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Tallest Man On Earth, Bobby Womack, Hot Chip, Monorail Squirrel   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Monday, June 04, 2012 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: Karl

Karl

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE cover Talking Heads' "Wild Wild Life" to promote the UK's Bestival.

THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH is advance streaming There's No Leaving Now.

BOBBY WOMACK is advance streaming The Bravest Man In The Universe.

HOT CHIP is advance streaming In Our Heads.

dEUS is advance streaming Following Sea. Not bad for Belgian art-rock.

PRINCE's Purple Rain was among those recently inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording registry. Let's go crazy.

JOHN LYDON talks to The A.V. Club about This Is PiL, the re-release of Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen" single, the time he assaulted a Goofy at Disneyland, and what a "PiL zone" is.

FIONA APPLE is profiled at the New York Times.

ROSEANNE CASH talks to Smithsonian about love, science and the deep space between men and women. (Thx, LHB.)

THE 60 BEST ALBUMS OF THE SIXTIES, according to Paste (with embedded audio).

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Snow White and the Huntsman tops the chart with 56.3 million -- significantly better than the dismal 30 million tracking numbers; Universal heaves a huge sigh of relief in the face of a 170 million budget. But what happens when Charlize Theron turns up next Friday in Ridley Scott's Prometheus?  Hmmm.  Men In Black 3 places with 29.3 million on a 46 percent drop; it crosses the 100 million mark domestically and approached 400 million globally, easing fears on the rumored 350 million total cost.  The Avengers shows with 20 million -- and becomes the third biggest-grossing movie of all time; beating Titanic and Avatar will be a tough road, given the summer competition.  Battleship rusts in fourth with 4.8 million on a 57 perceent drop, but has made 220 million globally against a 209 million budget.  The Dictator rounds out the Top 5 with 4.7 million on a 49 percent drop, for a 50.8 million total against a 65 million budget.

SNOW WHITE & THE HUNTSMAN:  "Reimagining" these days increasingly lapses into marrying a familiar tale with the Lord Of the Rings saga.  SWATH is no exception, but this one works better as an LotRization than, say, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.  The direction from Rupert Sanders is not particularly strong, a bit tto much reminiscent of his background in commercials and music video.  But Charlize Theron does not chew the scenery too much as Queen Ravenna and Kristen Stewart does not play Bella from Twilight, and Chris Hemsworth does not embarass himself (though one would think more could have been done with the co-titular role).  The dwarves -- including Ian McShane, Toby Jones, Bob Hoskins and Ray Winstone -- all do well with their parts, and the script could have done more with them.  Not an outright bad film, but not especially compelling, either.

MOONRISE KINGDOM, the latest from director Wes Anderson, is another welcome step back from the disappointing of The Darjeeling Limited, a path Anderson began with his adaptation of The Fantastic Mr. Fox.  Like most of its predecessors, Moonrise Kingdom has a signature retro style, although here Anderson reaches back further, into the mid-Sixties to set his tale of runaway kids.  And this is a story about the kids, with Jared Gilman and Kara Swisher largely carrying the picture, with Ed Norton, Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, and Frances McDormand in supporting roles (Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel and Anderson regular Jason Schwartzman have even smaller roles).  As such, while sweet and occasionally sad, it frequently risks crossing the line into full-blown twee.  It is no accident that the funniest moments of the film are also some of the most violaent, along with the dash of tartness Schwartzman's role lends in the third act.  Lacking the element of malice found in, say, Rushmore or The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom is a quieter film and likely to find quieter audiences.

CHARLIE SHEEN cryptically comments on his ex Brooke Mueller's return to rehab (ostensibly pre-scheduled).

BRITNEY SPEARS: Is ADHD the reason for her behavior as an X Factor judge?

MATTHEW FOX will not do jail time in his DUI case.

DREW BARRYMORE & WILL KOPPELMAN had a star-studded wedding rehearsal dinner.

THE MTV MOVIE AWARDS went to these people. Congrats?

ANCHORMAN 2: Is Christina Applegate on board?

THE AVENGERS teases a 10-disc video set.

RICHARD DAWSON, the wisecracking British entertainer who was among the schemers in the 1960s sitcom "Hogan's Heroes" and a decade later began kissing thousands of female contestants as host of the game show "Family Feud" has died of complications from esophageal cancer.  He was 79.

YEMEN and IRAQ signed an agreement to share intelligence on terrorists operating in the region.

SYRIA: UN envoy Kofi Annan warned that Syria was slipping into an "all-out, sectarian war." Defense Secretary Panetta said unilateral US action in Syria was unlikely and that international cooperation and pressure on the regime was imperative. Russia blocked efforts for tougher UN sanctions. The US published satellite images showing evidence of mass graves following the massacre in the town of Houla.

