Even better than the STAX museum in Memphis however, is the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. I had friends in Nashville give me the whole rap about… “You don’t have to even know the music to love the museum”…to which I rolled my eyes, but it’s actually true. The CMH integrates music so beautifully in the museum. It could be an utter disaster in there musically, with listening stations bleeding into each other until it’s just a cacophony of noise. But through the intelligent uses of curled Nautilus shell shaped listening booths that control the sound yet still allow the listener to hear what they’ve chosen, the CMH is a model of keeping the music nearby yet allowing folks to look at cases of artifacts and talk among themselves without being blown out by music playing.

Look at this and wonder: "Why doesn't Brother Stephen own this beautiful piece of art? It obviously has his name written all over it. What gives?"

Now look at this and drool. You want it, you need it, you gotta have it: Sub Pop's deluxe edition of Nirvana's <i>Bleach</i>, available <a href="http://www.subpop.com/releases/nirvana/full_lengths/bleach_deluxe_editi… 3</a>.

Hey. If you like Cold Cave, I think you'll like Bal Pare. It's pretty safe to judge a 7" by its cover, which is what I did when I saw this one winking at me from the racks at Other Music. How could it not be good, all masked and silvery and naked like that?

Effi Briest sort of reminds me of Gang Gang Dance. And I like that. Check out this dizzying video for "Mirror Rim."

<i>The Vivian Girls (from left): Ali Koehler, Cassie Ramone, and Kickball Katy. Photo: Arnaud Bianquis.</i>