The Good about transportation and water

I'm a hit-and-miss reader of Good magazine, which has a highfalutin' yet noble approach to business: share the cost and heavy lifting of moving the world forward.

But the Spring and Summer issues are right up my alley: magazines dedicated to the topics of transportation (Spring) and water (Summer). I'm behind on my reading, so have just started the Spring issue. But there's good insight to be drawn from the "visionary ideas for the coming transportation revolution."

I like to call coverage of infrastrature "boring but important," but geeky as it may sound, these two topics are of great interest to me. There's a reason I thought seriously about becoming an urban planner about 15 years ago.

Sadly, most politicians consider water and transportation both boring AND unimportant despite overwhelming evidence water is the new gold and our transportation woes are strangling productivity, innovation and national security.

Sneak peak at Big Star box set

NPR is offering an "exclusive" free stream of Disc 1 of the new 96-track Big Star box set, "Keep and Eye on the Sky." The set will be released Sept. 15

I'm gonna wait for reviews to see whether the remastering, remixes, rarities and other extras are worth the cost (Amazon has it for $54), but it's safe to say this collection is long overdue. 

Disc 1 has 26 tracks, and provides a good look at Big Star's depth, creativity and the sound that influenced many a band over the last three decades.

Wolfgang's amazing live-music vault

Wolfgang’s Vault is an unbelievable treasure trove of free live concerts, both old and new. 

Fresh to my ears is a 1979 Rockpile concert from the Palladium in New York, one of five different Wolfgang's streams featuring either Rockpile or band member Dave Edmunds.

While Rockpile was known as a screaming live band (labelmates Led Zeppelin booted them as opening act from a tour because their opening shows were stealing Zepp’s thunder), there’s a few surprising vocal clunkers in this show. Still, their music drives like nobody's business, evidence of how great they were live.