Coachella: A Heavy Lean Toward the British

Chad Batka for The New York Times From left, Alexander “Chilli” Jenson and Samuel Thomas Fryer of the British band Palma Violets.

Coachella has become one of the primary American summer music institutions, not from a loyalty to domestic acts, but because it is warm to an idea that arose around the indie-mainstream collapse of the 1990s: subcultures can be mainstreamed too. The festival, one of the primary American summer music institutions with its 90,000 or so attendees this weekend and next, relies on that.

This year the festival is leaning heavily on British indie rock fandom, highlighting the sorts of acts loved by people who think adventure has been disproportionately distributed across the pond. Four straight British acts were booked in the Mojave tent on Friday afternoon â€" three young, one established â€" as if to demonstrate the potency of the British model.

Chad Batka for The New York Times The singer-songwriter Jake Bugg.

The earliest was the rising singer-songwriter Jake Bugg, who has listened to enough Dylan to excite people who complain that young musicians don’t listen to enough Dylan. He’s a committed stylist, an intense singer and the sort of nostalgist that plays well both to Coachella’s fetishizers of the new and to its champions of the old. For that second group, there was also Johnny Marr, who sweated through his shirt in an intense set of his solo material and old Smiths songs. After him came Palma Violets, who just released their raggedly charming debut album, and who played an angsty set in front of not nearly enough people. (The fourth in the group was the highly lauded and utterly toothless band Alt-J, inexplicable winners of Britain’s prestigious Mercury Music Prize.)

Later tonight on the main Coachella stage, the two closing bands together recapture a moment that many of these younger artists are hoping to recreate, when bands could be major stars in England, but here still carried a bit of subcultural cachet: the Stone Roses and Blur. All day, it’s been easy for nostalgists to feel old. A few hours from now, certainly they’ll feel young again.

Week in Pictures for April 12

See the slide show

Here is a slide show of photographs from the past week in New York City and the region. Subjects include a real estate broker-tax preparer, a protest over fast-food restaurant pay and auditions for the School of American Ballet.

This weekend on “The New York Times Close Up,” an inside look at the most compelling articles in the Sunday newspaper, Sam Roberts will speak with The Times’s Clyde Haberman, Eleanor Randolph, Michael Barbaro and Thomas Kaplan. Also, George McDonald, a candidate for mayor, and John Strausbaugh, an author.

A sampling from the City Room blog is featured daily in the main print news section of The Times. You may also browse highlights from the blog and reader comments, read current New York headlines, like New York Metro | The New York Times on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

A Mortgage Holiday for Some Borrowers Hurt by Hurricane

Thousands of homeowners whose properties were damaged by Hurricane Sandy  and cannot make their mortgage payments have gotten another reprieve â€"  the federal government announced Friday that borrowers  with home loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration could suspend mortgage payments for up to one year while they repair their homes.

Homeowners with federally backed loans had already been given a payment delay period of six months that was due to expire April 30. About 286,000 homeowners with F.H.A. loans in the areas affected by the storm, including more than 95,700 in New York and about 32,513 in New Jersey, are now eligible for the new 12-month relief.

Shaun Donovan, the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said borrowers would also be able to work out repayment plans to avoid having to pay the missed payments in a lump sum at the end of the delay or forbearance period. Mr. Donovan said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage finance companies that guarantee most loans, are offering similar accommodations.

“This would ensure that families don’t face a crisis when this period ends,” he said.

Mr. Donovan spoke at a news conference in the Manhattan office of Senator Chuck Schumer, who urged banks to “follow the cues of the government agencies” and defer payments as well. Private loans with no federal backing account for a relatively small percentage of all mortgages.

Kosher Food Maker’s Inventory Seized Over Rodent Infestation

Screengrab from V.I.P. Foods Web site. V.I.P. Foods, whose Queens headquarters were infested with rodents, according to federal authorities, sells its products under several brands, including KoJel.

Fans of KoJel kosher foods like instant pudding, hot chocolate mix and instant noodle soup, brace yourselves: V.I.P. Foods, the Queens food supplier that manufactures the products, had about $1 million in inventory seized by the federal Food and Drug Administration because of “widespread rodent infestation,” federal prosecutors said on Friday.

The F.D.A. seized the foodstuffs from V.I.P.’s Ridgewood, Queens, headquarters on March 19, after inspectors visited on multiple occasions between October and February, according to a complaint filed last month in federal court.

