Topic: Karl

OK GO released a zero-gravity video for "Upside Down and Inside Out."

LUCIUS stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

KT TUNSTALL pays tribute to Fleetwood Mac on Morning Becomes Eclectic.

THE RECORD COMPANY stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

ST VINCENT covers The Rolling Stones' "Emotional Rescue."

BENNY HESTER, best known as a Christian artist, drops "Give Your Love Forever" from his previously unreleased 1972 LP recorded with Elvis Presley's TCB Band.

DAVE GROHL, RHIANNA, STEVIE WONDER & MANY MORE cover Lionel Richie for this year's Musicares concert.

ELTON JOHN accused THE ROLLING STONES of being "irrelevant" for chasing pop success. Um.

BELLY: The making of King.

JULIA HOLTER is profiled by The Guardian.

PRETTY IN PINK; Stereogum revisits the classic John Hughes soundtrack on its 30th anniversary, from the perspective of a Millenial.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Deadpool shattered mutliple records to top the chart with an estimated 135MM, more than double the tracking estimates.The holiday weekend helped, though that's one of the records broken here.  It's also the sixth-biggest Marvel debut, despite (or perhaps due to) its R-rating. That rating likely prompted its small-for-superheroes 58MM budget, which means thisone's already well itno the black on 260MM in worldwide receipts.  Kung Fu Panda 3 places 19.7MM on a mere 7.5 percent drop after dropping 49 percent the prior weekend. The debut of How to Be Single shows with 18.8MM, which seems weak against a 38MM budget, though it won't have much direct competition in the quasi-rom-comedy space until next month.  Zoolander 2 opened in the fourth slotwith 15.7MM, which is about what the original made in its opening weekend with a budget about half of the sequel's reported 50MM; this may falter domestically but is likely to do far better overseas than the original, pushing Ben Stiller and Co. into profit.  The Revenant rounds out the Top Five with 7MM, pretty much what it grossed last weekend; it may still be a few weekends short of profit (but some Oscars will likely do the trick).

DEADPOOL breaks all the rules with glee and lands on target nearly perfectly.  That said, it is not going to be for everyone.  Marvel's first R-rated movie earns that rating at least every few minutes; If Captain America: Winter Soldier was a superhero political thriller, and Guardians of the Galaxy a superhero space opera, Deadpool is a comic book version of a Quentin Tarantino revenge film, filled with gore, profanity, nihilsm, sex ranging from the vanilla to the kinky, and dialog as sharp as the swords strapped to the title character's back. Co-producer Ryan Reynolds gives a star turn as mercenary-turned-mutant Wade Wilson, skewering himself, other superheroes, other movies, and a large number of bad guys, though he's the first to remind you he's not a good guy. The rest of the cast generally perfoms admirably, particularly Morena Baccarin (Firefly, Homeland, Gotham) as the hooker with a heart of gold in Wilson's life (I daresay she will boost home video sales also).  It's an impressive directorial debut for Tim Miller, whose prior experience was in animated shorts and title sequences -- the opening credits here are one of my favorite sequences in years and perfectly set the table for the meal to come. Conversely, this is one of those Marvel movies where you'll want to stay past the end of the credits, for a dessert perfectly in keeping with the meal you you just consumed.

THE BAFTAS went to these folks.

BEN AFFLECK & JENNIFER GARNER spent the Valentine's Day weekend together with their kids.

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED  went with three swimsuit covers this year.

TWIN PEAKS: Ashley Judd joins the revival of David Lynch's cult classic.

ROADIES, the upcoming Showtime series from Cameron Crowe, has a trailer online.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: I missed the 205th birthday of the 16th President of the United States on Friday. Even if you saw the Spielberg biopic, here are two things you may not have known about Honest Abe: (1) he was an early adopter of the telegraph; and (2) he once sported a punky haircut. 

GEORGE WASHINGTON: Though now lumped in with everyone for Presidents' Day, Feb 22nd is the birthday of the "Father of his Country."  In 1776, David McCullough notes that when Washington took command in July 1775, he thought he would be home at Mount Vernon by Christmas. McCullough catalogs Washington's blunders -- many of them nearly fatal to the Cause -- but concludes: "He was not a brilliant strategist or tactician, nor a gifted orator, not an intellectual... He had made serious mistakes in judgment. But experience had been his great teacher from boyhood... and above all, Washington never forgot what was at stake, and he never gave up." That, as much as anything, is why Washington is usually ranked among the greatest of US presidents. not to mention the subject of a profane, animated rap cartoon.

