Welcome Guest! Mar 19, 2024 - 04:11 PM  
Homepage  |  Downloads  |  FAQ  |  Forums  |  Gallery  |  WebLinks
Main Menu
Online
There are 117 unlogged users and 0 registered users online.

You can log-in or register for a user account here.
  
Beat Farmers, Halloween Music, Cutout Bin, a Dog in a Drain   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Friday, October 20, 2006 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: kbade

Karl

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE BEAT FARMERS! The video quality leaves a bit to be desired but this early concert shows you the beginning of a great live band. A few years later, when I would invite people to see the band, I would be asked what to expect. I would say, "Remember that scene from the Blues Brothers where they play behind chicken wire? Like that, but without the chicken wire." Oh, to see them play to the bikers in Boulder! These clips are more about the music than the circus, including "Bigger Stones," the band's smoking cover of the Lovin Spoonful's "Never Goin' Back," the late Country Dick Montana's early take o­n "California Kid," and an infamous encore. All those clips and more are at that first link.

THE SPRINGFIELD MASSACRE UPDATE: There is video of Jeff Tweedy wacking the dude who rushed him o­n stage at the Wilco gig in Springfield, MO the other day, as well as a clip of Tweedy's o­n-stage apology. There's also a statement up at WilcoWorld, which is where "the Springfield Massacre" was coined.

TWO GALLANTS: Daytrotter has more reax o­n the band's altercation with a Houston cop last week, with my favorite being from Trainwreck Riders bassist Sean Kohler: "It said that he got attacked. Who

3245 Reads

Tweedy Violence, Bond Themes, McCartney Divorce Dirt, Indian Monkeys   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Thursday, October 19, 2006 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: kbade

Karl

JEFF TWEEDY apparently made like Keef Richards and clocked a fan who rushed the stage at a Wilco gig in Sprigfield MO. Which is an appropos introduction to the video for "The Thanks I Get" from Tweedy's upcoming solo DVD.

CHUCK BERRY celebrated his 80th birthday last night with an intimate concert at his favourite St Louis, MO club.

THE NAME IS BOND: ANABlog celebrates that ex-Soundgardener Chris Cornell got to record "You Know My Name" as the theme for Casino Royale by posting all of the Bond movie themes, including "Goldfinger," "Thunderball" and Nancy Sinatra's "You Only Live Twice." You can jukebox 'em all via the Hype Machine.

THE NEW BEATLES ALBUM: Will it be a gas, or a ball of confusion? NME has the details.

CALIFONE, originally a recording project of ex-Red Red Meat singer-guitarist Tim Rutili, is weaving electronics into their Americana without sounding like Wilco. Roots and Crowns is garnering universal acclaim, according to Metacritic. You can stream a bunch now via the Hype Machine.

STEVIE WONDER and the ROLLING STONES play a medley of "Uptight" and "Satisfaction" o­n the Stones' 1972 tour. More recently, Stevie received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Civil Rights Museum.

MY MORNING JACKET: Stereogum can hook you up with streaming audio of "O Is The One That Is Real," from MMJ's live album, Okonokos.

THE HOLD STEADY gets a good review for Boys and Girls in America from the Twin Cities' City Pages, while frontman Craig Finn tells the A.V. Club: "my first exposure to music was meeting Rick Nielsen when I was about six." Which explains a lot.

BELINDA CARLISLE is wrapping a French-language solo album, Voila. Stereogum has posted her cover of Serge Gainsbourg's "Bonnie et Clyde."

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: Though the troubled singer's solicitor described his battle to come off drugs as a "mixed bag" in court yesterday, it was also implied that he was living with the supposedly sober supermodel and that this would be helpful in his rehab.

THE McCARTNEYS' divorce is getting very ugly , with Heather Mills alleging -- among other things -- that she was throttled, stabbed in the arm and denied a bedpan by Sir Paul the Cute. RTWT! Sir Paul was unavailable for official comment today but a close source vehemently denied the accusations made in the papers lodged in the High Court's family division. His lawyers say he will respond in court.

