Tues. Feb. 12

I've certainly had a lot of friends in the record business and - during weak moments, perhaps - thought, gee, this might be a fun world to get into. Dan Kennedy thought so back in 2002 when he was hired by a major label, Atlantic ... just as the record industry was beginning to experience its greatest crisis since ... home taping! (Anyone remember that fiasco?) Truly, though, the record business is tanking in this download age. No one wants to buy the acutal hard product anymore, it seems. (For a very sharp, acerbic take on the biz, subscribe to former exec Bob Lefsetz newslettter, by going to http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1) For an amusing, if bittersweet take on the biz read Kennedy's "Rock On: An Office Power Ballad," and/or go hear him talk at Brookline Booksmith Tuesday Feb. 12 at 7. "A delirious evocation of the love/hate relationship virtually my whole generation has had with the music business," writes the Onion. Free.

279 Harvard St., Brookline, 617-566-6660 www.brooklinebooksmith.com