MTV may have abandoned actual music programming in favor of reality shows featuring seven twits running amok on the Jersey Shore, but fear not: David Simon, creator of The Wire (a.k.a. one of the best television shows of at least the last decade) is filling that musical gap with new series Treme.

Treme (that’s trem-AY without the accent aigu) is Simon’s third HBO effort about ten people, including a few jazz musicians, living in NOLA after Hurricane Katrina. That would make it musically interesting enough, but check out these deets from Flavorwire’s recent roundup: Musical guests include Elvis Costello, Dr. John, Steve Earle (who played Walon on The Wire), Allen Toussaint, Kermit Ruffins, Galactic and others; “the major theme is rebuilding, but [the show] will also deal with issues like education and crime as the show progresses.” These should be familiar themes for Simon. Not to mention John Goodman and The Wire alum Wendell Pierce (Det. Bunk) are among the cast. Interesting side note: Goodman currently lives in Trent Reznor’s former New Orleans home/studio.

Pierce, who plays musician Antoine Batiste, explained Simon’s delicate rendering of post-Katrina New Orleans (via TV Squad):

As previously reported, Tom Waits was in New Orleans, LA recently recording a benefit track for and with the legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band, as well as a song for the next volume of Anti’s sea shanty series. Well, now we have the former track’s name, a stellar list of collaborators for the upcoming album, and a not so surprising release date.

According to PR Newswire, Waits collaborated on the song “Tootie Ma Is a Big Fine Thing”, the earliest known recorded Mardi Gras song (abstract version from MMW and John Scofield here), for Preservation, a benefit album due out on Feb. 16 of next year, aka Fat Tuesday.

That would’ve been enough for a minor news update on the project, but check out some of the other artists contributing to the album:

Whereas the 2002 Winter Olympics featured performances by Josh Groban, Charlotte Church, Sting, and R. Kelly, next year’s events in Vancouver, B.C. will showcase a much less mainstream lineup (save for Wilco perhaps).

Consequence of Sound reports that performers throughout the February 12-28 run include Broken Social Scene, K’Naan, Stars, Joel Plaskett, Steve Earle, Laurie Anderson, Martha Wainwright, Blue Rodeo, Iron & Wine, Corb Lund, Ron Sexsmith, Joan As Policewoman, and Sun Kil Moon.

We’re still awaiting more details on when/where this killer lineup will be performing, but we do have the deets on Wilco’s set: it’s free! On Feb. 13, Tweedy and the boys will perform at Vancouver’s David Lam Park as part of the Winter Olympic Games festivities. I better go look for my passport now.

Ryan Adams’ first book of poetry, Infinity Blues, has just been published, marking the singer/songwriter’s first creative output since marrying singer/actress Mandy Moore last month and announcing his “step back” from music. The Guardian recently spoke to Adams, Steve Earle, Billy Bragg and Nick Cave about their foray into non-musical writing.

“My grandparents raised me reading tons of stuff: Hemingway, Edith Wharton, southern Gothic literature,” Ryan Adams said. “My grandfather passed away a while ago now, around Christmas time, and every Christmas I just burned up thinking about it. I miss him a lot and think about the stuff they taught me and I just thought that out of respect - because my grandmother is still alive - I needed to go away and do the work.”

Adams said he wrote for eight hours a day, making sure not to slow down or look back until he was completely spent. “A man doesn’t get driven to write a book unless there’s a sense of loss, unless there’s something missing,” he said. “I used everything I had to lessen that gap, to jump across from who I was to who I wanted to be. I wanted to get it on paper because I knew I’d never feel that way again.”

For more on Infinity Blues and lots of great quotes from Bragg, Cave and Earle, click here (via Prefix).