BRITNEY SPEARS: The bodyslamming of Spenderline keeps getting yanked from YouTube, but it's o­n Google Video at the link, y'all!

TOM-KAT UPDATE: The latest rumor is that the Cruise-Holmes wedding is moving from California to Italy.

BRADGELINA: The residents of Pune, India are getting tired of the Pitt-Jolie security demands. Too bad Jolie can't shoot A Mighty Heart in Namibia.

VAUGHNISTON: Friends of Jennifer Aniston tell Us Weekly that the break-up with Vince Vaughn has been downgraded to a "break."

JESSICA SIMPSON: The pneumatic blonde is her own publicist for now, which might explain why Nick Lachey's newest album has sold twice as many copies as hers.

WHITNEY HOUSTON and BOBBY BROWN BREAK-UPDATE: Houston has officially filed for divorce, a month after filing for legal separation from Brown.

PAMELA ANDERSON is trying to have Kid Rock impregnate her. And the accompanying photo is either really flattering, or Pam has had a face lift.

MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY and LANCE ARMSTRONG are not gay for each other. McConaughey tells Details magazine: "We tried it. Wasn't for us." NTTAWWT.

IS EDDIE MURPHY THE FATHER of a Scary Spice baby? Could be.

GREY'S ANATOMY: The ever-reliable National Enquirer claims that Isaiah Washington hurled a gay slur at co-star Patrick Dempsey during last week's o­n-set brawl. "The melee has set off World War III o­n the show and may cost Isaiah his job," an insider supposedly told the tab. And yet I would still rather look at Katherine Heigl in a red bikini.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Megan Mcardle asks: "How much better would it be if when you used that phrase, you actually had to reveal something interesting?"

THE CONSPIRACY INDUSTRY is analyzed in the afterword to Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts, by The Editors of Popular Mechanics.

NORTH KOREA has told China that it is prepared to conduct "as many as three additional tests" following its first nuclear experiment.

IRAQ: Dozens of al Qaeda-linked gunmen took to the streets of Ramadi to announce the city was joining an Islamic state. However, at ITM, Mohammed writes that "Nothing changed in my life as a Baghdadi since my city was announced a part of the Islamic State of al-Qaeda." Prime Minister al-Maliki ordered the release of a senior figure in the Moqtada al-Sadr's organisation, who was detained by US troops in Baghdad o­n Tuesday. Moqtada has clout with al-Maliki's party. Calm largely returned to the city of Balad by Tuesday, as Iraqi army troops forced Shiite militiamen out of police cars commandeered for sectarian revenge killing. Phillip Carter, who returned from Iraq last month after serving with the Army

3129 Reads

Duets, advance Walkmen, Hold Steady, Tom Waits, Baboon Gangs   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Wednesday, October 18, 2006 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: kbade

Karl

DAVID BOWIE and MARIANNE FAITHFULL duet o­n "I Got You, Babe," circa 1980. It's definitiely not Groundhog Day.

WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCATS? Stereogum is holding a contest to win the original (out of print) and new versions of the album. You can stream the Walkmen's remake of the Harry Nilsson classic, too.

SAVE THE ALBUM: insound is running a campaign with videos of the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle, The Decemberists' Colin Meloy, Devendra Banhart and more, all talking about their favorite albums. Banhart wears face paint; Meloy wears a fake mustache.

THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS frontman Carl Newman is still waiting for the critical backlash to start. He also talks to Canada's Star-Phoenix about having his niece fill in for Neko Case from time to time.

THE HOLD STEADY was featured o­n the World Cafe for a couple of tunes, which you can stream from NPR now.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR CBGB? Dustin Glick has some Photoshop fun imagining who might be the new tenant after the venerable music club is forced out at the end of the month.

SAM COOKE and the EVERLY BROTHERS close out a swingin' Shindig with the classic "Lucille."

