THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:
BLONDIE IS BACK, according to Entertainment Tonight. And Debbie Harry is older than the President. No, really. Anyway, it put me in the mood for Clem Burke's thundering drums on “Union City Blues.”
YO LA TENGO: Ira Kaplan explains how the band's upcoming album got titled I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your A**. (Thanks, LHB) You can download or stream “Beanbag Chair” as an advance track.
SMOKEY ROBINSON wants to be the new Rod Stewart. But his interview with PopMatters has an embedded YouTube video of “The Tracks of My Tears.”
COVERS: My Old Kentucky Blog has been collecting versions of Bob Dylan's “I'll Keep It With Mine” (including a live cut from Richard & Linda Thompson, but no Nico as I write this), while Mars Needs Guitars rolled out versions of Norman Greenbaum's “Spirit In The Sky.”
MIDLAKE frontman Tim Smith talks to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about touring Europe and the US. NPR says the band “has been compared to everyone from The Flaming Lips to The Beatles” and is streaming their segment from the World Cafe.
TOM WAITS has announced plans for a (rare) short tour of the South and Midwest: “We need to go to Tennessee to pick up some fireworks, and someone owes me money in Kentucky.” You can stream a whole mess of Waits via the Hype Machine.
SEEN YOUR VIDEO: Hardcore Pate fans probably saw the band at Gabe's Oasis in Iowa City, which is where the late great Dick Dale cranked out a medley of “Miserlou” and Surf Beat” in May 2004. And there's also more twangin' on a mystery cut.
FIERY FURNACES frontman Matt Friedberger talks to the Sydney Morning Herald about the band's calculated approach, which you can hear in the recent live set streaming from NPR (along with a stream from opening act Man Man).
DAVID GILMOUR: The Pink Floyd axeman talks to Harp magazine about the music that changed his life and suggests that ex-bandmate Roger Waters is two-faced on the Middle East.
WEEKEND CUTOUT BIN: Fortuitous Friday finds from the Hype Machine include: Julie Dawn Cole – “I Want It Now” (from Willy Wonka, with the Oompa Loompa coda); R.E.M. – “Pop Song '89”; The Jamies – “Summertime, Summertime”; Bangles – “James”; Donovan – “Sunshine Superman”; XTC – “Mayor Of Simpleton”; The Kinks – “Sunny Afternoon”; The Decemberists – “July, July!”; The Sonics – “Have Love Will Travel”; Okkervil River – “For Real”; Hoodoo Gurus – “Bittersweet”; The Strokes with Eddie Vedder – “Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology Song)”; and The Blind Boys Of Alabama – “People Get Ready.”
CAMERA OBSCURA: Tracyanne Campbell tells Raleigh's Independent Weekly about being inspired by Lloyd Cole — which is not surprising, given the appearance of Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken — a play on Cole's “Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?” on the band's new LP. There's plenty more via the Hype Machine.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The supposedly sober supermodel has multipled her income more than seven times over since getting photographed blowing rails in a recording studio during her roller-coaster affair with the troubled singer.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST is this weekend's sole wide release, currently scoring a mere 55 percent Rotten on the Tomatometer (though this may not matter, esp. with Roger Ebert in hospital). Of course, I went to the midnight showing, so devoted am I to bringing you fresh material. So, what do I think of it? As it's past 3 a.m. local time, I think it's long. Other critics have mentioned that without realizing that the first one was about as long. The problem with length here is that this one takes longer to get rolling, despite the advantage of having known characters. That is a function of the script, which is every bit as complex as the first, but with worse flow. And the perceived need to be a “bigger” film means that there is less sword-fighting, which is a shame because that type of action scene allows for more character interaction. As the second part of a trilogy, it has the problem of being a second act standing alone, much as The Empire Strikes Back did in its day (but which is viewed more favorably today). Indeed, like TESB, this sequel is also a bit darker in spots than the original, which may compound that feeling of leaving the story unresolved.
