump.

Just to be clear, I'll probably never play this album again, but I wouldn't leave the room if someone else put it on.

Ten out of Tenn, "Christmas"
Ha HA! I don't hate everything. So there. This collection of ten Tennessee artists singing Christmas carols is quite gorgeous. Apparently alt-country and holiday cheer are a combo that works for me. "Santa's Lost His Mojo" by Jeremy Lister is my particular favorite. And apparently these guys realize that just because we're only going to listen to this music for a month or so, doesn't mean it has to suck.

various artists, "Oh Santa: new and used holiday classics from Yep Rock Records"
Silly and cheesey, at points, painfully so.

New Kids on the Block, "Merry, Merry Christmas"
Now it's true in these album round-ups I get less and less tolerant with each progressive record. I know this about myself. But I think my reaction to this NKOTB reissue would be the same even if I listened to it first: This album was unnecessary the first time it dropped. Did we really need to put it out again? It's embarrassing boy band drivel, anyway you slice it, and this time around it's dated, to boot. Not even nostalgia makes me wish for a "Funky, Funky Christmas."

Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, "Jingle All the Way"
This mostly instrumental album has moments of adequacy and moments of sublime terribleness. Opening track "Jingle Bells" sounds like it's being performed by a tribe of aborigines, and the reprise seven tracks later sounds like that same tribe after the apocalypse -- the Christpocalypse, if you will. It's very weird. The whole album sounds like it was recorded for old people who are bald with ponytales and do copious amounts of drugs.

Gloria Gaynor's "Christmas Presence"
Gaynor hits us up with brass-heavy soul that is anything but background music. It's kind of fun. She sings like a real person, rather than a Christmas angel sent from heaven to save our souls, not that I'm thinking of anyone specific here.

"Broadway's Greatest Gifts: Carols for a Cure"
Broadway stars of past and present sing traditional and original carols in the style of their musical. It's kind of good and very different. The cast of "The Wedding Singer" does a musical theater-ed up version of Adam Sandler's "The Hanukkah Song." Really.

The "Holiday Reverie for Oboe and String Quartet" by Local 802 AFM is a truly beautiful piece of music.

Proceeds from the double disc CD set go to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

"This Warm December, A Brushfire Holiday, Vol. 1"
Jack Johnson and his fellow label mates share funny original compositions. The results are mixed, with some performances more on the mark than others, but they're all listenable. Zee Avi and Rogue Wave are album standouts. How much you like this album will probably hinge on how much G.Love you can stand. I have no problem with him, but I know people who cannot stand him.

Ashton Allen, "The Christmas Songs"
Surprisingly, I really like this one. Given the cover, I was expecting something American Idol-y, but it's totally not. It's very low key and actually rocks. If I were to have some holiday party, I might actually play this!

Things I've learned from this little experiment:
• I don't like most Christmas music, but I do like some of it. And I can tolerate much more of it than I thought I could.
• I'm surprisingly traditionalist, preferring choral arrangements to showboating solo vehicles. (The Broadway CD, especially, had some pretty good tracks on it; also, maybe I like musical theater.)
• Unsurprisingly, the more indie the better. But indie rockers do not necessarily guarantee quality.

(via)

I love both of these guys. I wish I was there. John/Jim is adorable, and Amy Mann is awesome -- I wish I could pull off her besuited style.

The term “overnight sensation” gets thrown around a lot in the music world. For most bands, a seemingly sudden breakthrough comes after years of struggle. But for Manhattan’s The Virgins, the term actually applies. For their third-ever gig, the band performed at a Paris fashion show with punk legends Patti Smith and Sonic Youth. Unfortunately, things didn’t go quite as planned.

“We sucked,” said singer Donald Cumming. “When we got that gig, we had never played live before, so we said yes. Then we realized it was a dumb idea, so we booked two shows in New York to break the ice, but it didn’t help at all.”

More after the jump.

“We started this group making songs in my bedroom and bringing them to parties and asking people to play them,” said Cumming. “We wanted to see if we could sneak our songs into our nightlife without people booing or walking out. They didn’t go over badly, and soon people we didn’t know were playing our songs at parties.”

Before long, producers for “Entourage” and “Gossip Girl” came calling. In fact, “Gossip Girl” featured the band’s entire five-song EP in one episode. Amazingly, Cumming nearly turned the show down due to a misunderstanding.

“I thought it was ‘Gilmore Girls,’ ” he said. “I thought, ‘Our music isn’t really appropriate for a show about a girl and her mom.’ ”

But Cumming became a fan of “Gossip Girl” and is even angling for a guest spot.

“They should start next season with the girls having new boyfriends and those boyfriends should be us,” he said, only half-jokingly. “I’d love to be on the show. I’d like to make out with some of those girls.”

A Philadelphia journalism major who was fearing the tough job market, tells The Daily Beast how she got a posh pad, nice clothes, an allowance -- and a PR hookup -- by finding her own sugar daddy:

When the economic climate grew worse, my friends panicked that their resumes and high GPAs wouldn’t be enough to give them a leg up on the competition, and my goal became getting my foot in the door before everyone else.

And then, just such an opportunity presented itself. During my job hunt, I met a potential employer. He was in his early 30s, single, and successful. He didn’t hire me, but he did suggest a position that seemed perfectly suited to my attributes and skills: He proposed that he become my benefactor.

From the outside, a mutually beneficial, or sugar daddy, relationship seems immoral. Maybe even the distant cousin of—dare I say it?—prostitution. But truth be told, women have used their wiles and charms to get ahead for years.

I encourage you to read her story. It's enlightening.

If you compare supposed "Tier 2" and "Tier 3" prostitutes -- women who charge $10,000 a session, and are just as likely to be treated as companions than as sexual playthings -- with Melissa Beech's sugar daddy situation, they look like siblings. Just instead of cutting a check, he buys things for you.

To bite off of Jerry Seinfeld, not that there's anything wrong with that.

...As long as your aware of what you're getting into. Even elite prostitutes are victims of physical abuse, and as a former sugar baby commented, the emotional and economic risks are high, too:

All I have to say is.. tread carefully... Dior and trips to Paris sound great (my mutually beneficial arrangement rented me an apartment next to Jacques Chirac in Paris for 4 months complete with chef, maid and expense account), but when he decides to throw you out.... and he will.... be ready to fall hard and almost feel as if you have to turn back to the extreme seediness of SeekingArrangement.com.

It's a scary place to be and one I don't ever want to go back to...

Your thoughts?

(via Stereogum)

Yup, that's Pavement's "Stereo" in the background of this ad.

(BTW: "Brighten the Corners" gets the deluxe two-disk treatment next Tuesday.)

Kermit the Frog covers "New York I Love You, but You're Bringing Me Down."

The Grammy noms are out, and Adele, Leona Lewis, Coldplay and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss all did pretty well. I don't really care about any of these bands, and I actively dislike two of them. So whatever.

But Kenna got a nod for Best Urban/Alternative Performance which is kind of a surprise. I like that guy, but he flew pretty under the radar this year. Good for him.

Fun fact: there are 110 different award categories. That seems like a lot.

If the Grammys bore you to tears, though, like they do me, you might be more interested in Stereogum's Gummy Awards. The polls are closed and the winners will be announced Monday. Monday night S'gum is hosting a concert at Music Hall of Williamsburg in celebration.

Technically, this is a Gummy Awards Live event, but we won't be wasting time on stage announcing poll winners. Instead we've lined up a couple of great bands and some comedy from Videogum.

Performers include Deerhunter, Bell and Violens.

I know which show I'd rather watch.