ROBERT CHRISTGAU, the self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics," talks to PopMatters o­n a variety of topics, but the most interesting part may be how little has changed since his early pieces from 1969 and 1970.

PANIC! at the DISCO has recorded a version of "This is Halloween" for the The Nightmare Before Christmas Special Edition Soundtrack (not to be confused with the DVD).

TOM WAITS: There are now three free MP3s for download from his upcoming Orphans multi-disc set posted at the Anti- website.

RADIOHEAD frontman Thom Yorke has begun worrying about the environmental impact of touring, and is looking into going to Japan by train.

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The grandfather of the supposedly sober supermodel's o­nly daughter has hit out at the troubled singer, fearing that the four-year-old will be exposed to drugs.

MADONNA: o­ne-year-old David Banda was greeted by the international media as he made his way from Malawi to South Africa and then to Heathrow Airport in London, where Madge declared, "He's just the best baby ever. Guy and I have never been happier." Which will be great news to her son Rocco and daughter Lourdes. Meanwhile the international backlash against Madge's move to adopt the boy continued. Nevertheless, she has already got her eyes o­n a three-year-old girl from the same village.

WESLEY SNIPES jumps out of the "Where Are They Now?" file with his indictment o­n eight counts of tax fraud, with a total of 12 million in alleged false refund claims. What some people won't do for attention.

BOBBY BROWN, however, is out of legal jeopardy, having officially paid up o­n 11K in back child support.

SARA EVANS: I haven't followed Dancing with the Stars much, but the country singer's divorce papers are juicy enough to explain her early departure from the show. ET has reaction from Evans' former nanny about the adultery allegations.

BRITNEY SPEARS may not have have named her son Sutton Pierce, as has been generally reported. The Celeb Baby Blog claims the boy's real name is Jayden James. Meanwhile, WWE champion John Cena fulfilled a national fantasy by bodyslamming Spenderline in a bit for WWE Raw that aired last night. Cena also got to yell, "You're less talented than Paris Hilton!" Now that hurts.

PETRA NEMCOVA: The tsunami-surviving supermodel has dumped singer James Blunt. Her bout of temporary insanity ended amid allegations that Blunt had been unfaithful, which -- if true -- would suggest more than temporary insanity o­n his part.

DENISE RICHARDS and CHARLIE SHEEN managed to behave civilly to each other o­n a family outing that included Sheen's new girlfriend. Meanwhile, Richards admits she sleeps with five dogs -- o­ne less than when she was with Sheen.

LINDSAY LOHAN wants to get married before she's 30. No word o­n how many times.

ELTON JOHN has been secretly counselling Keane singer Tom Chaplin as he battles booze and drugs problems. He also counseled Donatella Versace, Robbie Williams and Pete Doherty. And was there to support both Madonna and Guy Ritchie and the Beckhams when their marriages ran into trouble. The man really needs a reality TV show.

ELLEN BARKIN told the crowd at the American Cinematheque tribute to George Clooney that she had f---ed Clooney. A rep for Barkin insisted the actress "was just goofing around. It was a roast. She was being funny." Yes, she was. NTTAWWT.

EVANGELINE LILLY turned up on the set of Lost in a bridal gown, but not to marry her Hobbit co-star, Dominic Monaghan.

MIDEAST CONFLICT: A senior figure in Hamas, who also acts as the spokesman for the Hamas-led government, published an article o­n Tuesday condemning internal violence and questioning whether it had become a "Palestinian disease," though he seems most concerned that it's bad PR. Meanwhile, a Reuters cameraman has been jailed pending trial for his part in allegedly inciting rock-throwing attacks o­n security forces in Bil'in.

IRAN: The European Union, spurred by North Korea's nuclear test, is headed toward backing UN sanctions against Iran o­n Tuesday after Tehran spurned conditions for opening negotiations o­n its nuclear program. EU countries have not decided what sanctions they might support against Tehran, but are leaning toward softer measures, sure to have the mullahs quaking in their boots. Pajamas Media has video of the arrest of an Ayatollah who believes in the separation of church and state, translating his speech outside his house: "Tell the world that Boroujerdi did not fear death... He defended an Islam which promotes love and kindness not the Islam that these lot advocate which has brought poverty, corruption, prostitution, addiction..."

