November 11 — Honoring our men and women who have served. There are many swimmers, but few lifeguards. Donate at the link.

Discover Paralyzed Veterans of America and their devotion to helping veterans in all aspects of their lives through education, assistance and other programs.

Sunday Nov 3 (WNYC.org): "Steve Young, a writer for David Letterman, and musician/writer/artist Sport Murphy have been marveling at and collecting Industrial Musical LPs for years, and now they've created a lavish, humorous coffee table book titled Everything's Coming Up Profits: The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals. David Garland's Spinning on Air welcomes Young and Murphy to the WNYC Studio to talk about and play examples of this genre which though it may seem like an artifact from an alternate reality, or a strange hoax, is, in fact, fact."

Marshall Crenshaw's "Bottomless Pit" radio show on WFUV tonight features the first of a two-part salute to a towering figure in late 20th century popular music, the record producer Tom Wilson. Airs from 10pm to midnight (Eastern).

http://producertomwilson.com

Molotkow: "Greg Sestero's book 'The Disaster Artist' is hilarious, but, as with the film [The Room], you sometimes feel bad for laughing: despite all the tyranny, it stings to see how much suffering went into the film’s conception and how much heart went into its making. Wiseau and his audience have a compact: he accepts their laughter; they come in droves. Does it matter what they’re laughing at? That, of course, is the big question at the heart of outsider art."

Greg Sestero starred in Wiseau's "The Room," which some call the “greatest bad movie ever made.”

WFMU is raising funds to renovate our ground floor and transform it into a multi-media performance space and radio theater. Most radio stations would solicit million$ from mega-donors, but we're doing it in small steps. We're almost ready to invite the public in for live music, broadcasts, performances, films, art shows and special events, but we need to raise $200,000 to bring the space up to code and purchase basic audio equipment to complete the process.

Help WFMU build the Studio of Tomorrow performance space by pledging your support this October!

Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica (24 players) performs the Space Age Pop of Mexican maestro ESQUIVEL this Saturday at Pace College, New York City, as part of the Celebrate Mexico festivities.

Beth Sorrentino: "'Beautiful Day' was written a week after 9/11. It's a reflection and narrative of the events of that day and people I knew who were there, and worrying about their safety."

Record producer Tom Wilson died of a heart attack 35 years ago on this date at age 47. Who was Wilson? In 1954 this lanky Texan graduated cum laude from Harvard, where he served as president of the Harvard Republican Club. Over the next 14 years he produced the first two albums by Sun Ra, the Velvet Underground, and the Mothers of Invention. He produced Dylan's second thru fifth albums (including Bringing It All Back Home). Although he didn't produce Dylan's sixth, Highway 61 Revisited, he did produce one track: "Like a Rolling Stone." He took an obscure acoustic track from Simon & Garfunkel's commercially failed debut album (which he'd produced) and, without the approval of the artists, overdubbed a rock band. That recording, "The Sounds of Silence," was released as a single in 1965, went to #1, and helped launch the folk-rock boom. He produced early albums by saxophonist Eddie Harris, pianist Cecil Taylor, and Soft Machine's debut. His discography veers from John Coltrane to Dion; from the Clancy Brothers to Hugh Masekela; from Donald Byrd to Eric Burdon; from the Blues Project to Nico; and from Gil Scott-Heron to Connie Francis.

In the three and a half decades since his premature passing, no books have been written about Wilson's storied life and career. No biopics have been produced, and no American Masters profile.

But because we have the www, there's now a website devoted to Producer Tom Wilson. I started it four months ago and assembled it slowly. Today marks its official launch. No bells, no whistles — just Tom Wilson 1.0. Chronicles, photos, links, quotes, interviews, and the most exhaustive discography to date of Wilson's productions. I probably got some stuff wrong. Help me fix it.

Record Producer. March 25, 1931 - September 6, 1978. This website aims to serve as a clearinghouse for information about the late producer Tom Wilson.

America has gone downhill in recent decades and I blame RANDY NEWMAN. It's all his fault.

A story about the late sunshine pop pioneer Curt Boettcher, the journalist who was obsessed with him, and the journalist who was obsessed with the journalist who was obsessed with Curt.

How a forgotten musical genius became one woman’s obsession — and she, in turn, became mine.