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CMJ Picks, Bloc Party, Jens Lekman, Cane Toads   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: Karl

Karl

CMJ MUSIC MARATHON REDUX:  Though I did not attend, I thought I would highlight a few of the acts that tended to pop up on my usual rounds of the Internet.

BAD VEINS:  This duo from Cincinnati tends to get noticed for their use of the reel-to-reel tape deck,a megaphone and a telephone, but hold attention with songs like "Gold and Warm."  You can also stream that song and "The Lie" at VeinSpace.  They also rolled out new songs last month for WOXY's Lounge Act series.

BON IVER, a/k/a Justin Vernon, was a member of The Rosebuds, but left Raleigh, NC and returned home to Eau Claire, WI, where he recorded For Emma, Forever Ago in a remote cabin.  Buzz for the rustic LP has been percolating through the summer.  You can stream the whole album via Virb, though I think Dodge is still streaming my faves at MOKB, following on a nice interview he did with Vernon in September.  Even before CMJ, I was reminded to blurb him by a new article at Crawdaddy.

THE 1900s, a 7 piece band from Chicago, have a bit of a 60's folk-pop vibe without relly stealing from anyone in particular.  If you jukebox 'em via the newly-redesigned HM, you'll hear a bit of the Mamas & Papas on "No Delay" and Carole King on "When I Say Go," but just a bit.  Ed Anderson and Jeanine Mary answered five questions for Muzzle of Bees before heading to CMJ.

YEASAYER has a sound that doesn't really have a easy label, which is to their credit.  More accessible than Animal Collective, mellower than TV on the Radio, with dashes of Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads and Lindsey Buckingham's odder material, perhaps.  You can jukebox 'em at the HM, with "Sunrise" and "2080" being the tracks that grab most people.

BLACK KIDS became the peg for the NYT's piece on Internet blog buzz coming out of CMJ.  They -- and the NYT piece -- were also the peg for a "special report" at Idolator on the excesses of Internet blog buzz.  Either way, you can still stream and download four tracks at TheirSpace, with the pick to click being "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You," a track that seems to fall somewhere between The Go! Team and The Cure.

BLOC PARTY:  I'm not generally a fan, but how could I pass up the Ultraman-inspired video for "Flux?"

OiNK SHUTDOWN:  British and Dutch police have shut down a "widely-used" source of illegally-downloaded music.  The UK-based, members-only website leaked 60 major pre-release albums this year alone, said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.  The site's admin was released from custody later on Tuesday.

JENS LEKMAN:  At Slate, Stephen Metcalf writes that the Swedish songster is not only his 4-and-a-half-year-old daughter's favorite, but also "a fully realized pop genius, and each of his full-length records is its own masterpiece."  Apparently, music bloggers are not the only ones prone to hyperbole.  But I really like Lekman too, and there's embedded audio in the essay to check out.

NEW RELEASES REDUX:  It turns out that the albums from Saturday Looks Good to Me and Carbon/Silicon (Mick Jones & Donnie Letts) are streaming in full Quicktime via Apple.  (Thanks, LHB.)

THE HOLD STEADY will likely start recording a new album in mid-December, once Craig Finn comes up with lyrics for the 14 or so songs already demoed.

ROGUE WAVE stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set you can stream on demand via MPR.

SPOON -- and The Ponys -- played DC's 9:30 Club last night, so you should be able to stream both gigs on demand via NPR.

RYAN ADAMS was in seemingly fine form in Dallas last week, but if you thought his crazy was due to the chemicals, think again.

BRITNEY SPEARS reportedly hit yet another photographer with her car Monday.  People who used to work with the pop tart, including a bodyguard, backup dancer and makeup artist, as well as several old friends, are calling for a boycott of her imminent Blackout LP - at least until the singer cleans up her act.  The parents of Britney Spears have been forced to hold crisis talks at Fed-Ex's house over the future of her two sons - but the singer was nowhere to be seen.  TMZ claims that Spears' parenting coach has submitted her report to the court, and it ain't pretty.

HALLE BERRY reportedly made an anti-Semitic "joke" on The Tonight Show, which was silenced when the taping aired.  Berry later offered an apology and explanation to Page Six.

DAVID COPPERFIELD:  The FBI seized digital camera equipment and a hard drive to a computer after a Seattle woman accused Copperfield of sexually assaulting her in the Bahamas.  The feds may be looking for evidence of modus operandi.

DOWN GOES OSMOND!  Marie Osmond collapsed after her samba routine at Dancing with the Stars on Monday.  Video at the link, icymi.

REESE WITHERSPOON & JAKE GYLLENHAAL were... wait for it... caught canoodling again at LAX on Monday.  Back together... or desperately trying to spark interest in their flop flick, Rendition?

THE McCARTNEYS:  Heather Mills reportedly flown to the US to plan a Hollywood film about her life - and she wants Reese Witherspoon to take the starring role.  Mills supposedly called on Sir Paul to reach a divorce deal by close of business on Friday or face the worst she could throw at him in court, on screen and in a new biography.

OWEN WILSON joined a lawnmower race on the video shoot for Willie Nelson's "You Don't Think I'm Funny Anymore."  Bothers Luke and Andrew Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Joe "King" Carrasco, Ray Price; Dan Rather and Jessica Simpson were also part of Nelson's motley crew.  Still is still moving has pics from the event.

VINCE VAUGHN... and Vanessa Williams?   That would be a well-kept secret. 