EGYPT: An Egyptian court sentenced former president Mubarak to life in prison for complicity in the deaths of more than 800 during protests that brought down his government. Protests erupted as many thought the sentence was too lenient.

IRAQ: The US has requested that Iraq extradite Hezbollah commander Ali Mussa Daqduq, who is still in Iraqi custody. Daqduq trained Shia militias on behalf of Iran's Qods Force and was involved in the kidnapping and murder of US soldiers in Karbala in 2007.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: A militant rodent blocked the monorail at Walt Disney World.

A LARGE SNAPPING TURTLE blocked a car in Portsmouth, NH.

A BULL & COW interrupted traffic in Rayburn, PA, by not allowing themselves to be interrupted.

A 650-LB BLACK ANGUS BULL was last spotted at the Burger King in Grove City, OH.

2850 Reads

Yardbirds, Best Coast, Beach Boys, Bowie, Cutout Bin   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Friday, June 01, 2012 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: Karl

Karl

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

...with THE YARDBIRDS! Live circa 1967, featuring someone the announcer calls "Timmy Page."  Your setlist inlcudes "Shapes of Things," "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago," "Over Under Sideways Down," and "I'm a Man."

BEST COAST play a bouncing set drenched in jangling guitars and hooky melodies live from the KEXP studio.

REGINA SPEKTOR stopped by WNYC Soundcheck with her new material.

BAD VEINS squeeze a huge sound out of a small setup for KEXP.

THE BEACH BOYS stream five songs from That's Why God Made the Radio.

DAVID BOWIE is streaming the remastered Ziggy Stardust.

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE: Live in Birmingham, England, June 2, 1987.

FRIENDS go "Home" ahead of Manifest!

BEACHWOOD SPARKS return with "Sparks Fly Again."

LOS CAMPESINOS! "Tiptoe Through The True Bits" in an outtake fro Hello Sadness.

BECK's new single is streaming at Third Man Records.

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM: "Holiday Road."

JON PRATT, Pate's frontman and a "former punk rocker with a soul patch" is busy redefining the kilogram. (via Friend of Pate and fmr KUSR DJ Terry Nielsen. Thanks!)

JAPANDROIDS talk to Pitchfork about rock'n'roll myths, the tenuous balance of being a two-man band, and the difference between Jack White and the Replacements.

PAUL McCARTNEY talks to Drowned in Sound about the RAM reissue, "wooly" years, songwriting and more.

18 ANTI-BEATLES SONGS, compiled by The A.V. Club.

CUTOUT BIN: From John Travolta to Jimi Hendrix, from Little Richard to the Soft Boys, from the B-52s to Gladys Knight & the Pips, plus Cheap Trick, Glen Campbell, Fairport Convention, Rush and more -- this Friday's fortuitous finds are streaming from the Pate page at the ol' HM.

NOW SHOWING: Snow White and the Huntsman is this weekend's wide release, scoring 50 percent on the ol' Tomatometer.  For Greater Glory opens near-wide on 700 screens, scoring 18 percent.

JESSICA SIMPSON will be shedding baby weight with a four million dollar sponsorship.

JUSTIN BIEBER: Oslo's mayor has launched an investigation into a near-catastrophic Justin Bieber concert in Norway - after 49 teenage girls were injured.

ZHANG ZIYI vehemently denies allegations she had been paid to have sex with a disgraced politician.

ASHTON KUTCHER & DEMI MOORE are not reuniting, sources tell People.

MARY-KATE OLSEN has found amour again with former French president Nicolas Sarkozy's younger brother, Olivier.

GEORGE LUCAS confirmed plans to retire from mainstream film-making in favour of "hobby" movies.

IRAN's enrichment of uranium to 20 percent "is our right" and "is not a step towards a bomb," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview. Meanwhile, a US security institute has published satellite images which it said increased concerns that Iran was trying to "destroy evidence" of suspected past research relevant for developing a nuclear weapons capability, hours after diplomats said the UN atomic watchdog showed what appeared to be similar imagery at a closed-door briefing in Vienna.

PAKISTAN:  The United States has sent a handful of military trainers back into Pakistan in a sign the two nations may be able to achieve some low-level cooperation against militants despite a string of confrontations that have left Washington's relations with Islamabad in crisis.

IRAQ moves closer to normality as responsibility for security in Baghdad is handed over from the Iraqi Army to the police.

PUG vs DUCK: Who you got?

A SHARP-DRESSED PIG ran loose on a highway just outside of Pittsburgh. They all go crazy.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A baby bird with two heads and three beaks.

PUNTUNG, a Sumatran rhinoceros missing a foot and a working uterus, undergoes "assisted reproduction" to try to save the species. Wang dang.

3881 Reads

Polyphonic Spree, M Ward, Crocodiles, Stones, Hamster   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Thursday, May 31, 2012 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: Karl

Karl

YESTERDAY was our biggest traffic day ever.  Thanks to our regular readers, web-crawling robots and creepy stalkers!

