Karl Bade SO, DID YOU MISS US? You are so sweet! If you missed Tuesday's entry, just keep scrolling!
THE PIPETTES take a comic turn in their latest video, “Judy.”
INTERNATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY REDUX: Google's holiday-themed logos did not extend to ITLAPD, but the company's letter rejecting the idea was swashbuckling in tone. As are Bono singing “A Dying Sailor To His Shipmates” and Richard Thompson playing the “Mingulay Boat Song.”
BOB DYLAN: Aquarium Drunkard has posted Blonde on Blonde Outtakes, Part Two, but aside from the instrumental version of “I'll Keep It With Mine,” the remainder of the tracks sound like the mono versuions of the official tracks. You can stream 'em at AD or jukebox 'em via the Hype Machine. Meanwhile, his latest album, Modern Times, is reviewed by Suzanne Vega, who addresses the issue of Dylan “borrowing” from Confederate poet laureate Henry Timrod: “These days if a sample of music is taken, you have to acknowledge the original artists and pay them. (See: “Tom's Diner.”) Shouldn't the same courtesy be extended to all intellectual property? In other words, is he really “a thieving little swine” as one “fan” puts it? Well, I guess he is. But I am trying to imagine a Bob Dylan album with footnotes, asterisks, ibid.'s and nifty little anecdotes about the origins of each song. It's not going to happen…”
THE SUGARCUBES are reuniting for a 20th anniversary concert in Reykjavik, with the proceeds to go to charity, according to Björk — and it doesn't get much more definitive than that. The band's first single was “Birthday,” lo those many years ago.
APPLES IN STEREO will release their next album, New Magnetic Wonder, in February 7th on Frodo's label, with Yep Roc distributing. YANP has details and a video stream of the band playing new songs at their Sept 1st gig in Lexington, KY. Pretty rockin'.
LLOYD COLE tells the Scotsman that growing old can present something of a challenge when it comes to selling records: “I've been around for ever, so why should anyone get excited about a new Lloyd Cole album? To my mind, my music doesn't sound all that different from some of the popular bands around at the moment. The difference is that they're in their twenties and have cool haircuts and I'm a grey-haired 45-year-old.” Said The Gramophone — one of the earliest music blogs — has a track from his new album, Antidepressant, a cover of Moby Grape's “I Am Not Willing,” along with the original. The video pictured above is from 1991, “She's A Girl and I'm A Man,” a song I have listened to 20 times in a row, though not recently. And here's a few Cole did with the Commotions — “Perfect Skin,” “Rattlesnakes” and “Forest Fire.”
ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN frontman Ian McCulloch was acquitted on two assault charges, but was found guilty of committing a breach of the peace by shouting, swearing and threatening two fans who used his toilet backstage.
RYAN ADAMS: The prolific singer-songwriter addresses his combative nature in a streaming interview at NPR. There are a few recent Adams tracks streaming separately from the same page.
FINAL FANTASY won the prestigious Polaris Music Prize (a Canadian version of Britain's Mercury Music Prize). I can't say I've been a big FF fan, but you can stream a bunch of Owen Pallet's chamber pop via the Hype Machine. You can read profiles of all of the nominees at the National Post.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The troubled singer and the supposedly sober supermodel were caught canoodling… and then some at The Priory rehab clinic last weekend.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: The Australian government is blasting an anti-psychiatry exhibit sponsored by an offshoot of Scientology, but Cruise's Scientological bent gets faint praise from Alec Baldwin: “All I know is I don't see people who are disciples of Tom's faith driving planes into the World Trade Center. When Scientologists start crashing planes into the Pentagon, then I think we should sit Tom down and have a grand jury talk to him. In the meantime, let's just leave him alone.” Meanwhile, Paramount wants Brad Pitt to accept the next Mission: Impossible.
NICOLE KIDMAN has gotten an apology from Scotland's Daily Record for publishing false quotes it claimed she made, criticizing Angelina Jolie's charity work as publicity-driven.
LINDSAY LOHAN: Following the screaming match with her mother reported yesterday, Dina Lohan got a shout out from Bono for her birthday. Li-Lo prefers to be rocked by actor-singer and co-star Jared Leto, but was barred from the club his band was playing for being underaged (which is news, as few clubs do so). Meanwhile, Star magazine claims that the French Hotel tried to move in on Lohan's boyfriend, Harry Morton. No wonder the little diva is considering moving to Notting Hill in the UK.