JESSICA BIEL & JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE are rumored to be fighting over Timberlake flirting with other women, according to bot the National Enquirer and Star magazine.  Indeed, Star magazine says one of the other women is Kirsten Bell (Veronica Mars, Heroes).  This is supposedly why JT invited JB to Toronto, where he is shooting The Love Guru -- which makes prior jokes about not wanting to leave JT alone with co-star Jessica Alba seem almost prescient. 

LEO DiCAPRIO is ready to move on to his next supermodel girlfriend.

OPRAH WINFREY flew to South Africa at the weekend for crisis meetings over allegations of sexual misconduct at her exclusive girls' school south of Johannesburg.  The suspect dorm matron has been suspended, Johannesburg police confirm.  The headmistress of the academy has also agreed to a paid leave of absence as to ensure an unbiased investigation.

EWAN MacGREGOR said he is sick of Britain's "ludicrous nanny state" rules, which he said might force him to quit the country, in an interview that was to be published Tuesday.

PETRA NEMCOVA:  The tsunami-surviving supermodel has unveiled her provocative new lingerie campaign for La Senza.  The above pic is not part of the campaign, which can be seen at the link.

TX TERROR FINANCE MISTRIAL:  Apparently, not enough jurors believed the government's assertion that more than $12 million in humanitarian aid raised by the Holy Land Foundation, once the largest Muslim charity in the US, and sent to Palestinian charities, also known as zakat committees, was really going to the violent terrorist group Hamas.  Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority has closed the zakat committees, alleging that they been funneling money to Hamas supporters in the West Bank.

FMR. GITMO DETAINEE Sadeq Mohammed Saeed, who admits he joined one of the Taliban battle lines in Afghanistan, has been freed and will probably rejoin the jihad.

IRAQ:  Violence in Iraq has dropped by 70 percent since the end of June, when U.S. forces completed their build-up of "surge" troops.  In Baghdad, car bombs had decreased by 67 percent and roadside bombs by 40 percent, with a 28 percent decline in the number of bodies found dumped in the capital's streets.  The health ministry's inspector-general says the average number of dead bodies sent to Baghdad's main morgue just over a year ago was between 100 and 150 a day. Now, it is no more than 10 bodies a day, half of which are dying in normal circumstances.  Stability is gradually coming to smaller towns in Anbar province.  Niveneh province, where AQI has fled from areas targeted by the "surge," remains restive for now.  The US is meeting with Shiite groups to convince the militias that political reconciliation, not violence, is the way forward.  Moqtada al-Sadr warned his fighters to obey a six-month suspension of his militia's activities or face being branded "traitors."  Michael Yon argues that while violence is plummeting, much of Iraq is still a complete mess and now is the time to put the foot on the gas by helping Iraqis with reconciliation, infrastructure and the economy.

CANE TOADS may be successfully overrunning Australia, but the stress is giving them arthritis.

SIX BINGE-DRINKING ELEPHANTS were electrocuted when they went berserk after quaffing rice beer in north eastern India.

YAK ATTACK:  Don't talk back.

A BLACK BEAR turned up in front of an Alaska man's refrigerator in the middle of the night.  The bear had a few muffins, ignored the porridge.

A CAT was saved by a southern Illinois firefighter who performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation after the feline was rescued from a house fire.  I'll skip over the trashy punchline to observe that the same firefighter was recognized for doing rescue breathing on a dog about a year ago.

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Weakerthans, New Releases, Dylan, Fugitive Tortoises   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Tuesday, October 23, 2007 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: Karl

Karl

THE WEAKERTHANS took the video for "Civil Twilight" in one continuous shot filmed in the Winnipeg public transit terminal.  frontman John K. Samson answers five questions for the Detroit Free Press.  You can stream a few from the new album at WeakerthansSpace.

NEW RELEASES:  Coheed & Cambria, The Thrills, Babyshambles, West Indian Girl, Ween and more are streaming via Spinner.  Black Dice (not to be confused with Black Lips) have new LP.  Castanets finds Ray Raposa In the Vines.  Ryan Adams & The Cardinals have a seven-song EP.  And Saturday Looks Good to Me wants to Fill Up the Room.

DEVENDRA BANHART talks to Pitchfork about his new album Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, Johnny Cash, California, Mexico, Africa, the squirrel threat and more.

BOB DYLAN:  Heather Browne has exclusive streams of Eddie Vedder & The Million Dollar Bashers covering "All Along The Watchtower" for the soundtrack to the Dylan biopic, I'm Not There.  Other covers from Sufjan Stevens, Cat Power, Jeff Tweedy, and Jim James with Calexico are streaming at BiopicSpace.  Will theaters run Bob Dylan's Cadillac ad before the movie?

GARY GLITTER is to stay behind bars in Vietnam after nine child protection organizations wrote to judges considering early release under traditional holiday celebrations.

ROBERT GORDON brings the rockabilly on covers of "Baby, Let's Play House" (w/ Link Wray) and Marshall Crenshaw's "Someday, Someway."  Which would be enough for Twofer Tuesday, but you may also want to hear Springsteen's "Fire" before the Pointer Sistsers got to it.  It's even a free download.

MAXIMO PARK talks to PopMatters about their world tour, including China and Russia.  Apparently, the band didn't know it gets really cold in Russia in the winter.  Being a stone's throw from the Arctic Circle tends to have that effect.  Anyway, embedded video and audio links are included.

