Karl THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE…
…with IKE & TINA TURNER: Because we never do things here nice and easy, let's start things with two hot live performances of “Proud Mary” and “River Deep, Mountain High.” Plus, clips of Ike, Tina and the Ikettes covering “Sweet Soul Music,” “Honky Tonk Woman,” a couple from Sly & the Family Stone and more on The Ike and Tina Turner Show, which runs 21 minutes — twice as long as YouTube now permits. There are also interview inserts — some downright cringeworthy to anyone who has seen What's Love Got To Do With It.
FRIDAY TIMEWASTER: Cuber Xtreme is somewhere between Tetris and a puzzle cube. Sorta.
BUTTERCUP: This San Antonio band's “Hot Love” (not the Cheap Trick tune), made Song of the Day at NPR, with David Brown writing that it “conjures an alternate universe where Ray Davies and David Byrne collaborate on jangly pop songs with unexpected twists in the shade of the Alamo.” Actually, I'd say it's more like mid-60s Kinks and the Turtles, with the David Byrne influence more present on songs like “Hello Goodbye” (not the Beatles tune), which you can stream from MySpace. The band also has free MP3s at its website.
GREG DULLI talks to London's Independent about shootings, drug dealers, Hurricane Katrina, owning three bars and the new Twilight Singers album, Powder Burns, which is getting generally favorable reviews at Metacritic. You can stream four tracks from the album via MySpace, though I had to switch to the standalone player to get 'em rolling.
CALEXICO: The San Francisco Chronicle notes the poppier sound of the band's latest album, Garden Ruin, but Joey Burns stresses that they've always been more than mariachi music. There are four Quicktime downloads at the link and there is plenty to stream via the Hype Machine, including collaborations with Iron & Wine.
BAND OF HORSES: At Chromewaves, Frank reviewed their Toronto gig and wonders how they got so popular, but agrees they deserve it. He's got plenty of linky love for them, including MP3s video and streams; as usual, you can stream a bunch via the Hype Machine, too. Folks often compare BoH to My Morning Jacket, though Frank suggests they have their own thing going on if you listen carefully.
THE CUTOUT BIN: Another helping of fortuitous finds while looking for something else on the Hype Machine: The Modern Lovers – “Roadrunner” (if you haven’t heard it before, do so now); Bash & Pop – “Friday Night (Is Killing Me)” (Tommy Stinson’s post-Replacements band); Belle and Sebastian – “Sukie in the Graveyard” (groovy and glam – explicit lyric); The Zombies – “Tell Her No” (no, no, no, nononono); Dinosaur Jr – “Just Like Heaven” (Cure cover); His Name Is Alive – “Universal Frequencies” (pastiche of “Good Vibrations”); Fun Boy Three – “Our Lips Are Sealed” (Go-Gos co-original); The Flamingos – “I Only Have Eyes For You” (shebop-shebop); Ben Folds Five – “She Don't Use Jelly” (Flaming Lips cover from Loungeapalooza); Eels – “D*mn, I Wish I Was Your Lover” (Sophie B. Hawkins cover, iirc).
SEEN YOUR VIDEO: If you didn't see Cat Power sing “Living Proof” on The Late Show with David Letterman, you may have a second chance — if you get there before CBS's lawyers.
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT is getting boffo reviews for his recreation of Judy at Carnegie Hall, Judy Garland's 1961 concert that became the most beloved of all pre-rock concert albums. Based on the NYT write-up, it was every bit as gay as you would imagine. NTTAWWT.
ECCENTRIC SOUL: Pitchfork gives a nice 8.1 to the latest in the series of CDs cataloging obscure R & B labels — in this case, Detroit's Big Mack Label. You can download Soul President's “Got To Have It” from Salon, or stream it from the Hype Machine. It's like James Brown paying tribute to Haight-Ashbury.
BUBBLEGUM: A new look for Bazooka Joe prompted Some Velvet Blog to post a pack of bubblegum, which you can stream from the Hype Machine. I particularly enjoyed Boyce & Hart's “I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite?” and Reunion's “Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me),” though I don't know if it's really bubblegum.
GARY GLITTER has already lost his appeal in the People's Supreme Court of Vietnam, one day after it was heard. The wheels of justice turning fast in the worker's paradise (though to be fair to the commies, probably right in this case).
THE WHITE STRIPES won the royalties lawsuit brought by their former producer, in which — among other things — Von Bondies singer Jason Stollsteimer claimed that Jack stuck an obscenity-filled warning note on his door with a knife. No wonder Jack left Motown for Nashville.
