HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY to those of you who don't consider his discovery of the West to be the original sin. IF YOU MISSED Friday's exclusive review of Elizabethtown, be sure to keep scrolling past today's entries…
DUNGEN, everyone's favorite Swedish Psychedelic-Folk-Euro-metal-with-a-hint-of-Jazz band, played the Empty Bottle in Chicago Saturday night. (The pic above is from the Intonation festival.) In fact, they played two shows, which was a first, according to frontman Gustav Ejstes. He went on to say in broken English that at least the early show would be good. And he was right. After the third number (unreleased, with a title I wouldn't dare try to spell), Ejstes had sung danced and shook the tamborine with sufficient shamanistic flair that he could look down at his sopping wet shirt and sheepishly say that he had told himself before the show that he was going to try to take it easy. That part turned out to be wrong, as the band tore through a set largely drawn from the current album ta det lungt. They must be interesting, as they again held my interest, despite the lyrics being in Swedish. They guys also seemed to have even more fun than they did at Intonation. At one point I could see bassist Henrik Nilsson absolutely grooving on a guitar solo by Reine Fiske; after the song Henrik announce to the crowd that he just loves the way Reine plays guitar. Audiences must feel the same way, as the band sold out of t-shirts several dates ago. ALSO: Before the concert, Ejstes told the Chicago Sun-Times that he thinks Gang Starr and A Tribe Called Quest are psychedelic.
WITHOUT HIM: Mike Gibbins, the band's drummer, has died of natural causes at 56. Gibbins co-wrote “Without You,” a huge hit for Harry Nilsson.
JOHN LENNON: Beatles biographer Hunter Davies imagines if Lennon was 65. Actually, “fantasizes” would be a more apt term.
BOB MOULD continues harshing on Grant Hart in the Washington Post.
PATTI SMITH: The punk poetess is really an old fashioned kinda gal.
JACK WHITE and wife are expecting a little stripe.
BIG STAR has lauched a site to promote In Space, with MP3 clips.
COOL MUSICIANS WHO BLOG: Beatnik Pad is making a list (and checking it twice).
THE RAVEONETTES' van and gear stolen in Brooklyn.
THE DOORS: Drummer John Densmore is again at odds with Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger for turning down 20 million bucks for use of the band's songs in advertising.
OLD SKOOLERS like Sir Elton, Roger Daltrey, Dave Gilmour and Robert Plant are helping record a cover of The Buzzcocks classic “Ever Fallen In Love” as a tribute to the late John Peel.
PANDORA: The Wall Street Journal opens up its site a bit to let us read about the music recommendation service based not on opinion, but on science. The science still seems a little inexact, though.
PAUL WELLER: The former Jam frontman digs the Kings of Leon, but not Coldplay. Weller better watch his back; Mrs. Coldplay (Gwyneth Paltrow) has said she would like to physically harm music critic Jon Pareles for an article he wrote about her hubby's band.
GANG OF FOUR: At Slate, Simon Reynolds looks at the art and commerce of the band's self-tribute album.
THE GO! TEAM is getting good buzz on the US release of Thunder, Lightning, Strike. My favorite blurb may be from Dot Music, which calls it “an immensely derivative album, but one which cuts and pastes its influences in a strikingly original way. Chiefly, by piling them all on at once.” Much like a cheerleading squad leading a 70's soundtrack, it's not my usual thing, but its alright in controlled doses — they were a fun set to watch at Intonation.
GENE SIMMONS reveals the secret of his success with groupies. I'm still thinking the tongue might also be a factor.
WHAT MADE MILWAUKEE FAMOUS is new-wavey power-pop in a Brendan Benson-old school Cars sort of mode. You can stream a few at the band's MySpace page.
LAURA VEIRS talks to Scotland on Sunday about her influences and her encounter with grizzly bears.
THE ARCTIC MONKEYS also get a feature in Scotland on Sunday. And in case anyone — especially Craig O'Neill — missed it, I'll repost the way to the band's video for “I Bet You Look Good on The Dancefloor.”
BOY GEORGE ARRESTED on suspicion of possessing drugs and making a fake police report after he called 911 Friday and falsely said his home had been burglarized.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: Elton John is glad Moss was caught, because it forced her to get help. Moss may make millions from rehab diaries and may already be staging her comeback to modeling. Doherty's mom went to a Babyshambles gig to urge him not to kill himself. Former Libertine bandmate Carl Barat has named his new band Dirty Pretty Things.
THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE: *Sixeyes points you to the band's authorized Lollapalooza downloads.
SEX PISTOLS guitarist Steve Jones completes a trilogy of embarrassing confessions with the revelation that “I can honestly say I've never bought a book.”
MAXIMO PARK frontman Paul Smith wants to be popular, not indie. Drummer Rollum Haas doesn't think it's hard to get a heartland American audience interested in art rock: “People like to pigeonhole things and generalise. But where you live has very little to do with what you get into, or what you end up liking. All of this damn music came out of the South in the first place. You could argue Tennessee is the birth of rock'n'roll. And now, if you look at these nowhere places in the Midwest, there are all these weird bands coming out of there. The Flaming Lips came out of Oklahoma.” Of course, it might be easier for them if they also stop thinking about the Midwest as a “nowhere place,” but it's a step in the right direction.
SONGS OF THE SOUTH: Speaking of which, there's a very cool piece in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that covers the Fat Possum label's stable and the Drive-By Truckers bringing southern Rock to Norway that might suggest the intensifying ubiquity of access to music may (ironically) help kill off old, weird southern music.
