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Vampire Weekend, More New Releases, Black Mt, Heath Ledger   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: Karl

Karl

 

VAMPIRE WEEKEND: The self-titled debut album due next week is streaming in advance from Much Music, assuming that they haven't crossed the lawyers again.  The combo also peformed a "Take-away" threefer for La Blogotheque.

MORE NEW RELEASES:  Spinner finally updtaed this week's full album streams to include Drive-By Truckers, MGMT, Super Furry Animals, Matt Costa, Biirdie and more.  And there's a new stream for Cat Power's Jukebox. (Thx, Chromewaves.)  YepRoc is streaming the Jason Ringenberg retrospective and the new Fleshtones.  There is also a stream for Dan Bejar's latest project, Hello, Blue Roses.  (Thx, LHB.)

CAT POWER:  Speaking of which, Chan Marshall gets a profile in the NY Sun that does not focus on her personal travails, while Harp magazine obsesses over her new mole.

BLACK MOUNTAIN also has a new album released this week.  The Vancouver Sun talks to co-vocalist Amber Webber about rocking out with the band and going more ambient when playing with Lighning Dust.  You can stream the first half of the new Black Mountain via TheirSpace, and a few from Lightning Dust for comparison.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS frontman Patterson Hood has a wide-ranging interview with Pitchfork, talking about democracy in the band, rejected album titles, album length, working with Bettye LaVette and more.

THE KILLS kick off the video for "Cheap and Cheerful" from their upcoming album with just a wee bit of vomiting.

MARSHALL CRENSHAW talks to The Morning Call about writing songs for movies like Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, and mentions an upcoming tour and album -- his first since 2003.

RINGO STARR walked off the set of "Live With Regis and Kelly" rather than cut short one of his songs.

THE TOP TEN BEARDS IN MODERN MUSIC, courtesy of SF Weekly.

AMY WINEHOUSE was filmed blitzed out of her skull and struggling to talk after sucking in crack fumes from a glass pipe.  The Daily Mail has learned that the footage could be investigated by police and has cast serious doubt on whether she will be allowed to fly to the US next month for the Grammy awards.  Friends say the video has plunged Winehouse's family into further despair after their failed attempts to persuade her to have treatment in rehab.

HEATH LEDGER whose breakthrough role as a gay cowboy in the 2005 movie "Brokeback Mountain" earned him a nomination for an Academy Award and comparisons to the likes of Marlon Brando, was found dead Tuesday in an apartment in Manhattan at 28 years old.  Though sleeping pills were found near his body, no obvious indication of suicide, like a note, was found in the bedroom.  Three bottles of prescription pills containing antidepressants and Ambien found in the apartment, a police source told PageSix.  Anonymously-sorced rumors of depression, drug abuse and rehab ricocheted around the internet, though the false rumor that he died at Mary-Kate Olsen's apartment may have been the most bizarre.  TMZ claims Ledger was sick with pneumonia.  Ex-fiance and baby mama Michelle Williams is "devastated" and reportedly headed for NYC.  Warner Bros., the studio readying The Dark Knight, in which Ledger plays Batman's nemesis, The Joker, has issued a statement of condolences.  My bet would be the movie is released as planned, but that the marketing, which juxtaposed Ledger with the bloody slogan "Why So Serious?" -- will be changed.  However,as of post time, the viral website is still active, even though it opens with a note reading, "The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules."  I would prefer to remember him with a laugh, as he delivers singing Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" in 10 Things I Hate About You.

THE LEAKED SCIENTOLOGY VIDEO DU JOUR features testimonials from John Travolta, Kirstie Alley and Anne Archer, but the wacky intro is worth a peep long before you get to the actors.

TOM-KAT:  Scientology is an inspiration for the latest artwork at Pretty on the Outside.

REESE WITHERSPOON engaged to Jake Gyllenhaal?  Her rep denies it.

SIMON COWELL has revealed that he is planning to leave £90 million to charity in his will.