IRAQ: The US military has arrested Sheikh Mazen Al Saedi, the head of Muqtada al-Sadr's offices in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Karkh, part of a series of of raids in Baghdad and Diwaniyah designed to erode Sadr's power base. Sadr's de facto control of the health ministry may also allow him to manipulate casualty statistics in Baghdad, a confidential military intelligence source tells Bill Roggio. The National Police force is being completely reorganized and over 3000 officers have been dismissed, which is the silver lining to bad news about the police. US forces were back patrolling the mostly Shiite town of Balad after days of sectarian violence in which nearly 100 died, which Iraq's 4th Army had been unable to stop. Sadly, o­n the home front, US counterterrorism officials often do not know the difference between Sunnis and Shia.

GITMO: European governments that have called for closing the camp at Guantanamo Bay have balked at accepting prisoner transfers. I think the Euro spelling for that would be p-o-s-e-u-r.

MAURAUDING GANGS of BABOONS have gotten so bad that monitoring teams have been deployed to keep the animals away in suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa.  Ooh ooh ooh, they wanna be like you-oo-oo...

A LUCKY ALBINO SQUIRREL'S luck ran out at the start of the school year for the University of North Texas.

SNAKES: A five-foot-long corn snake is roaming the vicinity of Bromsgrove, UK. A live python was found in a box in a taxi in Mthatha, South Africa.

PET HOARDING: A Waukesha, WI woman was ordered to pay a fine and sell her house after the carcasses of 17 birds, five tortoises and two cats, along with nine living cats and five living birds, were removed from her home.

THE SWARM: Two young Indonesian brothers died in a Malaysian state after adults who saw them being chased by a swarm of wasps locked them out of a room to prevent getting stung themselves, news reports said Monday.

3637 Reads

CBGB Closure, New Releases, live Jenny Lewis, Muzzled Police Dogs   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Tuesday, October 17, 2006 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: kbade

Karl

NO CBGB: The New York Times talks to Patti Smith at the start of its piece o­n the demise of the famed NYC venue that served "as the casual headquarters and dank incubator for some of New York

3124 Reads

Art Brut, New Ryan Adams, Live Talking Heads, but no Smoking Cow   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Monday, October 16, 2006 - 08:05 AM
Posted by: kbade

Karl


photo courtesy of BiblioMama.

ART BRUT, WE ARE SCIENTISTS and the SPINTO BAND played Chicago o­n Thursday. Ken King and I went, but I didn't blurb it Friday for deadline reasons. The show lived up to my expectations. Art Brut is o­ne of a select group of bands (like the Replacements and Guided by Voices) that is truly post-modern -- aware of the essential silliness of what they do, but with enough passion for it to avoid descending into Spinal Tap-esque parody.

When Ken and I saw Art Brut at the Pitchfork fest, frontman Eddie Argos would stop in the middle of "Emily Kane" -- a song about first love that's equal parts Ray Davies and Jonathan Richman -- to tell the audience that he was wrong, that it was a bad idea to want to get in touch with a first love years later. This time, he told the crowd of the e-mail he got from someone who got in touch with her first love, got married and pregnant, who was so happy she had not listened to his concert monologue. Argos said the lesson was that he has to stop stopping the song... and that you should stop listening to him and other people in bands. Of course, earlier in the show, he demanded that everyone in the audience go home after the show and form a band.

We Are Scientists have toured with Art Brut enough that they cover each other's songs o­n a tour single. WAS was tight and occasionally funny. The video for "It's A Hit" is funny in a darker way. When WAS covers Art Brut's "Bang Bang Rock N' Roll," the hyperactive third-billed Spinto Band comes out to dance. The Spinto Band is probably best known for "Oh, Mandy" -- which is not the Manilow tune. You can hear Art Brut's upcoming UK single, "Nag Nag Nag Nag," as well as the must-hear "Formed A Band," via MySpace.

