Pitchfork

My Penguin-- a new promotion from the UK arm of publishing house Penguin (not an avian version of My Buddy)-- has utilized Beck's interactive art obsession and Ryan Adams' fascination with the darker side of the nightlife by allowing both songwriters free reign to design covers for their favorite books.

The musicians' designs promote a program that allows readers to add art to the blank covers of seven books, picked by seven musicians or bands who named their favorite Penguin Classics. Beck's line drawing/magazine collage cover (above left) appears on his favorite novel, Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes (The Lost Estate), and Ryan Adams' semi-abstract oil painting (above right) was done for Bram Stoker's Dracula. Five other musical artists, including Razorlight and Dragonette, were asked to design covers, and they are listed below along with their choices.

Unfortunately, it seems the musician-designed covers are not for sale to the public, though you could print a design out, buy the corresponding book, and glue/tape it on. What good is reading without a little resourcefulness?

Adams still has quite a few tour dates-- including even more than we last reported-- continuing tonight (August 2) in Boulder, Colorado. They too are listed after the jump.

Their Penguins:

Dragonette: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Johnny Flynn: The Complete Fables by Aesop
Goldspot: Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
Mr. Hudson & the Library: Animal Farm by George Orwell
Razorlight: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Ryan Adams dates:

08-02 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre
08-03 Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre
08-16 Auckland, New Zealand - Bruce Mason Centre
08-18 Brisbane, Australia - The Tivoli
08-20 Melbourne, Australia - Palais Theatre
08-22 Adelaide, Australia - Her Majesty's Theater
08-23 Sydney, Australia - Enmore Theater
09-01 Turin, NY - moe.down
09-13 Charlottesville, VA - Paramount Theatre
09-16 Northampton, MA - Calvin Theatre
09-17 Portland, ME - Merrill Auditorium
09-19 Montreal, Quebec - St. Denise Theatre
09-21 Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall
09-22 Ann Arbor, MI - Michigan Theater
09-24 Kalamazoo, MI - State Theater
09-25 Milwaukee, WI - The Riverside
09-27 Minneapolis, MN - State Theater
09-29 Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre
10-01 Iowa City, IA - Main Lounge
10-02 Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre
10-04 Champaign, IL - Foellinger Auditorium
10-05 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
10-10 London, England - Royal Albert Hall *
10-13 Charleston, SC - North Charleston Performing Arts Centre,
10-15 Birmingham, AL - Alabama Theatre
10-18 Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theatre
10-19 Dallas, TX - McFarlin Memorial Auditorium
10-27 Lakewood, OH - Lakewood Civic Auditorium
10-29 Pittsburgh, PA - Carnegie Music Hall
10-30 Washington, DC - Constitution Hall
10-31 New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom
11-11 Cardiff, Wales - Millennium Centre
11-12 Nottingham, England - Royal Center
11-15 Manchester, England - Apollo
11-16 London, England - Hammersmith Apollo
12-01 Glasgow, Scotland - Clyde Auditorium

* with Cowboy Junkies