THE HOLD STEADY's five-song set at the CMJ Music Marathon is a free download via KEXP.

DAN WILSON stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set you can stream on demand via MPR.

THE NATIONAL singer Matt Berninger talked to the Vancouver Province about how The Boxer differs from the band's previous LP:  "When we finished Boxer, we realized that we'd failed to pay attention to any things on Alligator people liked, such as the screaming rock songs. All good."

ELLEN DeGENERES is a serial dog-dumper, according to the ever-reliable Page Six.  Howard Stern said on his Sirius show that he'd heard she had done this nine times before.

SALMA HAYEK still plans on marrying Francois-Henri Pinault, the billionaire boss of the Gucci fashion empire, despite his reported prior relationship with Linda Evangelista.

REESE WITHERSPOON credits her older brother's support in helping her cope with her divorce from actor Ryan Philippe.  No word on who will help her through the flop of Rendition.

KATE HUDSON & CHRIS ROBINSON will likely be officially divorced by the time you read this.

ROSE McGOWAN killing Barbarella?  Universal Studios has backed out of backing the remake, whose budget the source pegged at nearly $100 million, because director Robert Rodriguez has insisted on casting his new fiancé, Rose McGowan, in the lead role, famously played by Jane Fonda in the 1968 original directed by Ms. Fonda's then-husband, Roger Vadim.

BRADGELINA are making their first joint producing effort with a series project at HBO, which will explore the behind-the scenes politics of an international aid organization and chronicle the lives of humanitarian workers assigned to dangerous zones and the people in need they assist.  They are also looking for a house in Europe so that their four children and future offspring can have a "broad vision of the world."

KIM BASINGER & CHARLIZE THERON will play mother and daughter in the upcoming movie, The Burning Plain.  Just so long as Alec Baldwin doesn't play the father...

JESSICA SIMPSON tells InStyle magazine there's something empowering about the disillusionment that comes with heartbreak.

TARA REID may have been hospitalized for possible liver damage -- or not.

BRIAN WILLIAMS:  The Nightly News Anchor will host the late-night comedy show on Nov. 3.  Will he do Weekend Update again... or will he join musical guest Leslie Feist?

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA took a surprise hit at Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson, telling GQ he has become disappointed with them as they have grown older and richer.

THE 100 SCARIEST MOVIE SCENES, according to Retrocrush, with scads of embedded video --  ranging from a scene from Tod Browning's cult fave Freaks to a bit from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

LT. MICHAEL MURPHY was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor yesterday for his bravery in Afghanistan.  The media finally noticed, though MSNBC chose not to carry the ceremony live.  Other heroes not good enough for national media coverage are noted here and here, though there are plenty that I've missed, too.

TX TERROR FINANCE TRIAL ended in a mistrial, after chaos broke out in the court when three jurors disputed some verdicts that had been announced.  Prosecutors said they would probably retry leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which the federal government shut down in December 2001.  HLF's original chairman Mohammed El-Mezain was acquitted on all counts, except one conspiracy charge involving material support for terrorists.  Consultant and author Douglas Farah writes: "The evidence may, in the eyes of the jury, not show definitive proof of support for terrorist activities. But they do show definitive proof that CAIR, ISNA, ICNA and all the Muslim Brotherhood groups in this country came here with a markedly different purpose from what they claim, and they have gone through decades of deceit to conceal their true identities and purposes."

IRAN:  New chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili is close to the same apocalyptic splinter group as Pres. Ahmadinejad.  The sect's goals are to sow chaos - the goal of which is to incite a massive war, presumably necessary to speed up the return of the Shiite messiah, known as the Mahdi.

IRAQ:  New US statistics show that violent attacks of all kinds are down to levels not seen since 2005, including a decrease in the number of attacks attributable to insurgents backed or armed by Iran.  Nevertheless, the Army claims US aircraft are being targeted with "an advanced missile supplied by Iran."  The US military has increased airstrikes in Iraq fivefold this year, reflecting a steep escalation in combat operations aimed at AQI and other militants.  More than 60 people have been killed in a series of violent clashes between AQI and the Islamic Army (a rival group actually affiliated with former Baathists) in the area of al-Khannasa, north of Baghdad.  Showing apparent signs of concern over events in Iraq, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden urged insurgents to "unite your lines into one" in an audiotape played on al Jazeera Monday.  The Iraq Awakening Conference called on individuals who were forced to leave their homes in Anbar province to return to their original place of residence.  A 72-year-old man stopped a suspected suicide bomber from detonating himself at a checkpoint in Arab Jabour.

IRAQ and the MEDIA:  Independent blogger Michael Yon is so frustrated with "the bizarro-world contrast between what most Americans seem to think is happening in Iraq versus what is really happening in Iraq" that he is offering free excerpts of his dispatches -- and photos -- to the National Newspaper Association.

FUGITIVE TORTOISES have been outfitted with the Loc8tor radio tracking system.  Owner Jane Williams said, "Contrary to popular belief tortoises can actually move quite fast..."

PROMISCUOUS, CANNABALISTIC LADYBIRDS are Britain's new pestilence.  Harlequin Ladybirds, btw, are a form of ladybug.

CROC NEWS:  Thirty-four crocodiles escaped over the top of their fenced enclosure at a reptile farm in Non Sung, Thailand, when a flood hit the area last Wednesday.  A tourist who drank 12 cans of beers before being attacked by a crocodile while swimming in a Queensland river fell asleep at his campsite before going to hospital for treatment.