On Oct. 25, inspectors “observed over 1,200 rodent excreta pellets, at least 4 live and dead mice, and rodent-gnawed containers of food,” as well as rodent urine stains on and around foodstuffs, the complaint says.

After receiving notice of the violations, V.I.P. told the F.D.A. that the problems were fixed, but when inspectors returned in February, they found the same problems, the complaint states.

V.I.P., which also makes muffin mix, dessert gel and flavored mashed potatoes, was cited for spilled food and for having substantial gaps at the doors of its loading bay and insufficiently screened windows, which could have served as potential entryways for insects and rodents.

“V.I.P.’s warehouse was a picnic ground for rodents, and the company failed utterly in its obligation to provide food deemed safe for human consumption,” Loretta E. Lynch, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.

V.I.P. Foods headquarters closes at 1 p.m. on Fridays, and a call placed late Friday afternoon was not returned.

V.I.P. was founded in 1983 and initially supplied the health care, catering and restaurant industries, according to the company’s Web site. It merged with KoJel in the mid-1980s and expanded into grocery stores across the country.

Prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture and condemnation of the seized products.

Graphic Books Best Sellers: Scott Snyder’s ‘American Vampire’

The writer Scott Snyder seems to be making a home out of our hardcover list. This week, Volume 5 of “American Vampire,” about a new breed of bloodsucker, enters the list at No. 2. (He is also the writer behind the Batman stories at No. 1 and No. 8.) In this latest installment of “American Vampire,” Mr. Snyder has been blessed with two gifted collaborators: Rafael Albuquerque, the original series artist, and Dustin Nguyen, who illustrates a spin-off story included in this collection. Though vampires have seemingly given up their number one status in pop culture to zombies, Mr. Snyder proves there are still plenty of tales to tell about these creatures of the night. Mr. Nguyen lends his wonderfully expressive and moody art to an adventure involving the hunt for the granddaddy of all vampires, Dracula, while Mr. Albuquerque illustrates the exploration of all things related to Skinner Sweet, the first American vampire, who is more vicious and less bothered by sunlight. The only drawback to reading thi book in collected form is that the reader does not get to long savor the cliffhangers with which Mr. Snyder ends most issues. (Click here for a profile on Mr. Snyder from Sept. 2011.)

There are two other noteworthy books that have crossed my desk recently, but have not, so far, made our Best Sellers list. “The New Crusaders,” from Archie, both digs deep into the company’s past and looks toward the future. The story revolves around The Mighty Crusaders, who are led by The Shield, a patriotic hero who had his debut in 1940. The heroes have seemingly won, but a forgotten enemy returns and a new generation of champions must rise. “The New Crusaders,” written by Ian Flynn and features artwork by Ben Bates and Alitha Martinez, began as a digital-first model announced by the company in 2011. This is the first collected edition. There aren’t a lot of surprises in this “gathering of forces” adventure, but I enjoyed my introduction to the new characters, I was a fan of the artwork and I would pick up Volume 2.

“Maximum Minimum Wage” is a hefty tome from the cartoonist Bob Fingerman, who confesses in his introduction that this just might be the final version of this semi-autobiographical work. (Mr. Fingerman prefers the label quasi-autobiographical, which he explains here). I’ve had a lot of ups and downs with Mr. Fingerman’s work. “Maximum Minimum Wage” is one of the ups. The characters are still flawed and I still wonder about some of their choices, but now, 10 years later, the story feels more grounded: I could see them as real people who make mistakes, sometimes big ones. The last page of the story, more than half way through before a ton of extras, left me feeling sympathetic for the main character who was riddled with doubt on one of the big days of his life.

As always, the complete best-seller lists can be found here, along with an explanation of how they were assembled.

‘Mad Men’ Predictions: What Do You Think Will Happen Sunday

On the season premiere of “Mad Men,” Don Draper showed up drunk at a funeral and his ex-wife, Betty, showed up brunet after a foray to the East Village. Though it’s a sure bet Don will be drinking again on Sunday’s episode (when does he not), any guesses on what else will happen In a new feature, here’s your chance to make your predictions. Check back next week to see how you did.

Charting Vampire Weekend’s New Album

The New York indie rock band Vampire Weekend will release its third album, “Modern Vampires of the City,” on XL on May 14. The artist Andrew Kuo breaks down two new songs, “Step” and “Diane Young,” whose video features Saabs burning against a Manhattan cityscape.

