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Mitch Mitchell RIP, 100 Greatest Singers, Cutout Bin, Banana Derby |
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Friday, November 14, 2008 - 08:00 AM Posted by: Karl
THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE: X ...with THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE! Jazz-influenced drummer Mitch Mitchell passed away late Wednesday at age 61 (or 62, depending where you read). We remember him here with a threefer of "Stone Free," "Purple Haze" and "Hey Joe" live in Offenbach, Germany, as well as "The Wind Cries Mary" in Stockholm, Sweden, both vids circa 1967 (The barely show Mitch in the Swedish clip, but he makes that song). Or if you prefer, the threefer of "Voodoo Chile," "Hey Joe" and Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" from The Lulu Show. Mitch also tears it up on "Fire" at the Royal Albert Hall in 1969. And he kicks off "I Don't Live Today" at the same gig. Mitchell, a former child actor, was the last living member of the Experience. That should be some reunion gig. THE 100 GREATEST SINGERS OF ALL TIME, according to Rolling Stone, with plenty of streaming audio. Each singer gets a brief essay, some from other notable vocalists, like Elvis Presley by Robert Plant, James Brown by Iggy Pop and George Jones by James Taylor, to name a few. THE FOO FIGHTERS will guest judge a Thanksgiving episode of Top Chef. Yes, really. 1990s are previewing tracks from their next album. ELEANOR RIGBY: Was the song's tragic heroine based on a real person? The Independent reveals a new clue to her identity. There's an audio feature at NPR, too. THE UKULELE ORCHESTRA of GREAT BRITAIN, previously featured here on a Friday, returns with the "Theme From Shaft." ROBERT CHRISTGAU: With the flood of Internet, I can forget that the Dean's monthly Consumer Guide is still there for you at MSN. THE CURE tribute album -- featuring tracks from Tanya Donelly, Dean & Britta, The Submarines and more -- is streaming in full again, this time via SPIN. BEST MUSIC OF 2008: Amazon rolls out Editors' and Customers' Picks, with lists by genre also. CUTOUT BIN: The late Mitch Mitchell let's his freak flag fly, as do the Psychedelic Furs, plus tracks from Marnie Stern to David Ruffin, Led Zeppelin to Toni Basil, The Clash to Wild Cherry, The MC5, the Hold Steady, Cheap Trick and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds can be jukeboxed or streamed separately via the Pate page at the ol' HM. QUANTUM OF SOLACE, currently scoring 70 percent on the ol' Tomatometer, is this weekend's sole wide release. Picking up mere moments after we left Bond in Casino Royale, this sequel does not quite equal the 2006 reboot -- in part because we no longer have the shock of the new, in part because director Marc Forster does not have the same experience directing action sequences that Martin Campbell did, though this movie is action-packed enough to keep you guessing as to whether Bond will find the title goal. Indeed, the film so rarely slows down for character (or anything else) that Forster becomes an even stranger choice as director. The Bond girls here -- played by Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton -- continue to break the mold (and you may have to check Arterton's screen credit to get a hidden Bondian joke. Ultimately, the movie is a worthy successor, but see Casino Royale before this one. PAULA ABDUL: The obsessed fan who died of a possible drug overdose/ suicide outside Abdul's home the other night overdosed in the exact same area around one year ago. JENNIFER ANISTON is yapping again, this time on Oprah. And rumor has it that Brad Pitt called her to complain about her Vogue interview. RELATED: Aniston's on-again, off-again bf John Mayer will host a weekly variety show for CBS. LINDSAY LOHAN getting formally engaged to Samantha Ronson in France this week? MADONNA thinks Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez "has the heart of a poet trapped inside an insanely gorgeous body." JESSICA SIMPSON: Shut out of the Country Music Awards. Shocka. BEST DVDs OF 2008: Amazon rolls out Editors' and Customers' Picks, with lists by genre also. KRISTEN BELL talks to The A.V. Club about her many ongoing and upcoming projects. But it's Egotastic that has her bikini pictures from the set of Couple's Retreat. Call it Gratuitous Friday. ANNE HATHAWAY's ex-bf Raffaello Follieri discovers that prison is not a nice place. THE 10 MOST FASCINATING PEOPLE OF 2008: Seven names from the Dec. 4 Barbara Walters special leak at the link. THE STANS: Pres. Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan pressed US Secretary of State Rice, to ease up on airstrikes targeting militants linked to the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the lawless Afghan-Pakistani tribal regions. Complaints that the strikes are alienating the local populations would ring truer, but for the Pakistani Army is coercing the tribes in Bajaur to fight the Taliban, and bombing their villages if they won't. Mullah Baradar, the deputy commander of the Taliban in Afghanistan, said the group has not and will not negotiate with NATO or the Afghan government. IRAQ: In battle-scarred Mosul, Kurds and Arabs trade accusations rooted in ethnic rivalry and a battle for oil and power that many fear threaten security in Iraq. Meanwhile, security forces killed five al Qaeda operatives and captured 149 suspects during operations in Diyala and Ninewa provinces. X BANANA DERBY: Best Week Ever has the photo gallery of monkey jockeys, but let's go to the video. TWEETY CATS: Cats are micro-blogging on Twitter. The most popular appears to be Sockington, a/k/a Sockamillion. DR. DOLITTLE, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources needs your help with some frogs. AN ALLIGATOR was refused service at Johnny's Saloon. SINGAPORE ZOO CLEANER does not choose life.
