If you're creative, I will listen

My wife and I had a fun experience discovering Imbibe Wine and Spirits, a new wine bar/liquor store in Bakersfield. It's a fun place to sample wines and beer that are off the beaten track. In other words, my kind of place.

My wife tasted a variety of red and white wines, while I savored a smoked porter from Alaskan Brewing Co. I first tasted smoked porter from Stone, but had never found Alaskan's version, which was the original. What a great experience.

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The dark side of influential musicians

Just finished a terrific collection of rock profiles by Nick Kent titled "The Dark Stuff: Selected Writings on Rock Music."

I read a lot of music books -- at least one at any given time -- and had heard of Kent's work over the year. But for some reason I'd never given him a look, until I snagged a free chapter of "The Dark Stuff" on my Kindle.

My bad for waiting so long to read his work. It was originally published in 1994, with a revised edition released in 2002. It's loaded with long, detailed profiles on music figures big and small, but all highly influential in their own right.

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What's the steal: iTunes or the CDs?

I always marvel at ways businesses get your into their stores. Some concepts are straightforward, while others leave me baffled as to the intent.

Case in point is a wonderful deal Target has going this week: Buy 2 CDs from a list of 20 and get a $15 iTunes gift card tossed in for free. The 20 CDs range from current hits to classic rock and in price from $9.99 to $13.99 for double-CD packs.

I was able to find Muse's "Black Holes & Revelations," which had been on my shopping list for awhile since hearing the killer"Starlight" on XM. I also snagged Neil Young's "Greatest Hits." I'm not a huge Neil Young fan, but he's a rock legend, and I figured I'd not only snag a copy of "Rockin' in the Free World" -- one of the best songs to crank -- but also immerse myself in the breadth of a diverse 40-year career.

Both CDs were $9.99 each. So, for $20 plus tax, I got a $15 iTunes card, meaning I paid roughly $3 for each CD.

So, what's the catch? Who is footing the bill for this promotion? I suspect it's not Apple, which tends to drive hard bargains with its retailers, even those with the pull of Target. I doubt it's Target, because it's generally accepted that a store's cost for CDs is at least $5, and I find it hard that Target would use CDs -- a dying medium -- as a loss leader. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems odd. That leaves the hapless record companies, which are so desperate to move product that to me they'd all but give away discs just to tally some salesm no matter the price.

What's your guess?