A POLAR CUB in Toronto is introduced to snow.

A HORNY, REJECTED ELEPHANT rampaged on a highway in southern China.

TORTOISES upstaged a New York Fashion Week show.

IS THAT A TROUT IN YOUR PANTS, or are you just...oh.

THANKS TO EVERYONE for stopping by!  To celebrate, I'm taking today off.  Nah, seriously, it was a very slow news day.  I should be back tommorrow with the usual weekend installment.

JON PRATT: Pate's frontman brings back "Geologic Time," this time on a Craviola.

ALL SONGS CONSIDERED: Tracks from Shearwater, Lily & Madeleine, Sunflower Bean, and more highlight the latest edition.

KINDIE MUSIC: The Current is running a family-friendly stream in advance of the Rock The Cradle event. Nice playlist for anyone, updated in real time.

JOHN CALE: The 1975 John Peel Session.

WILD NOTHING drops "A Woman's Wisdom" ahead of Life of Pause.

TEEN has some "Free Time" ahead of Love Yes.

CAROLE KING turned 74 yesterday. "It's Too Late" to recognize the power of Tapestry? I think not.

GUIDED BY VOICES sort of kind of returns in some fashion. Plus a new song from Robert Pollard's upcoming solo LP.

GIMME CELLULOID: A history of Mick Jagger on film.

LUCINDA WILLIAMS talks to Morning Edition about he father, the South, love, and more.

THE BEACH BOYS' albums, ranked at Brooklyn Vegan.

HUGH JACKMAN urges his fans to use suncreen after having a cancerous growth removed from his nose.You would think he would've gotten this advice from his Australia director, Baz Luhrmann.

KHLOE KARDASIAN & JAMES HARDEN are dunzo.

LeSEAN McCOY's bar fight video surfaces.

CIARA sues FUTURE for allegedly blasting her mothering skills and attacking her relationship with Russell Wilson.

STAR TREK's small screen reboot will be helmed by Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, American Gods, Pushing Daisies).

RIVERDALE: Archie and the gang may get weird on the small screen.

DANIEL GERSON, who co-wrote several Walt Disney animated films including Monsters, Inc. and Big Hero 6, has died of brain cancer. He was 49.

NORTH KOREA has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could start recovering spent fuel in weeks or months, the U.S. intelligence chief said Tuesday in delivering the annual assessment by intelligence agencies of the top dangers facing the country.

THE ISLAMIC STATE: Top U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday that ISIS was likely to attempt direct attacks on the U.S. in the coming year and that the group was infiltrating refugees escaping from Iraq and Syria to move across borders.

IRAQI government forces regained full control of Ramadi after pushing Islamic State group fighters out of the city's outskirts, according to Iraqi security forces and the U.S.-led coalition. The announcement, more than a month after Ramadi was first declared liberated in December, underscores the slow nature of Iraqi ground operations despite heavy backing from U.S.-led coalition airstrikes.

A 600-LB PIG was spotted outside a New Hampshire primary polling place and later taken into police custody.

A FLORIDA MAN threw an alligator throught the drive-thru window at a Wendy's in Jupiter.

TWO TENNESSEE HUNTERS have been banned from hunting there and 43 other states after they illegally killed as many as 40 deer, and then took photos and videos mocking the animals.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Gangs of militant rodents attack mothers with babies in Dorset.

THE DEAD WEATHER drops a video for "Impossible Winner".

ROBYN HITCHCOCK performs in the WNYC Soundcheck studio.

THE BESNARD LAKES perform in the WNYC Soundcheck studio. 

BASIA BULAT stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set.

ROGUE WAVE drops “What Is Left To Solve?” as the lead single ahead of Delusions Of Grand Fur.

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS: Aquarium Drunkard has a rare live version of “Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It)” from 1976.

M WARD played "Confession" and "Girl From Conejo Valley" for Colbert and Twofer Tuesday. And yes, that looks a lot like Scott McCaughey next to him.

THE JIMI HENDRIX MUSEUM: The guitar legend's old flat has been restored and opens Wednesday.

