Karl THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:
GNARLS BARKLEY did indeed appear as the cast from Star Wars — with Chewbacca on the drums — to play “Crazy” at the MTV Movie Awards. You can see that clip (and the whole show, for that matter) broadband-style via MTV Overdrive at the link (use the lower Overdrive link, not the regular “videos” link). You can see just a little in the trailer at YouTube. UPDATE: you can see the whole Gnarls on YouTube…so far. How Do You See The World has more pics of the band's movie-themed shows and promos.
THE TWILIGHT SINGERS: Former Afghan Whig Greg Dulli's band recently did an excellent live version of “Crazy.” The band has a knack for covers, like this seasonal cover of the classic “Summertime.” RELATED: Nina Simone's version of the latter.
FRIDAY TIMEWASTER: Tumbler. Not for the easily seasick.
IF THE PIXIES RULED THE WORLD: What Would Jesus Blog? is hosting Pixie songs performed in the style of other bands. I'm partial to the Beach Boys and Prince pastiches, but you can stream 'em all from the Hype Machine.
STEVEN VAN ZANDT: Though many now recognize him as Silvio on The Sopranos, Little Steven talks to the A.V. Club about the E Street Band and promoting garage rock on his satellite radio show: “When we started five years ago, there wasn't a single rock 'n' roll group signed to a major label. It was horrifying. Now there's about 12, which is progress. Five of them went gold or platinum in the last couple of years, which is remarkable, really. But there's still no format to play them other than mine.” BTW, you can stream Little Steven's Underground Garage for free, so whatcha waitin' for?
THE UNDERGROUND EMPIRE: At PopMatters, Rob Horning has an interesting (if over-the-top) piece on what art critic Dave Hickey has called “an underground empire” of “record stores, honky-tonks, art bars, hot-rod shops, recording studios, commercial art galleries, city rooms, jazz clubs, cocktail lounges, surf shops, bookstores, rock-and-roll bars, editorial offices, discos, and song factories,” all the interstitial places in America “where otherwise normal people did all these cool things.” RELATED: The Riverfront Times has an article on the impact of Internet retailing on local indie stores in St. Louis.
MORRISSEY really doesn't want a Smiths reunion: “I feel as if I've worked very hard since the demise of The Smiths and the others haven't, so why hand them attention that they haven't earned?”
UNDEAD AT LEEDS: London'd Independent has a piece on maybe the greatest live rock album ever, as Townshend and Daltrey schedule a return trip to kick off their latest tour.
SEEN YOUR VIDEO: This week, My Old Kentucky Blog got the honor of hosting the web premiere of Margot & The Nuclear So & Sos' “Quiet As A Mouse,” which is animated from over 700 individual paintings. The song is alright, but the video is even better.
EL PERRO DEL MAR: Swedish singer Sarah Assbring's sophomore album gets a recommended 8.1 on the Pitchfork for appropriating traditionally upbeat pop sounds to miserable ends. Thou not out in the US (yet), you can stream and download her early 60s stylings on MySpace and hear her cover of Brenda Lee's “Here Comes That Feeling” via the Hype Machine, though my pick to click is Assbring's own “God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get).”
ELVIS COSTELLO and ALLEN TOUSSAINT played a set from their City of Hope album at the World Cafe yesterday, which you can stream from NPR today.
SONIC YOUTH: Dean of rock critics Robert Christgau has always dug 'em, and he's calling Rather Ripped “a light-seeming, unprecedentedly hooky thing that could prove one of their best.” It's out next week, but you can stream the whole thing now.
MUSIC VIDEO: Pitchfork recommends a few music-related documentaries and video compilations, including We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen and The Busby Berkeley Collection.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: The troubled singer is reported to have checked into rehab in Portugal. He's a train wreck, but I always hope people can get back on the rails.
BRADGELINA: People has posted its cover photo of Pitt, Jolie and Shiloh. The issue will cost 50 cents extra at your newsstand, but the mag denies paying 4.1 million for the pics. TMZ has video of Jolie talking… and talking about her incredible experience having a baby in Africa, while Pitt listens… and listens. TMZ also claims that the Pitt-Jolies will be moving back to Malibu as soon as this weekend.
NOW SHOWING: This weekend's wide release is Pixar's Doc Hollywood on wheels, Cars. Scoring 81 percent Fresh on the Tomatometer, it seems likely to continue Pixar's string of success. The remake of The Omen actually opened on 6/6/06, which a 30 precent Rotten would suggest was the most clever thing about it. Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion which opens semi-wide on 760 screens, scores a 79 percent Fresh.
BRITNEY SPEARS is reportedly consulting a Christian life coach to help decide whether to divorce Spenderline.
JENNIFER LOPEZ is denying those pesky pregnancy rumors.
