Colin Meloy to Judge Tournament of Books
Stephen Colbert searching for excuse to be infuriated by this

Photo by Alicia J. Rose

Judge not lest ye be judged, the good book says, and given the unnecessary critical flak bookish Colin Meloy has taken in the past year, the man is ripe to judge. He'll put those skills to work tomorrow, as Meloy joins The New Yorker's Sasha Frere-Jones, The Onion's Maria Schneider, and others as judges for The Morning News' 2007 Tournament of Books.

The book contest-- set up like an honest-to-goodness bracketed tournament-- puts a different judge in charge of each match, which pits two 2006 novels against one another. From the looks of it, Meloy-- a former bookstore employee-- oversees a first-round match between Richard Ford's The Lay of the Land and Upamanyu Chatterjee's English, August: An Indian Story. We hope he makes the right choice, even though we have no idea what that choice is, because we only read the internet.

Editors Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack (both tournament judges) co-founded The Morning News-- an online publication dedicated to world events, humor, media digests, and more-- in 1999. The book tournament victor gets a prize called "The Rooster", which is, according to Baldwin, "named after David Sedaris's brother." Check out the tournament page for a chance to win all the books in competition.

We're guessing Mr. Meloy digested The Lay of the Land and English, August whilst preparing for the Decemberists' humongous U.S. tour with My Brightest Diamond, which kicks off March 21 (aka the day after the Decemberists DVD lands). The jaunt includes stops at such sophisticated locales as the Hollywood Bowl (with an orchestra) and a freaking winery in Portland. Also, in case you missed it, check out the winning video from that notorious green screen contest over in Forkcast.

Decemberists:

03-21 Jersey City, NJ - Loews Theatre #
03-22 Jersey City, NJ - Loews Theatre #
03-23 Boston, MA - Avalon #
03-24 Boston, MA - Avalon #
03-26 North Bethesda, MD - Strathmore Music Center #
03-27 Upper Darby, PA - Tower Theatre #
03-29 Wellesley, MA - Wellesley College (students only) #
03-30 Buffalo, NY - Center for the Arts #
03-31 Grantham, PA - Messiah College #
04-01 Norfolk, VA - The Norva #
04-03 Raleigh, NC - Meymendi Concert Hall #
04-04 Knoxville, TN - Tennessee Theatre
04-05 Nashville, TN - City Hall
04-06 Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
04-08 Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live #
04-09 Tallahassee, FL - The Moon #
04-10 Birmingham, AL - Alabama Theater #
04-11 Memphis, TN - New Daisy Theater #
04-13 Louisville, KY - Brown Theater #
04-14 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant #
04-15 Urbana, IL - Foellinger Auditorium (University of Illinois) #
04-16 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater #
04-18 Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre #
04-19 Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre #
04-20 Madison, WI - Orpheum Theater #
04-21 Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater #
04-22 Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium #
04-25 San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theater #
04-26 San Francisco, CA - Warfield heater #
04-27 Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
04-28 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella)
05-03 Eugene, OR - McDonald Theater #
05-04 Seattle, WA - Paramount Theater #
05-05 Bellingham, WA - Western Washington University #
06-17 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
07-07 Hollywood, CA - Hollywood Bowl *
07-22 Portland, OR - Edgefield Winery

# with My Brightest Diamond
* with Band of Horses