Best known for his work in bands like the Nation of Ulysses and the Make-Up, Ian Svenonius has taken his academic-minded persona to television with a show called Soft Focus. On it, Svenonius interviews fellow musicians like Will Oldham and Ian MacKaye. Topics range from vaguely serious discussions of music and culture to talks of dolphin ejaculate and FBI files. It's priceless.
Part 1 of his talk with Will Oldham is here:

ALSO: Stay tuned for a piece on Ian Svenonius' upcoming DJ gig with Calvin Johnson in the March 8th issue.

I watched the 49th Annual Grammys just long enough to see the Police jam out an extended version of "Roxanne" and Tony Bennett throw out an awkward plug for Target. I couldn't really ask for any more. As far as the actual awards go, the Dixie Chicks were the night's big winners, taking home five awards including Album of the Year and Song of the Year. Makes you wonder where the industry was a few years ago when the band was having its albums steamrolled.

But the highlight of the night was far and away the Police. Today, the band held a promotion-milking press conference announcing their impending world tour. With no dates scheduled in California, speculation of the Police headlining Coachella is still running rampant. Boss extraordinaire Ellen Griley thinks that an appearance is likely, but she also has other concerns--like why Stewart Copeland won't cut his hair. "Cut it short," she says. "Stop being so weird and go back to being the hottest member of the Po Pos." She's right on that one. If you haven't noticed, Copeland looks shockingly--SHOCKINGLY!--similar to Ted Danson. It's uncanny.

ALSO: If you're not sick of self-aggrandizing award ceremonies yet, last night was also the Plug Awards, which saw I'm From Rolling Stone-favorites Band of Horses take home top honors. Other notable winners were Neko Case, Yo La Tengo and Xiu Xiu. The full list of winners is available here.

From Pitchfork:

On March 20, Epic/Legacy will celebrate the 40-year anniversary of the release of the group's 1967 debut, A Whole New Thing, by reissuing it along with the rest of the band's seven pre-solo Sly or Family Stone "comeback" albums. All seven albums (chronologically: A Whole New Thing, Dance to the Music, Life, Stand!, There's a Riot Goin' On, Fresh, Small Talk) will come as limited edition digipaks with bonus tracks, plenty of which are previously unreleased. According to a press release, they will also feature "restored and expanded packaging, including rare photos, memorabilia, and new liner notes by a diverse group of writers and artists."

IN OTHER NEWS: LA record store Ooga Booga has a batch of Calvin Johnson-created mixtapes for sale. Each tape covers a different type of music, with genres ranging from Soviet-era rock and pop to power pop from the '70s to Jamaican reggae b-sides. They're $10 each and probably will earn you all sorts of street cred.