Just the other night, a tidbit in the New Yorker about Harper Simon's self-titled debut caught my eye — mainly because the album was recorded with American Studios session alums Gene Chrisman and Mike Leech. What slipped my attention was the news that Simon was performing at the Hi-Tone Cafe tonight, after a month-long residency at Los Angeles' famed Largo nightclub.

The son of the iconic Paul Simon (and the subject matter of tunes such as "St. Judy's Comet" and, yes, "Graceland"), Harper updates Sweethearts of the Rodeo-era Byrds and Dylan's Nashville oeuvre with the help of legendary producer Bob Johnston, who manned the control board for Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, Nashville Skyline, Blonde on Blonde and John Wesley Harding; the Man in Black's Hello, I'm Johnny Cash; Leonard Cohen's Songs From a Room; and Simon & Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, and Bookends.

FACS (Blue Team):
Andrew (Captain), Freshman
Hannah, Junior
Zach, Junior
Megan, Senior
No alternate

Results:
Round One: Marion 55, FACS 80
Round Two: Marion 100, FACS 85
Round Three (Lightning Round): Marion 40, FACS 30
Tiebreaker: Marion 0, FACS 10
Final: Marion 195, FACS 205

Marion? Huh? According to the taping and broadcast schedules on the official Knowledge Bowl website, Match 3 was set to be FACS vs. Wooddale. For some reason, the team from Marion High School in Arkansas played against FACS. I can currently give no explanation. (Marion didn't appear elsewhere in the tournament either, so I'm going to chalk it up to Wooddale being unable to play for some reason and Marion being the first alternate to fill in.)

The Game: The early moments of the game provided an answer for a hypothetical future KB FAQ. Marion rang in early and missed a question before they actually had any points, ostensibly accruing a five-point penalty. The scoreboard doesn't tally negative points, so Marion had an understood -5 score.

This was confirmed after Marion's first correct answer (Nicole: "Civil War"), when the scorekeeper posted Marion's first sum as 5 instead of 10.

Round one was tighter than it should’ve been. Marion only answered two toss-ups correctly, but they did get the two bonuses. FACS, though it got 6 toss-ups correct, only cashed in on one bonus question.

The end of Round Two saw Marion within 10, setting up a tense finale. The Lightning Round was thrilling as promised, with Marion tying it up with 4 correct answers to FACS' 3.

Host Jim Jaggers, unaware of the tie, was about to go to commercial when someone off-camera shouted, "No no no no no! Tiebreaker."

After Midtown label Goner Records dropped the King Khan & BBQ Show's self-titled debut album five years ago, plenty of locals jumped on board the party wagon helmed by this Berlin-meets-Montreal duo, currently in the midst of a relentless tour promoting the release of Invisible Girl, just released on In the Red Records.

Sure, King Khan and BBQ's pastiche of Little Richard-inspired falsetto runs anchored with punk rock sing-along choruses makes for a great reason to get out of the house tonight. However, my money's on tour openers Those Darlins, who came from nowhere (okay, Murfreesboro) and have recently exploded on the national scene, thanks to scorching appearances at the Scion Garage Fest and at SXSW and rave write-ups in Paste, the New Yorker and even Oprah Magazine. No strangers to Memphis, Jessi, Kelley and Nikki Darlin have volunteered their efforts for the Delta Girls Rock Camp and played countless gigs in town, most recently with the Magic Kids last April.

Rude, raucous and brilliant, off-the-cuff musicians, Those Darlins are the aural equivalent of the babysitter you wish you had when you were twelve — willing to teach you how to smoke, cuss and kiss, before loading you up on ice cream and shots of your folks' whiskey.

Download "Wild One," from their self-titled debut, here.

And don't miss tonight's show at the Hi-Tone. Admission is $10 and doors open at 9 p.m.