SHEARWATER's Jonathan Meiburg talks to Magnet about the 80's-influenced Jet Plane And Oxbow.

WOLF PARADE: Spencer Krug talks to Pitchfork about the band's reunion and new material.

CHICAGO: Pete Cetera will not be joining the band for its Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction.

ROSE BYRNE & BOBBY CANNAVALE welcomed a baby boy last week.

ANGELINA JOLIE has some new ink.

MADONNA & GUY RITCHIE's child custody battle now includes charges son Rocco is smoking.

BEYONCE's “Black Power” salute during the Super Bowl halftime show divided people. Shocka.

SYRIA: Evidence has emerged strongly suggesting that U.S.-armed rebels have used an American-supplied weapons system to kill a handful of senior Russian military officials.

THE ISLAMIC STATE: U.S. strikes against the self-proclaimed Islamic State have had an unintended beneficiary: al Qaeda.

IRAN: Newly released satellite images of Iran’s top-secret Parchin military complex reveal that even as Iran was working to negotiate a nuclear deal, it was apparently working to hide its past atomic work and it is still developing facilities to which the IAEA may not have access.

NORA THE POLAR CUB debuted at the Columbus Zoo.

ATLAS THE GIANT BUNNY needs a new home, the bigger the batter.

A CAT PARASITE may also affect human behavior when it infects people.

A LION CUB learns to finish off its prey. The Circle of Life.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with JAMES BROWN! The Godfather of Soul, y'all. Let's start with his star time on the T.A.M.I. Show in 1964; your setlist includes "Out of Sight", "Prisoner of Love", "Please, Please, Please" and "Night Train." And follow it up with his gig at the Olympia Theater in Paris circa 1971; that setlist includes "Brother Rapp", "Ain't It Funky Now","Georgia on My Mind", "It's a New Day", "Bewildered", "Sex Machine", "Try Me", "Medley: Papa's Got A Brand New Bag/I Got You (I Feel Good)/I Got The Feelin'", "Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose", "It's A Man's Man's Man's World", "Please Please Please", "Sex Machine (reprise)", "Super Bad", "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved", "Soul Power" and "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved (finale)."

THE SUFFERS advance stream their self-titled debut.

SAY ANYTHING is streaming I Don't Think It Is.

VINCE GILL is streaming Down To My Last Bad Habit, while WYNONNA returns with Wynonna & The Big Noise.  NPR takes a country turn.

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE drops “Lying In The Grass,” ahead of Painting With.

MAURICE WHITE, the founder and leader of Earth, Wind & Fire, has died following a long battle with Parkinson's disease. He was 74. The band’s many hits included “September,” ”Shining Star,” a cover of the Beatles’ “Got to Get You into My Life” and “Boogie Wonderland.”Here are the obits from the Washington Post and the New York Times.

FRIGHTENED RABBIT: Inside The Making Of Their Fifth Album.

THE BEATLES: Why Revolver Still Rocks The World. Nifty musical analysis of "For No One."

DAVID BOWIE: Not legendary, but mythical?

BELLE & SEBASTIAN: Ten of Their Best.

NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases include Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which is currently scoring 36 percent; The Choice, which was not screened for critics; and Hail Caesar!, scoring 79 percent.

THE SUPER BOWL; 20 advance ads.

MATT LeBLANC has been announced as a co-presenter for the upcoming rebooted BBC series Top Gear.

KATY PERRY & ORLANDO BLOOM were spotted together twice this week.

GEORGE CLOONEY's marriage proposal was horrible.

ROSE McGOWAN has filed for divorce.

DREW BARRYMORE is profiled by Harper's Bazaar.

DAVE MIRRA, the BMX bike legend who once had the record for the most X Games medals, has died of an apparent suicide. He was 41.

JOE ALASKEY, a voice actor who succeeded the legendary Mel Blanc as characters Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in various TV and film reprisals of the Looney Tunes through the 1990s, has died. He was 63.

CHINA: Some analysts estimate that China’s troubled credit could exceed 5 trillion dollars, a staggering number that is equivalent to half the size of the country’s annual economic output.

A DOG saves its owner from a deadly venomous snake.

OVER A THOUSAND ANTS have been removed from this girl's ears.

A SEA LION visits a gift shop in La Jolla. Baby, dontcha go there.

A MISSING CAT is found in a pet food factory, considerably heavier.