BELLE & SEBASTIAN has undoubtedly taken a turn from the twee folk pop of albums like If You're Feeling Sinister to incorporate elements of British soul, Motown, and glam rock on their latest album, The Life Pursuit. So it was no surprise that frontman Stuart Murdoch kept encouraging the crowd to dance, despite our sardine-like confinement at the sold-out Riviera (also because there were video cameras for some project). Even the sophisticated vari-lite set-up wasn't shocking. The smoke machines were a little shocking, though I suppose partially necessary for the lighting. Murdoch stage diving was definitely unexpected, as was inviting someone onstage to sing an obscure number (as suggested by the woman's husband via e-mail)… and she was surprisingly good. After opening a little softly with with “Expectations” from Tigermilk, the band spun through “Another Sunny Day” and “Funny Little Frog” (the band's current video) from Life Pursuit and never looked back. They also did my favorite tracks from the new one, “Sukie in the GraveYard” (which you can hear at an unoffical MySpace page), “White Collar Boy” and “The Blues Are Still Blue” (with Stuart acknowledging Chicago as the home of the Blues). The set was light on their previously best-known album, The Boy With The Arab Strap, opting for relative obscurities like “The Loneliness Of A Middle Distance Runner” and “Dog on Wheels” from EPs, but all performed with more verve, humor and warmth than I would have thought. Highly enjoyable.
THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS opened for B&S; frontman A.C. Newman talked to Jim DeRogatis from the tour bus en route to Chicago about the making of the band's most successful album, Twin Cinema: “I was worried that I would become one of those deluded people who thought their worst album was their best album!” The band played well — opening with the double-shot of “Twin Cinema” and “Use It” — but apparently are not the types to “make show,” though Newman at one point jokingly threatened to take anyone who knew the name of The Hooters' big hit out back in the alley, because there's simply no reason for anyone to know it. You can see some blurry photos of their set on Flickr.
NEKO CASE: The Independent gives Fox Confessor Brings the Flood a warm four of five stars. If you missed her on The Tonight Show, Prefix has the video.
ARCTIC MONKEYS rocked Saturday Night Live with “I Bet You Look Good on The Dancefloor” and “A Certain Romance,” which you can see until NBC's lawyers get the cease-and-desist letter out. UPDATE: … and they're gone!
BUZZCOCKS: London's Indpenedent has a feature chock full of punky goodness from the band. Steve Diggle: “Everyone is trying to do a Buzzcocks these days. Green Day, Franz Ferdinand, the Kaiser Chiefs. So why shouldn't we?” Pete Shelley: “It was always fun to be going into the studio, to see what songs you had around and choose the best, the two that worked together as a package and put them out within six weeks. The internet is the closest you can get now…” Read the whole thing and hear 'em on the 'net.
SEX PISTOLS frontman John Lydon (a/k/a/ Johnny Rotten) revealed his secret charity work because he was sick of British press reports calling him “a greedy, celebrity-hungry git” after he quit UK reality show I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!
SEEN YOUR VIDEO: As Blondie is getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame tonight, let's watch “Hangin on the Telephone” and “One Way Or Another.” And yes, I do have a Swifter mop. Finally, while I have fond memories of watching (and listening to Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall freaking out over) Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park, Blender's piece on “Heart of Glass” has me wishing for tape of their versions of “Rock the Boat,” “Lady Marmalade” and “I Feel Love.”
JAMES HUNTER gets an audio feature at NPR about his old school R&B: “All the best music isn't stuck in one timeframe. It carries on. Nobody says, '”I've Got a Woman” by Ray Charles — that's 30 years old.' So the good stuff keeps…” You can hear more on MySpace.
CAT POWER: The Independent includes a career overview, while Chan Marshall talks about recording The Greatest at the legendary Ardent Studios in Memphis.
NEIL YOUNG: Stereogum links to YouTube video of Young's appearance on The Daily Show, along with a transcript of Steven Colbert (in his faux-Bill O'Reilly persona) praising the veteran rocker… sort of…
GENESIS REUNION WARNING: The long–feared reunion may be announced as soon as this week, requiring me to upgrade the threat level from awatch to a warning.
THE BRILL BUILDING: Robert Christgau digs Always Magic in the Air: The Bomp and Brilliance of the Brill Building Era, a book profiling the early 60's classic pop songwriters, including Doc Pomus, Neil Sedaka, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Carole King and more.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: Rehabbing rocker Courtney Love is offering her help to the troubled singer. Shre reportedly decided to help the Babyshambles frontman after chatting with his former Libertines bandmate Carl Barat at a concert in London.
SIENNA MILLER caught canoodling with Hayden Christensen, who plays her lover in the forthcoming Edie Sedgwick Factory Girl. She is reportedly in Canada meeting Christensen's family. Hayden's ex is squawking.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Failure to Launch topped the receipts at 24 million, beating out the remakes of The Shaggy Dog and The Hills Have Eyes.
