Karl 
WALK THE LINE was pretty darn good. Perhaps not as compelling as Ray, or perhaps it had been so long since there had been a picture like Ray that it simply made a bigger impression. The PR about Phoenix and Witherspoon learning to sing and play was largely justified. Phoenix often sounds and occasionally looks like Cash; Witherspoon's voice will never be mistaken for June Carter Cash, but she captures some of her spirit and does not embarass herself. Indeed, while it is the love story that sets this picture apart from Ray, the performance pieces (which also include portrayals of Roy Orbison, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc. on tour) sustain at least the first half of the movie. Where Ray tended to focus on Ray Charles' recording career, Walk the Line focuses on Cash's life on the road and the degree to which it allowed his demons to express themselves — both for ill and later for good (as in the gripping retelling of the Folsom Prison gig). One notable exception is Cash’s audition for Sam Phillips at Sun Records, in which Phoenix is remarkable. The focus on touring works not only because it serves the love story, but also because it sharpens the contrast between the lifestyle of the popular musician and the rather stoic character of Cash, to some degree Carter and definitely their families. That stoicism occasionally makes the story seem less dramatic than that of Ray Charles, but it makes Phoenix's performance in particular all the more arresting in the moments when you can see the madness swirling behind that stoic facade.
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE ruled the weekend box office, raking in an estimated 101 million bucks, with Walk The Line a distant but otherwise respectible second and Pride and Prejudice in the ten spot, despite playing on only 221 screens. And the great thing about the Internet is that when French actress Clémence Poésy is cast as Fleur Delacour in Goblet of Fire, someone like Tyler Durden posts two clips of her topless in the French movie Bienvenue chez les Rozes.
THE TOP 40 BANDS IN AMERICA TODAY: When I pointed y'all toward the Information Leafblower list last week, I should have added that many of the bloggers polled have posted the lists they submitted for the poll, including David at Largehearted Boy and Frank at Chromewaves. Plus, there are reax to the list at DCist and the Nashville Scene blog.
RUMBLE STRIPS: Stereogum thinks this will be the next British hype band. I prefer the Arctic Monkeys, but Rumble Strips are a pleasant enough slice of soul-inflected British pop (the Stereogum post has a quote mentioning Specials-esque old school brass). Links to a video and legal MP3s at the link.
WILCO: Kicking Television: Live In Chicago is getting generally favorable reviews at Metacritic. The metascore is 79, though that's dragged down by a couple of negative reviews.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR: It's the season of the list. London's Guardian fears The Arcade Fire gets no respect.
U2 guitarist The Edge and producer Bob Ezrin are setting up a charity foundation to provide instruments to musicians affected by the Gulf Coast hurricanes.
PHIL SPECTOR plans to wed — if he beats the murder charges hanging over him.
GARY GLITTER has been arrested in Vietnam, where police want to question him about alleged child sex offenses. UK officials have visited Glitter in custody. He was stopped at Ho Chi Minh City airport on Saturday by an official who recognised him from media coverage. He does tend to stand out in a crowd. When the officials visited, do you think they shouted, “Hey?”
CARLY SIMON insists neither Mick Jagger nor Warren Beatty is the elusive person behind the 30-year-old classic “You're So Vain,” but won't say who it is about. Which is just as well, as I don't need the press.
NEW MUSIC ONLINE: PC World (of all places) points you to “Great Online Sources for Finding New Music.”
SONY CD PROTECTION: Information Week thinks the corporate giant was brought low by bloggers.
MY MORNING JACKET bassist Two-tone Tommy tells The Pitch how the band ended up in Elizabethtown.
LINK WRAY, one of Guitar World's 100 greatest guitarists of all time — the inventor of the power chord — has passed at 76. Pete Townsend of the Who, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Steve Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen have been quoted as saying that Wray and his biggest hit, “Rumble,” inspired them to become musicians.
