T-BONE BURNETT, who will release his first new album in 14 years next month, talks to Newsweek about his careers as a musician, alt-rock producer, and movie music maven, putting together classics for The Big Lebowski, popularizing bluegrass with the O, Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack, and coaching Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon for Walk The Line.
NEW RELEASES this week include albums from Morrissey, the Flaming Lips, the Concretes, and Serena Maneesh (gothic psychedelia) streaming in full from AOL Music. There is also an album from Islands, new jangly goodness from Tommy Keene (bonus classic jangle, including a cover of the Hollies' “Carrie-Anne” at MySpace), a wider release for the buzzworthy Loon from Tapes 'N Tapes, a US release for the debut of childlike UK popsters The Boy Least Likely To and 70s-influenced R & B from Van Hunt. Plus a reissue from Jose Gonzalez and a Twin/Tone comp from Soul Asylum.
SUFJAN STEVENS won the inaugural New Pantheon Music Prize for Illinois, against competition from Arcade Fire, Fiona Apple, M.I.A., Antony and the Johnsons, and others. Stevens will be awarded a cash prize of five grand and a trophy.
BUDDY BLUE, one of the original Beat Farmers, has passed away unexpectedly.
NEKO CASE talks to the Boston Globe about being single In America and how being invited to join the New Pornographers was a turning point in her career. You can see and hear Neko at her redesigned website.
SEEN YOUR VIDEO: Rumors are swirling that Bill Berry may retake the drummer's throne for REM full-time, which coincides nicely with the tip I got from Ken King on this clip of “Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars),” which may have been the band's TV debut. Lots of amusing early 80s dancing! And since it's Tuesday, let's make it a twofer with Springsteen joining REM for “Man on the Moon.”
BELLE & SEBASTIAN have put out the video for “The Blues Are Still Blue.” The flip side of the single is a cover of Thin Lizzy's “Whiskey In The Jar.”
CALEXICO gets three of five stars for the upcoming Garden Ruin album. You can stream and download “Cruel” from MySpace.
THE MOUNTAINTOPS: Stephen McBean, the frontman for Black Mountain and Pink Mountaintops, talks about playing and gawking at SXSW, which netted Pink Mountaintops an opening slot for the Flaming Lips CD launch shows.
DINOSAUR JR.: With the media usually focusing on the drama between J. Mascis and Lou Barlow, it's nice to give some to Murph the drummer as the band headed to Tallahassee FL, where Murph lived for a year.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The ever-reliable News of the World claims that the supposedly sober supermodel is paying off the troubled singer to keep his silence about their on/off romance.
LINDSAY LOHAN apparently flashed children at the Nickolodeon Kid's Choice Awards. No wonder she won the Favorite Movie Actress trophy.
SIENNA MILLER and STEVE BUSCEMI will be getting high security protection while shooting Interview, a remake of a thriller by Theo Van Gogh, who was murdered by Mohammed Bouyeri in 2004 after his film Submission sparked anger among the Muslim community.
SUSAN SARANDON feels that the next US elections should be monitored by international entities, as in Haiti and Iraq, because: “The last one was an embarrassment. Everybody knew there was fraud, but nothing was done about it. In some states there were more votes than people able to vote.” Actually, not everybody buys debunked studies from Berkeley. Indeed, even David Corn at The Nation took a pass on the conspiracy theories.
BRADGELINA: In the unbelievable category is a News of the Word rumor about Jolie giving birth in Africa. In the more believable category is a report that Pitt is miserable since moving into a squalid 1970s tower block in Paris.
VAUGHNISTON are reportedly shopping for a pad in Chicago.
KIRSTEN DUNST was spotted getting cozy with SNL's Andy Samberg at a Jose Gonzalez concert. Samberg is largely responsible for the the popular Narnia and Natalie Portman rap videos.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Cruise is delaying his marriage to Holmes until after the birth of their child and the premiere of Mission Impossible 3, but assures us: “I won't let this woman get away,” which rings true, albeit in a very creepy way. Meanwhile Woman's Day magazine claims that the Cruise-Kidman tapes are so embarassing that that both “could retreat out of the Hollywood spotlight completely.” But the mag never says what's on the tapes, which are now in the hands of the FBI, which is investigating former celeb private eye Anthony Pellicano.
(LEGAL) DOWNLOADABLE MOVIES reach the marketplace, But you could buy the Special Edition DVD of King Kong on sale at Tower Records for less than the cost of the download. There really is no business like show business.