West Memphis Christian:
Timothy (Captain), Senior
Braden, Senior
Shea, Junior
Michael, Junior
Alternate: Jonathan

Results:
Round One: Bartlett 130, WMC 30
Round Two: Bartlett 110, WMC 65
Round Three (Lightning Round): Bartlett: 10, WMC 10
Final: Bartlett 250, WMC 105

The Game: The only real tense moments in what was ultimately a pretty dominating game was about halfway through the second round. With the answer “Quadratic,” by West Memphis Christian’s Timothy, the Black Knights pulled the score to 130-100. Then Bartlett answered the next five correct toss-ups (and three bonuses) and put it out of reach for good.

Some might say there was a conspiracy afoot. West Memphis Christian reduces to WMC — the call letters for a TV rival to News Channel 3. Well, that was the kind of thing I thought about while scrawling out my voluminous notes for this first round match. I took two-and-a-half pages of notes, including every correct, incorrect, and bonus answer. I may not do that again, but I wasn’t sure at the time what info I might need for promised statistics. (See more, below.)

3.

I've listened to "Love And Theft" more in the last four months than I've listened to the supposedly sacred Time Out of Mind in the last four years. Casually profound and profoundly casual, this startling return to form reminds us that the key to Dylan's greatness has always lain less in the weighty pronouncements that got him dubbed the "Voice of a Generation" than in the warm, open tone of his music, the freeness of his vocals, and the consistent humor and wit of his lyrics. It is (Oh no! Here it comes!) his best record since Blood On the Tracks.

Song Sample: "Summer Days"

Oxford, Mississippi, bassist Laurie Stirratt, best known around these parts for her work with alt-country trailblazers the Hilltops and Blue Mountain, pictured above, is now cooking up a storm at Tallulah's Kitchen.

The New Orleans born, Mandeville-raised rocker-turned-chef is showing off her Louisiana roots via a rotating menu, which includes red beans and rice, chicken and sausage jambalaya, crawfish etouffee, and homemade Italian meatballs. The restaurant-within-a-restaurant — TK's shares a kitchen with Catfish One — is located at 2028 University Avenue, just a mile east of Oxford's town square.

6.

I admire most of Harvey's albums, and all of them up to this point. But Stories from the City, Stories From the Sea is the only one I love — probably because it's so full of affection itself. After years of tormented, severe, magnificent English blues-rock of her own imagining, Harvey crossed the Atlantic and made her love album: A woozy, breezy, blushing but endlessly rocking romantic ramble through Manhattan and Brooklyn. In truth, I hadn't listened to it front-to-back in a few years before pulling it out during a summer vacation road trip this year. And I was taken aback at how gloriously well it had held up.

Song Sample: "You Said Something"

Further: Dan Aykroyd = Yogi. Anna Faris to play a documentary filmmaker. I smell Oscuster (an Oscar-winning box-office blockbuster).

No word yet if the script will have Boo Boo bringing pic-a-nic baskets back.

Like his former cohort Judy Peiser, with whom he co-founded the Center for Southern Folklore, Ferris understands how to be a true folklorist: He disappears into the background and, with tape recorder and camera, documents his subjects in their natural light.

In this week's issue of the Flyer, Leonard Gill reviews Ferris' newest book, Give My Poor Heart Ease. As Gill notes, the Mississippi-born Ferris, founder of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at Ole Miss and the former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, who currently works at the Center for the Study of the American South at UNC, will return to his former stomping grounds — the Center for Southern Folklore — for a booksigning at 7 p.m. tomorrow.

The book's title comes from a 21-minute film produced by Yale University Media Design Studio with the Center for Southern Folklore back in 1975. (View it at Folkstreams.net.)

Meanwhile, the book itself is chock full of revelations, such as this first-person narrative from Otha Turner in his prime:

"I can dance. I can sing, ride horses, chop cotton and plow, whoop and holler, cut somersets, do all that stuff. I got two acres and two-tenths of land. I bought it. Scurrying hard, my labor paid for it. I paid one thousand for the land and 150 dollars for the house. Paid three hundred dollars to move the house. And I rent twelve acres and a half of cotton land."

9.