A NOISY PARROT that likes to imitate sounds helped save a man and his son from a house fire by mocking a smoke alarm, the bird's owner said.

911 CALLER claims to have sideswiped a giraffe while driving on S.C. Highway 174 near the Dahoo Bridge.  Audio at the link.

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Tegan & Sara, Hot Freaks, Black Mountain, Socks the Cat   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Monday, October 22, 2007 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: Karl

Karl

TEGAN & SARA have a new video for the title track of their current album, "The Con."

FEIST:  Her iPod Nano ad probably sold 100K copies of The Reminder.  But she had already sold about 200K copies, which is impressive in itself. 

IRON & WINE:  Sam Beam did an interview and mini-set for the World Cafe you can stream from NPR, talking about The Shepherd's Dog's status as a "headphone record," praising Tom Waits, and pointing to South Carolina as an inspiration for his lyrics.  Beam talked about the influence of his work with Calexico and more at Drowned In Sound.

THE PIPETTES talk about their long journey to North America with the L.A. Times... and that was before vias problems delayed their tour.

ART BRUT, GRIZZLY BEAR, ROSEBUDS and ST. VINCENT are among the acts that played the Hot Freaks afterparties at the last ACL Fest; you can watch 'em at the Dell Lounge.  (Thx, Chromewaves.)

JOHNNY MARR:  The fmr Smiths (and current Modest Mouse) guitarist has been appointed a visiting professor at Salford University and will be delivering a series of workshops and master classes to students on the BA Popular Music and Recording degree.

JOSE GONZALEZ covers Massive Attack's "Teardrop" in his latest video.

SPOON drummer Jim Eno joked about it last week, but frontman Britt Daniel gives the NYDN the (semi-)serious explanation for why he thinks 36 minutes is the ideal length for an album.

STARS and New Buffalo played DC's 9:30 Club the other night; you can stream either gig on demand via NPR.

BLACK MOUNTAIN, having drawn critical raves for its fusion of heavy classic rock Led Zeppelin/Sabbath riffing and druggy noir-tinged Velvet Underground balladry on the eponymous debut, is profiled for AZ Central in advance of their follow-up, In The Future, which is due in January.  One of the new tracks, "Stay Free," was on the Spider-Man 3 soundtrack.  There are also older tracks streaming at MountainSpace.

THE SHOUT OUT LOUDS stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set you can steam on demand via MPR.

GOGOL BORDELLO, which cites the Dead Kennedys, Tom Waits, and Romanian Gypsies Taraf de Haidouks as its favorite listening, is profiled in the Dallas Observer.

BRITNEY SPEARS:  No sooner does she cut a deal in her civil case with the owner of the car she hit in a parking lot last August than she reportedly ran over a photogs foot on the way out of a Beverly Hills medical building, likely trying to hide her fresh new trout pout.  Spears has regained visitation rights with her sons.  While some predict the pop tart may get parental custody of her sons back on Oct. 26, it appears Spears stood up her parenting coach, who already had told the court Spears was ignoring the advice.  It also looks like her single is tanking and there is little to no advance interest in the LP.

DAVID COPPERFIELD was linked to an FBI investigation after a  Vegas warehouse operated by Copperfield was raided by 12 agents Wednesday night.  The raid is reportedly related to a Seattle woman's claim that Copperfield raped her in the Bahamas.  He's probably wishing he hasn't been vehemently denying the long-standing rumor that he's as gay as fellow Vegas mainstays Siegfried and Roy.  NTTAWWT.

MALIBU CELEBS have been evacuated, and there are many more celebs in the Malibu area whose homes are in danger from a fire believed to have started when arcing power lines, downed by fierce Santa Ana winds, ignited dry brush around 5:00 a.m. Sunday.

ISLA FISHER & SASHA BARON COHEN celebrated the birth of their daughter in Los Angeles on Friday.

KID ROCK was arrested in Atlanta overnight in connection with a brawl at a Waffle House in DeKalb County, GA.  Sounds about right...

JENNIFER LOPEZ:  Hubby Marc Anthony may have revealed J-Lo's pregnancy with some help from Journey.

KATE MOSS:  The Daily Mail looks at how partying is ruining her looks.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE:  The number one film of the weekend is 30 Days of Night, which earned 16 million, continuing the slow box office trend for horror in 2007.  Finishing second is Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?, which made 12.1 mil; it plunged 43%, but that's less of a drop than his other films have had in their second weekends.  The Game Plan made 8.1 mil, and was off only 26%.  Michael Clayton earned 7.1 mil, but fell 32%, despite adding screens.  The debut of Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone rounds out the Top Five with 6 mil.  The Comebacks opened in sixth place with 5.9 mil -- well below predictions, even for a movie unscreened for critics.  We Own the Night is in seventh place on a surprisingly large 49 % drop, making 5.5 mil.  The 3-D re-release of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas did surprisingly well, making 5.1 million on a mere 564 screens, for a healthy per-screen average of $9122.  Rendition flopped into the ninth slot with 4.2 million -- far below tracking estimates of 10 mil.  The Heartbreak Kid rounded out the Top Ten, earning another 3.9 mil on a 46% drop.