JESSICA SIMPSON — recently spotted hanging all over Jared Leto — tells Maxim magazine she is looking for a guy with a great imagination. And there's nothing to stimulate the male imagination like a report that the pneumatic blonde has persuaded Eva Longoria, Jessica Alba, Eva Mendes and Carmen Electra to strap on roller skates for her new music video.
NOW SHOWING: This week's wide releases are the Jack Black-Jared Hess Mexican wrestling comedy Nacho Libre 47 percent Rotten on the Tomatometer), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, (43 percent Rotten — but surprisingly 60 percent Fresh with the “cream of the crop” critics), Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (20 percent Rotten — but surprisingly 57 percent Rotten with the “cream of the crop” critics), and Keanu-and-Sandra-Somewhere-In-Time romance The Lake House (32 percent Rotten and worse with the “cream,” though Ebert liked it). That rating for Nacho Libre is disappointing, but I would bet the movie still opens well, if only because its trailer consistently got a good crowd reaction at every other movie I've seen lately.
MADONNA, having dropped Britney Spears after the latter dropped Kabbalah, is taking Lindsay Lohan as her new apprentice. Henceforth, she shall be known as Darth Lohan.
RACHEL WEISZ appears as a mummy with son Henry Chance Aronofsky.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: London's Sun seems to be trying to flush out the Tom-Kitten by noting that Suri was born almost two months ago — and there has been no sign of her.
BRADGELINA: A UK tabloid is claiming that Pitt and Jolie are already working on adopting a Namibian child.
KATE MOSS: Even while suggesting the supermodel was a drug user and pusher, the Crown Prosecution Service formally announced that — due to a legal loophole — there was “insufficient evidence” to prosecute the model photographed apparently snorting drugs at a recording studio. CPS London's director of serious casework said the video could not prove whether the substance was cocaine, ecstasy or amphetamine, which are in different categories; thus, the prosecution could not proceed because they could not prove beyond reasonable doubt which category of substance was being abused.
THE McCARTNEYS: A third set of pornographic pictures of Sir Paul's estranged wife Heather has emerged, but the Mirror has chosen not to publish them. And here I thought topless shots were okay for a “family newspaper.”
JEWEL didn't start drinking until she was 30, but she's making up for lost time: “Around 30, I kind of realized that alcohol really does solve all your problems. Whoever said drinking doesn't help lied. You live and you learn.” I'm hoping that's tongue-in-cheek.
PAM ANDERSON says her kids love her stripper pole and use it more than she does. So you can now set aside any lingering doubt that her kids would turn out messed up.
AIDS BURNOUT: The L.A. Times looks at how Hollywood has moved on to other causes.
BRITNEY SPEARS is planning to planning to divorce Spenderline on the grounds of adultery, according to the ever-reliable News of the World.
BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS: When I mentioned Monday that the Pipettes' new video was an homage to the Russ Meyer-directed, Roger Ebert-penned kitch classic, it slipped my mind that it was coming out for the first time on a double-DVD set. The Four Four blog lays out Zapruder-level love for it. Retrocrush has interviews with Cynthia Myers, John Lazar, and Erica Gavin.
EDU-BLOGGING: The 71st Carnival of Education is formatted as a year-end staff party.
IRAQ: Operation Forward Together seems to have gotten off to a good start in Baghdad. At ITM, Omar has details of Day 2, though he was also heartened by the Iraqi national security adviser talking up the raids on al Qaeda made possible by info gained from the late Zarqawi. (Coincidentally, Iraqi forces captured a high-ranking terrorist network commander in Karbala yesterday morning, while Coalition forces foiled a kidnapping in Baghdad.) A document found on a thumbdrive in the Z-man's pocket and translated by Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie shows Zarqawi worried that time is now beginning to be on the side of Coalition forces and harmful to the insurgency. It also gives insight into Zarqawi's suggested strategies.
TERROR IN THE MEDIA: As Zarqawi's first strategy involves working the media, I note that two economists claim that newspaper coverage of terrorist incidents leads directly to more attacks. “Both the media and terrorists benefit from terrorist incidents,” their study contends.
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: A dog with two noses.
TEAL THE ENGLISH SPRINGER SPANIEL was one of an estimated 50K dogs kidnapped in the UK annually.
TEE CEE THE CAT predicts his owner's epileptic fits. The family thinks it's a great early warning system. Tee Cee merely wants to be entertained.
SNAKES are still a big problem in Barbados, based on the size of the tracks.
ANGRY HARE ATTACKS DOGSLED: This story of a hare taking on an entire pack dates back to February, but it was new to me and I could not stop thinking, “Look, that rabbit's got a vicious streak a mile wide! It's a killer!”
