Tantalizing trailer for "Nothing Can Hurt Me"

I can't wait to see this documentary on one of rock music's greatest bands, one that remains little known despite enormous critical acclaim over the course of four decades. 

Unlike many music fans with selective memory, I didn't get the Big Star thing until the early 1980s. But when I did, I did. What a great band, with songs so nuanced that each listen delivers new surprises.

Nikola Tesla's brilliance too much for clueless VCs

Anyone who knows me well knows I've long been a huge fan of inventor Nikola Tesla. Tesla has grown in popularity in recent years thanks to Tesla Motors, recent efforts to build memorials in his name and smart techies who are inspired by his many disparate breakthroughs. 

With that in mind, this video is hilarious on so many levels. Tesla died a broken man, but he's got to be spinning in his grave at the thought of jumping through the ridiculous hoops facing modern-day inventors and creators.  

1977: Looking back at the year punk broke big

It's been 30 years since punk first broke big, and the good folks at "Sound Opinions" have celebrated that anniversary with a fine two-part podcast. 

Gret Kot and Jim DeRogatis offer their own expertise in the punk genre but these two episodes click because of guest authors Simon Reynolds and Ira Robbins, both of whom were front and center as the genre exploded on both sides of the pond. 

Part One loops in Reynolds, author of a number of excellent music books, to help describe the birth and legacy of English punk. Trouser Press founder Robbins guests on Part Two and explains that the New York scene actually caught fire a few years before and in fact influenced the more flamboyant adn politically potent U.K. scene.