Wish You Were Here by Leslie Simon; Trevor Kelley; Rob Dobi (Paperback)

Average Price:$10 —— Simon, coauthor of the emo culture guide Everybody Hurts and an editor at buzznet.com, set out to write an ethnography of sorts about the “most cherished music scenes” in the country. It’s a promise only partly delivered. The selection of indie music–centric cities is spot-on, ranging from the obvious (Washington, D.C.; Seattle; Twin Cities) to the much less so (suburban Florida). In each section, Simon delivers a capsule “Music Primer” on that scene’s history, what kind of bands populated it, during...