Andrew Kuo

Rick Ross Apologizes for Offensive Lyrics

A day after Reebok fired him as a spokesman, the Miami rapper Rick Ross issued a statement apologizing for his lyrics on a song that seemed to condone rape, saying they are offensive, The Associated Press reported.

Mr. Ross said his rap on the Rocko song “”U.O.E.N.O.” was “offensive” and said it “does not reflect my true heart.”

In the song, Ross raps about giving a woman the drug MDMA, known as Molly or ectasy, taking her home and having sex with her without her knowledge. “For me to suggest in any way that harm and violation be brought to a woman is one of my biggest mistakes,” Mr. Ross said in the statement. He added that men who listen to his music should “know that using a substance to rob a woman of her right to make a choice is not only a crime, it’s wrong.”

Welcome the Library’s Sleeping Lions: River and Dale

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times River and Dale at rest: the new lions outside the library branch in Riverdale in the Bronx now have names.

After a worldwide naming contest, the stone lions snoozing outside the Riverdale branch of the New York Public Library in the Bronx have been officially christened: River and Dale.

The names, to be announced at a reception at the library Friday afternoon, beat out more than 350 other suggestions submitted in person and online from lion-namers as far away as Toronto, England and Australia. Finalists included Patronus and Cupitor and Leo and Rex.

The New York Public Library president, Tony Marx, chose the winning pair. “The enthusiastic response to this contest highlights the deep love and passion people around the globe have for N.Y.P.L. and for libraries in general,” Mr. Marx said in a statement.

In a nod to the Riverdale lions’ more glamorous cousins, Patience and Fortitude, stationed in front of the library building on Fifth Avenue, Mr. Marx added: “It was difficult to choose from such a wide range of creative names, but after looking over the finalists with much patience and fortitude, I couldn’t help but name the lions after their new home, a vibrant community with dedicated patrons.”

The Riverdale lions, which weigh about 900 pounds each, were moved to the library in January after their previous home, the Loews Regency Hotel on Park Avenue, underwent renovations. James S. Tisch, chief executive officer of Loews, is also a member of the board of the New York Public Library.

Library officials said the Riverdale branch, which circulates about 12,000 books and DVDs a month, was chosen in part because it had ample space to display the lions.

Book Review Podcast: Sam Tanenhaus Signs Off

This week in The New York Times Book Review, Dan Savage reviews “Does Jesus Really Love Me A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America” by Jeff Chu. Mr. Savage writes:

Chu spent a year traveling all over the country, but it wasn’t God he sought on his pilgrimage. He has never lost his faith. Instead he spent a year meeting with preachers, pastors and ministers who fall all over the map when it comes to the issue of homosexuality, despite the fact they cite the same Bible. Some churches Chu visits are actively hostile (the crowd at Westboro Baptist); some are passively hostile (gay and lesbian worshipers are welcome to attend â€" and to tithe â€" so long as they understand that they are not a part of God’s perfect creation); and some fully embrace gay people and approve of gay sex â€" but only in the context of a committed, monogamous relationship, of course.

This week, Sam Tanenhaus hosts his last installment of the Book Review Podcast. There will be champagne.

Guests include Pamela Paul, his successor as editor of the Book Review and host of the podcast, and past contributors.

Book Review Podcast: Sam Tanenhaus Signs Off

This week in The New York Times Book Review, Dan Savage reviews “Does Jesus Really Love Me A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America” by Jeff Chu. Mr. Savage writes:

Chu spent a year traveling all over the country, but it wasn’t God he sought on his pilgrimage. He has never lost his faith. Instead he spent a year meeting with preachers, pastors and ministers who fall all over the map when it comes to the issue of homosexuality, despite the fact they cite the same Bible. Some churches Chu visits are actively hostile (the crowd at Westboro Baptist); some are passively hostile (gay and lesbian worshipers are welcome to attend â€" and to tithe â€" so long as they understand that they are not a part of God’s perfect creation); and some fully embrace gay people and approve of gay sex â€" but only in the context of a committed, monogamous relationship, of course.

This week, Sam Tanenhaus hosts his last installment of the Book Review Podcast. There will be champagne.

Guests include Pamela Paul, his successor as editor of the Book Review and host of the podcast, and past contributors.

