THE HOLD STEADY is profiled in Pulse of the Twin Cities. And frontman Craig Finn tells Eye Weekly that he may make a hip-hop record.
MY MORNING JACKET also is profiled in Pulse of the Twin Cities. RELATED: Southern alt-rock gets a write-up in Slate.
WAX BEATLES' HEADS used on the legendary Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover and discovered in a back room at Madame Tussaud's have been auctioned for £81,500.
BRENDAN BENSON'S October 26th show at the Mudd Club in Berlin was raided by police for playing too loud. Benson finished the show unplugged.
BOB GELDOF says he is getting too old for another Live8 and is (Boomtown) ratting out Eminem for not taking calls from him or Bono.
PHIL SPECTOR loses key rulings before his murder trial; prosecutors will be able to produce evidence that after Spector was shot with a stun gun, wrestled to the ground and hog-tied in his foyer, not far from Clarkson's body, he said: “I didn't mean to shoot her. It was an accident.”
KEITH RICHARDS shares drugs with his kids. It's part of a campaign called “Just Say 'Dad, have you got any?'”
FOO FIGHTERS, DAVE MATTHEWS, SWITCHFOOT and even Sony are telling irate fans and customers how to defeat CD copy-protection.
THE GO TEAM turns up in the Fashion & Style section of The New York Times, but the story isn't about fashion. Maybe that's where the NYT files any interview that occurs at a roller disco.
WILCO is well into the writing process for its next studio set, which the band hopes will be released sometime in 2006. “What we've done already is basically record in our own studio,” Jeff Tweedy says. “We set up without headphones in a circle and roll tape based on us trying to get ourselves balanced as much as possible, without using the mixing console.”
NEIL DIAMOND and the Heartbreakers, coming to a store near you Nov. 8th.
ELVIS PRESLEY remains the top earner on Forbes magazine's annual list of the ten top-earning dead celebrities for the fifth straight year, beating out Peanuts creator Charles Schulz and John Lennon.
RYAN ADAMS has announced that his third album this year will be released on December 19th.
JOHN COLTRANE captured the number two and three spots on Billboard's jazz album chart, 38 years after his death.
NEW ORDER: It pays to be lead singer Bernard Sumner's barber, who won a multiple choice radio quiz about the Manchester band.
THE SCHOOLS OF ROCK: The AP reports on rock 'n' roll fantasy camps, focusing on the lamer of the two.
BON SCOTT: AC/DC fan Doug Thorncroft is currently campaigning to have a statue erected in honor of the late AC/DC singer in the Australian city of Fremantle. Click for the headline.
LIVE 365: The Washington Post discovers the amateur internet radio hub. If you haven't, maybe you should, too.
THE DECEMBERISTS' Colin Meloy did a solo show at Schuba's in Chicago last January that was bootlegged. This is killing music, even though Meloy has admitted downloading leaked records himself.
AXL ROSE is voted coolest old person by readers of Ellegirl magazine, coming in second to the generic answer “grandparents.” No really. Elvis Costello, Mick Jagger and Madonna also make the cool codgers list.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The shamed supermodel is reportedly planning to move to America in the wake of her much publicised drug problems. A source says: “She will miss her family but she thinks it might be better to live away from Britain for a while.” And by “Britain,” does she mean Doherty? The troubled singer insists he'll stand by Moss, but other tabloid reports have him all over a 23-year-old art student.
ALBUM SALES SLUMP: Album sales are now seven percent behind 2004, a figure certain to stick, or more likely grow, since no surefire blockbusters are poised to stall the downhill momentum, much less reverse it. Even after factoring in digital downloads, the drop may be two to four percent.
COVERS: Stereogum is aiding and abetting killing music by pointing to covers of Warren Zevon, the Beatles, Jeff Buckley and Joy Division. Normally, I woud not even link to such a thing but today is the day for “Werewolves of London.”
HALLOWEEN: Old Masters and Monsters are merged with Photoshop phun at Worth1000.
HALLOWEEN is Christmas? It would explain why the decorations are up in stores already. So where are my presents?
HALLOWEEN CELEBRATIONS are being driven from Toronto classrooms because they are disrespectful of Wiccans and may cause some children to feel excluded.
HALLOWEEN MEDIA: The PCL Linkdump hooks you up to holiday audio. Old Haunts hooks you up to vintage visuals.
THE HAUNTED MANSION: Take an in-depth tour of the classic Disney attraction, complete with MP3 downloads.
WHAT TO DO AFTER SIX FEET UNDER? Vampires, of course.