BRITNEY SPEARS:  The pop wreck's lawyers will go to court today and ask Commissioner Scott Gordon to allow her "monitored visitation in a therapeutic setting," as her family and the professionals in her life have been planning a "creative way" to get her mental help.  However, as Spears has defied court orders for psychological evaluation, so the request may be opposed by Fed-Ex and even the court.  Meanwhile, Fed-Ex's lawyer says the deposition of Spears has been "very, very gut-wrenching,"

DENISE RICHARDS & CHARLIE SHEEN are battling again in their ongoing child custody case.  Richards wants to star in a reality show with the kids, which Sheen opposes.  Surprisingly, I have to go with the deranged 9/11 conspiracist on this one.

MADONNA is sporting a black eye, sparking speculation about plastic surgery.  It certainly would not come from a fight with hubby Guy Richie, as I am certain she could totally take him down.

BRADGELINA are adopting another girl from Africa, according to London's Mirror.  Hey, it's been at least two weeks since the last such rumor, so why not?

ASHLEE SIMPSON is being encouraged by her creepy dad-manager Joe to dump boyfriend Pete Wentz, so she can be the star of a new reality dating show.  Think SimpsonCo is running low on funds, or does Joe hate Pete that much?

THE OSCARS:  For once, I  have already seen all of the nominees for Best Picture.  You can revisit my reviews for Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood for comparison, but I will have to think about how I would vote.  It's great that the adorable Juno got that nod, as well as star Ellen Page, director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody, though the Oscar rarely goes to comedy.  Variety notes that political films were largely shut out this year in its round-up of snubs, including A-list actors, screenwriters and The Simpsons.  There were snubs a-plenty in the song category, some noted by Variety, but especially Eddie Vedder and Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, whose score for There Will Be Blood was disqualified.

TERROR in the US:  Jose Padilla was sentenced to a relatively lenient 17-year prison term on his conviction for supporting terrorism.  At trial, prosecutors avoided the "dirty bomb" claim that made Padilla infamous, in order to keep out evidence of Padilla's treatment in detention.  The judge, however, took those factors into account in denying the government's request for a life sentence.

IRAN:  The political authority of the Pres. Ahmadinejad suffered a serious blow after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sided with parliament by ordering him to supply cheap gas to villages undergoing power cuts amid an unexpectedly harsh winter.  Meanwhile, the UN Security Council's permanent members and Germany agreed Tuesday on a new draft resolution on sanctions against the Islamic theocracy over its nuclear program.

IRAQ and the MEDIA:  A New York Times article, "Hopes for Vehicle Questioned After Blast," claims that "the first fatality inflicted by a roadside bomb on an MRAP" (the new Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected armored vehicle) is some seminal event in the conflict.  Milblogger Badger 6 points out numerous flaws in the story, starting with the fact that it is not the first such fatality. At Wired's Danger Room, Noah Schactman identifies more flaws in the story, which Schactman thinks misses the more important issue of whether the MRAPs are sufficiently maneuverable for Iraq.  This is a common flaw in the media coverage of Iraq, as I have noted with respect to stories about up-armoring Humvees and the proper type and level of body armor.  There is almost always a trade-off between armor and mobility, yet the media almost always assumes that more armor is safer, rather than deal with the complex and varied situations faced by the military in Iraq.  Even the Associated Press notes in this case that the crew compartment of the MRAP "was not compromised" and the three soldiers inside escaped with cuts and broken bones in their feet.  So the NYT is going quite out of its way to accentuate the negative in this instance.

PANDAS:  Fu Long, the first baby panda to be born in Europe in a quarter of a century has made his first public appearance at the Vienna Zoo.  Pic at the link.  But lest we think it's all about the cute, let's go to video of a jealous panda. (Thx, Amber.)

A BLIND SEAL named Alfred, found on the New Jersey shore early last year, made his debut at the L.A. Zoo on Friday.  Video at the link.

SNAKES on a PLANE!  Customs officials in Vietnam discovered a ton of live snakes on board a Thai Air flight from Bangkok, hidden inside 60 ice boxes marked "fresh fish."  BONUS:  Snake in a Van in Helena, MT.

BELCHING COWS will be studied by a Swedish university to measure the bovine greenhouse gases.

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