RENDITION:  Hollywood analysts groped for reasons why the film flopped in its opening frame.  The AP suggests it is the daily bad news on their TV screens, though there was bad news on TV through the 1970s, a decade noted for serious movies.  The AP also suggests 30 Days of Night was escapist fare, though horror has not performed well for about a year.  One analyst suggests audiences are resisting serious mobies right now -- though The Comebacks also flopped this weekend. Another claims there is a glut of serious movies -- though there is 30 Days, Tyler Perry, Game Plan, Comebacks, Nightmare Before Christmas and The Heartbreak Kid all in the Top Ten.  None suggested that the content of Rendition might be one reason for its failure.

GEORGE CLOONEY:  Slate's Hollwoodland column tries to explain -- or excuse -- the lackluster performance of Michael Clayton.  Reason No. 1 -- as I previously suggested -- is that Clooney is not as popular with the public as he is with Tinseltown elites.

BRADGELINA:  More folks are asking whether Pitt and Jolie are doing their four children any favors by constantly schlepping them from city to city around the world.

JERRY SEINFELD tells Parade magazine how Scientology helped his stand-up comedy (though he's not a member).

DUMBLEDORE is so gay... NTTAWWT.

JERRY HALL finally decided to spill the beans on life with ex-husband Mick Jagger - and his countless other women - in an autobiography.  Harper Collins reportedly paid a £1 million advance, but a publishing source says it is likely that Hall will make much more than that if sales are as huge as expected.

UMA THURMAN startled onlookers at the Swarovski Fashion Rocks event with an outfit which left little to the imagination.

SWISS UNREST:  The Financial Times reports:  Swiss politics on Sunday retained the capacity to surprise as reliable projections showed the ultraconservative Swiss People's party improved its already dominant position as the country's biggest political group.  Of course, this was no surprise to regular Pate visitors.

RENDITION:  Clinton-era NSC staffer Daniel Benjamin explodes Five Myths About Rendition as a tie-in to the opening of the Reese Witherspoon-Jake Gyllenhaal flick.

MIDEAST MYSTERY:  Israeli officials believed that a target their forces bombed inside Syria last month was a nuclear facility, because they had detailed photographs taken by a possible spy inside the complex, ABCNews has learned.

THE STANS:  Taliban fighters are facing overwhelming coalition firepower and abject rejection from Afghan citizens, according to Col. Thomas McGrath.  A strong majority of Afghans approve of the presence of NATO-led troops in their country and want them to remain to fight the Taliban and support reconstruction efforts, according to the latest poll, suggesting the second part is right.  Col. McGrath also believes that the Afghan armed forces should be ready to conduct large-scale operations without significant coalition assistance or planning by late spring of 2008.  But Afghanistan is "a classic glass half-empty, glass half-full story" says Peter Bergen, an Afghan specialist at the New America Foundation.  The Taliban takeover of the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan, the increasing number of extremists from Europe travelling to Pakistan to train and plot attacks on the West, and the politcal instability of Pakistan suggest the military part of the equation is far from over.

IRAN:  British special forces have crossed into Iran several times in recent months as part of a secret border war against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Al-Quds special forces, defense sources disclosed.  Tehran warned on Saturday it would fire off 11K rockets at enemy bases within the space of a minute if the US launched military action against the Islamic republic.  Iran's top nuclear negotiator resigned, a move seen as a victory for hardline Pres. Ahmadinejad that could bring about an even tougher stance in ongoing talks.  Folks are debating cutting versus continuing financial support aimed at promoting democracy inside the theocracy.

IRAQ:  Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker plan shifting the US military effort to focus more on countering Shiite militias, as the relative influence of Sunni insurgent groups such as AQI has diminished drastically because of ongoing US operations.  Multinational Forces Iraq killed 49 Special Groups operatives during a major raid in Baghdad's Sadr City.  Coalition and Iraqi forces have been clashing with the Mahdi Army in the southern city of Diwaniyah.  Iraq complained to a meeting of senior security officials from neighboring states on Saturday that foreign fighters were continuing to infiltrate the country.  Senior security officials from Kuwait, Bahrain and Egypt agreed on Sunday to exchange more intelligence in a bid to help quell the insurgency.  The headquarters of Iraq's Islamic Party (led by Vice President Tareq Al-Hashemi) was raided and inspected for four hours on Saturday by US forces.  The building of a local newspaper and a mouthpiece of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's movement in eastern Baghdad was set on fire by unknown perpetrators early Saturday morning.  Efforts by US-led reconstruction teams generally have failed to show significant progress, though there are bright spots in the effort to put together a functioning nation, according to the latest report by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

SOCKS the CAT, after years of loyal service at the White House, was dumped on Betty Currie, Bill Clinton's personal secretary, as though the feline was Monica Lewinsky.  I'll skip the obvious punchline in favor of the topical LOL Sockz.

PETNAPPING:  A kidnapped German Shepherd has been returned to its elderly owners in Bogota, Columbia, days after a police sting operation thwarted payment of a 350K ransom.  Police in England are hunting a catnapper who has reportedly snatched seven of the pets from a street because they kill birds and use gardens as a toilet.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT:  A kamikaze squirrel fell from the sky and detonated a Bayonne woman's car Wednesday, police said.

BEAVER HUNTER is astonished by the size of his catch - one weighing a whopping 93 pounds, the second at a hefty 60 pounds.  Nice!

WILD MACAQUES attacked a New Delhi deputy mayor, who fell to his death.