Book Review Podcast: Sam Tanenhaus Signs Off

This week in The New York Times Book Review, Dan Savage reviews “Does Jesus Really Love Me A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America” by Jeff Chu. Mr. Savage writes:

Chu spent a year traveling all over the country, but it wasn’t God he sought on his pilgrimage. He has never lost his faith. Instead he spent a year meeting with preachers, pastors and ministers who fall all over the map when it comes to the issue of homosexuality, despite the fact they cite the same Bible. Some churches Chu visits are actively hostile (the crowd at Westboro Baptist); some are passively hostile (gay and lesbian worshipers are welcome to attend â€" and to tithe â€" so long as they understand that they are not a part of God’s perfect creation); and some fully embrace gay people and approve of gay sex â€" but only in the context of a committed, monogamous relationship, of course.

This week, Sam Tanenhaus hosts his last installment of the Book Review Podcast. There will be champagne.

Guests include Pamela Paul, his successor as editor of the Book Review and host of the podcast, and past contributors.

Book Review Podcast: Sam Tanenhaus Signs Off

This week in The New York Times Book Review, Dan Savage reviews “Does Jesus Really Love Me A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America” by Jeff Chu. Mr. Savage writes:

Chu spent a year traveling all over the country, but it wasn’t God he sought on his pilgrimage. He has never lost his faith. Instead he spent a year meeting with preachers, pastors and ministers who fall all over the map when it comes to the issue of homosexuality, despite the fact they cite the same Bible. Some churches Chu visits are actively hostile (the crowd at Westboro Baptist); some are passively hostile (gay and lesbian worshipers are welcome to attend â€" and to tithe â€" so long as they understand that they are not a part of God’s perfect creation); and some fully embrace gay people and approve of gay sex â€" but only in the context of a committed, monogamous relationship, of course.

This week, Sam Tanenhaus hosts his last installment of the Book Review Podcast. There will be champagne.

Guests include Pamela Paul, his successor as editor of the Book Review and host of the podcast, and past contributors.

Wasn’t It Summer Just the Other Day

Caleb Ferguson for The New York Times Lovely day for a walk in Union Square.

What is it with this weather A warm January, a chilly start to spring, an early-April hot spell complete with brush-fire outbreaks, and now, freezing winds driving the rain into the sockets of your skull.

What do you suppose is going on here anyway

Video: Remembering Jonathan Winters

Associated Press Jonathan Winters on the set of “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” in 1962.

Jonathan Winters, the frenetic comedian who created many indelible characters and also had a nearly unmatched gift for wild comic improvisation, died on Thursday. He was 87.

Mr. Winters’s inspired riffs with even the most rudimentary props made him a favorite on late-night talk shows like “The Steve Allen Show” and “The Tonight Show.” Here, he entertains Jack Parr and his audience with a stick.

He was also a frequent participant in the “Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts,” such as this one skewering Frank Sinatra.

His own series were short-lived, but Mr. Winters took his characters onto all sorts of programs. His Maude Frickert, a saucy grandmother, was a favorite.

Though he never established a major Hollywood career, he gave memorable performances in films like “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.”

Robin Williams revered Mr. Winters and was clearly inspired by his anarchic approach to comedy. He hired Mr. Winters to play his child on “Mork & Mindy.”

Mr. Winters discussed his career in a lengthy interview with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences:

Remembering Maria Tallchief in Motion

Maria Tallchief, one of the 20th century’s most important ballerinas, died on Thursday at 88. Ms. Tallchief, a former wife and muse of the choreographer George Balanchine, was known for dazzling audiences with her speed, energy and fire. Here are a selection of video clips of Ms. Tallchief dancing.

In Balanchine’s “Firebird”

With Conrad Ludlow in the Balcony Scene of “of Romeo and Juliet,” 1966

With Rudolf Nureyev in the “Flower Festival,” 1962

At Jacob’s Pillow - “Firebird” and “Sylvia”

Big Ticket | A Reconfigured Aerie, Sold for $16.25 Million

Tina Fineberg for The New York Times One Central Park West offers condo owners numerous amenities.

An indulgent and elegant apartment on the 42nd floor of the Trump International Hotel and Tower, which was reconfigured to a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath aerie from the original four bedrooms and six baths by the designer Jeffrey Bilhuber, sold for $16.25 million and was the most expensive sale of the week, according to city records.

