Portlandia Book out now; new Eleanor Friedberger LP soon; Fred Armisen & Eleanor Friedberger appearing at B&N this week

Map from 'Portlandia: A Visitor's Guide'

Fred Armisen and Eleanor Friedberger are appearing this Thursday (11/15) at Barnes & Noble Union Square in NYC for the bookstore's "Upstairs at the Square" series which is hosted by NPR's Katherine Lanpher. Fred will be talking about his and Carrie Brownstein's new book, PORTLANDIA: A Guide for Visitors and other subjects, with Eleanor Friedberger performing live. Fred's a drummer (among other things), so maybe he'll play along too.

Eleanor just wrapped up recording her new solo album for Merge which she recorded at DFA studios. Maybe you heard her preview new material at the Merge CMJ showcase last month? While you wait for that to come out, Eleanor appears on the new Christmas album Holidays Rule where she contributes a cover of Elvis' "Santa Please Bring My Baby (Back to Me)." Other artists on the compilation include Tame Impala, The Shins, Andrew Bird, Rufus Wainwright with Sharon Van Etten, Paul McCartney and more. You can stream the whole thing via Rdio below.

Meanwhile, Eleanor's brother (and Fiery Furnaces bandmate) Matthew Friedberger is currently on tour with The Sea & Cake which stops in spookily-lit Marfa, TX tonight. All tour dates are listed below.

When not promo-ing his new book (you preview it here and watch the video trailer for it below), Fred Armisen is staying busy on SNL where he recently played Mayor Bloomberg giving one of his post-Sandy NYC addresses, shoutout to "Homeland" included, below...