XTINA AGUILERA apparently got married over the weekend; just don't ask any of the guests, who were required to sign a three-page confidentiality agreement.
MADONNA: A little-known Belgian songwriter won a plagiarism case against Madge on Friday, leading a local court to ban the megastar's song “Frozen” (from Ray of Light) from sale or broadcast in the country. Meanwhile, ABBA will make millions from the sample of “Gimme Gimme Gimme” used on her new single, “Hung Up.” And it seems that the allegedly not-so-material girl is making all sorts of diva demands for gigs, even charity gigs.
JESSICA SIMPSON has been dumped by her publicist. So, how's the marriage?
BRITTANY MURPHY denies jumping a waiter in a stairwell while riding the horse.
COURTNEY LOVE started working on a new album in rehab.
KANYE WEST hates gay people. But he's working on it.
VAUGHNISTON: Aniston and Vaughn's comedy, The Breakup is apparently considered good enough to be rescheduled for June 2006.
FESTIVUS: Lisa Loeb and Jerry Stiller were to sing Festivus carols to promote a new book on the Seinfeldian holiday, co-written by Stiller and Loeb's boyfriend. But Loeb's new reality show will have her dating other people, which should provide fodder for the airing of grievances.
THE FRENCH HOTEL is being ordered to lose her “night monkey.”
RUSSELL CROWE pleads guilty to assualt with a cellphone, is sentenced to a year of conditional discharge. Never saw that coming.
HOLLYWOOD FOR SALE. Literally.
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: Ain't-It-Cool-News reports good buzz from the first public screening of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. The BBC has a nice backgrounder on the enduring appeal of the book.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: Shamed supermodel Moss is backed by French fashion house Longchamp, which unveiled her as the face of its 2006 advertising campaigns. Moss has also been tapped to record a new version of “Fairytale of New York” with Shane MacGowan to benefit a group investigating the untimely death of Kristy MacColl, who did the original duet with Shane and the Pogues. Meanwhile, Dior designer Hedi Slimane has shelved a book of photos he made with the former Libertines singer. The Babyshambles album is getting a mere 56 at Metacritic. And Doherty's former manager is being obscured in the band's latest video, supposedly at the behest of Rough Trade.
IRAQ: Operation Steel Curtain continues in Rammanah, “a rural, agricultural region with dozens of small villages.” Military officers tell Sens. John Warner, Carl Levin and Mark Dayton that they not only needed more manpower but also had repeatedly asked for it. StrategyPage reports that US troops are developing a hate-hate relationship with journalists.
IS ZARQAWI DEAD? The Elaph Arab media website reported on Sunday that Zarqawi may have been killed in a gunfight in Mosul. The White House said Sunday that it was “highly unlikely” that Zarqawi was among the dead. Either way, Zarqawi's family has renounced him. That's some “hearts and minds” op the Z-man has going.
IRAN has a blueprint showing how to build the core of a nuclear warhead, obtained via the black market in nuclear technology headed by the disgraced Pakistani scientist, A.Q. Khan.
FRENCH RIOTS: Some experts and authorities fear the social discontent that found an outlet in the rampaging could evolve among a small minority of the rioters into a dangerous form of Islamic militancy. The AP continues its general line by noting that “Almost no one believes radical Islam was a trigger for the rioting that began three weeks ago.” And it may not have been the trigger. But the mutual desire for isolation among many in the Muslim and non-Muslim areas of France cannot be ignored.
JAPANESE STORK gets a beak job.
COYOTES invade the town where I grew up. one is spotted near the IKEA store in Schaumburg — obviously tired of the low quality of Acme products.
SPARROW UPDATE: The Dutch topple 4,155,476 dominoes, without killing any more sparrows. Video at the link.
TWIN CITIES DEER are breeding like rabbits. Recently, a big buck broke several windows at the state Capitol before bounding just a few feet away from Gov. Tim Pawlenty and his startled security detail.