The condominium, No. 42C at One Central Park West, had been listed last year at $19.9 million and sold after a reduction to $17.9 million; the monthly carrying charges are $12,531, and, as with most Trump properties, oodles of amenities are included with the privilege of ownership.

The 4,415-square-foot residence, which has impressive views of Central Park, the Hudson River and the cityscape, sold for $5.04 million as a sponsor unit in 1997. After the owner enlisted Mr. Bilhuber to modernize and dramatize it, the property was featured in the May 2001 issue of Architectural Digest. Among other changes, he installed bamboo flooring in the foyer, created a private master suite with a limestone bath and separate dressing room, and designed an equally impressive guest suite with an elevated Japanese soaking tub made from black soapstone.

The multiwindowed entertainment section of the home has a powder room, and there is also a maid’s or utility half-bath. Both seller and buyer retained anonymity under the shield of limited-liability companies. The new owner is identified as SB Manhattan; Susan James, the director of residential sales at Trump International Hotel and Tower, represented the seller, 21 East Corp.

Across town, a full-floor co-op at 1067 Fifth Avenue, a 1917 limestone apartment house designed by Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert, sold for $8.325 million and was the week’s runner-up. The unit, with monthly maintenance of $7,560, had been listed at $8.995 million. The 12-story building has one residence per floor.

The co-op, No. 5, had been owned for decades by Daniel David Brockman, a lawyer and arts patron who was integral in efforts to preserve Carnegie Hall, and his wife, Elizabeth Brockman, a pianist. It has four bedrooms, four baths, three wood-burning fireplaces and oak parquet floors. Four principal rooms â€" the living, dining and music rooms and the library â€" have sweeping views of Central Park.

The estate of Elizabeth Brockman, with the Brockmans’ son, Richard Brockman, as the executor, was represented by Frosty Montgomery of Brown Harris Stevens. The buyers are Miles N. Ruthberg, a partner of Latham & Watkins, and his wife, Catherine Schreiber Ruthberg, a theater producer.

Big Ticket includes closed sales from the previous week, ending Wednesday.

‘Last Goodbye,’ With Jeff Buckley Music, Will Open Old Globe Season

The Old Globe Theater in San Diego will open its 2013-14 season with “The Last Goodbye,” a long-in-development adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet” set to the music of Jeff Buckley.

Conceived and adapted by Michael Kimmel, the show had a workshop run at the Williamstown Theater Festival in 2010. Alex Timbers (“Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” “Here Lies Love”) has succeeded Mr. Kimmel as the director for the Old Globe production, which is scheduled to run September 20 to November 3.

Barry Edelstein, the Old Globe’s new artistic director, said in a statement that he was excited to begin his tenure with the show, which “brings together many of the things that are central to the Globe’s identity: a classic text, the vibrant energies of the musical theater, a sumptuous and splendid production and a creative team of the first rank in the American theater.”

The Old Globe is producing “Last Goodbye” by special arrangement with Hal Luftig, Ruth and Steve Hendel, The Marks-Moore-Turnbull Group and Lauren Fitzgerald, who have the commercial rights to the show.

To Celebrate a Landmarks Law, Planting Flags in a Tiny New York

Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times The Queens Museum is marking all of New York’s historic districts with yellow flags on the famous diorama of the city built for the 1964 World’s Fair.

David Grainger is walking on the water again. One foot is upstream from the Manhattan Bridge and the other foot is downstream from the Williamsburg Bridge, and he is reaching over the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to plant a yellow flag at the intersection of Pierrepont Street and Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights.

His feet are covered in protective blue booties. The booties protect the water, which is not water at all but dark-blue paint on wood.

He is standing on the surface of the Queens Museum of Art’s Panorama, the 9,335-square-foot diorama of the city built for the 1964 World’s Fair. The yellow flag is one of 109 that he is putting in place as part of a project to highlight the city’s historic districts and the 50th anniversary of the municipal law that made them possible.

“The flags give some sense of place to viewers, residents and visitors,” said Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, an author and preservationist who has organized the NYC Landmarks50 Advisory Committee to mark the anniversary of the law in 2015. “The Panorama is all about all of New York. It describes graphically and quickly the reach of the landmarks movement. People might say there are 109 that encompass 30,000 properties. Does that sound like a lot It represents less than 3 percent of all of the properties in New York City.”

The World’s Fair straddled two important moments in the history of historic preservation: The demolition of the old Pennsylvania Station in 1963 and the approval of the landmarks law in 1965.