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Husker Du, Aerovons, Cat Power, Cutout Bin, Performing Pigs   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Friday, October 19, 2007 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: Karl

Karl

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with HUSKER DU!  This bootleg video of the power trio was taken in Indy circa June 1985.  The crowd is way too sedate, but may have been warned to remain seated.  Part 1 includes "New Day Rising," "It's Not Funny Any More," "Everything Falls Apart" and "The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill."  Part 2 includes "I Apologize," "If I Told You," "Folklore" and "Every Everything."  Part 3 includes "Makes No Sense At All" and "Keep Hanging On."  Part 4 is "Find Me."  Part 5 is "All Work And No Play."  Part 6 includes "Terms Of Psychic Warfare," "Drug Party" and "Powerline."  Part 7 includes "Books About UFOs" and "Chartered Trips."  Part 8 includes "Diane" and "Celebrated Summer."  Part 9 includes "Pink Turns To Blue" and "Ticket To Ride."  Part 10 concludes with "Eight Miles High" and "Love Is All Around."

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED:  Radiohead, Neil Young, Jole Holland & Booker T, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Levon Helm and more are streaming on demand via NPR.

SPOON drummer Jim Eno talked to the Boston Globe about the band's sparse arrangements, the studio chatter left on the new LP, and how the band decided 36 minutes is the perfect album length.

ERIC CLAPTON:  All Things Considered has an excerpt from his autobiography and is streaming his early influences, plus a couple of his classics in a two-parter at NPR.

THE AEROVONS:  A "shinsaholic" at MOG is streaming four tracks from the obscure, but so-Beatlesque band with the great backstory.

DOVEMAN joins the list of artists doing tours of blog love, starting with the video for "The Sunken Queen" at Frank Yang's Chromewaves.

CAT POWER:  GvsB was just as disappointed as I was yesterday that Chan Marshall is leaving "The Tracks Of My Tears" off her next covers LP, but they found the video!  So for a bonus, I'll add a freaky clip of Smokey and the Miracles in which the instruments and vocals are alternately isolated.

A PALER SHADE OF WHITE REDUX:  The Sasha Frere-Jones article asserting the unbearable whiteness of indie rock I noted on Tuesday was also discussed at the Village Voice and dumped on at Prefix.  New York Magazine rounds up more (mostly negative) reax.  At Slate, Carl Wilson argues that identity politics, class and other factors are at play as well.

WILCO:  While Jeff Tweedy recently spoke to Billboard about rediscovering the band's back catalog on tour, drummer Glenn Kotche talked to the Columbus Dispatch about a few of his favorite songs from the set lists.

THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set you can stream via MPR.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS:  Patterson Hood is quick to note that when the band goes out early next year to support the band's upcoming album, it will be with an electric vengeance

AMY WINEHOUSE & PETE DOHERTY have teamed up for a new duet... and she was reportedly busted on tour in Bergen, Norway.

CUTOUT BIN:  This Friday's fortuitous finds from the newly-redesigned HM are:  Ike & Tina Turner - River Deep, Mountain High; The Ronettes - Baby, I Love You; El Perro del Mar - God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get); Lucky Soul - Add Your Light To Mine, Baby; The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - The Impression That I Get; The Spinners - The Rubberband Man; James Brown - It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World; Queen w/David Bowie - Under Pressure; The B-52's - Dance This Mess Around; The Chambers Brothers - Time Has Come Today; Tom Petty - I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better (Byrds); Mamas And The Papas - California Dreamin'; Buffalo Springfield - Bluebird; Dar Williams - Ripple (Grateful Dead); The Flying Burrito Brothers - Do You Know How It Feels?; Richard Hawley - Just Like The Rain; The Minus 5 - Ballad Of John And Yoko (Beatles); The Beatles - Dream Baby (R. Orbison); The Yardbirds - Smokestack Lightnin' (Howlin' Wolf); Creedence Clearwater Revival - Run through the Jungle; Foo Fighters - Band On The Run (Wings); Warren Zevon - Lawyers, Guns and Money (nsfw); Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Someone I Care About; Wilco - Passenger Side; Blair - Adrogynous (Replacements); AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long; and Guided By Voices - Echos Myron (nsfw).

BRITNEY SPEARS has had her visitation rights with her kids suspended until she complies with all court orders.  TMZ claims the pop tart did not provide contact info for those random drug tests.  Her camp claims drug-testers couldn't reach her cell phone because the reception isn't good enough.

ELLEN DeGENERES says she will stop speaking publicly, for now, about her former adopted dog Iggy, after reports that the rescue agency which repossessed the dog she gave away has been threatened with violence.  Video at the link.

OWEN WILSON has reportedly fallen off the wagon already.

NOW SHOWING:  This weekend's wide releases are: The Comebacks, a sports comedy not screened for critics; 30 Days of Night, an adaptation of the graphic novel about vampires in Alaska currently scoring a sad 33 percent on the ol' Tomatometer, Rendition, the Witherspoon-Gyllenhaal thriller scoring 43 percent; Gone Baby Gone, the abduction thriller scoring 84 percent; Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour, which was not screened for critics; and Things We Lost in the Fire, the drama starring Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro, scoring 85 percent.

TOM-KAT UPDATE:  A source tells US Weekly that Holmes treats the Tom-Kitten "like her best girlfriend."  Would that be because the Scientologists have chased off Katie's old friends?

RACHEL McADAMS & RYAN GOSLING are dunzo.  Gosling tells GQ that he has had to console their fans, when it should be the other way around.  "Lazy Sunday" will never seem the same.