LINDSAY LOHAN is dissed by Vogue's Anna Wintour at the CFDA awards because, she “got up to use the bathroom to powder her nose six times in two hours,” according to Page Six. La Lohan tells Harper's Bazaar: “I've become like the guy in relationships. Lately I just cannot be in a monogamous relationship.” on behalf of men, thanks for the slam, Linds!
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN: Entertainment Tonight has retained a psychic to track down her supposed boyfriend, who has been missing since June 30 of last year.
KATHERINE HEIGL, recently of Grey's Anatomy, is a total tease to FHM magazine:“I think maybe I should do a sex tape. Look what it did for Paris Hilton! There's never enough sex for me. The guy I'm dating now is just so fantastic in bed that half the time I just want to leave the handcuffs on and say: 'I've got to run a few errands, but don't you move — I'll be back!'”
GEORGE CLOONEY: What fails in Vegas stays in Vegas.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Life & Style Weekly reports different terms of a Tom_Kat prenup than other outlets, claiming that Holmes stands to make three million a year — up to 33 million — for each year that she is married to Cruise, as well as a palatial home in Montecito, CA. Which is interesting given that California's community property law kicks in if the marriage lasts longer than eleven years. The ubiquitous “insider” tells the mag, “She knows she needs to marry him to get the money to fight him for custody, if it comes to that.”
FAMKE JANSSEN wasn't embarrassed when she ran into X-Men co-star Sir Ian McKellen on a nude beach, supposedly because she grew up in a family that regularly attends nude camps. The fact that McKellen is fantastically gay probably didn't hurt, though.
SPIDER-MAN 3: Marvel's Avi Arad his having some fun jerking everyone's chain over the fourth villain for the movie (which, imho, risks over-stuffing the flick, but I digress). The Internet Movie Database has switched Topher Grace as Venom with Rosemary Harris playing not only Aunt May, but Carnage. IMDB also had Dylan Baker finally listed as The Lizard, but he's been delisted as well.
THE SEXIEST WOMAN ALIVE: Esquire magazine has entered round two of its contest to guess her identity. She's looking more and more like…
SCARLETT JOHANSSON has the best breasts in Hollywood, according to a new poll by In Touch Weekly. The full top 10 is at the link.
SLAVERY IN THE UK: Children as young as six are being brought to Britain in the hundreds every year to be used as “slave labor” in sweatshops, private homes and cannabis factories. Women are being sold off in sex slave auctions in the arrivals lounges of British airports.
IRAQ: Though Pres. Bush rightly notes that the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi will not end the violence — the approval of the defense and interior ministers is probably more important in the medium-term — the US military says a series of raids conducted following the killing of Zarqawi has yielded a “treasure trove” of new information and will free up special forces to hunt down other targets. There's a round-up of various points of view at DefenseTech. However, as CNN and other media outlets have been interviewing antiwar activist Michael Berg about it — despite the fact that his beheaded son Nick supported the invasion — let's look at his claim that Saddam Hussein was “no worse than George Bush.” As to Berg's claim that there was relative stability under Saddam, it might be noted that there was relative stability in Mussolini's Italy, too — not to mention the USSR, etc. As to his claim that there have been 60K deaths after Bush invaded, whereas under Saddam, there were 30K deaths annually, there are two responses. First, that the Iraq Body Count pegs the civilian deaths at about 42K. Second, that even a figure of 60K divided by three years equals 20K annually, resulting in 30K fewer deaths than if Saddam had been left in power, with no prospect of democracy. Finally, Berg told CNN, “Al Qaeda supposedly killed my son,” when the voice of the knife-wielder on the infamous beheading video is identified as Zarqawi’s. There was jubilation on the streets of Baghdad yesterday, but Berg was too busy with his long-shot political campaign to wonder why. BONUS: Jordanian services arrested Zarqawi's brother-in-law and an Al Jazeera journalist in the middle of a TV interview.
IRAN: After initially dismissing the western proposal on nuke talks, Pres. Ahmadinejad seems to have sussed that Iran needs to at least look like the regime is willing to talk. He was busy enough to delegate the rampant anti-Semitism to an aide. Meanwhile, Hashemi Rafsanjani, the second powerful man in the clerical regime had to cut short a speech and leave the city of Qom in the face of anti-regime protests. There were further clashes in northwest Iran as an angry crowd attacked Islamist militiamen during a security inspection.
WHAT'S THAT YOU SAY BUD? “Woof!” You rescued Nye from the river after he fell in, beaking both his arms?” “Woof!” Good boy, Bud!
AFGHAN DONKEY BOMB was intercepted in Kabul. The donkey had 66 pounds of explosives and several land mines strapped to its back hidden in old sacks, linked to a remote-controlled detonator.
ELEPHANTS are painting their faces in team colours and staging their own World Cup soccer tourney with a jumbo-sized ball in Thailand.
APE RIGHTS are on the agenda of Spanish Socialists in Parliament.
DROP THE CHIHUAHUA.
WOOLY BULLY: Uno.. dos… one, two, tres, quatro!