TWO GALLANTS were jailed after an altercation with police in Houston. MKOB has news coverage and a fan video from the scene, plus a streaming Two Gallants song.

JOE STRUMMER is the subject of a new biography by Chris Salewicz, writer and friend of the star for 25 years. London's Sun has an exclusive essay by Salewicz at the link.

JARVIS COCKER, NICK CAVE and BETH ORTON are among those discussing the changing role of pop music in modern life for a roundtable in London's Observer.

REMIX THE MONKEY: Stereogum can link you to the winner and other top entries in a contest to remix Peter Gabriel's "Shock the Monkey," with video of Gabriel discussing them.

RYAN ADAMS: The compulsively prolific singer-songwriter is streaming 36 new songs from his website, in styles ranging from thrashy punk to Whiskeytown-esque alt-country.

SEEN YOUR VIDEO: As we get closer to Halloween, I'll be trying to feature more video like (the late) Jim Carroll belting out "People Who Died."

WHO IS BOB DYLAN? Yes, there is at least one person who doesn't know. Actually, I think Bob would find that an intriguing question, but he probably wouldn't give a straight answer. Heather Browne is posted some rarities from No Direction Home you can stream via the Hype Machine.

AMERICA is trying for a comeback with indie cred, enlisting ex-Smashing Pumpkin James Iha and Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlessinger for production help, and cameos from members of My Morning Jacket and Nada Surf o­n covers of their songs.

TALKING HEADS: Jefito blog has posted a gig from 9/16/78, which you can stream via the Hype Machine.

FREDDY FENDER has died of complications of many illnesses, including lung cancer, at 69. Bizzare trivia: In February 1999, Fender was awarded a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame after then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush wrote to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce endorsing him.

DEBORAH HARRY and Blondie guitarist Chris Stein closed out CBGB (OMFUG) Saturday night with an unpluggety set that included "One Way or Another" and a cover of the Ramones song "I Want to Be Your Boyfriend." I haven't seen any video of that yet, though I did find an acoustic "Heart of Glass" from 2002. The final GBGB show in NYC was scheduled to be Patti Smith last night.

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: Radar notes the parallels between the the Pete-Kate train wreck and the saga of Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg.

MADONNA: The father of the little boy Madge adopted in Malawi has described his feelings of confusion and powerlessness in the face of the singer's determination to take his o­nly surviving child away. The Human Rights Consultative Committee, a grouping of 67 human rights NGOs in Malawi, will apply to Malawi's High Court to halt the adoption. That last link has some contrary quotes from the father, along with some family members claiming the father is being exploited.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The Grudge 2 won the weekend with 22 million, which means it will make decent money, but far short of the original, which opened with 39 million. The Departed took the second slot, dropping o­nly 30 percent -- though it may face competition this weekend from Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers. Man of the Year made 12.5 million, which means it may break even, after accounting for marketing costs and such. Open Season grossed 11 million and was off 30 percent, so it too may break even by the time Flushed Away arrives to compete for the family audience. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning dropped 60 percent to make a mere 7.8 million, but is a money-maker o­n its shoestring budget.

MATT DAMON and LEONARDO Di CAPRIO are good enough actors to fool Jack Nicholson into thinking they were doctors coming to give him a rectal exam.

PAUL McCARTNEY has begun a process to trademark his name for use o­n goods as wide-ranging as pantihose, waistcoats, bath robes, articles of fancy dress, overalls, sports clothing, swimwear and vegetarian food.

GEORGE MICHAEL: Cell phone footage of his latest drug bust, courtesy of TMZ.

JOHN FORSYTHE, who played patriarch Blake Carrington o­n Dynasty and was the voice of Charlie in both the TV and film versions of Charlie's Angels, was treated for colon cancer and is now recovering at a L.A. hospital. My college roomie Dale made sure I noticed, as we enjoyed mocking Dynasty MST3K-style, going so far as to pop bottles of Coke in tandem with the opening credits. I'm sure we do the same with best wishes for Forsythe's recovery.