PET CEMETERY sold to developers in Raleigh, NC. Paging Mr. King…
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Do you think Us Weekly has a deadpan sense of humor? Cruise was given the “Diamond Meritorious award” for championing Scientology. And donating 3.6 million bucks.
MADONNA says No Doubt's Gwen Stefani has copied her look. Is that why Madge has started dressing like a hooker? SEMI-RELATED: Kabbalah guru arrested for fraud.
LT. SULU is so gay. NTTAWWT.
PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN talks to the Miami Herald about shrinking down for the role of Truman Capote and gives his review of Capote's In Cold Blood.
WEEKEND MOVIE: I saw Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, which is getting good reviews, but is currently playing on a mere 52 screens. It's the directorial debut of Shane Black and his screenplay largely pokes fun at the sort of movies he's written previously. Robert Downey, Jr. does the kind of good work he does when he's sober and Val Kilmer hasn't been this good in years. It's generally not side-splittingly funny, but quite entertaining for taking the buddy movie formula and twisting it to near the breaking point.
OMAR SHARIF has been targeted for death by terror groups as a crusader who offends Islam and Muslims, after playing Saint Peter in an Italian TV biblical epic.
JESSICA SIMPSON has beaten a long list of busty beauties to top a new Best Cleavage in Hollywood poll conducted by — appropriately enough — In Touch magazine. But give credit to 59-year-old Susan Sarandon for hangining in there at number nine.
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY is desperate for an Oscar nod after receiving critical acclaim for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, but takes a politic line: “I've just started in this business and there will be other, better-known actresses coming in films that haven't opened yet.”
M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN is warning that eliminating the delay between the release of a movie and its debut on DVD will not only destroy the exhibition industry, but also diminish the artistic integrity of moviemaking: “Art is the ability to convey that we are not alone. When I sit down next to you in a movie theater, we get to share each other's point of view. We become part of a collective soul. That's the magic in the movies.”
BRADGELINA UPDATE: Jolie gets “Know Your Rights!” tattooed across her back. Must be a fan of The Clash! But she is saving her butt for Pitt. Meanwhile, Pitt's place is staked out by brown bears. George Clooney wants a love like theirs. By which I mean Pitt and Jolie, not the bears. No word on whether Clooney wants a tattoo.
ALEC BALDWIN claims his custody battle with ex-wife Kim Basinger is like having cancer, exhibiting the sort of judgment and sensitivity that will surely convince a judge to see things Alec's way.
SIENNA MILLER is easing her heartbreak with daily massages and lots of exotic cocktails at a £1,300-a-night resort villa in the Maldives.
JESSICA ALBA denies that she walked out of Hollywood's Red Hot Video store with not just porn, but kinky porn. Sure, it's the National Enquirer, but we all want to believe it, don't we?
IRAQ: Iraqi troops are helping US Marines keep order in Haditha. Though the AP report accentuates every possible negative, it's noted that the Iraqi army and local militias have largely taken over security control, and now require only minimal help from coalition forces in the north and south; the process is just beginning in the west. Bill Roggio has more on fighting in Haditha, Hit and near the Syrian border. He also has more on the capture and killing of terrorists in Mosul and in western Ninewa province. The L.A. Times reports that the US military has now ceded control of 27 of the nation's 109 bases, with Saddam's hometown palace soon to follow. one base handed over Wednesday is just 25 miles from the Iranian border.
IRAQ II: Officials from the United Arab Emirates claim that Saddam secretly accepted a last-minute plan to go into exile to avert the 2003 invasion, but the Arab League shot the proposal down. Bill Roggio looks at strikes on multiple terror cells in Husaybah, based on local intell, the links between Iran, Hezbollah and al Qaeda, including Zarqawi, and interviews Colonel Stephen W. Davis, the Commander of Marine Regimental Combat Team – 2, who is responsible for fighting in western Anbar province.
THREE TEENAGE GIRLS BEHEADED on their way to class at a private Christian high school in Indonesia. Apparently, this type of sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians there dates back at least as far back as 1999.
TERROR IN EUROPE: An Islamic terror cell has smuggled two surface-to-air missiles into Europe in a plot to shoot down planes at one of France's main airports, according to French anti-terror sources quoted in Le Figaro. If only the French had not invaded Iraq…
PIGLETS have been cloned by Italian researchers.
WILD BOARS are invading Seoul, South Korea, turning up at a luxury hotel and Changkyong Palace.
CAT makes off with its owner's severed toe.
WASPS join dogs as drug- and bomb-sniffers. Unlike dogs, the wasps can be trained within 30 minutes and bred by the thousands, providing a near limitless supply.