ANNA NICOLE SMITH: Dr. Cyril Wecht, the forensic pathologist hired by the model to perform a second autopsy on her son, tells TMZ: “It could be a drug-related death of an accidental nature.”
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY is the greatest ever Hollywood starlet, according to a poll done for Yahoo! entertainment. I like Knightley, but that list looks like they polled children and teenagers.
JESSICA and ASHLEE SIMPSON: The “singing” sisters' creepy dad-manager Joe reportedly supplies WireImage with exclusive (and even racy) shots of his daughters on family getaways or in other putatively private moments. The regular paparazzi are not pleased. Meanwhile, the Rev. Bob Harrington has singled the girls out for criticism because Joe was once a Baptist preacher himself: “They will reap the dismal crops they are sowing. Their breasts will sag and their faces will wither and they will be left with nothing but a hollow shell.” The Rev. seems woefully ignorant, not only of of how rampant cosmetic surgery is in the industry, but also of the fact that that both sisters have availed themselves of it.
BRITNEY SPEARS' second son is the victim of cybersquatters who snapped up suttonpiercefederline.com and similar domain names after his birth. Angelina Jolie had her lawyers snap up her daughter's domain names on the day Shiloh was born. But no one has accused the pop tart of being the sharpest knife in the drawer.
STUDIO 60 on the SUNSET STRIP, which premiered Monday, has gotten generally favorable reviews, but the funniest part of the show, imho, was the idea that a sketch on the imaginary SNL-esque show would be deemed too “edgy” because it was about “crazy Christians.” Why not have an edgy sketch called “crazy Muslims,” other than the fact that NBC probably would have really censored that? Ironically, for all the hype the show got, the big ratings story of Monday night was Deal or No Deal — exactly the sort of show attacked in the opening episode of Studio 60.
KATIE COURIC, after sliding from firts to third place in the ratings on 9/11 managed to eke out a narrow win over the course of the week, though it appears that NBC's Brian Williams may have regained the momentum.
TERI HATCHER is furious with Desperate Housewives bosses, because they keep digitally reducing the size of her nipples. Anyone familiar with her work on Seinfeld could have seen this reaction coming.
SCARLETT JOHANSSON is happy with her hourglass figure: “I'm curvy. I'm never going to be 5'11' and 120 pounds. But I feel lucky to have what I've got.” And boyfriend Josh Hartnett is lucky to feel what she's got. Thank you; don't forget to tip your bartender!
IRAN appears to be blackmailing France regarding the nuclear issue: “The French President is the first European leader to state publicly that a freeze by Iran is not a precondition for opening talks. The concession to Iran seems to be linked to events in Lebanon, where there had been concern that French soldiers may be targeted by Iran's proxy militia, Hizbollah, over France's previously hardline stance in the nuclear negotiations.” Meanwhile Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used the Pope's recent speech referring to Islam to call for attacks against the US.
IRAQ in the MEDIA: The AP reports that the US military is likely to maintain and may even increase its force of more than 140,000 troops in Iraq through next spring, according to Gen. John Abizaid. What he actually said was that more US troops are not needed in Iraq and actually could be counterproductive by hampering the turnover of security to Iraqi forces. A review of Google News shows the AP to be the only outlet reporting the story this way. Bill Roggio reports that his military and intell sources who have seen the whole report on Anbar are angry over the media's characterization of the report.
AFGHANISTAN: British Lt. Gen. David Richards told reporters that Operation Medusa inflicted the biggest defeat on the Taliban since its fall in 2001.
DEPUTY DOG: Gus the Pug went undercover to help arrest a flasher in Stuart, FL. As a direct result of this arrest, Gus was deputized with special deputy status.
SNAKE in a TRAFFIC JAM in York, PA.
ARMADILLOS have waddled their way from Texas into southern Illinois.
HALIBUT FREED by animal rights extremists at a fish farm in Argyll.
A 600 LB COW was rescued from a 24-foot plunge into a well in Canby, OR. Pics at the link. It's like the “Baby Jessica” story, only with a big ol' cow. Sure enough, the new owners are thinking of naming the cow “Jessica.”
