I Couldn't Throw It Out Blog

While thinking about Sinead O'Connor in recent days, I remembered this photo of her -- which I've kept for 33 years in one of the many photo albums I've collected for decades.  It's a reminder of a mistake I made -- and Sinead's appropriate res…

If you're new to They Might Be Giants -- or if you followed my bad example and stopped listening to them sometime in the '90s -- you've got some entertainment ahead.  For your listening pleasure, I've collected about 50 of my personal favorite…

Endless creativity.  Yup, that applies to John Linnell and John Flansburgh.  But also to the legion of fans whose tributes and histories of They Might Be Giants aspire to the high level of intelligence and fun in the band's music. Want a…

I know I said that Season 2 of I Couldn't Throw It Out would be released by March.  And we're now nearing the end of April.  But I've got all kinds of excuses. For one thing, I had to prepare by sorting every card and letter I've saved si…

While I was editing our podcast episode about my family's surprising immigrant story, I remembered many funny and useful expressions that were constantly repeated by my 4'8" grandmother Clara Levitt. She was - as my cousin Jim puts it -- the Yogi Be…

Music was always important to Cindy Ruskin and me, before, during and after all the challenges and triumphs of her three kidney transplants (which we share in two podcast episodes of I Couldn't Throw It Out). At times, it felt as if we were living …

Without dialysis, Cindy Ruskin wouldn't be here. She wouldn't have lived to survive all the challenges we describe in two episodes of our podcast. She wouldn't be in her studio at this very moment, making beautiful art -- like her new series that pu…

Friends!  Your name could be chosen at random to receive a free copy of my 1992 paperback book, Break It Down: The Inside Story of the New Leaders of Rap.  The book includes more than 60 candid interviews with the original creators of hip-…

Is it truly possible that you October ghouls never heard the all-time rocking-est, scariest, catchiest, funniest Halloween song? Oh, come on! Extract your fist out from that candy corn bag, and click the button below to GET DOWN WITH THE DEAD.&nbs…

A few friends who listened to the latest episode of our podcast told me that they weren't familiar with Donna Murphy - the friend who joined us to read poems from our high school literary magazine.  (Hear the episode here.). So I decided to ta…