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Destroyer, Waxahatchee, Edward Sharpe, Sad Dog |
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Monday, November 25, 2013 - 08:00 AM Posted by: Karl
KINGS OF LEON drop an epically goofy video for "Beautiful War." DESTROYER streams the Five Spanish Songs EP. WAXAHATCHEE: Katie Crutchfield plays a Tiny Desk Concert at the offices of NPR. EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROES stopped by World Cafe for a chat and mini-set. KING KRULE stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session. U2 drops "Ordinary Love" from the soundtrack to Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom. THE BEATNIX: The Fab Four's upcoming box set put me in the mood for a light take on... "Stairway To Heaven." SEBADOH: Lou Barlow talks to NOW magazine about the band's (partial) reunion. THE COMPLETE LAST WALTZ: Members of Wilco, Furthur, Guster, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Blitzen Trapper, Delta Spirit and many other groups are coming together at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York to recreate the historic concert. THE ART OF THE MIX(TAPE): Going beyond High Fidelity, via The Federalist. MICK JAGGER is set to become a great-grandfather. WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire dominates the chart with 161.1 million, just a tad more than the original and probably a Top 5 all-time debut, in the ballpark of the Dark Knight movie openings. It's an all-time record opening for November (sorry, Twihards). With a significantly bigger budget this time (170mm), the studio needed to improve in overseas markets, as the original earned 408 million domestic, but only 283 million elsewhere. So the big news is that the sequel has already grossed 146 million in other markets. Katniss & Co are thus likely to reap over 900 million during their run. No November flick has ever grossed 400 million domestic, but this one might, as it won't face head-on competition until the next Hobbit flick arrives on December 13. Thor: The Dark World is hardest hit, placing with 14.1 million on a 61 percent drop. That said, the Norse god has 167.8 million domestic and a thunderous 381 million overseas. The Best Man Holiday shows with 12.5 million on a 58 percent drop, but has a 50.4 million total to date against 17 million budget. Delivery Man flop, debuting in the fourth slot with only 8.2 million in a very wide release. Counter-programming the Games simply didn't work. Free Birds takes the bottom of the Top 5 with another 5.3 million, with hopes that Thanksgiving puts families in seats next weekend. THE AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS went to these folks. Congrats? MILEY CYRUS was burglarized, though she was not home at the time. LAMAR ODOM admits he fell off the wagon last week ... but he insists he was drunk, and not on crack. CHARLIE SHEEN allegedly appears in a sex tape said to be stolen during a burglary of the home of Christina Fulton, whose ex Nicolas Cage is allegedly featured in other explicit images taken in the heist - and now a key witness has been located after allegedly going missing under bizarre circumstances. CLINT EASTWOOD & JONAH HILL both had a weekend wedding to celebrate, though not to each other. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: Mercifully, Paramount nixes the sequel story. TOLKIEN: A new Hollywood biopic looks to tell the story of the author of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. IRANIAN officials and the EU announced that a deal has been reached between Iran and the six world powers on the Iranian nuclear program. It provides that Iran will suspend enrichment of higher-grade uranium for six months in exchange for $6 billion to $7 billion in US sanctions relief as well as renewed trade in metals, aircraft parts, and petrochemicals. The deal -- personally approved by Pres Obama -- is running into deep skepticism — and harsh criticism — from officials in Israel (and behind the scenes, the Saudis) and from lawmakers in both parties on Capitol Hill. Critics charge the offer represents a significant softening of earlier demands from the United Nations, United States and even the Obama administration. Defenders argue the temporary deal struck in Geneva seems like the least-worst option at the moment. New sanctions legislation that the US Senate would likely consider would include a six-month “window” that would allow the US and Iran to finalize a deal, said Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ), but would also include a trigger that could slap Iran with immediate penalties if further diplomacy fails. SYRIA: The Al Nusrah Front and other Islamist groups captured Syria's largest oilfield, in Deir Azzour province; it is not known if it is operational. A DRAMATICALLY SAD DOG: And they laugh at him. Poor thing. ORGANIZING DOGS to hunt rats in NYC alleys. MOOSE-EATING SHARK rescued in Newfoundland. Gonna need a bigger mouth, shark! COWS plummet through the roof of a Cornwall workshop. We've got cows!
