I move on trying to play catch-up with a mountain of new album releases, with just barely a breath to mention the passings of underground comic author Harvey Pekar and counterculture figure Tuli Kupferberg, co-frontman and songwriter for The Fugs. Let's check out the new albums from Ed Kowalczyk (of Live fame), Magnolia Mountain, Jimmie Vaughan, Walter Trout, Kylie Minogue and The Cat Empire.  

In terms of my daughter's summer break, the season is nearly at an end. Back-to-school time has become something of a bittersweet ritual in the eight years that I've spent at home with her since being relieved of my graphic design career in 2001. I've been trying to ease my pain by listening to new album releases from Pictures of Then, The Hooters, Cale Parks, Walter Trout and Julian Plenti.