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Fleet Foxes, Tom Morello, Tim Fite, Megapuss, Shiba Imus |
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Thursday, November 13, 2008 - 08:00 AM Posted by: Karl
FLEET FOXES play "Sun Giant" and "Blue Ridge Mountain" in an abandoned wing of Paris's Grand Palais for a La Blogotheque TakeAway show. TOM MORELLO, formerly of Rage Against the Machine, stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set you can stream on demand via MPR. TIM FITE does the four free songs thing for Daytrotter, one perviously unreleased. BISHOP ALLEN: Justin Rice talks to LAist about the band's giant pigeon costumes, "Click Click Click Click," Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and more. Streaming audio at the link. THE LAYAWAYS released an album this week to little fanfare, but you can stream "Keep It To Yourself" and "All Around The World" via the ol' HM. (Thx, Sylvia!) MEGAPUSS: Devendra Banhart, Greg Rogove of Priestbird, and Fabrizio Moretti of the Strokes have fun with this side project and this video for "Adam & Steve." MINUS THE BEAR talks to San Diego CityBeat about dialing down the wackiness. (Thx, LHB.) THE BREEDERS: Kim Deal explains to the San Francisco Bay Guardian why she feels a bit depressed. THE HOLD STEADY: Tak Kubler talks to Boise Weekly about being surveilled by his mother via the Internet. VASHTI BUNYAN is pofiled at length by Crawdaddy! PAULA ABDUL: An unidentified woman in her 30s was found dead in her car outside of the American idol judge's L.A. home on Tuesday afternoon, say authorities. The woman was once a featured contestant on Idol, and may have been stalking Abdul. ANGELINA JOLIE talks about The Changeling and motherhood with the L.A. Times. Meanwhile, her rep denies the latest round of pregnancy rumors. CHEETAH GIRL Adrienne Bailon's "stolen nude photos" scandal was just a PR stunt. And not very cunning. BRITNEY SPEARS: Fed-Ex has no plans to ask a family court to investigate his son's weekend health scare while in the pop wreck's care, his lawyer says. ORLANDO BLOOM is reportedly getting hitched late next year. SALMA HAYEK is addicted to breastfeeding. BATMAN vs. BATMAN: The mayor of an oil-producing city in southeastern Turkey, which has the same name as the Caped Crusader, is suing director Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. for royalties from mega-grosser "The Dark Knight." PAKISTAN: Islamabad scrambles to prevent bankruptcy. Seems like that should be getting more coverage. AFGHANISTAN: The early phases of election registration in Afghanistan went smoothly enough that some defense officials admit to feeling suspicious. Human-rights advocates and some Western officials say the government appears to be increasingly influenced by Islamists, seven years after the Taliban regime was driven from power. Afghanistan's army is growing at record levels and now plans or leads nearly two-thirds of military operations. US troops continue their slog in the deadly contest for Afghanistan's borderlands. IRAN: The military claims to have successfully tested a ballistic missile that can reach Israel and the European continent. The US denounced the purported test. IRAQ: The Iraqi cabinet will vote on the pact to govern the presence of US troops in the country on either Saturday or Sunday. The Iraqi army began paying Sunni Sawha fighters at dozens of stations opened this week throughout Baghdad. The village of Duhaim vows to keep AQI from returning. THE SHIBA INUS PUPPY-CAM makes Time magazine. But the link in the piece didn't work for me, so you may prefer this adddress. BUTCH the TORTOISE returns home following a mysterious six-week disappearance. Butch is 150 years old, so six weeks probably does not seem like a long time. CANADIAN GEESE attack British soccer team. A PITBULL is caught trying to drive away from a car wash. A FEMALE DOG is nursing a litter of kittens which were orphaned when their mother died in China. Awww...some pic at the link.
