Iggy Pop opened this year's virtual Tibet House Benefit with a dramatic reading of Dylan Thomas' classic poem 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night' against a soundscape created by Noveller and Leron Thomas. Directed by Simon Taylor, it features Iggy Pop staring straight into the camera lens and reciting for 1 minute 47 seconds.

Answering to a question about his "problematic" lyrics, Nick Cave had this to say on his The Red Hand Files blog: "Perhaps we writers should have been more careful with our words – I can own this, and I may even agree – however, we should never blame the songs themselves. Songs are divinely constituted organisms. They have their own integrity. As flawed as they may be, the souls of the songs must be protected at all costs. They must be allowed to exist in all their aberrant horror, unmolested by these strident advocates of the innocuous, even if just as some indication that the world has moved toward a better, fairer and more sensitive place. If punishment must be administered, punish the creators, not the songs. We can handle it. I would rather be remembered for writing something that was discomforting or offensive, than to be forgotten for writing something bloodless and bland".

PopMatters is delighted with a collaborative album by composer and clarinetist Ben Goldberg, and poet Dean Young. Goldberg first wrote songs based on a set of poems by Young and recorded them with an improvising band. Then Goldberg played the tunes for Young (without his knowing which tune matched which poem), inspiring him to write new poems […]