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NEW YORK TIMES: Stocks fell sharply and oil prices suddenly spiked on Monday as investors anxiously waited for Washington lawmakers to hash out the details of the biggest government bailout in history — a politically fraught process that will create a new slate of winners and losers on Wall Street. That uncertainty, about a shaken financial system still in flux, appeared to spook investors away from assets tied directly to the health of the American government. The dollar dropped sharply against the euro, and oil prices jumped, closing up more than $16 a barrel. The Dow Jones industrials closed down 372 points after spending the day deep in negative territory. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index finished down 3.8 percent. “What can I say? Every market is just out of control right now,” said Tom Bentz, an energy analyst at BNP Paribas. MORE
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WRECKLESS ERIC: The Whole Wide World
Just wanted to remind you that this Friday at the North Star Bar, Stiff Records Artist Wreckless Eric will be performing with his wife, WXPN favorite, Amy Rigby. Joe Jack Talcum (formerly of The Dead Milkmen) will open the show. Amy Rigby’s first solo album was released in 1996, “Diary of a Mod Housewife,” which won her a “Songwriter of the Year” award from SPIN magazine. She had previously performed with Indie groups Last Roundup and The Shams. The Shams music was a mix of Americana and Punk, and was labeled as “Riot Grrrls Unplugged” and “Beauty Parlor Soul” by Punk Legend Richard Hell. Laura Cantrell and Ronnie Spector have recorded compositions by Rigby. Wreckless Eric was best known for the 1978 single “(I’d Go The) Whole Wide World,” which was released on Stiff Records and was named one of the best Punk Rock Singles of all time by Mojo Magazine. “Whole Wide World” has recently gained a whole new audience from its use in the 2006 Will Ferrell film “Stranger Than Fiction.” Eric’s was an original member of the Stiff Records artist roster with Ian Dury (of Ian Dury and the Blockheads), Nick Lowe, and Elvis Costello. 2008 has seen the marriage of Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby and the release of their first album together.