ALAN SPARHAWK (Low) & THE PORTLAND CELLO PROJECT play Sucidal Tendencies' "Institutionalized" for The A.V. Club Undercover.

THE POLYPHONIC SPREE played World Cafe Live last Friday; you can stream the gig on demand now.

M WARD stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

CROCODILES are advance streaming the fuzz-laden Endless Flowers.

THE ROLLING STONES: Live in St. Kilda and Sydney, circa 1966.

THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM covers Tom Petty's "You Got Lucky."

INXS: "Don't Change." Because it's the time of year for Adventureland.

DAVID LOWERY (Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker) gave a meaty, fascinating talk about the economics of pop music in the Internet Age at the SF Music Tech Summit: "Not only is the New Boss worse than the Old Boss. The New Boss creeps me out." And he backs it up comprehensively.

PETER CASE talks to PopMatters about The Nerves reunion implosion, songwriting, roots music and more...

WEEN No More, as Gene (Aaron Freeman) dissolves the band.

JACK WHITE gives an economics lesson.

MATTHEW FOX denies habitually beating women, as alleged by his former "Lost" co-star Dominic Monaghan.

CHRISTIAN BALE dated Drew Barrymore once, but she never called him back.

MADONNA's alleged stalker faces retrial.

BILL MURRAY gives a tipsy tour of the Moonrise Kingdom set... and an awesome video autograph.

ZHANG ZIYI is allegedly being investigated for a sex scandal linked with China's former Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai -- and may be barred from leaving China.

IRON MAN 3 has started shooting in NC; on day two, photogs got a glimpse of The Iron Patriot.

G.I. JOE 2 moves from June 29 to 2013; will another 75 million fix it?

LES MISERABLES has a trailer online.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN's Australian trailer is online.

IRAN claims it has defeated the powerful Flame computer virus that has boasted unprecedented data-snatching capabilities and could eavesdrop on computer users.

EGYPT: The Muslim Brotherhood's candidate for the Egyptian presidential runoff is trying to cash in on public resentment of his rival Ahmed Shafiq's ties to the old regime.

PAKISTAN: The doctor who helped the US find Osama bin Laden was convicted of providing support to the Lashkar-e-Islam, according to court documents.

AFGHANISTAN: Afghan intelligence operatives captured five suspected Taliban suicide bombers and 560 kilograms of explosives on the outskirts of Kabul's international airport.

ADORABLE HAMSTER plays dead from imaginary gunshot. Really hamsters it up, too.

THE SQUIRREL THREAT: A militant rodent knocked out power to Hudson High School's graduation ceremonies in Michigan.

UNCHECKED HORDES OF GIANT HOUSE MICE are devouring endangered baby seabirds en masse on Gough Island.

A ROGUE KANGAROO that attacked a young mother, leaving her with a 30cm scar, had bailed her up in the garden on two previous occasions.

2995 Reads

Neil Young, Edward Sharpe, John Lennon, Duck Escort   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Wednesday, May 30, 2012 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: Karl

Karl

SLEIGH BELLS' latest video is for "Demons."

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE are streaming Americana, a collection of folk classics.

EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS stopped by The Current for a chat and mini-set.

CATHARINE AD streams Reprise: The Covers Collection.

JOHN LENNON: Oddities.

THE VACCINES have "No Hope" ahead of The Vaccines Come Of Age.

THE TEMPTATIONS gallop through "I Can't Get Next to You" live on TOTP.

DOC WATSON, the Grammy-award winning folk musician whose lightning-fast style of flatpicking influenced guitarists around the world for more than a half-century, died Tuesday at a hospital in Winston-Salem, according to a hospital spokeswoman and his management company. He was 89.

ALABAMA SHAKES drummer Steve Johnson talks to ChartAttack about meeting his idols, keeping humble and staying away from stadium shows.

SPIRTUALIZED: Jason Pierce talks to Straight.com about the making of Sweet Heart Sweet Light.

CBGB: The movie is cast.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE & JESSICA BIEL: Marriage won't change a thing, she says.  Lance Bass has details of the nuptuals after a star-studded engagement party.

CYNTHIA NIXON married longtime galpal Christine Marinoni in NYC over the weekend.

JUSTIN BIEBER is a suspect in a criminal battery, according to law enforcement sources.

LINDSAY LOHAN is being pursued by a tanning salon with a vengeance for not paying a judgment for a humongous tanning bill.

KRISTEN STEWART talks Snow Whire and On The Road with Elvis Mitchell.

SUMMER MOVIES: The Grown-Up's Guide.

RANDALL POSTER, one of the best-known music supervisors in the movie industry, talks to Fresh Air about working with Wes Anderson.