The Landmarks50 Advisory Committee has a long list of members that includes Simeon Bankoff, the executive director of the Historic Districts Council; Kent L. Barwick, a former chair of the landmarks commission and president emeritus of the Municipal Art Society; Peg Breen, president of the private New York Landmarks Conservancy; Vin Cipolla, president of the Municipal Art Society; Andrew S. Dolkart, director of the Historic Preservation Program at Columbia University; the architecture critic Paul Goldberger; and the designer Massimo Vignelli, who created the group’s logo.

Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times The project involving the planting of flags is part of the celebration leading to the 50th anniversary of the municipal law that allowed for the creation of historic districts.

Ms. Diamonstein-Spielvogel said one of the committee’s goals was to highlight the significance of historic preservation in shaping the city since the 1960s.

“I think it reflects the growth and importance of the landmarks movement, which I consider to be one of the most important national movements after things like human rights, civil rights, gay rights,” she said. “Down that same line is the historic preservation movement. It cuts across all economic lines. There isn’t a neighborhood, certainly not in New York, that doesn’t have a range of organizations public and private devoted to this.”

On the Panorama, there is a one-district, one-flag policy. So there was one flag for the 75 blocks of the Upper West Side/Central Park West district, one flag for the one-block West 71st Street Historic District and one for each of the other districts, which are spread across all five boroughs.

“As the flags go up,” said Mr. Bankoff of the Historic Districts Council, who watched as Mr. Grainger planted the flags, “you see how many historic districts there are compared to how large the city is. On the one hand, there are people who say there’s too much preservation, and on the other, you look around and see how few areas are protected and how much more there is to be done.”

Mr. Bankoff said the district in Brooklyn Heights â€" the one Mr. Grainger had stretched to reach â€" was the city’s first, designated in November 1965. Four more districts, all in Manhattan, came into being the next year.

By this time Mr. Grainger, an art installer, hunting for the place to plant the flag for the Fillmore Place Historic District in Williamsburg, was on his knees in the East River.

It is territory Mr. Grainger knows well â€" he repainted the water several years ago, and lately has been vacuuming off dust that has accumulated since then â€" and territory that Mr. Bankoff approached with apprehension.

“I’m terrified I’ll trip over the Verrazano,” he said.

The Sweet Spot: Two Thumbs Up

In this week’s video, David Carr and A. O. Scott reflect on the life of Roger Ebert, the brand he created, and the effect he had on Mr. Scott’s beginnings as a film critic.

Popcast: ‘Accidental Racist’ and the Possible Value of a Flawed Song

Paul Sancya/Associated Press “Accidental Racist,” a song on Brad Paisley’s new album, released this week, caused an uproar.

This week, the New York Times Op-Ed columnist Charles M. Blow talks to the host Ben Ratliff about Brad Paisley’s controversial new song, “Accidental Racist,” in which the central character â€" a white southerner â€" walks into a Starbucks and experiences a moment of clarity, or something like that, regarding the Confederate flag T-shirt he’s wearing. (LL Cool J plays the barista and de facto spirit guide.)

It was quickly and widely understood as a message song gone wrong. As The Times’s critic Jon Caramanica put it, “Mr. Paisley sings from the perspective of a man facing his conscience and his privilege, but only newly understanding that he is in possession of either of those things.” But what’s the value in the song â€" even if it’s flawed, even if it’s to be understood not as a question but an answer

After the first backlash, what are the next conversations to have, both about American life in general, and about white southern identity and the persistent meanings of the Confederate flag in particular

Listen above, download the MP3 here, or subscribe in iTunes.

RELATED

Jon Caramanica on Brad Paisley’s new album, “Wheelhouse.”

“Room for Debate” discussion on “Accidental Racist.”

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
Tracks by artists discussed this week. (Spotify users can also find it here.)

Rare Bay Psalm Book Goes on View at Sotheby’s

Emmanuel Dunand/Agence France-Presse â€" Getty Images The Bay Psalm Book is expected to bring more than $15 million at auction.

One of eleven surviving copies of the Bay Psalm Book â€" the first book printed in what is now the United States, and one of the world’s most valuable books â€" will be on public view from today until Sunday at Sotheby’s in New York, in advance of a November auction where the book is expected to fetch more than $15 million.