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Conor Oberst, Eagles of Death Metal, Blitzen Trapper, Ninja Kittens |
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 08:00 AM Posted by: Karl
KINGS OF LEON could "Use Somebody" in the latest video from their new album, Only By The Night. CONOR OBERST and The Mystic Valley Band have a full gig streaming on demand via NPR. BLITZEN TRAPPER stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set you can stream on demand via MPR. EAGLES of DEATH METAL stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set you can stream on demand via MPR. THE YEAR'S OVERLOOKED GEMS: All Songs Considered is streaming reader-selected candidates. BOYCE & HART lip-sync their way through "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight," after introducing themselves with live snippets of their other hit songs. GRIZZLY BEAR: Ed Droste gives Drowned in Sound a progress report on the band's next album. JOHNNY MARR talks about his role in mastering The Sound of the Smiths, which is streaming this week via Spinner: "Frank (Arkwright) and I actually took a load of crappy EQ off it and tried to get it to sound like it did in the studio, which we've succeeded in doing..." (Thx, Chromewaves.) STEREOPHONICS: Richard Jones and Javier Weyler answer the infamous <i aptureproxy="49">PopMatters 20 Questions. LEMONHEADS: Evan Dando blogs about the delay of the band's covers record, and reviews No Country For Old Men. JENNIFER ANISTON complains to Vogue about Angelina Jolie's yapper, while maintaining she does not want you to feel sorry for her. More excerpts about her maybe-on again thing with John Mayer in the NYDN. And E! Online has advance clips of her cameo on 30 Rock. BRAD PITT, meanwhile, was restrained by his own bodyguard at the premiere of his movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. MADONNA let Guy Ritchie see his kids... on 12 conditions. MICHELLE WILLIAMS' father, a prominent stock market trader, agreed Tuesday to return to the US to face tax evasion charges. THE DARK KNIGHT closes in on one billion dollars in box office receipts. You can download the script at the link. LINDSAY LOHAN hailed the election of Barack Obama as America's first "colored president." You would think someone so hip would be a little more current on the lingo. Video at the link. IRAN: The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the US - plus Germany meet this week to discuss stalled efforts to impose new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. AFGHANISTAN: The newest weapon in the US military's fight against the Taliban is the country's first unit of motorcycle-riding Afghan police, trained and mentored by an Army captain with the help of a biker bar owner and Harley devotee from Washington state. IRAQ decided on Tuesday to await a complete translation of the amended draft of a military pact to govern the presence of US troops in the country after 2008 before making a final decision on it. Sunnis and Shiites reopened a Baghdad bridge between the two communities closed since a 2005 stampede. The battle for Mosul still waxes and wanes. Rebuilding in Samarra continues. NINJA KITTENS: The folks at Toyota are smoking something. THE SQUIRREL THREAT: A militant squirrel attempts flag desecration on Veterans' Day. ALSO: A red squirrel called Elvis the Pelvis has attacked a children's writer who nursed him back to health. TOADFISH MATING CALL interests scientists, which may say something about scientists. HATTIE the TERRIER, banned from her local pub, has been readmitted -- but only if she wears a high-visibility vest. Video at the link. PYTHON vs. COCKATOO; For the second time in three days, the cockatoo was never in it.
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The Killers, New Releases, Wire, Baby Pygmy Hippo |
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008 - 08:00 AM Posted by: Karl
THE KILLERS surprise with their take on "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" during a surprise appearance for charity at Union Chapel in London. Toss in the Cyndi Lauper original, and you have Twofer Tuesday. NEW RELEASES: Au Revoir Simone and Secret Dakota Ring, along with comps and reissues from The Smiths, Cheap Trick New Order and Genesis are among the records streaming in full this week at Spinner. The Pillbugs have a new album out as well, which I hope has the same 60s vibe as the tracks at the link. JULIANA HATFIELD has checked into an eating disorder treatment facility -- and is blogging the experience. WIRE does the four free songs thing for Daytrotter. CONOR OBERST talks to Filter about little green men, escapism and more... DUNGEN's video for "Solen Stiger Upp" is as trippy as the song itself. THE PITCHFORK 500: The indie Internet giant kills trees with their take on the 500 best songs of the past three decades. SCOTT WALKER: The reclusive popster tells Sean O'Hagan, in a rare interview, why he's happy to be a loner. MAXIMO PARK frontman Paul Smith talks to Spinner about recording the band's upcoming album in Los Angeles. JOLIE HOLLAND stopped by Oregon Public Broadcasting for a chat and mini-set you can stream on demand. BRITNEY SPEARS' two-year-old son