LINDSAY LOHAN:  New bf Riley Giles claims -- contrary to other reports -- that he and Li-Lo started dating after he broke up with gf Bree Tierney, and denies they were engaged.

O.J. SIMPSON wanted armed men with him when he confronted two sports memorabilia dealers, according to a co-defendant who has agreed to a plea deal agreed to testify for the prosecution in the armed robbery case.

JESSICA BIEL doesn't mind her girl friend groping her butt literally behind Justin Timberlake's back.  Pic at the link.

SIENNA MILLER:  The Daily Mail is asking her friends what she sees in Rhys Ifans -- best known as Hugh Grant's grubby flatmate Spike in the 1999 film Notting Hill.

STAR TREK REBOOT:  The roles of Kirk and McCoy have been cast in J.J. Abrams' Trek feature for Paramount.  Chris Pine will star as the young Captain Kirk, while Karl Urban will play Dr. McCoy.  Already cast were Zoe Saldana as the young Uhura, Anton Yelchin as the young Chekov, John Cho as young Sulu, Simon Pegg as young Scotty and Zachary Quinto as the young Spock.  Eric Bana has been cast as the villain, who is named Nero.  The role of Christoper Pike remains uncast to date.

SOUTH PARK went a little "Team America" in this week's episode, in which the boys visit Imaginationland, only to see it destroyed by jihadis.  That's the excerpt, but you can watch the whole thing if you want the testicular humor also.

CARTOON JIHAD:  Lars Vilks -- the artist under a fatwa, death threats, and an al-Qaeda bounty for drawing a cartoon depicting Mohammed as a dog -- has bought a guard dog... and named her Mohammed.

AL QAEDA and NUKES:  The WaPo's David Ignatius -- no fan of the Bush Admin -- looks at the historical record and the current lack of intell on the subject.

IRAN:  Yesterday, I speculated that Russian Pres. Putin might be giving Tehran a different "atomic message" in private than what he was saying in public.  Pres. Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that Putin "made no words" on Iranian nuclear issue.  But other Iranian officials said Putin put forward a proposal to break the deadlock over Iran's nuclear program.  Michael Rubin -- no fan of either government -- blogged that arabic media was quoting chief nuclear negotiator Larijani as saying, "Putin proposed an end to uranium enrichment (to defuse the nuclear crisis), but we do not agree with him."

IRAQ:  Multi-National Force's troops detained a local official from the Sadr party suspected of facilitating terrorist attacks.  Time magazine looks at one of the remaining dangerous frontline outposts outside Ramadi.  And there's a great picture with a story about the 51 women joining hundreds of male residents that are already helping secure Baghdad's Adhamiyah neighborhood by guarding important public sites like schools, hospitals, and government buildings.

PERFORMING PIGS jump through rings of fire and twirl on pedestals at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo in the Thai resort province of Chon Buri.  More pics at the link.  The zoo is famous for mixing pigs with tigers.

A SEVEN-FOOT PYTHON turns up in a Brooklyn toilet.  Pics, video at the link.

CATS are supposed to be washed by hand, not by a washing machine.  Who knew?

ELEPHANTS can tell whether a human is a friend or foe by their scent and colour of clothing, according to experts.  Video at the link.

A GIANT SALMON thought to be the biggest caught in Britain will not enter the record books because there were no scales big enough to weigh it.  You're gonna need a bigger scale.

A RUGBY-MAD PARROT named Severiano Ballesteros has learned to chant for his favourite team... with a Gloucester accent.  Video at the link.

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New Pornographers, Dan Wilson, Hard-Fi, Skinny-Pig   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Thursday, October 18, 2007 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: Karl

Karl

THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS have a colorful new video for "Challengers," the title track of their new LP.

NEIL YOUNG is previewing new songs on his YouTube channel.

CAT POWER has settled on the tracklist for Jukebox, her second (mostly) covers album.  And while it should be great to have studio takes of "New York, New York" and "Dark End of the Street," I wish she had found room for her interpretation of "Tracks Of My Tears."

DAN WILSON talks to Dodge at My Old Kentucky Blog about working with Rick Rubin and ex-Jayhawk Gary Louris... and tells Dodge not to hold his breath for a Trip Shakespeare reunion.  Wilson's solo LP is streaming via Spinner this week; Dodge says it's a "slow-burner" that "should ultimately be compared to Elton John's Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy."

ALWAYS ON MY MIND can be always in your ears, as MOKB is streaming at least 15 covers of the sappy 1972 classic.

HARD-FI:  Spinner has the premiere of " Can't Get Along (Without You),"  which the site rightly calls "one of the band's catchiest numbers."

DEVENDRA BANHART has been making mix CD's for Lindsay Lohan to help the troubled star beat her problems.

NELLIE McKAY played a mini-set and talked pop & politics at the World Cafe, which you can stream via NPR.

RADIOHEAD:  Pitchfork rounds up some fan reax to the semi-freely downloadable In Rainbows LP, while the Washington Times gauged reactions at the White House.

ANGIE STONE talked to NPR's Day to Day about her new album, which was recorded in same studio where Marvin Gaye made many of his later albums.  The Art of Love & War is streaming in full this week via AOL.

ELLEN DeGENERES talked about her ongoing battle with a dog rescue group that took back a dog she adopted after discovering the talk show hostess had given it to her hairdresser. She then supposedly suffered a sobbing breakdown on national TV, while other reports have her privately threatening the pet adoption agency, while her rabid fans hound the agency off the Internet with threats of death and arson.  The Insider has Ellen's spin on the story.