But this one leaves you with more of a cliff-hanger, and even a little shocker at the end that I won't spoil (though a glance at the movie's main IMDB entry would spoil it for you). The returning cast all performs admirably. Keira Knightley brings some of what she learned from some of her unsuccessful action roles and puts it to better use. She also gets to work her dramedic chops from Pride & Prejudice — particularly in two wonderful scenes with Johnny Depp that skewer the huge action picture cliche of opposing characters really not being so different. Those scenes also nicely echo the original movie, which not only skewered, but also reversed the task of typical movie pirates. The new cast members are also quite good. Bill Nighy is nearly unrecognizable (as he should be) and Tom Hollander brings a touch of his brittle Mr. Collins from Pride & Prejudice to his heavy. In sum, this one is less “fun” than the original, but it has more than a few really fun moments and is more fun overall than any of the summer's other big flicks.
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, DAKOTA FANNING, WERNER HERZOG, DOLLY PARTON and the Brokeback Cowboys are among those invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
BRITNEY SPEARS: Spenderline shows he knows the way to the pop tart's heart.
DENISE & HEATHER & RICHIE & CHARLIE & DAVID: Heather Locklear joins Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen in getting the tattoo of her spouse's name covered, but is she really getting a “Finch” tattoo for David Spade?
JENNIFER LOPEZ is a Voodoo Chile? Her first husband, Ojani Noa, claimed in a legal deposition that J.Lo used Santeria to influence the men in her life.
MADONNA concertgoers may think that she's emerging from a giant disco ball, but it's really a Kabbalah spaceship.
MARIAH CAREY will only eat things that are purple. So. Many. Punchlines.
THE EMMY NOMINATIONS are announced. 24 leads with 12 noms, because you don't want to cross Jack Bauer. Unsurprisingly, Desperate Housewives was largely snubbed. The snubbing of Lost and Nip/Tuck are more surprising. Jason Lee (of My Name Is Earl) was robbed! And the rules changes do not seem to have the effect many thought, as Arrested Development's Jason Bateman, Gilmore Girls' Lauren Graham and shows like Battlestar Galactica were passed over yet again, while dead shows Will & Grace raked them in.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: US Weekly joins the media chorus asking, “Where's the Tom-Kitten?” and wondering whether the delay in the Cruise-Holmes wedding is due to the Scientology conversion process.
JESSICA ALBA snapped en route to the beach, but not in full bikini mode. Hey, it's Friday and we take what we can get.
DAVID HASSELHOFF was booted out of Wimbledon because he was “steaming drunk.” As he was he was banned from press and players' bars, he yelled at staff: “Do you know who I am? I’m The Hoff!” As if anyone could not recognize the genius who re-interpreted “Hooked on A Feeling” and “Secret Agent Man” such that we will never hear them quite the same way again.
IRAQ: At ITM, Mohammed worries that amid the violence and scorching heat of Baghdad, the SCIRI and Sadrists are determined to bring down Prime Minister al-Maliki with Hamas-like tactics. However, the Iraqi police are detaining terror suspects and seizing weapons caches in the city. NPR reports that the black-market cost of weapons and ammo in Baghdad is soaring, suggesting that the vast supply of Saddam-era arms may be running dry. Meanwhile, Ray Robison, a former member of the Iraq Survey Group, has a translation and analysis of how-to manuals for Arab operatives working throughout Afghanistan before 9/11, suggesting that Iraq or Syria provided military assistance to the Taliban and Al Qaeda. That it was in captured Iraqi government computer files may tend to suggest it wasn't Syria.
THE MILITARY IN THE MEDIA: The Washington Post decided to report on Sgt. Patrick D. Stewart, who was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star — because the Department of Veterans Affairs has refused to allow a symbol of the Wicca religion to be inscribed on his memorial. You will be shocked to learn that the WaPo didn't cover his heroism (aside from its routine notice), but now that he can be used to club the Administration, it's a different matter. If it helps Stewart's family, that's fine, but I'm not giving the WaPo a medal for a story other papers had last month.
KITTY SURVIVES THE WOOD CHIPPER: video at the link. What would Marge Gunderson say?
TWO CATS near the Kentucky-West Virginia border were not as lucky.
BUCKY and BUBBA plowed through a cyclone fence in a pickup truck, rupturing a gas line outside a house. Did I mention they are dogs?
IT'S THE RUNNING OF THE BULLS in Pamplona. And if you saw the naked PETA protesters (SFW), you would run too.
THE 800 POUND GORILLA IN THE ROOM: You might miss him if you're drunk. And here's the video.