Josh Ritter has been called one of the best living songwriters and has made fans out of people such as Mary Louise Parker, Emmylou Harris, Rainn Wilson and Stephen King. After releasing his acclaimed sixth album, 'So Runs the World Away,' in 2010, the Idaho-born, Brooklyn-based artist opted to write a novel instead of record a follow-up. The result, 'Bright's Passage,' is out now via Dial Press.

Mixing humor and heartbreak, the book follows Henry Bright, a World War I veteran who loses his wife and tries to protect their newborn from her murderous father, all the while conversing with an angel that he believes followed him back from the trenches of France. The story started as a song, but when Ritter realized the scope of the narrative, he decdied to go for broke and turn it into a novel. Spinner recently spoke with Ritter about his writing process, why he finds humor in tragedy and why he's excited about the predicted end of the world.

You must be pretty excited to have the book out.

Totally. It's pretty amazing. I remember the first time I got a record back in the mail, the nerves. This is that way too. It's pretty great. I'm excited and nervous, which is awesome. I totally live for the moment when you can whip the sheet off the statue. All that you really know is that you worked really, really hard and you think it's good. And then it's just fun to share it.

Oh, the life of a rock star. Plenty of artists have suffered from the partying, the girls, the drugs and, of course, the drinking. Muse bassist Chris Wolstenholme got so caught up in those ways that he nearly died from his dependency on alcohol.

In an interview with Q Magazine (via Music Room), Wolstenholme recalls the moment he hit rock bottom "I was actually losing my mind. I had to drink to get out of bed in the morning. It got to the point one Christmas morning where I was actually puking up blood."

Sir Paul McCartney has revealed how his former management asked him to retire before he reached 50. The renowned songwriter, now 69, admits in Mojo (via the Independent) that he considered the advice but chose to continue.

"One of my old guys who I used to have as my manager, I was knocking 50 and he said, 'I think it's time you retired.' I thought, I know what you mean, but I don't really feel like it," McCartney revealed. "And if I'm really enjoying this, why retire? So I decided against it, and got rid of him. I wonder what he thinks today. Perhaps that he was right, but hopefully not."

"I'm actually really fond of awkward situations," NOFX's Fat Mike tells Spinner, laughing after he has left us open-mouthed and speechless. The NOFX vocalist/bassist has just recounted the story behind his song 'La Pieta,' which translates to "pity" and takes its name from the Michelangelo statue in St. Peter's Basilica where the Virgin Mary is holding Jesus after his crucifixion.

"It's a song about how I killed my mom," he says, deadpan. "She was dying of ovarian cancer and she asked me to kill her."

When Clarence Clemons, longtime saxophonist for Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, passed away on June 18, Bruce Springsteen was quick to offer a statement, which ran on his official website just hours after Clemons' death. He also spoke at the funeral, giving a eulogy that many in attendance had described to the press as being particularly "moving."

Now, fans can read Springsteen's eulogy in its entirety and, yes, it certainly is moving. It's also unexpectedly revealing. In the essay-length speech, which Springsteen posted (slightly amended) to his website, he writes, "Clarence doesn't leave the E Street Band when he dies. He leaves when we die." But he also alludes to the fact that Clemons wasn't just a sideman playing saxophone in a rock band -- he had many sides and shades to his towering personality, not all of them flattering.

We all know that Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA or, just, Odd Future for short) is not exactly a family values band. In fact, if 2 Live Crew didn't do it in the early 1990s, this L.A. hip-hop collective might've single-handedly ushered in those once-controversial "Parental Guidance: Explicit Lyrics" warning labels. The group's message expounds a particularly violent misogynistic worldview that is not exactly the most friendly towards women.

And so, it was only a matter of time before their blogosphere-fueled success was publicly challenged. According to the website Exclaim.ca, that's exactly what a US women's rights group plans to do, at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago where Odd Future is scheduled to perform on July 17. The group, Between Friends, plans to peacefully protest by distributing 5,000 hand fans containing information and resources aimed to counter violence against women.