Good news. Nashville-based band Silver Jews has just commenced a national tour. While this is only their second tour ever, they've been around the block; they've released six full-length albums in the past two decades including the seminal American Water, a Pitchfork 9.9. (Trivia: On-again-off-again collaborator and Silver Jews founding member Steve Malkmus went on to start a little band called Pavement.)

And indie rock aside, Berman is a poet of note. His book, Actual Air, published in 1999 and lauded by the likes of James Tate and Billy Collins, is a maddeningly eloquent exploration of the ins and outs of existence, and in the past decade, it hasn't strayed far from the most accessible spot on our bookshelves. In a recent backstage chat, he told us we could look forward to an upcoming book of drawings, The Portable February, to be released next spring, and possibly a screenplay commissioned by his pal Harmony Korine (Kids, Gummo).

We highly recommend you sample some of Berman's poetry here while you enjoy this mp3: "Suffering Jukebox"

Photo David Berman at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio; by Alex