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Elton at 60, New Releases, Advance The National, Wheezer   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: kbade

Karl

ELTON JOHN TURNED 60 on Sunday, and I overlooked it.  Granted, Reg Dwight is hardly the hippest thing on today's musical horizon.  Nevertheless, he and Bernie Taupin wrote some fine songs in the early 70s, including "Tiny Dancer" (solo on TotP) and "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters."  And in the mid-70s, he was a pop colossus, with a string of smashes including -- but not limited to -- "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Bennie and The Jets" (here with Cher), "The B*tch Is Back" (shocking to hear on AM radio at the time), "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," "Philadelphia Freedom" (pimped out on Soul Train), culminating in the great and terrible "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart" (with Kiki Dee) -- and the live version at Wembley Stadium is only slightly less scary.  John Lennon's last live performance paid off a bet with Elton John, which you can hear on the Tube.  Even Pate occasionally took a run at "Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding."  So happy birthday, Sir Elton.  The BBC celebrated with 60 Elton John Facts -- you can see number 60 on the Tube.

NEW RELEASES:  The Kaiser Chiefs, The Klaxons, Grant Lee Phillips, The Fall and more are streaming in full this week from Spinner.  Most of those, plus Alison Krause, are streaming from AOL proper.

DAVID BYRNE whipped out his beloved PowerPoint at SxSW to argue that major labels must ramp up marketing services to use music as a loss leader for tours and merchandise revenue, or aim only for international stars of the ilk of Britney Spears.  It's that Internet thingy, you see...

THE NATIONAL: Chromewaves and Gorilla vs. Bear both have an advance track from The Boxer, titled "Fake Empire."  Frank also has behind-the-scenes video, while GvsB has a teaser video of "Slow Show."

THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS frontman A.C. Newman tells Billboard the band is branching out musically on their next LP, due in August.

TWOFER TUESDAY:  Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones perform "Ruby Tuesday" on The Ed Sullivan Show.  Plus, a live clip of the lesser-known "Dead Flowers."

PETE TOWNSHEND does not like The Police getting the "classic rock" title: "You know, you've got the Stones and The Who. Classic rock -- finished. It's all over after that... this is just music. It's not classic anything."

FOUNTAINS of WAYNE make "Song of the Day" at NPR with "I-95" from the upcoming album, Traffic and Weather.

THE 50 BEST ONE-HIT WONDERS:  Stylus is rolling out a week-long countdown that hopes to focus on the "wonder" as much as the "one-hit."

SCOTT WEILAND:  The Velvet Revolver frontman and his wife trashed a Burbank hotel room during a rockstar-caliber rampage last weekend; the hotel is pressing charges.  His wife had already been arrested last weekend after cops say she torched the rocker's $10,000 wardrobe in front of the couple's home in Toluca Lake, Ca.

ANNA NICOLE SMITH IS STILL DEAD, officially of an accidental overdose with no other criminal evidence present.  Howard K. Stern, through his attorney, was trumpeting his legal innocense, but avoiding his behavior on the day of Smith's death.  When asked if any of Anna's doctors should be held accountable, Dr. Joshua Perper said that medical examiners "do not enter into evaluation of medical care" when they seek to determine the cause of death.  The autopsy report bizarrely reveals that Smith's "anus is unremarkable."  Of course, this story is not over; the inquest into the death of her so Daniel starts today.

LINDSAY LOHAN is being linked with cringe-inducing singer-songwriter James Blunt, so I'll be snagging Petra Nemcova on the rebound.

BRITNEY SPEARS nearly caused a riot, just by turning up at the Millennium dance studio.  Pics at the link.

BRADGELINA:  The uber-reliable News of the World claims that the birth mother of newly-adopted is a money-hungry heroin addict who never signed the papers to give up her son and is likely to hound Jolie and Pitt for cash.  I'm thinking the orphanage and Jolie's people checked the paperwork.

SIENNA MILLER was snapped groping another woman's boob.  London's Sun has put out an APB for the woman.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON plans to have plastic surgery someday in a bid to avoid becoming an "old hag."  That is not a good message to send to others, but I have to repect the sheer political incorrectness of it.  If her latest spread for Vogue magazine is any indicator, it's not something she needs to be thinking about now.

HALLE BERRY wants you to feel bad about yourself.  Why else would she brag about still fitting into the Mickey Mouse jeans she bought when she was 15.

BRUCE WILLIS was caught canoodling with Courtney Love during Amy Winehouse's gig at the Roxy.  Did you just say "Ew?"  I think I heard you say "Ew!"

MARCIA, MARCIA MARCIA!  Mom said never to do blow in the house!

THE BELLES of ST. TRINIAN'S are returning to the big screen with a cast inlcuding Rupert Everett, Stephen Fry and Colin Firth.  If you have not seen the original British comedy classic, you may want to queue it up.

SUPPORTING THE TROOPS?  I think most people -- including those who oppose the US being in Iraq -- don't wish the troops harm.  These folks in Portland, burning a soldier in effigy do wish the troops harm, if their violent and profanity-laden chanting is any indication.  The Portland Tribune adds that knocking a police officer off his bike and defecating on a burning US flag probably doesn't win friends or influence people.

IRAQ:  US forces captured the leaders of a car-bombing ring believed responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Iraqis in the Shiite Sadr City enclave and elsewhere in Baghdad.  ITM's Omar Fadhil relays local TV reports on the capture of a senior aide to Abu Omar al-Baghdadi (the leader of al-Qaeda's so-called Islamic State in Iraq).  As a member of the Tawafuq Front cast serious doubts on the efforts of ex-Prime Minister Allawi to bring down the ruling coalition in the parliament, reports emerged of fresh efforts to build an opposition coalition, without Allawi's participation.  In Ramadi, Iraqi Lt. Col. Ahmed Shaker Al Alwani swaggers around with ax in hand and gun at the hip. His nickname? "Man With The Ax."

IRAQ in the MEDIA:  You would think this story in the Times of London about a sectarian murder of children would be bad enough without taking on a bunch of misleading statistics.  The Times reports that Infant mortality rose from 40 per 1,000 in 1990 to 102 in 2005, without noting that infant mortality was higher before the US invasion.  The Times asserts that one in eight die before their fifth birthday, without noting that child mortality has dropped over 60 percent since the invasion.  The Times also claims that 25% of Iraqi children under five years old is chronically malnourished, without noting that this controversial report was disputed and that other data shows malnutrition declining.  The times further asserted that access to education is an increasing problem, when in fact, enrollment in Iraqi schools has risen every year since the invasion, according to Iraqi government figures, reversing more than a decade of declines.  BONUS:  The farewell press conference of Amb. Zalmay Khalilzad gets negative spin in the NYT, positive spin in the AP.

WHEEZER the CHIHUAHUA was briefly a Moose, according to his owner, Mike Ehorn of DeKalb, IL.

DON'T TOUCH MY MONKEY!   A Plano, TX  resident allegedly sent his male monkey a sexually explicit audio tape after it was confiscated by animal services on Feb. 21st as part of a pet hoarding bust.  The man denies this, and it seems like the police are backpedaling.

ORANGUTANS could be virtually extinct within five years, due to a huge expansion of oil palm plantations, which are racing to meet soaring demand from Western food manufacturers and the European Union's zeal for biofuels.  Will King Louie be the last King of the Swingers?

SUICIDE SQUIRREL strikes in Fort Wayne, IN.

MICE are stealing your Fritos, the cash from your ATM, and your dentures.

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