UNITED 93: A NYC cinema has pulled the trailer for forthcoming 9/11 film after several complaints from distressed patrons. Universal Studios said on Monday that it would stick with the trailer. Tom Roger, whose 24-year-old daughter was on American Flight 11, which flew into the WTC's north tower, said he wished the studio had somehow notified other 9/11 families about the trailer. Sandra Felt, whose husband was on United 93, was surprised by the reaction of others: “9/11 is a fact. It happened. Running away from the movie isn't going to resolve underlying factors of why we're upset by it.”
EVA LONGORIA doesn't regret her remarks about her relationship with Tony Parker: “I never regret something I say. I regret how people perceive it.” Because she never makes mistakes, apparently.
SHARON STONE, fresh from bombing in Basic Instinct 2, is going to focus on her songwriting career. No, I didn't know about it either.
EROTIC THRILLERS: The flop of Basic Instinct 2 is dissected across Tinseltown. Paul Verhoeven, director of the first Basic Instinct, and screen scribe Nicholas Meyer want to blame the Bush Administration, whereas producer JC Spink thinks the genre is suffering because sex is more pervasive in our society now than it was 10 years ago. Zalman King blames a more conservative international market. None consider two obvious reasons why more erotic thrillers aren't being made. First, studies show that G, PG, and PG-13 movies are more profitable and more likely to be blockbusters. Second, that Basic Instinct 2 flopped because almost every critic in America thought it stunk.
IRAQ: In the Wall Street Journal, Reuel Marc Gerecht looks at the complex balances of power — or terror that Iraqis (and the US must navigate to stabilize the country. At ITM, Mohammed looks at the mounting international and local pressure for Jafar to withdraw as nominee for Prime Minister in the next few days. The AP's “blog” from Ramadi has Todd Pitman surprised that the locals don't mind when the Marines take cover in their courtyards, with some welcoming them.
IRAQ IN THE MEDIA: On March 19th, the Washington Post ran a story about troops returning from Iraq, reporting their consensus that the media had a predetermined, negative script for coverage. Two days later, the paper ran a piece on Iraqis questioning whether Saddam's ouster was worth it — a thesis flatly contradicted by public opinion polling. Five days later, the WaPo ombudswoman ran a special article largely defending the paper's coverage, quoting reporter Thomas Ricks and former Clinton Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon as suggesting reconstruction is a non-story. But on Monday, bureau chief Ellen Knickmeyer had a piece about a reconstruction contract for building 142 primary health centers running out of money. As it turns out, the WaPo regularly reports any bad news about reconstruction — though this is the only news the paper's readers get about reconstruction. Thus, for example, the 60 percent drop in child mortality since Saddam was toppled is not reported, even though it's a miracle if US reconstruction is as bad as the WaPo says it is.
IRAQ IN THE MEDIA II: I don't want to just pick on the WaPo. At the end of March, The New York Times' Jeffrey Gettleman reported on “rising sectarian tensions… and at least 40 mutilated bodies surfacing in the streets — 30 of them beheaded.” The paper later admitted the story was wrong… in paragraph 17 of an unrelated story. It turns out that insurgents were staging fake sectarian killings, only 18 were killed (none beheaded) and the insurgents were just nabbed by US and Iraqi forces. Oddly enough, the NYT website currently has no story on the capture of these thugs. Instead, the paper's big story Monday (again by Jeffrey Gettleman) was about Iraqis stockpiling weapons, including the claims that after Saddam was toppled, security evaporated, opening the floodgates for looters, carjackers, kidnappers and thieves, and that L. Paul Bremer disbanded the Iraqi Army, transforming Baghdad into a weapons bazaar. In reality, Saddam opened those floodgates by emptying his prisons, even of murderers, before the invasion. Moreover, Saddam's Army evaporated before Bremer ordered that it be disbanded — and that Bremer quickly reversed the order. With coverage like this, it's no wonder if most troops think it stinks.
PATCHES THE HORSE will, among other things, fetch your beer. More pics at the link.
PRISCILLA THE PIG, however, will drink your beer. She's nearing retirement and training an apprentice.
THE MARCH OF THE PENGUINS is getting earlier in the North and later in the South (at least in eastern Antarctica), ostensibly due to a combo of global warming and local cooling.
SNAKE comes free with your broccoli.
SPIDER-HUNTING NUDIST consumed in a ring of fire. Like I could pass up that reference.