The copy is one of two belonging to Boston’s Old South Church, which sparked fierce controversy in December with the decision to sell the book in order to pay for deferred maintenance to its current building. After the viewing in New York, the book will travel to Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas before returning to public exhibition in New York in the week leading up to Thanksgiving.

The Bay Psalm Book, printed in an original edition of 1,700 in Cambridge in 1640 by Stephen Daye, was intended as a closer paraphrase of the Hebrew original than the one the Puritans brought from England, and was quickly adopted by nearly every congregation in Massachusetts. No example has appeared at auction since 1947, when it sold for “many multiples” of then-current prices for the Gutenberg Bible and Shakespeare’s First Folio, according to Sotheby’s.

“It is a mythical rarity,” David Redden, the chairman of the auction house’s books department, said in a statement. “Yet here it is today, this modest little book printed in the American wilderness but embodying the values that created our nation: political freedom and religious liberty.”

The Old South Church, founded in 1669, has an equally illustrious history, including opposing the Salem witch trials, baptizing Benjamin Franklin and holding the meetings that led to the Boston Tea Party.

In a Rare Show at Radio City, Two Prize Fighters Will Take the Stage

Earl Wilson/The New York Times For only the second time in its storied history, Radio City Music Hall will host a boxing match. The installation of the ring for Saturday’s fight started on Thursday.

Earl Wilson/The New York Times Pieces of the boxing ring arriving outside Radio City.

Frank Sinatra performed there; so did Rodney Dangerfield and Kermit the Frog.

On Saturday night, the next performance at Radio City Music Hall will not come from a crooner or a comedian or even a Muppet. Instead, a pair of prizefighters, Nonito Donaire and Guillermo Rigondeaux, will meet inside a boxing ring assembled on the storied stage by a small army of carpenters, electricians, riggers and other stagehands.

The two-day transformation began Thursday afternoon as the ring â€" four feet high and 22 feet by 22 feet outside the ropes â€" arrived by truck from a company in Paterson, N.J., that rents boxing rings.

“This is an extremely rare event and a very large undertaking,” said Rich Claffey, senior vice president and general manager of theater and Rockette operations at Radio City. He watched as pieces of the ring, including blue and red ring posts and steel beams needed to fortify its underbelly, were brought through a side entrance of the building and placed on a large ramp usually reserved for musical equipment, wardrobes and theater props. Large groups of tourists stopped intermittently to gawk at the proceedings.

“Our guys here are not accustomed to putting in a boxing ring, but they are a talented and efficient crew and they are excited about this project,” Mr. Claffey said. “A job of this magnitude requires more cable, more lighting, more sound, more money â€" more everything.”

Before long, more than 100 hired hands, some perched high on ladders and sporting coal-miner-like visors with bright lights attached, were scampering around the stage. They began laying pieces of the ring out like a jigsaw puzzle and positioning and testing robotic cameras, pulleys, lighting trusses, drapes and large screen televisions â€" the stage’s hydraulic lifts were not needed â€" in preparation for Saturday’s super bantamweight unification bout in which Mr. Donaire will defend his W.B.O. title against Mr. Rigondeaux, the W.B.A. super bantamweight champion.

Their fight, which will be televised on HBO, will be just the second boxing match held at Radio City since it opened in 1932. Roy Jones Jr. fought there in January 2000, defeating David Telesco in a light-heavyweight championship bout.

“Fighting on the Radio City stage was electric,” recalled Mr. Jones, who will be one of the HBO broadcasters on Saturday night. “It was totally virgin territory for a boxer, and I loved every minute of it â€" the ecstatic crowd, the unusual venue. It really got my adrenaline pumping.”

Like Mr. Jones and Mr. Telesco before them, Mr. Donaire and Mr. Rigondeaux will use dressing rooms in place of locker rooms. Those dressing rooms, complete with large makeup counters and vanity mirrors littered with light bulbs, were used throughout the years by an array of performers, including the Rockettes, who kicked off their act in 1933; Sinatra; the Rolling Stones; Lady Gaga; and thousands of others who have appeared on the Radio City stage, which is a city-block long.

In the minutes leading to the opening bell, both fighters will leave their dressing rooms and take an elevator down to the top of the choral staircase on the stage-right side of the music hall â€" the 51st Street side of the building â€" from which they will descend and enter the ring in theatrical style.