Sri Lankan-born world citizen M.I.A. mashes up Western pop (Modern Lovers, Pixies, Duran Duran) with Third World rhythms on this follow-up to her ecstatic debut Arular. Where the earlier record was an intensely pleasurable, beatwise brass-ring grab, Kala is a more rattled, woozy sonic miasma. Fantasizing about a Third World stick-up of First World wealth as she demands (or does she?) that soulja boys the world over toss away their guns; losing her mind in the midst of putting "people on the map who never seen a map"; falling in love on a Darfur tour, rapping joyfully with Aborigine kids: No album this year took in more of the world or did so with such a playful, disorienting rush of ideas.

Song Sample: "World Town"

Goner Records' Alley Party, rescheduled after a rainy October, is on for Barbaro Alley (Main Street between Union and Gayoso) at 5:30 p.m. today.

It's free, it's outdoors, and the current weather couldn't be better — plus, who hasn't missed the enigmatic Harlan T. Bobo, who spent the last several months in France, slinging ice cream and awaiting the birth of his firstborn son, Nino Bobo?

On a side note, if you haven't caught the Magic Kids yet, here's a perfect opportunity to do so. See why the rest of the world — including Red Kross genius Steven McDonald, who traveled to Gonerfest to see 'em, along with the powers-that-be at eMusic, Matador Records and U.K. label Stiff Records — is going bonkers for the Kids' Phil Spector-meets-punkish pop pastiche.

I’ve chosen to implement a completely different strategy for determining my Pearl Jam list than my last one, however. With U2, I listened to every album for a refresher and then made my list after the fact. For Pearl Jam, I have listened to each album, in order, and ranked each song as they played. (To wit: “Once” was number-one on my list until I listened to “Alive,” and then it dropped to two, until I listened to “Why Go,” when it dropped to three, and so on.)

Pearl Jam recently released a new album, Backspacer. I haven’t listened to it yet, and it seemed mildly appropriate to work up a list based on everything that came before it. Consider this a snapshot of my Pearl Jam opinions the day before I buy their next.

A note about eligibility: Pearl Jam has something like an open-source relationship with their fans. They’re prolific and they release scads of material in non-traditional formats such as fan-club extras, soundtracks, tributes, EPs, singles, official bootlegs, etc. In light of this, I created a list that assumed no studio Pearl Jam song was off-limits. That’s not to say I’ve heard everything there is out there. But I made a fairly concerted effort to access as much as is commonly available. Many rarities were collected on the band’s Lost Dogs two-disker, and I highly recommend it to anybody who’s into Pearl Jam enough to still be reading the words I’m typing here.

I ruled ineligible all live versions, because I just ain't got that kind of time on my hands. This is Knowledge Bowl season, yaknow.

Pearl Jam Top 40 Songs:

With an unprecedented amount of concerts scheduled over the next four weeks, November is shaping up as Get Your Ass Off the Couch and Go Out Month. My bank account is already hurting just considering the expense, but check out these highlights from the calendar at the Hi-Tone Cafe:

On Thursday, Nov. 5th, a solo performance from Small Faces organist Ian McLagan, who, like Booker T. Jones, delivers soulful chords via a Hammond B3. On Saturday night, an appearance from R&B wildman Andre Williams (pictured above), who has somehow managed to outlive cohorts Ike Turner and Nathaniel Mayer. The return of Germany-Canada garage rock duo King Khan & BBQ on Nov. 10th. Japanese cuties Shonen Knife (Nov. 11th) and legendary New Zealanders the Axemen (Nov. 9th). The unlikely, yet oh-so-perfect pairing of Dexter Romweber and Charlie Louvin on Nov. 21st. And, last-but-not-least, homecoming gigs from the like of Harlan T. Bobo (Nov. 25th) and the Reigning Sound (Nov. 14th).

With upcoming Minglewood Hall dates by Neko Case, Son Volt, and Dan Auerbach (Nov. 4th, 17th, and 20th, respectively), this bests even the typical spring influx of touring acts heading to and from SXSW.

Indie Memphis describes the film:

In Bill Plympton's latest feature, Idiots & Angels, a selfish and morally bankrupt man, wakes up one morning with wings on his back. Even more troublesome than their embarrassing appearance is the wings' tendency to want to do good deeds. After much ridicule, he desperately tries to rid himself of the good wings, but eventually finds himself fighting those who view the wings as their ticket to fame and fortune. Is Angel's misguided soul capable of being rescued? 