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2332 Reads |
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JFK, Cults, Chvrches, Laura Marling, Cutout Bin, Ram |
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Friday, November 22, 2013 - 08:00 AM Posted by: Karl
THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE: ...with JOHN F. KENNEDY. Perhaps you've heard the former President was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald 50 years ago today. Over the years, the man and the assassination have turned up in -- or inspired -- any number of songs. The Beach Boys' "The Warmth Of The Sun" was written in its immediate aftermath, while Dion's "Abraham, Martin and John," and The Byrds' version of "He Was A Friend Of Mine" -- here with David Crosby's Monterey moment -- are more overt. Elvis Costello's "Less Than Zero" referred to a different Oswald, but the confusion was so pervasive he eventaully obliged with a "Dallas version" of the tune. Even as incongruous a song as The Dream Academy's "Life In A Northern Town" refers to the post-assassination ennui being broken by the arrival of The Beatles on American shores. And while it's not musical, this edition of Inside Mad Men from Season Three doesn't require you to know the show to understand the impact of not only the assassination, but also the killing of Oswald by Jack Ruby. Also, courtesy of my pal Nathan, is live coverage from WFAA in Dallas. CULTS played a mini-set at KUTX. CHVRCHES stopped by WFUV's Studio A for a chat and mini-set. TRAMPLED BY TURTLES played the Secret Stage at the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. LAURA MARLING played a mini-set at KUTX.
INXS: "Don't Change." Because Michael Hutchence also died on this date, albeit in 1997. (Thx to Nathan for the reminder.) BTW, C.S. Lewis also passed on this date, for all you fans of The Screwtape Letters, the Chronicles of Narnia, and McGosling.
METRIC: Emily Haines talks to Chicagoist about technology’s effect on the music industry and how some things never change. SPENCER KRUG (Moonface, Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown) talks to PopMatters about writing and recording Julia With Blue Jeans On. LAURIE ANDERSON reveals her favorite Lou Reed song. THE 50 BEST DEBUT SINGLES, according to Flavorwire. THE CUTOUT BIN: It's a Wes Weekend streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.If you see tracks from last week's playlist, try refreshing your browser, because something's not quite right with the HM as I write this. NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide releases are Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which is currently scoring 94 percent on the ol' Tomatometer; and Delivery Man, scoring 40 percent. HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE, the second in the dystopian young adult franchise, may actually better than the first installment. Perhaps this is because it tends to play more as a political thriller than pop culture satire (though elements of this remain, primarily in the deliciously over-the-top reprise performance from Stanley Tucci as a host of the Games). Perhaps it's because the young adult angle is downplayed, though it's still there as well. Perhaps it's because the plot doesn't require the killing of young children, which means the action can be shot without the herky-jerky camera that didn't really show anything. Maybe it's because the cast is joined by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jena Malone, who seem incapable of being bad at acting. All of that said, I still tend to find the franchise as compelling as the rabid fans of the books. But this one was good enough to get me back for the inevitable third installment. JENNIFER LAWRENCE was hospitalized before the L.A. premiere of her Hunger Games blockbuster because her tummy hurt. She thought it was an ulcer; it tuned out to be gas. KENDALL JENNER...and One Direction's Harry Styles? CHRIS BROWN is complaining he should be allowed to take medical marijuana for his anger management issues because it's legal in California. HUGH JACKMAN recently had skin cancer removed from his nose. AMANDA BYNES isn't planning on living with her parents after she leaves rehab. LIAM HEMSWORTH: Getting along fine without Miley Cyrus. MUPPETS MOST WANTED has a new trailer online. SANDMAN: David Goyer has pitched a take on the seminal comic series that WB likes; Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the ideal candidate to play the lynchpin character Morpheus. EGYPT: A policeman was shot and killed while trying to arrest suspects in the recent assassination of a senior national security official in Cairo. PAKISTAN: The US killed three Haqqani Network leaders in a drone strike in Hangu. The strike is the first outside of the tribal areas in four years. Pakistan "strongly condemned" the US attack. AFGHANISTAN: President Karzai wants to delay signing the Bilateral Security Agreement with the US until after elections in April 2014. SYRIA: The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham clashed with rebels in Idlib. ISIS imposed 'sharia' restrictions on clothing for schoolgirls in Idlib. ISIS, the Al Nusrah Front, and other Islamist rebels clashed with regime forces in east Reef Aleppo and near the 80th brigade base. WHAT DOES THE RAM SAY? You will tell me if the ram stops screaming, won't you, Clarice? BEAVER steals hunter's rifle. A TINY DIK-DIK was thrust into the position of carer for her younger brother after they were both rejected by their mother. A "TROLL DOLL" INSECT is discovered in the South American rainforest.
