The nation's oldest Death Row inmate probably won't ever be executed. But he sure loves to write letters.
South Florida's lawless exotic rental car industry keeps rolling.
If you thought Seattle couldn't fetishize coffee any more, you haven't been to a "cupping" yet.
One Tough Town, a brilliant sampling of American music from blues and rockabilly to New Orleans swing and noir folk, adds another top-notch effort to a prolific string of fine records that began with 2000's Omar's Blues in 2000. "Sweet Poison" is a shot of rockabilly so stout it should make most of the current crop of pompadoured fakers sell their instruments and go back to 40-hour weeks at Burger King. Macabre Dixieland slinker "Who's the Dummy Now?" features a ventriloquist's dummy setting his master straight with all the viciousness of Chucky meeting Mack the Knife: "Truth is, pal, you're nothin' but dead weight / You' bout as funny as a funeral home / I'd be better off alone / I'm what sells the tickets at the gate." One Tough Town makes a fine starting point for working backward through Olney's catalog and discovering a true genius of American song.