As was the case with Mr. Jones’s fight 13 years ago, three sides of the ring will be surrounded by 250 seats filled by fight officials, members of the press and paying fans, which will leave the front of the ring unobstructed so that the audience, an anticipated sellout of 5,500, can enjoy the rare show.

“This is an amazing place to stage a fight, and I’ll probably sing some Sinatra songs when I’m warming up in the dressing room,” Mr. Donaire said on Thursday as he made his way into Radio City Music Hall for a photo session.

“I’ve never seen a show here,” he said with a sly smile, “But when I get out there on that big stage, I plan on putting on the kind of show that people are going to remember for a very long time.”

Earl Wilson/The New York Times Workers assembling the ring.

This Week’s Movies: ‘To the Wonder,’ ’42’ and ‘It’s a Disaster’

This week’s video includes reviews of “To the Wonder,” “42” and “It’s a Disaster.” See all of this week’s reviews here.

Seventh Avenue Underground

Dear Diary:

the seventh avenue local
throbs beneath
the sidewalk
its bass-line
as reassuring
as the ozone odor
of electrical arcing
and the rhythmic
de-duh de-duh
de-duh de-duh
that recedes
into the pulse of the city
as it rumbles
uptown

Read all recent entries and our updated submissions guidelines. Reach us via e-mail diary@nytimes.com or follow @NYTMetro on Twitter using the hashtag #MetDiary.

Actress Loses Suit Over Site’s Posting of Her Age

A jury in Seattle has found against Huong Hoang, the actress who sued the Internet Movie Database and its parent company, Amazon, for posting her age without her permission. The verdict, reached in Federal court on Thursday, rejected a breach of contract claim against IMDb by Ms. Hoang, who uses the name Junie Hoang in her screen work. Marsha J. Pechman, a judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, had already dropped Amazon from the case, and dismissed other claims.

Lawyers for Ms. Hoang, now 41, argued that IMDb, a popular on-line database covering film and television, had opened the door to age discrimination against her by posting her age, which it discovered by using information she provided as a subscriber. After Ms. Hoang filed the suit in 2011, the Screen Actors Guild publicly criticized IMDb for its practice of posting performers’ ages. But the jury on Thursday found that the service had not violated its contract with Ms. Hoang, and awarded no damages.

French Judge Rules That Auction of Hopi Masks Can Proceed

A French judge ruled Friday that a disputed auction of sacred Hopi Indian masks can go forward in Paris despite last-minute efforts by lawyers and tribal advocates to block the sale.

Municipal Court Judge Magali Bouvier rejected arguments by the the tribe’s lawyer that selling the masks, which the Hopis use for religious rituals and consider to be living spirits, would be an immoral act under French law.

“These masks, despite their sacred character for the Hopi, cannot be likened to dead or alive beings,” she said.

Gilles Néret-Minet, the head of the Néret-Minet Tessier & Sarrou auction house, which is holding the sale of the 70 brightly colored and decorated artifacts later on Friday, said, “Well it ends the suspense, but I was certain of this outcome because in France you cannot just up and seize the property of a person that is lawfully his.”

The Hopis say the masks are not intended for sale and were stolen from their Arizona lands decades ago. Mr. Néret-Minet said the masks had been collected legally in the United States by their owner, a Frenchman in the film industry who is selling them anonymously.

Mr. Néret-Minet said there was a large eager crowd at the Hôtel Drouot, a renovated 19th-century building and the site of the mid-afternoon auction. “The sale has been publicized for a long time and the tribe and the lawyers ought to have contacted me sooner if they wanted a compromise,” he said. “Now it is too late.”

“I admit I am mystified by the ways of American Indians,” he added. “I hope I am alive after the sale.” The auction could bring in $1 million, he said.

The attorney representing the tribe pro bono, Pierre Servan-Schreiber of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said that the ruling was a “sad ending” and signaled “that French institutions are still not fully aware of the devastating consequences” such sales have on Indian tribes. He added, “These objects will now be sold and dispersed, and the likelihood that they will eventually return to their true home amongst the Hopi is severely reduced.”

Stephen Corry, director of Survival International, a global tribal-rights organization that joined in the suit, said: “Potential buyers should be aware that the Hopi are profoundly distressed at their sale, and regard them as the rightful property of the Hopi people.” His group passed out leaflets today in front of the auction house.

The case drew diplomatic attention when United States Embassy officials met with their French counterparts on Wednesday to express concern over the auction, and issued a statement on Thursday calling for its postponement.