Topic: Karl

DIAMOND KNIGHTS: "Destination Diamonds".  For the 70s vibe in the heat of July.

ZACH BRYAN is streaming The Great American Bar Scene.

BILL'S INDIE BASEMENT's Best Albums of 2024 (So Far).

THE TOP 50 ALBUMS of 2024 (So Far), according to PopMatters.

ERIC BURDON joined STING on War's "Spill The Wine" in Athens, Greece.

THE NATIONAL, on getting revenge on Dave Grohl, new material, the magic of Taylor Swift, and this new supergroup The Strawberry Blondes.

BECK, on his orchestral tour, stardom in the '90s and the hit songs he never saw coming.

QUADROPHENIA, but as a ballet.

TOM FOWLER, best known as the bassist for Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention, has died. He was 73.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Despicable Me 4 tops the chart with 75MM over three days (and 122MM over the whole holiday period).  Inside Out 2 places with 33.1MM on a 42 percent drop.  A Quiet Place: Day One shows with 21MM on a 60 percent drop.

F1 has a teaser trailer online.

MARGOT ROBBIE and husband Tom Ackerley are expecting their first baby.

DANNY TREJO says he was provoked into a brawling during a Fourth of July incident.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE & TIGER WOODS are opening a bar in Scotland.

NIELSEN's Ratings Evolution.

THE 50 BEST SNL SKETCHES, according to Esquire.

JUDITH BELUSHI PISANO  the wife of comedian and musician John Belushi, passed away on Friday night at 73.

JON LANDAU, the Oscar-winning film producer who collaborated with James Cameron on several projects including “Titanic” and both “Avatar” films, died Friday after a battle against cancer. He was 63 years old.

TWO BORDER COLLIES outsmart their owner for treats.

A PENGUIN leaps to safety as the ice breaks.

AN ALPACA, sans wool.

THE FOURTH of JULY WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE BEACH BOYS!  It's time to "Do It Again."  Because folks my age will always remember their mammoth July 4th concerts at the Washington Monument -- as with this 1980 take o­n "Good Vibrations."  Their "Lost Concert" from 1964 includes "Fun, Fun, Fun," "Long, Tall Texan," "Little Deuce Coupe," "Surfer Girl," "Surfin' USA," "Shut Down," "In My Room," "Papa Ooh Mow Mow," and "Hawaii." Their take on "Dance, Dance, Dance" from Shindig! later that year is like a slice of Christmas in July.  There's also a nifty twofer of "I Get Around" and "'When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)" from their first UK TV appearance o­n Ready Steady Go!  The Andy Williams Show serves up "Help Me, Rhonda," while The Jack Benny Hour produced these quick takes o­n "Barbara Ann" and "California Girls."  There's a primitive video for "Wouldn't It Be Nice" that starts with a cameo from Brian Wilson's dogs (Banana and Louie), who appear at the end of the Pet Sounds LP.  And I'll finish with a live version of "God Only Knows" from the 1967 European tour -- one of the last Brian would do for a decade or so.  BONUS: Part 1 and Part 2 of the epic Political Beats podcasts covering the entirety of the Beach Boys' catalog.

RAY CHARLES performs "America The Beautiful" like no one else.

INDEPENDENCE DAY: Bruce Springsteen, circa 1978, before it came out on The River.

AMERICAN MUSIC: The Violent Femmes, circa 1992.

DAVE ALVIN: Hey, baby, it's the "4th of July."

JAMES LILEKS: Truth.

JOHN ADAMS, on helping with the Declaration of Independence.  And being told to sit down.

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER: As performed by Jimi Hendrix, Whitney Houston, Smokey Robinson, members of the Grateful Dead, and Umphrey’s McGee.

YES: The post-1974 part of the band's career gets 2 hours, 43 minutes of discussion on Political Beats.

KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD play “Bad Pilot,” “Le Risque,” and “Daily Blues.”

LOS CAMPESINOS! shares "kms."

ONEIDA shares "La Plage."

HEART's Ann Wilson had cancer surgery.

LILY ALLEN started an OnlyFans... for her feet.

DAVID CROSBY donated to more than Melissa Etheridge.

ROBERT TOWNE, an Oscar winner for his original script for “Chinatown” and an acknowledged master of the art of screenwriting, has died. He was 89.

PARAMOUNT is looking to sell BET.

THE INTERNET ARCHIVE steps in after Paramount deletes MTV News.

DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE has a new trailer online.

SUPERMAN will feature a special cameo.

LARA FLYNN BOYLE on tabloids, dating actors, ageism in Hollywood, and more.

SUKI WATERHOUSE on music, motherhood and Robert Pattinson.

KATE BECKINSALE mooned London.

TWIGGY: Another Fourth of July tradition, the water-skiing squirrel. She's retired, but it remains a great story. Compelling and rich.

CATS & DOGS: Game Of Throne edition.

AN ELEPHANT plays a prank.

MOM collects her weasels.