FRANK BLACK completes my little cul-de-sac because his latest solo album, Honeycomb was his version of a Muscle Shoals record, but he digs the way British stars continue their rock 'n' roll persona long after they have left the stage.
JUDE LAW and SIENNA MILLER are reportedly splitsville again after Law found out Miller was cheating on him with his friend and her co-star, Daniel Craig. Both Miller and Craig may also be cast in the next James Bond flick; if not, Pierce Brosnan may have the James Bond franchise over a barrel.
WALLACE AND GROMIT rule the weekend box office. I recommend it as well. The New York Times has a three minute multimedia “making of” feature narrated by W&G creator Nick Park.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Holmes has fired her longtime publicist, reportedly replacing her with Cruise's sister. Cruise is being dissed by… Tony Danza. Ouch.
ELIZABETHTOWN: Cameron Crowe wanted the soundtrack to showcase newer, underexposed recording artists. Turning Orlando Bloom onto Iron & Wine was just a bonus.
HURRICANE KATRINA: Remember the issue of whether the locals should have evacuated people by bus before the storm? It turns out there were at least 80 city buses near the Superdome and that many bus drivers stayed at RTA’s Canal Street office during the storm. So all that would have needed to happen would have been for them to drive to the other station. ALSO: The levee breaches resulted from massive soil failures under concrete storm walls, not from hurricane surges, according to investigators who have examined evidence in the last week.
JESSICA BIEL has been proclaimed “the sexiest woman alive” by Esquire magazine. Such lists are designed to stir publicity, of course. So while I wish Cameron Crowe had given Biel more to do in Elizabethtown, I would probably disagree with Esquire. Of course, she's free to try to personally convince me otherwise.
DENISE RICHARDS has a fear of vomiting. The Charlie Sheen joke goes here.
CAMERON DIAZ is clawed by the creators of Television Without Pity. Me-OW!
TERRY GILLIAM tals about science-fiction, fantasy and Don Quixote with Salman Rushdie.
IRAQ: Bill Roggio looks at the state of Iraqi forces, as well as the continuation of Operation River Gate in Haditha and Haqlaniyah and an e-mail with photos from the 3rd ID in Baghdad. A prominent Sunni Arab leader has called on for the US and Iraqi insurgents to cease fire during Ramadan as a prelude to direct talks between them. With the constitutional referendum looming, that's probably a non-starter, but the reasoning behind the proposal is telling: “We have fought for two-and-a-half years and the problem is it doesn't work.”
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY is continually shocked by her mother because she wants to know all about her daughter's sex life. Making that public is probably a quick route to having less of one.
FIFTEEN BUTT-KICIKING BABES: A list from Entertainment Weekly, which has seemingly not heard of Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Garner.
BRADGELINA UPDATE: Pitt still fancies himself to be an asipiring architect.
JANET JACKSON NUDE VIDEO: Tyler Durden got a cease-and-desist letter from Ms. Janet's lawyer.
AL QAEDA: An intercepted letter from Ayman Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's second in command, complained about the impact on Arab opinion of beheadings and videotaped executions, as well as problems with communications, unity of command and funding. Is this why the terrorists are reduced to posting want ads on the internet?
CHARLIZE THERON is a ringer at darts. Is there nothing the woman can't do?
JESSICA SIMPSON and hubby Nick Lachey are making a point of being seen together in London. Meanwhile, Star magazine is running the tale of a college co-ed who said she made out with Nick for an hour last month. Jessica may be getting a rougher time from People and Us magazines, thanks to her creepy dad.
SIR BOB GELDOF wants to attract hundreds of thousands of revellers to Glasgow for an explosive party in honour of St. Andrew, Scotland's patron saint.
JEREMY PIVEN has Russian hands and Roman fingers.
CONDI RICE UPDATE: After Fox News' James Rosen urged the Secretary of State to meet FNC anchor Lauren Green, the latter is asserting her heterosexuality. NTTAWWT.
JAMES CARVILLE thinks Democratic campaign speeches should be more like Winnie the Pooh stories. Silly old bear.
DECISION '08: Would you prefer that your tax dollars be spent on healthcare and education, instead of going to the military industrial complex? Not a big fan of corporations or SUVs? Are you in favor of nuclear disarmament? I have your candidate.
THE UNITED NATIONS: The U.N. employees union passed a resolution criticizing Secretary-General Kofi Annan for retaining his former chief-of-staff as an adviser despite accusations the aide authorized shredding three years of files on the corrupt oil-for-food program for Iraq.
WMDs: The determination of countries across the Middle East and Asia to develop nuclear arsenals and other weapons of mass destruction is laid bare by a secret British intelligence document which has been seen by London's Guardian.
MICHAEL J. TOTTEN is blogging from Lebanon, where he met with Hezbollah.
ROBOT RACE sponsored by the Defense Dept. won by a customized Volkswagen SUV created at Stanford University.
PIGS are swimming and jumping through holes in China.
DOGS are saving cheetahs in Namibia.
SQUIRRELS are getting hooked on crack.
ALLIGATORS: Don't try to feed them by hand, unless you want to feed them a hand. ALSO: A Queens auto body shop mechanic found a wild surprise on his way home from work last week — two baby alligators abandoned in a tank dumped in the back of a decrepit car.
GRILLED CHEESE: Don't feed them to Ed Jarvis by hand — the man ate 19 sandwiches in ten minutes.