was rushed to the hospital after he suffered a suspected "seizure" during a family trip to her hometown. Doctors concluded he had a reaction to something he ingested. He is expected to be discharged today. CHEETAH GIRLS: Disney starlet Adrienne Bailon has apologized to fans and threatened legal action after someone leaked nude pictures taken for her boyfriend to the Internet. MADONNA is said to have invited Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez to join her on her next trip to Malawi, where she's building a kabbalah-enlightened school. The NYDN also hears that A-Rod is thinking about following Madge to South America next month when she tours Brazil, Chile and Argentina. Guy Ritchie had an emotional reunion with his two sons, Rocco and David, Monday at London's Gatwick Airport. EVAN RACHEL WOOD denies she is dating Mickey Rourke, her co-star in The Wrestler (a role which is getting Rourke serious buzz again). CAPTAIN AMERICA CALLING: Joe Johnston has inked a deal to direct "First Avenger: Captain America," Marvel Studios' take on its classic comic book character. Kicking off with "Iron Man," Marvel Studios' slate of movies --including "Thor" and the "Iron Man" sequel -- is building toward an "Avengers" movie set for release in 2011, in which the characters from the films team for one big adventure. UP: Pixar releases a teaser trailer for their Summer 2009 movie, which will be in 3-D in some theaters. LINDSAY LOHAN tells Harper's Bazaar that she may be bisexual, seeing as how she's she's dating a "wonderful" woman with whom she's madly in love. VETERANS' DAY: Today is the 90th anniversary of the end of WWI. Two links I posted last years still hold up today: "Mustang" at Social Sense reviews the holiday's history and thanks vets for the present. Army Maj. Elizabeth L. Robbins reports that the current war has inspired a remarkable level of civic involvement that goes largely unnoticed -- except by those in the field or recovering stateside. AFGHANISTAN: Globetrotting milblogger Michael Yon reports that president-elect Obama will face escalating violence, feckless allies, and time that's quickly running out. IRAQ: The L.A, Times notes the decline of Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, noting that its efforts to reorganize into a socio-religious group may not help. A BABY PYGMY HIPPO: Awww...some video from Down Under at three weeks old. WILLIE the PARROT being credited with helping save the life of a 2-year-old girl who was choking Friday at a Denver area home while her sitter was in the bathroom. Video at the link. THE MOUNTAIN LION was unaware that the police were armed. A fatal error. THE MADAGASCAR HISSING COCKROACH is one of several exotic species that may be invading Florida. DR. DOLITTLE apparently got a grant from the British government. GUS, the one-eyed, three-legged dog that won the title of world's ugliest dog this summer, has died after a battle with cancer. He was nine.
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The Gales of November Remembered (plus more) |
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Monday, November 10, 2008 - 08:00 AM Posted by: Karl
THE WRECK of the EDMUND FITZGERALD: The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee. Today is the 33rd anniversary of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald -- 729 feet-long, 75 feet in breadth, 39 feet in depth, weighing 13,632 gross tons -- an ore bulk carrier with a capacity of 25,000 tons. When it was launched on June 7 1958, at the Great Lakes Engineering Works in River Rouge, Michigan, Fitzgerald was the largest ship on the Great Lakes. Here's misty, water-colored video of the launch. The "Queen of the Great Lakes" sank in the eastern end of Lake Superior during a fierce storm -- including snow squalls -- that pounded the ship with 30-foot waves. The crew of 29 men perished; without witnesses, a definitive reason has never been determined. A Coast Guard report suggested that faulty hatches failed to keep water out of the ship's cargo holds, though others believe the ship struck an uncharted shoal and took on water. A documentary created and aired by the Discovery Channel concluded the loss of the due to freak waves that overwhelmed the faulty hatches. After the wreck, the Rev. Richard Ingalls went to Mariners' Church in Detroit and rang its bell 29 times, once for each life lost. The church continues to hold an annual memorial, which includes reading the names of the crewmen and ringing the church bell. Here's video of Rev. Ingalls recounting that night. At the request of family members surviving her crew, Fitzgerald's 200 lb. bronze bell was recovered by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society in 1995, as a joint project with the National Geographic Society, Canadian Navy, Sony Corporation, and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The bell is now on display in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. Here's a brief video from one of the underwater explorations of the wreck. Throw in the 3-D animation, and you'll feel just like Bill Paxton. The song by Gordon Lightfoot spent 21 straight weeks on the pop charts, peaking at No. 2. And there's a homemade