Homer Simpson proudly displays his Grammy Award for Outstanding Soul, Spoken Word or Barbershop Album.

​Adele could soon become a Grammy paper champion. Oh sure. 21 is a worthy entrant for the coveted Grammy for Album of the Year. "Rolling in the Deep," after all, topped the 2011 Pazz and Jop Poll by a pretty substantial margin. And in an era where physical releases don't sell particularly well, 21 is a remarkable outlier. The album -- which has spent an astounding nineteen non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart -- sold at least seventeen million copies across the globe.

Those are impressive attributes for any contender for the Grammy's biggest award. And there's little question that Adele deserves praise if she ends up winning big during Sunday's award show. But there's just one problem: For some reason, the hoosiers that control the Grammys forgot to include Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in the Album of the Year category. Instead, Adele's masterwork got lopped in with Rihanna's Loud, Foo Fighters' Wasting Light, Bruno Mars' Doo-Woops & Hooligans and Lady Gaga's Born This Way.

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​The FBI's National Gang Threat Assessment update has been making the rounds today and one part of it has been particularly eye-catching: The inclusion of Juggalos, about which the FBI has this to say:

The Juggalos, a loosely-organized hybrid gang, are rapidly expanding into many US communities. Although recognized as a gang in only four states, many Juggalos subsets exhibit gang-like behavior and engage in criminal activity and violence. Law enforcement officials in at least 21 states have identified criminal Juggalo sub-sets, according to NGIC reporting

Let us join the chorus of voices wondering if this characterization is not just a little extreme and generalized. Like any group of people, some Juggalos are bad apples, most are generally good apples and some are really excellent apples, like the folks behind Denver-based charity Juggalos Making A Difference.

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​David Lynch's long-promised solo album is here: You can go listen to Crazy Clown Time right now on NPR's First Listen. What we've heard of it so far is about what you'd expect based on the horrifying title track: guitar licks from some dusty hell, discordant moans, vague insinuations. Seriously, if you're looking to get into the spirit, there is no better album to be listening to today. And tonight, if you don't mind not being able to get to sleep. Exceptionally tuneful Karen O collab "Pinky's Dream" is below.

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​Really, you don't need to know much more than that the song is called "Crazy Clown Time" and that it is the second song to emerge from David Lynch's upcoming solo record of the same name. And rest assured, he does that title justice, chirping smirkingly innocent small town frolics over warped guitar, buried chatter and sex moans. Sample lyrics: "Danny poured the beer all over Sally (moan)/But he screamed so loud he spit/We all ran around the back yard (moan, moan)/It was crazy clown time. Crazy clooown tiiiime/It was crazy clown time/Crazy cloown tiime/It was crazy clown time/It was real fun." Listen below, as long as it's still light outside and there are other people around.

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When it comes to chess, St. Louis actually does have room for two sheriffs in town. (And a piano.)

​According to the ticker on its website, the World Chess Hall of Fame is six days from opening in its new home in the Central West End across the street from the Chess Club and Scholastic Center. This news should be accompanied by the same level of enthusiasm you'd assume it lacks. (You'd be wrong.) In addition to showcasing the game's most prized possessions, the World Chess Hall of fame straddles the divide between art and science with its attention to chess. And on September 13, it will focus firmly on music.

In the days around its opening, the World Chess Hall of Fame will cover solid but expected terrain: hors d'oeuvres, ribbon cutting, an induction ceremony and a tour through the art, rare chess sets and other memorabilia on display in the three-floor, 15,000 square foot building. The official activities will transition to experimental on September 13, however, with a visual art performance of the world's only chess piano.

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Courtesy of Third Man Records

​Well hello there, Wednesday. Think I might just do some wandering around the Internet today, see what people are up to. Oh, something new on Jack White's Third Man Records, looks like there might be a collabWHAT THE HELL?!?! Insane Clown Posse? Mozart? JEFF the Brotherhood? Put this officially on top of our list of least likely musical collaborative cocktails of 2011. The new 7", produced by White, is anchored by "Leck Mich Im Arsch," which the release claims is based on a Mozart composition of the same name that literally translates to "Lick Me In The Arse." And that is all completely true! No seriously -- a spectacular Wikipedia entry on the subject is a good starting point.

The song samples the canon, and Nashville's JEFF the Brotherhood act as the backing band for Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J. Because why not. Listen below.

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Wikimedia Commons

One St. Louis think tank is trying to make this happen on a much smaller level -- and then turn it into music. That's right.

​When Dan Reus thinks about the big picture, he's not thinking about the same canvas the rest of us are considering. Right now, he's not even on the same planet. Yet somehow, his most recent project, one that he hopes will end approximately 190 miles above Earth's surface, began with a meeting in a pub.

In January, Reus, the founder of local creative collective Openly Disruptive, met a man named Sandy Antunes in an Irish bar outside of Washington, D.C. The conversation was notable both because of who Antunes is and what he brought with him: part of a satellite. For years, Antunes used his degrees in astronomy and computational astrophysics in his work with NASA to launch the program's satellites into orbit. After four years spent on a launch that he never heard about again, Antunes decided to try it again, this time without government intervention.

Today, he is the founder of Project Calliope, a plan to launch a mini-satellite into space to collect data that can later be translated into music. It was Calliope that enticed Reus, a 44-year-old marketing consultant, to request the meeting. It is at this point that most people would become overwhelmed. It was at this point, however, that Reus thought, "I'll try that."

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​A few weeks ago, we received Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Def Leppard in the mail, along with the recipe for "Pour Some Peaches on Me," a healthy snack idea for your infant regardless of how many arms it has.

The newest installment of the series, a lullaby tribute to Madonna, will be released on August 16, and includes sleepy versions of hits such as "Material Girl," "Vogue," "Like a Prayer," "Papa Don't Preach" and "Like a Virgin," about which we have mixed feelings. It also includes a recipe, this time for "Just Like A Pear." Why they didn't call it "Like A Pear" is beyond us -- they got away with the direct fruit/noun replacement last time.

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So, this exists.

​We were the proud recipients of the latest entry in the Rockabye Baby! franchise, which turns classic (read: geriatric) rock into lullabies for, you guessed it, babies. This one renders Def Leppard in vibraphones and vibraslaps, which on principle has to be one of the last things you'd want your kid to listen to. Or so you'd think: In the end, the results were basically just underwhelming (and strangely soothing). The best part of the CD, however, might be what we found across from it in its packaging: a recipe for "Pour Some Peaches On Me," which has to be the most kickass baby food ever.

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Courtesy of Justin Bieber Shrine

​Sure signs of an impending apocalypse:

1. Locusts: Depending on what part of St. Louis you're in, you can substitute cicadas.
2. Thunder, hail and tornadoes: Done, done and done.
3. Justin Bieber winning a CMT award: Which he did, earlier this week, for his collaboration with Rascal Flatts on "That Should Be Me."

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