The Long Tale of Publishing: One Sale At A Time (Huffington Post)
"I have to tell you," the clerk said, leaning over the counter like he was about to whisper a secret, "That's a print-on-demand title. That means it could take two weeks to arrive." He then asked me if I still wanted to place a special order for it; I replied affirmatively. True, I could have ordered it online. I didn't expect to find a book on the nautical history of Newark Bay on the shelves. Yet the way I support small bookstores is by special ordering through them, so that they can profit from the sale, too, which is why this entire exchange surprised me. Here I was, in one of New York's best independent booksellers, and their staff was effectively talking me out of a purchase because it was POD.

The Nat Geo Music Interview: Novalima (National Geographic)
An hour before their first—and to date, only—show in America, the four founders of Afro-Peruvian band Novalima are lounging on the couch in the basement of New York nightspot S.O.B.'s, drinking whiskey and smoking cigarettes and laughing. Despite dealing with visa issues on their travels from Lima to JFK Airport that morning (not to mention a morning flight to Europe the following day), they have many reasons to be smiling—not the least of them being their latest album, Coba Coba (Cumbancha).

Pathways to Creation: Exploring Sacred Music in Fes, Morocco (PopMatters)
"Fes, yes, that festival is for sacred music from all over the world. If you want Gnawa music, you must go to Essaouira. There you hear the best. But Fes is a very good festival.” The bald-headed clerk at the Virgin Records in the Casablanca airport was more than helpful—he even tore off the plastic from albums to allow me to sample.

The Decline of Men: How the American Male is Tuning Out, Giving Up, and Flipping Off His Future (PopMatters)
“I didn’t mean to write a negative book,” Guy Garcia tells me. “Because I’m not a negative person. The book was not meant to sound that way, even though I can see it being perceived as such.” It’s tough to imagine this was not his intention, given the title of his latest work, The Decline of Men. Yet given Garcia’s general positive outlook, not to mention the hopeful tidbits he concludes this book with, I wouldn’t call it negative, either. Even so, the path to uplifting one’s self often involves treacherous roads, and the author is not afraid to walk down those dark paths to shed some light on the situation.

The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of VS Naipaul (PopMatters)
Of all the things I’ve learned in 15 years of interviewing artists, one consistently reappears: you don’t always want to meet your favorites. There is a very good possibility that the artist you read on the page or listen to on the stereo is nothing like the person you imagine him or her to be. Obviously this is not always the case—we are diverse creatures, and our emotions vary from day to day. In reading this definitive biography of Trinidadian writer V.S. Naipaul, I’m certain that any wish I had to meet the man has been abandoned.

Buy Organic, Buy Local, Buyer Beware (Reality Sandwich)
Whenever possible, I buy organic. This is not just confined to food, but extends to any materials, clothing and household products I can purchase. Yet like many consumers, I am often confused by the available choices, as it has become harder and harder not to buy organic. Like many important terms, once the economics of the idea prospered, it became a vague and often meaningless adjective.