QUESTION MARK & THE MYSTERIANS: "96 Tears" and "Girl (You Captivate Me)" for Twofer Tuesday.

THE DECEMBERISTS play KEXP.

CASSIE RAMONE shares "Sweetheart." 

JESSIE WARE & ROMY share "Lift You Up."

WILLIE NELSON has been medically cleared for future shows.

BROOKLYN VEGAN's 40 Favorite Albums of 2024 (So Far).

THE NUMBER ONES looks at Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' retro-pastiche smash "Uptown Funk!"

GLADIATOR 2: Vanity Fair has your first look.

TRAP: M. Night Shyamalan's latest has a trailer online.

LONGLEGS has a final trailer online.

HELLBOY: THE CROOKED MAN has a trailer online.

MAX & PARAMOUNT+ might merge services.

HOW A QUIET PLACE became a reliable franchise.

SIMON PEGG & EDGAR WRIGHT on Shaun of the Dead at 20.

STEVEN SODERBURGH, on control, sex, and Taylor Swift.

STEVEN VAN ZANDT jokes about his marriage.

THE HOLLYWOOD STRIKES may endanger actors' and writers' ability to maintain health insurance.

A MOOSE stops by a picnic for fruit.

DOG DANCING World Championship.

KANGAROOS always down for a fight.

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS: "Here Comes My Girl."

NEW RELEASES: Paste will point you to Loma, Nathaniel Rateliff, and more.

BILL'S INDIE BASEMENT has Guided By Voices, The Folk Implosion, Redd Kross, and more.

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE stream Early Daze.

PATTI SMITH covers Lana Del Rey's "Summertime Sadness."

NORMAN COOK (Fatboy Slim) joined PAUL HEATON at Glastonbury for The Housemartin's "Happy Hour."

BLIND MELON's Reger Stevens joined GOOSE on "No Rain."

OPTIONS shares “Had My Share.”

THE YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS returned to NYC after 23 years.

CHRISSIE HYNDE praises Taylor Swift.

THE NUMBER ONES on "Blank Space," Taylor Swift's greatest meta-mode moment.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Inside Out 2 threepeats atop the chart with a strong 57.4MM, crossing a billion dollars worldwide. But A Quiet Place: Day One showed with 53MM, a high for the franchise.  Kevin Costner's Horizon showed with 11MM, and probably does not gett better from there.

MARTIN MULL, the comic musician and actor who started with 1970s TV series “Fernwood 2 Night” and went on to appear as Colonel Mustard in “Clue” and on “Arrested Development” and “Roseanne,” died Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 80.  Pretty sure I still have “Sex and Violins” on vinyl.

DENIS VILLENUEVE has scheduled a film for the end of 2026, probably Dune 3.

EDDIE MURPHY is ready to look back.

BANDO STONE & THE NEW WORLD, from Donald Glover, has a trailer online.

MEGXIT: Prince Harry is getting a the Pat Tillman ESPY?

RUSSELL CROWE played an acoustic set at Glastonbury.

SMALL DOG, big slide.

A COW enjoys a sprinkler.

A PIT BULL waits at the Ice Cream Truck.

A MACAQUE and a kitten.

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE...

...with the wicked, wicked WILSON PICKETT, live from Germany, circa 1968. This disappeared from the Tube, but I've managed to find almost all of it reposted there or elsewhere.  His band warms up the crowd with the instrumental "Soulfinger," but Pickett electrifies from the moment he enters for "Everybody Needs Somebody" and doesn't let up through "Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)," "Mustang Sally" and "Stagger Lee." He cranks it back into top gear for "Funky Broadway," during which people dancing in front of the stage start turning up o­nstage (And why not? This rawks almost as hard as The Who's cover of "Shakin' All Over").  The tumultuous finale of "Land of 1000 Dances" from amid the crowd remains missing, but this other "Land of 1000 Dances" from 1966 is almost as wild, and in color to boot. Raw and riveting; if this can't put you in a weekend state of mind, probably nothing can.

ROBYN HITCHCOCK has your playlist for 1967.

EDDIE VEDDER covers The English Beat's "Save It For Later."

SUUNS shares "Doreen."

WINNETKA BOWLING LEAGUE shares "This Is Life."

ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS: How a shop girl got to sing with David Bowie.

KINKY FRIEDMAN, the tongue-in-cheek humorist and alt-country musician of the Texas Jewboys, has died at 79.

PARAMOUNT's cost-cutting nukes the websites of MTV News and Comedy Central.

FLIGHT RISK, with Mel Gibson directing Mark Wahlberg, has a trailer online.

MAXXXINE is getting really mixed early buzz.

FKA TWIGS & SHIA LaBEOUF's assault lawsuit gets even more beef.

THE BEAR: Every song in Season 3.

MICHAEL JACKSON was over 500MM in debt when he died.

DONALD SUTHERLAND's Defining Roles.

THE HANDS IN Puppy Challenge.

A DOGGO tries the recliner.

A CAPSIZED TURTLE is rescued on the beach.