video for it on YouTube, which I highly recommend. Beats the tar of Celine Dion! (PS: Ken King -- who has lived on the U.P. of Michigan, says the gales of November are quite something.) *** THE DECEMBERISTS played the Electric Factory in Philly on Friday, you can stream the whole gig on demand via NPR. THE REPLACEMENTS: Captain's Dead has posted their April 5, 1985 gig from scenic DeKalb, IL for downloading or streaming in three parts (Pt. One, Pt. Two, Pt. Three), which concludes with three Cheap Trick covers. THE HOLD STEADY: Craig Finn talks about forgiveness, redemption and the Drive-By Truckers with the Philadelphia Inquirer. ROBYN HITCHOCK talks to Paste about the next Venus 3 album and various collaborations, and about his past work with Jim DeRogatis, mostly the fabulous I Often Dream of Trains album. ROGER McGUINN talks to the Rocky Mountain News about the Folk Den and why he's not keen on a Byrds reunion. He also mentions this recent cameo with Bruce Springsteen on "Turn, Turn, Turn!" THESE UNITED STATES got some of their ragged-edged folk, rock and Americana on All Things Considered over the weekend. ANDREW BIRD will be getting into Target with his latest release, just one reason the whistiling violinist is happy about his new label, Fat Possum. NICOLE ATKINS talks to the Washington Times about her covers, EP, the aptly-titled "Nicole Atkins Digs Other People's Songs." O'DEATH singer Greg Jamie tells Spinner why he likes having some blog backlash. WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa sits atop the chart with 63.5 million -- the high end of expectations and roughly what the original made over the four days of Memorial Day weekend in 2005. With Harry Potter having moved to a summer release, the animals should clean up this month, and perhaps next as well. Role Models came in second with 19.3 million -- which vastly exceeded expectations. The unofficial budget estimate for Role Models was 15 million. HSM 3 finally dropped from the top slot to third with 9.2 million, having made 75.7 million on an estimated 11 million budget (might this have done better at Thanksgiving or Xmas?). The Changeling held in fourth place with 7.2 million, while Zack & Miri rounded out the Top Five with 5.6 million. Z&M has no official budget number, but this has probably broken even -- making the weekend a good one for Elizabeth Banks, who also features in Role Models. Soul Men debuted in sixth, which makes for an inauspicious coda to the career of the late Bernie Mac. Overall this weekend was much improved over the same frame last year. This Friday, the name is Bond -- James Bond. ROLE MODELS: Another "slacker coming of age" comedy, though the characters played by Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott actually have jobs. The sitcom-like setup finds them mentoring troubled young boys, and succeeds because the script has plenty of laughs (generally less crude laughs than Zach & Miri, but with its share of nudity and profanity), because the cast executes it well, and because of the timeless music of KISS. CHARLIE SHEEN and his pregnant bride, Brooke Mueller have hit a rough patch, according to InTouch magazine. Denise Richards filed for divorce from Sheen while pregnant with their second daughter. SIENNA MILLER confirms she has split from boyfriend Balthazar Getty as she enjoyed the company of Olivier Martinez, Josh Hartnett and Leonardo DiCaprio. She needs new friends, as she was reportedly dropped from Guy Ritchie's movie Sherlock Holmes after her ex, Jude Law, agreed to play Dr Watson. NICOLE KIDMAN will play the world's first post-op transsexual, married to Charlize Theron, in The Danish Girl. Hey, she won an Oscar for doing The Hours with a fake nose, so you can imagine the potential. EVAN RACHEL WOOD rubbishes reports circulating about why she and Marilyn Manson broke up. PEACHES GELDOF denies she's divorcing after 96 days -- but admits her marriage to Max Drummey has problems. OUR FRIENDS, THE SAUDIS seem to be defying a religious ban on birthday celebrations. PAKISTAN: US fighters and artillery targeted Taliban fighters in the Khyber agency in hot pursuit after Afghan forces along the border were attacked. In North Waziristan, up to 14 were killed in the first cross-border attack in Pakistan's tribal areas in one week. Three of al Qaeda's top 20 leaders have been killed in recent strikes, said General Petraeus. IRAQ: Abu Ghazwan, the former leader of the "northern Baghdad belts," was killed in a joint raid in the Tarmiyah region. Iraqi troops detained 42 suspected terrorists in Mosul. Coalition forces captured eight al Qaeda operatives in Baghdad, Mosul, and Tikrit. PINGU, a penguin muscled out of its family by a greedy sibling, now cuddles up with a stuffed friend. THE SQUIRREL THREAT: Many Britons do not understand the danger posed by suicide squirrels. BIG BLUE -- believed to have been the largest North American catfish in captivity -- has died in a Nebraska aquarium. CAT survives a 17-story fall in Ontario. TWO THIEVES were caught in southern Hungary with 12 pigs stuffed in their small van during a routine traffic check, Hungarian police said on Thursday.
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