Journalist Turns Balladeer

One of the many writers I kept running into in Charlottesville last weekend was Julian Rubinstein (right), who’s apparently been making the rounds on the book festival circuit with his acoustic guitar, singing “The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber” (MP3 file), quite possibly the best song ever based on an Edgar-nominated true crime story. And as he explained to me as he was leaving the Saturday night reception to lead a group of writers in an impromptu field trip to the ice skating rink across the street from our hotel (oh, if only my camera’s battery hadn’t died), that’s only the prelude to an all-star audiobook recording which goes on sale through iTunes next week. Readers include Eric Bogosian, Gary Shteyngart, Arthur Phillips, Samantha Power, Darin Strauss…and Jonathan Ames.

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.