Although R.E.M. broke up nearly four years ago, the band has compensated for its absence by releasing a steady stream of archival material. Last year’s DVD extravaganza “REMTV” was a treasure trove of high-quality video interviews and concert performances (especially for fans still holding on to dusty VHS tapes of appearances dubbed from TV), with one of the highlights being a new documentary, “R.E.M. by MTV.” Even for devoted fans, the documentary had plenty of surprises–from the band’s fabled appearance on the Nickelodeon kids’ talk show “Livewire” to rarely-seen interviews unearthed from the channel’s archives.

Salon and the former R.E.M. bassist talk “Lifes Rich Pageant,” Nickelodeon, sad cats and, of course, baseball