TOM-KAT UPDATE: The buzz is that Holmes' parents are still outraged that her rumored nuptials will be conducted by the Church of Scientology, with suggestions that they are threatening a last-minute boycott of the wedding to try to convince Katie to have a proper Catholic ceremony, even if she does o­ne Scientology-style, too.

BRADGELINA: Another day, another photographer punched in the face by Jolie's hired goons.

MAD MEL UPDATE: Gibson says he drank alcohol the morning after his July 28 arrest for driving under the influence. In front of his kids.

LINDSAY LOHAN will be flirting with Keira Knightley in The Best Time of Our Lives, a movie that revolves around Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, his wife Caitlin and her childhood friend Vera Phillips.

JESSICA ALBA was snapped getting married... for a scene in the Fantastic Four sequel. Had you for a second, didn't I?

THE CULT of the iPod may run into the buzzsaw of Islamic extremism with the construction of "Apple Mecca."

SALMAN RUSHDIE tells a reporter for London's Independent -- though it appears the reporter doesn't get it -- about the Islamic extremism that spawned the fatwa against him long before 9/11: "If tomorrow the Israel/Palestine issue was resolved to the total happiness of all parties, it would not diminish the amount of terrorism coming out of al-Qa'ida by o­ne jot. It's not what they're after. Yes, it's a recruiting tool, rhetorically. Many people see there's an injustice there, and it helps them to get people into the gang, but it's not what they want. What they want is to change the nature of human life o­n earth into the image of the Taliban. If you want the whole earth to look like Taliban Afghanistan, then you're o­n the same side as them. If you don't want that, you're not. They do not represent the quest for human justice. That, I think, is o­ne of the great mistakes of the left." And Rushdie has much more where that came from.

IRAQ: At ITM, Mohammed details the heroism of an Iraqi policeman facing a car-bomber. London's Times reports o­n coup rumors, while the Washington Post's David Ignatius dismisses and looks beyond them. Bill Roggio looks at the divisions in al-Qaeda in Iraq. The AP claims Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's influence is declining, while radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has ordered his Shiite militia not to take part in the sectarian bloodshed -- though I suspect that's for public consumption o­nly. Sen. Minority Whip Dick Durbin says that the security situation has improved somewhat since his last visit.

PAKISTAN: A plot to stage a coup against Pres. General Pervez Musharraf soon after his recent return from the US has been uncovered, resulting in the arrest of more than 40 people. This plot takes place in the context of Musharraf's agreement with the US o­n a massive joint operation against the Taliban.

ELEPHANT IMMIGRANTS UPDATE: It turns out that the Pennsylvania congressional candidate who used an elephant and a six-piece mariachi band for an elaborate political stunt designed to make a point about border security was "fired" by Donald Trump o­n The Apprentice two years ago. Plus, we now have the video of the stunt.

CAT CLONING: A California company set up to clone beloved pets has gone out of business after cloning just two cats.

BUGSY the RABBIT has been freed unhurt after a week hiding in the engine of Jon Llewlyn's Ford Mondeo. What's up with that, Doc?

AN ENRAGED GIANT PIG attacked a nurse after charging her horse, which caused the nurse to be thrown to the ground.

NO SMOKING COW: The same strain of deadly E. coli bacteria that sickened dozens of people nationwide has been found at a cattle ranch in California's Salinas Valley within a mile of spinach fields, but an investigator says, "We do not have a smoking cow at this point."

3526 Reads

<   1112131415161718191101111121131141151161171181191201211221231241251261271281291301311321331341351361371381391401411421431441451461471481491501511521531541551561571581591601611621631641651661671681691701711721731741751761771781791801811821831841851861871872873874875876877878879880881882883884885886887888889890891892893894895896897898899900901911921931941951961971981991   >

Home  |  Share Your Story  |  Recommend Us