Another last-minute attempt to keep my weekly picks series going–not because there’s not enough great stuff to share; more that I’ve let myself get too busy. So only two peeks this week, but anyway:

Uncle Tupelo: No Depression (Legacy Edition)

Want to know what it was like to grow up in southern Illinois? Buy this album and listen to it, then listen to it again. And a few more times. I can’t tell you how strangely proud I am that one of the greatest, most influential bands of the last 50 years is not just from my neck of the woods, but friends of mine from high school (but not my shitty high school) played gigs with Uncle Tupelo. Interesting fact: There’s a museum of Mississippi River lock and dams in Alton (birthplace of Robert Wadlow, Miles Davis, and me), and Jay Farrar is noted as a local luminary on the who’s who wall. Sad fact: I never got to see Uncle Tupelo in person. I did see both Son Volt and Wilco more times than I can count. Not quite the same. Anyway, if you’ve never heard Uncle Tupelo’s cover of “Sin City,” this is your chance.

HTTParty

Nothing new to seasoned Rubyists, but I’ve been taking advantage of HTTParty’s simple-yet-powerful interface for building web-based APIs a lot lately.