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2506 Reads |
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Beachwood Sparks, Savages, Johnny Marr, Magpie + Puppy |
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Thursday, November 21, 2013 - 08:00 AM Posted by: Karl
THE BEATLES drop a video for Buddy Holly's "Words Of Love" ahead of Live at the BBC Vol. 2. BEACHWOOD SPARKS are streaming Desert Skies. BTW, L.A. Magazine has eight facts about the alternative country trailblazers. (Thx, Chromewaves.) SAVAGES played a full set at Chicago's Lincoln Hall. JOHNNY MARR stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session. JONATHAN RICE stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic for a session. BILLY PAUL: "Me and Mrs. Jones." Got a thing going on. CAT POWER talks to the Cleveland Plain Dealer about her latest LP, the South, future plans, etc. FANFARLO: Simon Balthazar talks to TLOBF about the band’s early days in London, their restless musical experimentation, and finding just the right place to record their new album. OF MONTREAL, ranked by Stereogum. SUFJAN STEVENS shares a few shout outs. Dude. ALEC BALDWIN is not welcome back at MSNBC because of his infamous angry behavior, network insiders say. CHRIS HEMSWORTH is expecting another baby with wife Elsa Pataky. GINNIFER GOODWIN is expecting her first child with her Once Upon a Time costar, fiancé Josh Dallas. CHRIS BROWN went into a violent rage at rehab and has been ordered into in-patient rehab. SEAN PENN went nuclear on a fan in a fancy San Francisco hotel. LEIGHTON MEESTER & ADAM BRODY are engaged after less than a year of dating. CHRISTOPHER LLOYD will appear on the Michael J. Fox show. Great Scott! EGYPT: Ansar Jerusalem claimed responsibility for the recent shooting attack on a national security officer in Cairo. The Salafi jihadist group also released a video about its October attack on the South Sinai Security Directorate. ISRAEL: While in Russia, Prime Minister Netanyahu called for a tougher deal over Iran's nuclear program. THE UNITED STATES: President Obama pushed for an agreement with Iran on its nuclear program, despite criticism that the deal is too lenient. IRAN: It’s “as clear as day” that under any nuclear deal, Iran will continue to enrich fissile material, the former US official on non-proliferation Mark Fitzpatrick told CNN. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday called Israel a “rabid dog” of the region bent on besmirching the Islamic Republic’s reputation. Khamenei also said "We are not hostile to the American nation. They are like other nations in the world." In response, militiamen chanted: "Death to America." MAGPIE & PUPPY, playing together... COUGARS are spreading eastward, perhaps in search of younger men. A GIANT SQUID lurks beneath an oil rig in the gUlf of Mexico. A SHEEP HIGHWAY opens in Xinjiang.
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2313 Reads |
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Bob Dylan, Glen Hansard, Arcade Fire, Great Thunder, Snoring Duck |
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Wednesday, November 20, 2013 - 08:00 AM Posted by: Karl
BOB DYLAN dropped an interactive video for... "Like A Rolling Stone," featuring Danny Brown, Drew Carey, Marc Maron, and the Pawn Stars guys. GLEN HANSARD is streaming his Drive All Night EP, with cameos from Eddie Vedder, Jake Clemons and Joe Henry. ARCADE FIRE played a session on BBC1. KEVIN MORBY of Woods streams his solo LP, Harlem River. GREAT THUNDER: Waxahatchee's Katie Crutchfield and Swearin’ bassist Keith Spencer stream their second LP, Groovy Kinda Love. It sounds like lots of things from trach to track, but it does not sound like Wayne Fontana. DALE WATSON stopped by Studio 1A at KUTX for a mini-set. BRIAN WILSON plays "Sail On Sailor" at the Ed Sullivan Theater, with Matthew Sweet and Darius Rucker. WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HEAT: At MOJO, Lou Reed and John Cale contribute to David Fricke's history of the Velvet Underground's sophomore LP. ROBERT GORDON talked to Weekend Edition about his new book, Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion. ALBUMS EVERYONE CAN LOVE, according to an NPR poll. THE ORIGIN OF SPINAL TAP, via Dangerous Minds. And Pate drummer Jon Hahn. MONTY PYTHON's surviving members