LINDSAY LOHAN has denied breaking up a marriage while in rehab, but her new beau was engaged -- the ex-fiancee found out he'd moved on from the tabloids.

THE McCARTNEYS are on the brink of a divorce deal after Sir Paul offered Heather Mills £25 million.  A non-disclosure clause remains in dispute, but the two sides are said to be "within touching distance" and could shake hands on a deal by Friday.

TOM-KAT UPDATE:  From odd formula to permissive parenting, US Weekly reports on how Scientology influences the Tom-Kitten's life on a daily basis.

ORLANDO BLOOM has been interviewed by the LAPD in the investigation of his early morning car wreck last week.  Police are still looking at the possibility that he committed hit and run.

BRITNEY SPEARS is reportedly set to meet a Native American shaman to help cleanse her soul.  The pop tart was inspired to arrange the visit by Owen Wilson, who met the healers following his suicide bid in August.  Probably untrue, but to funny to keep to myself.

PAMELA ANDERSON:  OK! magazine has the details of her trashy Vegas wedding to Rick Salomon.

BRADGELINA:  After son James Haven accused him of "mental abusing" his and Jolie's mother in a recent magazine article, Jon Voight is speaking out.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON:  The next Angelina Jolie?  At Elle magazine's Women in Hollywood tribute, the blonde bombshell talked about her recent trip to Sri Lanka and India with Oxfam (as noted here previously), and her plans to visit troops overseas with the USO in early 2008.  And looked gorgeous.

PAUL BETTANY always amuses me and he was on his game accompanying wife Jennifer Connelly to the aforementioned Women in Hollywood tribute:  "I'm kind of like the eye candy.  You know, as we walk down the red carpet, I know everybody's kind of looking at us thinking, 'How did she snag him?' So it boosts my confidence."

DAVID HASSELHOFF is back on the road to recovery, which in a just world would inspire a re-imagining of "Knight Rider" in which the Hoff's character is also a recovering alcoholic and KITT the talking car is his sponsor.  Ooga-chucka!

THE NETHERLANDS:  Moroccan-Dutch youths rioted in Amsterdam overnight Tuesday, after police shot 22-year old Dutch-born Bilal Bajaka, who entered the police station in Slotervaart and stabbed two police officers with a knife.  Bajaka had been involved in several major criminal incidents -- including armed robberies -- and was personally acquainted with Islamic extremist Mohammed Bouyeri, the convicted killer of the late film director Theo van Gogh, as well as with other Moroccan-Dutch terrorist suspects.  Meanwhile, radical Muslims have taken control of the Dutch Muslim public broadcasting service.

MIDEAST MYSTERY:  Syria denied reports that its representatives to the UN admitted that a nuclear facility was hit last month by Israeli warplanes, and added that "such facilities do not exist in Syria."  A UN press release quoted Syria's UN ambassador, Bashar al-Jaafari, as saying that a nuclear facility was hit.  However, the web version of the release has been edited, changing the ambassador's accusation that Israel "had taken action against nuclear facilities, including the 6 July attack in Syria" to claiming that Israel "carried out military aggression against them, as had happened on 6 September against Syria."  The UN is blaming an interpreter.  How does an interpreter manage to get the month and a reference to nuclear facilities wrong?

IRAN:  Russian Pres. Putin forged an alliance with Iran Tuesday against any military action by the West and pledged to complete the controversial Iranian nuclear power plant at Bushehr.  OTOH, Putin also gave Iran a "special message" on its disputed atomic program and other issues.  Some political analysts had said before Putin's visit to Tehran that he might use the opportunity to seek a diplomatic compromise.  Perhaps what got said in private differed from what got said in public.  Meanwhile, Stuart Levey, undersecretary for terrorism and financial intell at the US Treasury, says financial institutions -- including major European banks -- have agreed to jump on board the US-led campaign to squeeze Iran's economy in a bid to persuade it to suspend uranium enrichment, a key process in making nuclear weapons.  Some observers say the campaign's impact may be more significant than the current UN sanctions.

IRAQ:  Commanders have decided to begin the drawdown of US forces in Diyala province.  A local AQI warlord and two of his cohorts were killed in a shootout with Iraqi forces in Mosul, the US military said.  Clashes erupted between AQI and the Islamic Army -- a Sunni Arab armed group -- in Samarra.  The AP reports on grassroots reconciliation efforts between Shiites and Sunnis, as well as on improvements in electricity delivery and other reconstruction projects.  However, the US is concerned that Iraq has agreed to award over a billion in contracts to Iranian and Chinese companies to build a pair of enormous power plants.

THE WAR and THE MEDIA:  Having noted on Monday that the media generally ignored that the Medal of Honor would be posthumously awarded to Lt. Michael P. Murphy, it's only fair to note that NBC ran a good piece on Murphy yesterday.

THE SKINNY-PIG:  A bizarre breed of guinea pig that was created for laboratory testing more than 30 years ago has become the latest designer pet.

PARROT warning spells death for an intruder.  Video at the link.

...AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:  Another six-legged cow.

PET HOARDING:  More than 250 dogs and cats are being moved out of a home in rural Lee County, outside Rochelle, IL.  Video at the link.  (Thanks, Dad.)

JACKSON the NEWFOUNDLAND survived a a fire that destroyed its Farmingville, Long Island home by hiding in the bathtub with his nose pressed against the drain getting fresh air.

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