LOHAN LOWDOWN: Would it perk up your Monday to see Li-Lo smooching Salma Hayek?
MADONNA has imposed an 11 p.m. curfew on hubby Guy Ritchie. She also has told him he must spend up to three nights a week at home and, when he does go out, he must not drink more than three pints.
TERI HATCHER went public with her shocking sex-abuse revelations after an unidentified star who bedded and dumped her left her so emotionally shattered that she could no longer keep from talking about her evil uncle? George Clooney's rep doubts the star was Clooney, adding “I don't ask George about his private life.”
HEATHER LOCKLEAR and RICHIE SAMBORA join the trend of moving their divorces to private arbitration.
CHARLIZE THERON has reportedly split from her long-term love Stuart Townsend after work commitments forced the pair apart. So maybe we should cut her some slack on that ridiculous Oscar dress.
V FOR VENDETTA: If you tought I was just being nutty Friday when I followed a blurb about the movie with the story about Natalie Portman guest-lecturing at Columbia's Terrorism and Counterterrorism class, note that the lecture was part of a MTV-U promotion for the movie. And not particularly insightful — big surprise there.
RUSSELL CROWE has been rejected as a guest on Sesame Street, supposedly because he's not a good role model. But don't we all suspect that Crowe was vetoed by Oscar the Grouch, who doesn't need the competition?
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Cruise's antics have done enough damage to his image that in a recent poll for Stuff magazine, more people said they’d rather spend the night with Saddam Hussein than him (2nd item).
BETTIE PAGE gets a lengthy profile in the L.A. Times that notes demand for anything Page-related is soaring. Indeed, The Notorious Bettie Page — featuring a well-cast Gretchen Mol — is set to hit theaters in April; you can see the trailer at Yahoo or YouTube.
THE FRENCH HOTEL: Her 15 minutes are dwindling as celebs ban her from their parties and Us Weekly joins Lloyd Grove's boycott.
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY has defended her decision to pose nude for photographer Annie Leibovitz's eye-popping Vanity Fair cover shoot. I don't know why she needs to be doing this after the Oscars, but it's an excuse to run the photo again. For the record, she said: “I'm 20. It's Annie Leibovitz. Why not? It's something to show the grandchildren.” And they won't be creeped out by seeing Grandma like that at all.
NANOTECH: After Thursday's blurb on mixing lipids and nanoparticles to produce new drug delivery vehicles, resident Pate nanotechnologist Jon Pratt dropped me a line to say that the U of I is essentially taking about salad oil and it's probably “very incremental progress on assuring a monodisperse collection of spheres, or a very specific chemical funtionalization of the particle to be encapsulated.” There are apparently plenty of folks working in this area and Jon suggests that this is symptomatic of large universities aggressively hyping research. I think it's an important reminder that science remains a human endeavor and that it is not issued by omniscient oracles.
IRAQ: Insurgent groups in Anbar claim that they have purged the region of three quarters of al Qaeda's supporters after forming an alliance to force out the foreign fighters. Separately, Osama al-Jadaan, a tribal chief, has claimed that with the support of the Iraqi army his supporters have captured hundreds of foreign fighters — a claim taken with a grain of salt by Omar at ITM. There was major — but almost entirely unreported — news of an agreement by all the leaders of the factions that there is no red line in terms of the inclusion of any faction in the formation of the government, which means that Jaafari amy not be Prime Minister and Allawi's bloc may be in the government.
IRAN rejected an offer from Russia to enrich uranium on its behalf Sunday, as the Telegraph reports that Iran's leaders have built a secret underground emergency command center in Teheran. The underground strategy is partly designed to hide activities from satellite view and international inspections but also reflects a growing belief in Teheran that its showdown with the international community could end in air strikes by America or Israel.
MOOSE IN A SWINGSET: I know – it's really serious.
CAT COMFORTS ORANGUTAN: Tondalayo, a 45-year-old Sumatran orangutan, depressed since losing her mate two years ago, has found an inseparable friend in T.J., a stray tabby cat, after a zoo employee introduced them late last year. But again, why would the AP do this story without a photographer? Fortunately, I have search engine skills.
RAT-SQUIRREL FROM ANOTHER LOST WORLD: A species believed to have been extinct for 11 million years is discovered in Laotian forests largely unexplored by outsiders, because of the geographic remoteness and history of political turmoil. Biologists who have ventured in have found unique animals, like a type of wild ox called the saola, barking deer, and never-before-seen bats. Sadly, no 40-foot apes.
I SAW LON CHANEY WALKING WITH THE QUEEN: Cryptomundo dips into its X-Files for an examination of all things lycanthropic in jolly old England.
THE MOUSE WITH THE GLOW-IN-THE DARK HEART: There's a Robyn Hitchcock song in this story. Or a Neil Diamond song.
DOG SURVIVES ICY PLUNGE: A dog that was presumed drowned after falling into an icy river channel that feeds Lake Michigan was found alive hours later, swimming through a hole created in the channel's seawall when it was rammed by a Mackinaw years ago.