will announce a reunion stage show on Thursday. KELLY CLARKSON is pregnant and expecting her first child with husband Brandon Blackstock. KANYE WEST stuck KIM KARDASHIAN is his new video. Shocka. MADONNA tops the latest Forbes list of highest-paid musicians, because Michael Jackson is dead. ASHLEY GREENE is being sued over the fire she started in her West Hollywood apartment that killed her dog and injured the man who helped rescue fleeing residents. BEETLEJUICE 2 ‘might be happening’ with Tim Burton, Wynona Ryder, and Michael Keaton onboard, according to Ryder. SYRIA: The Syrian military claimed to have taken full control of Qara in the Qalamoun region and to have killed a "large number of terrorists." The Al Nusrah Front withdrew from Qara, but activists from Al Nusrah and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham say they will return. LEBANON: Two suicide bombings outside the Iranian embassy in Beirut killed at least 25 people, including the embassy's cultural attache and its head of security, and injured over 150 more. STUXNET's SECRET TWIN: The real program to sabotage Iran's nuclear facilities was far more sophisticated than anyone realized. A SNORING DUCK: Let's go to the video. INDIA's MONKEYS are to be put on the pill. RACE HORSES may benefit from hi-tech sports bras. O'HARE AIRPORT's ALLIGATOR got there via the Blue Line. Figures.
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2393 Reads |
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Jim James, Minor Alps, Stornoway, The Brother Kite, Polite Dog |
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Tuesday, November 19, 2013 - 08:00 AM Posted by: Karl
JIM JAMES (or do you say "Yim Yames"?) performs on PBS’s Austin City Limits. The Black Angels open. MINOR ALPS: Juliana Hatfield and Nada Surf's Matthew Caws stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set. STORNOWAY is streaming the You Don't Know Anything EP. Nice. (Thx, Chromewaves.) THE BROTHER KITE is streaming Model Rocket. Nice jolt. (Thx again, Chromewaves!) GAP DREAM advance streams Shine Your Lght. Electronic, yet a bit psychedelic. PRINCE shared a demo of a new song entitled “Da Bourgeoisie”. TEMPLES drop "Mesmerise" ahead of their debut LP, Sun Structures. MARSHALL CRENSHAW plays his classic "Someday, Someway"... for Merv! KATHLEEN HANNA looks back at th soundtrack to her life at Pitchfork. HOW SWEDEN Became a Pop Powerhouse: "The trail begins with Abba." OS MUTANTES are profiled by Orlando Weekly. FORMER GROUPIES OF REDDIT dish the dirt. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE SEQUEL? Sigh. How about a movie about filmmakers visited by an angel who shows them how much better the world is without one? JUSTIN BIEBER: Invites to his Gatsby party came with a non-disclosure agreement, but word is out it was full of naked women. TAYLOR SWIFT is profiled at length by New York Magazine. 50 SHADES OF GREY: Dakota Jackson, already promoting. CHRIS PRATT: The Parks & Rec vet talks Delivery Man and Guardians of the Galaxy with the HuffPost. ROB FORD, Toronto's scandal plagued mayor was stripped of many of his powers following a heated debate in which he knocked over a female city councilor. ISRAEL: Prime Minister Netanyahu warned that Iran already has enough uranium for five nuclear bombs. EGYPT: Authorities said "Islamic jihadists" were behind the killing of an officer from the Interior Minister on Nov. 17. The Christian community is reportedly afraid to complain to the government about its condition. Protestors took to Tahrir Square in Cairo to protest against the army. LIBYA: A bomb attack on the convoy of Benghazi's head of security killed one bodyguard and injured another. Three people were arrested after a shooting at a Benghazi checkpoint. Libya's intelligence chief and his assistant escaped from their kidnappers at a checkpoint south of Tripoli. SYRIA: Rivalry between rebels and Islamists has replaced the uprising's lofty ideals, leaving veteran commanders despairing. A POLITE DOG wipes his feet, y'know. RACCOON rescued from a Winnie-The-Pooh situation. DAISY THE SOW gave birth to 27 piglets in nine months. That'll do, pig. LIONS: The ultimate status symbol in the Persian Gulf.
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2570 Reads |
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