FLAME: The cyber-weapon that dwarfs Stuxnet.  Looks like it hit  Iran's oil terminals. 

YEMEN: US drones killed five al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters in a strike that targeted the group's leader for Baydah.

IRAN said it planned to build a new nuclear power plant (they have enough uranium for 5 bombs, according to a think tank).  Iran also admits sending troops to Syria.

AFGHANISTAN: Al Qaeda's second in command for Afghanistan was killed in Sunday's airstrike in the northeastern Afghan province of Kunar, the Coalition reported.

A FAMILY OF DUCKS got a police escort as they attempted to cross a busy highway in Texas.

PIED PIPER WANTED: Hamelin is again infested with rats.

BREASTFEEDING YOUR POODLE seems wrong, even in Phuket.

A STRAY DOG follows cyclists 1136 miles across China.

2952 Reads

New Releases, Japandroids, Kelly Hogan, Liars, Socially Awkward Penguins   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Tuesday, May 29, 2012 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: Karl

Karl

GIVERS & DICKIE LANDRY team up cajun-style on Paul Simon's "That Was Your Mother" to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Graceland.

NEW RELEASES from Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Regina Spektor, Scissor Sisters, Ladyhawke, Grass Widow, Marisa Nadler, and more are streaming at Spinner.

JAPANDROIDS are advance streaming their much-anticipated Celebration Rock.

KELLY HOGAN is advance steaming I Like to Keep Myself in Pain. She talks to the Chicago Sun-Times talks about her loves, her songwriting fans, her talented backup band and more...

LIARS are advance streaming WIXIW.

BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE: From New Order and Frente. Hospitality's recent version for The A.V. Club Undercover put me in mind of it.

JOEY RAMONE: Morning Edition reports on the construction of his posthumous album.

NEKO CASE: Morning Edition also reports from behind the scenes of her next album.

REGINA SPEKTOR talks to All Things Considered about listening to her bootlegs and more.

DAVID GILMOUR (Pink Floyd) evacuated his home after a WWII bomb was discovered beneath.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Men in Black 3 tops the chart with a mildly disappointing four-day haul of 70 million, although it does dethrone The Avengers.  The give you an idea, the prior two Men raked in 84 and 87 million over five days; MiB3 won't match that, even with the 15 percent 3-D premium on many of these tickets.  Moreover, MiB 3 reportedly had a 230 million production budget, and a 350 million cost once you add in marketing and such.  However, the worldwie gross already exceeds 202 million, so this one will still do alright in theaters and even more in home video.  The Avengers shows with a leggy 49.9 million -- a mere 16 percent drop from last weekend (34 percent on a three-day basis).  Marvel's heroes become the fastest film to break 500 million domestic.  It will likely overtake The Dark Knight next weekend, but increasing competition may block it from 600 million.  Battleship shows with 13.8 million on a disastrous 46 percent plunge (58 percent on a three day basis).  The Dictator drops to fourth with 11.8 million on a 33 percent (45 percent three-day) slide; it totals 45 million against a 65 million budget.  Dark Shadows rounds out the Top 5 with 9.4 million and totals 65 million against a 150 million budget.  Below the fold, Chernobyl Diaries debuted in sixth with 9.3 million.

MEN IN BLACK 3:  On my scale, MiB > MiB3 > MiB2.  And Josh Brolin does a nice Tommy Lee Jones, while Emma Thompson's comedic talents are mostly wasted.  Enjoyable, but not essential. 

ASHTON KUTCHER & DEMI MOORE may be getting back together. But I wouldn't bet on it.

JENNY McCARTHY and BRIAN URLACHER are dating.

AMANDA BYNES is accused of another hit-and-run incident.

BRITNEY SPEARS walked off the set of "X Factor" after a contestant butchered her song, "Hold It Against Me"?  Spears denied it on Twitter. Then she walked off again.

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY is engaged to marry her rocker boyfriend, James Righton of The Klaxons.

KIM KARDASHIAN threatens to sue the tabloids if they report....

JENNA JAMESON was busted for DUI.

STAR WARS turned 35 this weekend. Here's 35 reasons to love the original trilogy.

SYRIA: The UN Security Council on Sunday unanimously condemned the Syrian government for its role in the massacre of at least 108 people in Houla over the weekend, even as Syria blamed others for the killing.

IRAN seemingly rejected one of the West's key demands in negotiations over the Islamic theocracy's controversial nuclear program, with a senior official saying Tehran has " no reason" to stop enriching uranium to 20 percent, AFP reported on Sunday. Shocka.

PAKISTAN: The terror state the US calls an ally.

SOCIALLY AWKWARD PENGUINS: Let's go to the video.

CAT HOARDING leads to divorce. Who knew?

ONE BEAR actually prefers an outhouse over the woods.

COWS crashed a small gathering in a Massachusetts town and bullied the guests for their beer.

2620 Reads

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