There's been a dearth of good book-inspired rock of late, other than Mastodon's Leviathan which was back in 2004. Jay Farrar (Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt) and Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie/The Postal Service) hope to change that with a Jack Kerouac-inspired collaboration.

Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard and Son Volt's Jay Farrar are collaborating on a side-project inspired by '50s Beat writer Jack Kerouac.

The pair met while recording songs for an upcoming Kerouac documentary, One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur, which examines the writer's life in the years after he published On the Road, the dizzying, drug-fueled novel that announced him as the voice of a generation.

I'm still holding out for an Uncle Tupelo reunion, but given the animosity between Farrar and Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy, I'm not holding my breath. I'll pretend a collaboration with Gibbard about a writer I never really got into will suffice!

Anvil! The Story of Anvil, the documentary about Canadian thrashers that almost made it and are still trying, opens tonight in select cities. Reports are that the film is like a cross between The Wrestler and This Is Spinal Tap, and that it's fantastic.

Of course, the rave reviews for the film and the fact that it's poised to be a breakout hit is the real ending of the documentary. Already the band is scheduled to play huge festivals this summer, like Glastonbury and the Download Festival, which will see them playing to crowds as big as they did in their heyday. Just from watching the clips of them playing to ten people, I can't help but be glad for them.

Jack White has always done his own thing, finding new ways to create funky, unique guitar tones. I went through a White Stripes phase, but that project didn't move me as much as his work with The Raconteurs. This live version of Consoler Of The Lonely from 2008 is loose and angry -- White's stock in trade.

If you didn't catch it, Jack was featured along with The Edge and Jimmy Page in a documentary about the history of the electric guitar, called It Might Get Loud. It's definitely worth checking out.

h/t J.F. (sorry for the earlier technical difficulties)  Read more about Michael Franti's award-winning documentary here.

It's Oscar time again, and I'm hoping An Inconvenient Truth wins big, because I'd love to see Al Gore on stage with millions of people watching and applauding worldwide.

One of the awards the documentary is up for is Best Song, for I Need To Wake Up, by Melissa Etheridge.

Happy birthday, Justin Timberlake. I'm sure someone would like to hear one of your songs on the occasion of your 26th birthday.

But not me.

It's also Franz Schubert's birthday; he was born in 1797 (and died in 1828). Unlike Justin, Schubert's work went unrecognized and unrewarded while he lived. In fact, he lived and died in poverty, a music teacher to the children of a Hungarian aristocrat. Justin, on the other hand... well, you know. Anyway, you think Schubert didn't rock? Watch an episode or two of the historic British documentary about a concert of his most famous work, "The Trout" Quintet, by a pick up team of legendary classical superstars, Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim, Jacqueline Du Pré, Zubin Mehta and Pinchas Zukerman.

Jailhouse Rock

Wikipedia:

According to Rolling Stone magazine, "it was Elvis who made rock 'n' roll the international language of pop." A PBS documentary described Presley as "an American music giant of the 20th century who singlehandedly changed the course of music and culture in the mid-1950s."[43] His recordings, dance moves, attitude and clothing came to be seen as embodiments of rock and roll. His music was heavily influenced by African-American blues, Christian gospel, and Southern country.

Presley sang both hard driving rockabilly, rock and roll dance songs and ballads, laying a commercial foundation upon which other rock musicians would build their careers. African-American performers like Little Richard and Chuck Berry came to national prominence after Presley's acceptance among mass audiences of white teenagers. Singers like Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and others immediately followed in his wake. The Beatles superstar John Lennon later observed, "Before Elvis, there was nothing."