Told through Plympton's trademark animation style Idiots and Angels is a dark comedy about a man's battle for his soul

The Idiots & Angels screening is at 7:30 p.m. tonight. Admission is $5 or free to Indie Memphis members or Memphis College of Art students. Plympton will conduct a Q&A after the screening.

Plympton will also lecture at the Memphis College of Art tomorrow night at 7 p.m. The lecture is free and open to the public and is being held at Callicott Auditorium.

The trailer for Idiots & Angels:

Houston:
Sebastian (Captain), Senior
Daniel, Senior
Faith, Junior
Clayton, Senior
Alternate: Scott

Kingsbury:
Urica (Captain), Senior
Orlando, Junior
Audrey, Junior
Chawan, Junior
Alternate: Mary

Results:
Round One: Houston 170, Kingsbury 0
Round Two: Houston 160, Kingsbury 0
Round Three (Lightning Round): Houston: 80, Kingsbury 20
Final: Houston 410, Kingsbury 20

• Kingsbury High School

If you didn’t watch it, you might look at that score and think Houston dominated the game. You wouldn’t be wrong. But it’s worth noting that the Falcons seemed to have gotten shy after the first round. It’s one of the most underrated things about KB and, I presume, all TV game shows: the paralyzing fear and stage fright. I recall, before each of the three games I started back in 1993-94, waiting in the Channel 3 lobby for our turn on the stage, my overwhelming anxiety and how I had to excuse myself to the restroom. Too much information? Absolutely. I’ve never told anyone that before. But it’s wise to keep in mind that that’s the kind of stuff being experienced by the kids before and as the cameras roll. Respect.

12.

This epic album from the Wu-Tang Clan's greatest MC artist comes at you in movements. In the first third, Ghostface proves he can spin gripping drug-trade yarns better than any new jack while never once trying to convince you he didn't long ago rise above that world. The middle third is pure show-off: Luther Ingram-sampling endorsement of child abuse Ghost remembers as good parenting, Willie Hutch-driven battle of the sexes, explosive Pete Rock-produced rave-up. The final third he goes all "Old Jeezy" on us, bringing deep-soul wisdom and moral center to a newly resurgent subgenre (coke-trade rap) desperately in need of it. Throughout, you get a dense collection of grimy crime stories, offbeat boasts and exhortations ("Y'all be nice to the crackheads!"), soaring '70s soul samples, random bursts of reality (our hero opens one song kicked back at the crib watching Larry King Live), and extravagant production that splits the difference between Bomb Squad and Kanye West. If you're not a pretty serious hip-hop fan, you might struggle to find a point of entry. If you are a pretty serious hip-hop fan, you can get lost in it. Thirteen years after the debut of the posse classic Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers and 10 years too late, here's the best Wu-Tang album since the first one.

Sample Song: "The Champ"

Across the Mid-South this fall, teams have been built at each participating school. One of the fun things about watching Knowledge Bowl is getting to meet these talented young adults, and, for the winners, seeing them grow and change throughout the season. The best of the best get more confident and comfortable on TV as the tournament progresses.

They don't play for nuthin. Scholarships and bonds are given to every kid on every team, the amount increasing as the team advances. This year, each member on the winning team will get a $5,000 scholarship.

This year, consider SING ALL KINDS to be your Knowledge Bowl headquarters. We'll be providing game-by-game analysis; absolutely nobody has requested such in-depth coverage, but if high school football can soak up so much time and devotion in the local media, ain't it time for the nerds, geeks, cool-kids-who-are-also-smart, and every other brave soul who goes on the air to get their due? It's way past time.

• Mitch Easter

The headliner is alt-rock heavyweight Mitch Easter, whose rich varied career — from fronting indie cult band Let's Active to helming classic R.E.M. albums — is profiled in this week's paper by Andrew Earles. Setting the stage for Easter are a couple of local notables: The New Mary Jane pairs former Grifters partners Dave Shouse and Scott Taylor in a new form. And another signature early ’90s Memphis band, The Simple Ones, lead by Shangri-La Records owner Jared McStay, will also perform.

