GARY “ELVIS” SCHEPERS UPDATE: I now have a reliable report that the tuba player (The Service, Devil In A Woodpile) and Chicago live rock soundman has a skin eating bacteria in his foot as well as diabetes. He has not lost any toes… yet — and remains under medical monitoring. Gary is in good spirits and his foot seems to be getting better. There will be a series of benefits for him in January. More news as it becomes available. In the meantime, best wishes to him.
JAMES BROWN: The Godfather of Soul and the Hardest Working Man in Show Business is getting on the good foot at Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club tonight. The show will be streaming from NPR, starting around 9 p.m. ET. The opening act is Chuck Brown, the father of “go-go” music. Clearly a paternity-themed gig.
YO LA TENGO has an entertaining Hanukkah Diary as they play thir annual 8-night stand at Maxwell's in Hoboken.
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY: The New York Times (via QueenZone) looks at the story and secrets of the top British single of all time. Magnifico-oh-oh-oh.
SEASON OF THE LIST Fader has a slew of lists — mostly dance-oriented, but some gems like “Top 12 Most Relentless Office Catchphrases” and “Top Eight Beards of 2005.” Culturebully lists top mash-ups. The Des Moines Register has lists from critic Kyle Munson (who has some love for BRMC and The Blue Van) as well as a panel professional and semi-professional music types from around Iowa and beyond. Indieworkshop is counting down its Top 50 ten at a time. London's Independent has a poll of critics' choices compiled by HMV's rock and pop buyer, John Hirst. JustAddNoise has an eclectic list and is killing music with samples for the next couple of days. Listen Missy lists both albums and songs.
MORE LISTS: Junkmedia lists its Top Ten Albums and Interviews. From Blown Speakers lists a Top ten, but adds a 19-track year-in-review mix. Ryan at Muzzle of Bees lists his 31 favorites. USA Today compiles an unsurprisingly vanilla list, though kudos for mentioning The Caesars and Rogue Wave. The Washington Examiner lists the “worst” albums and “the best of the rest.” And andPop's Adam Gonshor thinks There was no “best” album of 2005, because it was such a bad year for music.
MY MORNING JACKET is burning copies of their latest album, Z, for fans who purchased it with the hideous Sony XCD rootkit software. Also, Jim James is still recovering from an illness related to an earlier bout with pneumonia. Best wishes to him.
NEKO CASE: At Chromewaves, Frank is killing music this week with Case's cover of Tom Waits' “Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis.”
BABY BOOMERS are having an increasing impact on the UK music industry. I would not be surprised if the same was true in the US.
DOWNLOAD PRICING: Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Vivendi Universal join Warner Music Group in receiving subpoenas from New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer regarding music download pricing.
THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA are still raising the roof with new recruits.
THE INDIENET: The New York Times (via C|Net) notes that by “exploiting online message boards, music blogs and social networks, independent music companies are making big advances at the expense of the four global music conglomerates, whose established business model of blockbuster hits promoted through radio airplay now looks increasingly outdated.”
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The unkie singer is suffering from writer's block due to the stresses of his personal life. Babyshambles guitarist Patrick Walden blamed Doherty's relationship with supposedly sober supermodel Moss for many of his problems.
JESSICA SIMPSON hubby Nick Lachey rebuffs the opposite of Jessica, at least until the divorce is finalized.
INDUSTRY INSIDERS and FEST PROMOTERS give their Top Ten Movies lists to IndieWire.
MUNICH: The Palestinian mastermind of the Munich Olympics attack in which 11 Israeli athletes died said on Tuesday he had no regrets and that Steven Spielberg's new film about the incident would not deliver reconciliation.
GUY RITCHIE: Mr. Madonna's Revolver topped the Top Ten Turkeys of 2005, as voted by members of online UK DVD rental company LoveFilm.com.
LOHAN LOWDOWN: Li-Lo is having a New Years' hoedown in Miami Beach, with the low, low, low ticket price of 200 clams. And her flacks even claim that she will be there.
OPRAH WINFREY had her private jet downed by an attacking bird.
LOST: The cast of the island drama tops Entertainment Weekly's Entertainers of the Year list. Maggie Grace says her castmates want her dating, but also want to screen the guys. And Just Jared has Evangeline Lilly in Arena magazine, while Egotastic catches her on the beach.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES wants to be a Vegas showgirl.
DAVID LETTERMAN got a New Mexico judge to throw out a restraining order obtained by a woman who thought Lettrman was harrassing her with coded messages thorugh her TV set.
THE JOSSIP AWARDS are announced in categories like “Sneakest Boyfriend Snatch” and “Most Frightening Celebirty Offspring.”
WHO INSPIRES TEENAGE GIRLS? I would joke about Sienna Miller topping the list if the list didn't tend to go downhill from there. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
ORLANDO BLOOM and KATE BOSWORTH spotted shopping for rings.
GEORGE CLOONEY and LUCY LIU caught canoodling in his limo.
IRAQ: At Iraq the Model, Omar details ongoing talks among the political parties, likely to end in a summit in Sulaymaniya. It seems that in principle, everyone agrees to idea of a government of national unity. Another of Saddam's mass graves, containing the remains of men, women and children, was discovered near Karbala. As the AP almost never reports positive news about Iraq, it's only fair to note the wire covered US troops and the Rotary Club saving Iraqi children with life-threatening heart defects. Bill Roggio corrects a number of errors in a Washington Post story lumping him in with military propaganda.
MILITARY RECRUITING: Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell notes that a front-page story Nov. 4 “newly released Pentagon demographic data show that the military is leaning heavily for recruits on economically depressed rural areas where youths' need for jobs may outweigh the risks of going to war” included some analysis done by the National Priorities Project (NPP), a liberal-leaning think tank that questions the war in Iraq. The experts Howell consulted all said the story and NPP analysis lacked context. ALSO: StrategyPage reports that the current war in Iraq and Afghanistan is causing many troops to leave the service, but the biggest complaints involve the heavy work load, and the time spent away from families, and time to relax and recuperate. SP worries about losing experienced NCOs and officers, even if the overall numbers look good.
WITH NEW YEAR'S EVE just around the corner, My Science Project studies the Ultimate Jell-O® Shot.
NSA SURVEILLANCE: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer claims that the Bush administration was facing “unprecedented second-guessing” by the FISA court when Pres. Bush ordered warrantless surveillance of U.S.-based terror suspects. But the story also reports that of 179 'substantive modifications' to warrant requests by the FISA court, 173 took place in 2003 and 2004. And the story reports that Pres. Bush issued his order “nearly four years ago,” i.e., shortly after 9/11. So the claim that Bush faced “unprecedented second-guessing” rests on maybe six cases. ALSO: The New York Times reports that “Defense lawyers in some of the country's biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to Al Qaeda… They acknowledge legal hurdles, including the fact that many defendants waived some rights to appeal as part of their plea deals.” Another defense attorney noted that many of the defendants could have “standing” problems.
24 BOA CONSTRICTORS were stolen from a suburban zoo in the administrative capital of The Hague over the Christmas weekend. The geese, swans, calling birds, turtle doves and partridges were left untouched.
TITANOSAURUS: Argentine paleontologists have discovered the rare, largely intact skeleton of a young titanosaurus that lived 71 million years ago.
GREAT WHITE SHARK gives up after being punched by a surfer. Didn't need a bigger boat.
COLIN THE TOMCAT has been reunited with his owner after six years.
ESCAPED REINDEER damages golf course greens in Baden-Baden.
BEARS are going Sideways in Northern California wine country.