Asra Q. Nomani writes in The Wall Street Journal on Sherry Jones's new historical novel, "The Jewel of Medina" about Aisha, the young wife of the prophet Muhammad. Random House has pulled the book for fears of a political and extremist nature. In a statement, Random House said: "We stand firmly by our responsibility to support our authors and the free discussion of ideas, even those that may be construed as offensive by some. However, a publisher must weigh that responsibility against others that it also bears, and in this instance we decided, after much deliberation, to postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House Inc, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the book." Over at the Guardian, you can read more about the controversy.
posted by Fizz on Aug 12, 2008 - 140 comments

Grace Jones is coming to get you. [SLYT] From Jones' new album Hurricane, due this October. Sweet dreams, MeFites!
posted by [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] on Jul 15, 2008 - 52 comments

One fine old day in old LA, in the year of nineteen and sixty, one Frederick Usher met Eddie "One String" Jones, heard him lay down some deep blues on his diddley bow, and was so taken with Jones' monochord masterpieces that he ran home, grabbed his tape recorder and recorded Jones in the alley. One other recording session ensued soon thereafter, which was released as an LP in 1964. By that time, however, the mysterious Eddie Jones (if that was even his real name) was long gone, and was never heard from again. [NOTE: see hoverovers for link descriptions] [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite on May 24, 2008 - 22 comments

Here's a wonderful, brief clip of the great tenor saxophonist Ben Webster (wiki) and the great drummer Papa Jo Jones (wiki). Both men were marvels: here's a little illustration from 1957 of what made Jones so great, and here's Ben (accompanied by pianist Teddy Wilson[wiki]) late in life, milking the ballad "Old Folks" for so much feeling that one literally sees tears running down his face. [more inside]
posted by ornate insect on Apr 28, 2008 - 15 comments

40's-50's-Fun-Filter: glglglgl-prt-HIC! What soothing melodies do I hear? honk!honk!honk! Is it geese mating? Ibidi? Ibiduh. Ibidih? eauugh! No, it's Spike Jones and his City Slickers! [more inside]
posted by not_on_display on Mar 29, 2008 - 8 comments

If you've seen clips of Bo Diddley performances from the early 60s, you'll surely have noticed the presence of one or more female guitarists on stage, churning out that chunky six-string rhythm alongside the esteemed Mr. Diddley. Might've been Lady Bo that you've seen or heard, or it might've been The Duchess. Either way, hats off to some fine guitarists: women who filled a job category generally reserved (especially at that time) for the menfolk. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite on Mar 4, 2008 - 13 comments

Sex and the College Girl, by Norah Johnson A view from an educated woman in the 1950s: "Two criticisms rise above the rest: people in college are promiscuous, for one thing, and, for another, they are getting married and having children too early. These are interesting observations because they contradict each other."
posted by shivohum on Nov 20, 2007 - 24 comments

You walk into the room
With your pencil in your hand
You see somebody naked
And you say, "Who is that man?"
You try so hard
But you don't understand...

Jeffrey Owen Jones, a film professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology and, inadvertently, the featured metaphor in Bob Dylan's Ballad of a Thin Man, has died.
posted by y2karl on Nov 15, 2007 - 29 comments

Beatrice Coron is a paper cutting artist, who has a wonderful collection of paper cutting links, including images of her own work, the extraordinary cut paper art of Hina Aoyama, Kako Ueda, Masaaki Tatsumi, Virginia Rose Kane, Drew King, Rick Jones, Andrea Dezsö, Bette Burgoyne, Justine Smith and papercutting art from around the world. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Sep 30, 2007 - 12 comments

Ted Haggard returns --with a cash for heaven offer to support him while he helps "broken people". Unfortunately, the procedure outlined is illegal, and the charity (Families With a Mission) is unregistered and run by a convicted sex offender. Meanwhile, Mike Jones, Haggard's favorite whore, pops up at a dirty bar trivia night (questions about Haggard and him, maybe nsfw, textwise)
posted by amberglow on Aug 25, 2007 - 184 comments

Portraits of Stuffed Monkeys.
posted by brain_drain on Jul 27, 2006 - 9 comments

It's Irrational Consumerism day at last, so fold a rose, bake some tasty desserts, dress your self or your SO in something flimsy (previous two links may be NSFW), buy some love potion (via), and throw on some tasty mashup (via).
posted by sourbrew on Feb 14, 2006 - 7 comments