Memphis Pops starts at 6 p.m. and has been moved indoors due to our never-ending rain. It'll now take place in the back room at Earnestine & Hazel's, at 531 S. Main.

After being victim to the rain a few weeks ago, the Goner Records installment of the Downtown Alley Jams series has been rescheduled for next Wednesday, November 4th, in the Barbaro Alley near Main and Peabody. The show begins at 5:30 p.m. and will feature a packed triple bill of Mouserocket, Magic Kids, and Harlan T. Bobo.

15.

The year's most beautiful record is a reunion album from this great Senegalese pop band of the '70s and '80s that has been accurately but insufficiently described as an Afropop Buena Vista Social Club. Co-produced by countryman and onetime spotlight-usurper Youssou N'Dour, this dispatch from the other end of the Afro-Cuban continuum is more commanding and more supple, led by guitarist extraordinaire Barthelemy Attisso and saxman Issa Cissokho.

Song Sample: "Bul Ma Miin"

• Internationally acclaimed hottie George Clooney

From THR: "Delta, from Clooney and Grant Heslov's Smokehouse Pictures and Warner Horizon, was penned by Liz Garcia (Cold Case) and Josh Harto. It centers on an outstanding but unusual Memphis cop who moonlights as an Elvis impersonator and lives with his mother. Delta was put in development at TNT about a year and a half ago and was included in the cable network's development slate during its May 2008 upfront presentation."

George Clooney is, of course, Batman. No word at all about where the pilot will shoot, thought one suspects somewhere Memphis-y like Vancouver or Paraguay.

And there's more from The Hollywood Reporter: Pau Gasol! MIami! TV!

18.

It seems odd in a year so desperate — and desperately contentious — that there was so little music that acknowledged the colossal mess the world is in, as if all of pop music colluded to deal with it by dancing our troubles away. And there was no greater house party than Kish Kash. Brit DJs Basement Jaxx decided to make one thing we could all have when it all crumbles down, and they invited a jumbled assortment of friends — young rappers and old punks, second-tier teen-poppers and garage-rock soul belters, art-funk chanteuses and (literally) the girl next door — to help them do it. The result: the most ecstatic and warm-hearted party record in recent memory.

Song Sample: "Hot N' Cold"

Yesterday, a friend pointed me to this YouTube video of French singer/actress Vanessa Paradis — better known on these shores as the common law wife of Johnny Depp — performing a Euro pop rendition of Big Star's "The Ballad of El Goodo," which has also been reinterpreted by the likes of Ted Leo, Matthew Sweet, the Counting Crows, and the Lemonheads.

Guess there's nothing like knowing, "You don't have to, you can just say 'no'!" Unfortunately, Paradis didn't listen to her own advice.

See also: Scarlett Johansson's take on "I Am the Cosmos", released last month.

21.

Song Sample: "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)"

• Sore Eyes, among the artists feature on the "Memphis Means Music" free download.

The foundation has also partnered with Live From Memphis to create a free downloadable collection of contemporary Memphis music that will became available today. The 28-track download features local artists both established (Amy LaVere, Charlie Wood, Al Kapone) and emerging (Teflon Don, Sore Eyes, Battle Victorious).

For a full calendar of "Memphis Means Music" Week events, go here. To download the music collection, go here.

October 23rd. See MemphisMeansMusic.org for more information.

24.

Though Brighter Than Creation's Dark peaks at the very beginning with the saddest, loveliest song Patterson Hood will ever write, it holds its shape for an epic 19 songs and 75 minutes. Hood takes the toll of the Iraq war from two vantage points, ruminates on road life, spits in the wind of recession, and tips his cap to printer-of-legends "the great John Ford." Musical life-partner Mike Cooley spins one wonderful, low-rent character sketch after another, several of them probably autobiographical, led by a definitive metal-to-grunge saga he's old enough to have lived and a shaggy confession that outs country storyteller Tom T. Hall as this great band's biggest influence.

Song Sample: "Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife"