NEW PORNOGRAPHERS frontman A.C. Newman is briefly interviewed in the Seattle Weekly about the upcoming album, Twin Cinema. You can download two tracks guilt-free from Matador.
NEIL YOUNG re-signs with Reprise. I'm guessing Geffen wasn't beating down his door.
INDIES AND MAJORS: The L.A. Times talks to Matador Records co-founder Chris Lombardi about the necessary evil of working with the big boys.
COVER SONGS: Sterogum links to a bunch of 'em, including the Drive-By Truckers version of “Like A Rolling Stone” from Uncut magazine's new Highway 61 Revisited Revisited compilation.
SON VOLT frontman Jay Farrar talks to Paste magazine about the new album and the surprising easiness of Son of Son Volt: “I mean we’ve all seen the reality TV shows regarding bands. I’m surprised I haven’t been on one.”
TROUBLED HUBBLE: Sometimes, a perfectly good pop band will be right in your backyard without your knowing it. Pitchfork gaver their latest a respectable 6.8 at the end of May. Check out the guilt-free downloads. (Thanks to YANP.)
UNSEEN HENDRIX FOOTAGE: Jimi Hendrix's legendary performance at Woodstock is to be released on DVD in its entirety.
MADONNA: Her birthday fall from a horse will not delay the release of her new album in November.
IT'S A BOY for the Bride of Federline, based on Britney's after-hours shopping spree at an exclusive Beverly Hills area baby store. The source for the story — like the reset of western civilization — was “surprised” at Spears' good taste. Of course, if you worked at the store, you probably can't tell the press that she bought overpriced, tacky crap.
IT'S A GIRL for Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck.
IRAQ: Journo Steve Vincent, murdered in Iraq after writing articles alleging that Basra's police had been infiltrated by Shia death squads and pledging to marry his Iraqi interpreter, gets a standing ovation at his funeral. The International Monetary Fund reports that the economy is stable and the outlook for the medium term is reasonably optimistic, though security problems must be addressed; the downsides are emphasized more by Reuters; the London Times adds that high oil prices are helping. Iraqi blogger Mohammed notes friction between Sunni clerics and Al Qaeda, particularly on the constitutional referendum.
AL QAEDA: A Canadian al-Qaeda agent spent his last evening before being transferred to a U.S. prison drinking, smoking cigars and visiting a Toronto strip club. For raving fundamentalsists, the AQ do like the strip clubs.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: Change his tire and the troubled singer will tell you all you want to know and more about his relationship with galpal Kate Moss.
MUSIC IS THE SOUNDTRACK: A piece in USA Today about current and future movie soundtracks begins quoting a man who claimed that a cassette “is not just a mix tape… It is the soundtrack to my life.” A piece in the Washington Post on the iPod quotes a man as saying, “If a song represents a memory in your head, then you listen to your life's memories — faster than a mixed CD, definitely faster than a mixed tape — as you listen to your iPod. It becomes an extension of you. It's like a window to your soul.” Which is another way of saying, “When I listen to my records they take me back to certain points in my life” or “the making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art.”
LAURA VEIRS: Think Susanne Vega, but more rockin'. Check out her website or directly stream cuts from her upcoming album. (Thanks to Stereogum.)
INMATES USE CELL PHONES TO COORDINATE RIOT: The AP writes that this demonstrates the strength of Central America's growing gangs. Imho, it demonstrates the stupidity of the Guatemalan prison system for allowing prisoners to have cell phones and guns.
THE NOT-SO-GREAT ESCAPE: A gang of prisoners in a Brazilian jail spent months planning a breakout and digging a tunnel in their bid for freedom, only to emerge in the prison yard. Clearly, these mopes could learn something from the Guatemalans.
THE MOUNTAIN GOATS' John Darnielle may have had an unstable home, but still muses about having children: “I envision an army of mini-John Darnielles forming a non-NHL hockey league with parity between owners and players, worker-friendly ticket prices, and severe penalties for icing the puck intentionally — you buncha sissies, you!”
VASSAR CLEMENTS, a Bluegrass fiddle pioneer who played with artists ranging from Bill Monroe and Earl Scruggs to Paul McCartney and the Grateful Dead, has died following a battle with lung cancer. He was 77.
JACKO JUSTICE: The only juror to attend a Jackson post-acquittal victory party apparently was modeling a jacket Jacko gave his accuser in the jury room.
FRANCE: With unemployment hovering at ten percent, a growing number of French can no longer afford a traditional August getaway — a summer ritual that symbolizes the good life a la francaise. And who needs a vacation more than the unemployed?
JOHN JOHNSON: Jon Friedman of MarketWatch argues that the mainstream media did a shameful job of covering the death of John Johnson, a genuine media pioneer. He's right, and I didn't mention it at all, thinking that it was mostly a Chicago-based story. But it is an amazing American success story that should be read as widely as possible.
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS has overtaken Amelie to become the second most successful French film at the North American box office.
DENISE RICHARDS getting back together with with Charlie Sheen? Maybe those differences aren't as irreconcilable as she thought.
TARA REID was offended by the antics at Berlin's Kit Kat Club. Who knew she could be offended?
JAMES BOND: Producers have pulled Pierce Brosnan's license to kill. CBS News looks at some of Q branch's rejects.
REVENGE OF THE NERDS: The NYDN looks at Geek Chic. This is a theme that has been recycling since the dot-com boom of the 90s. Geek is not a trend; it's the future.
ARCHIE sues the Veronicas, claiming it really ain't the Archies without the Jughead beat.
SANTANA SUED for wrongful termination by a former personal assistant claiming he was fired after his consciousness was “calibrated” by “Dr. Dan” and determined to be too low.
JUDE LAW is apparently no Tommy Lee, which raises questions about a picture linked here previously. But the new pics are definitiely NSFW, so there's no issue of Derek Smalls' trouser helper to debate…
PLAYGIRL magazine polled its readers (*cough*) and found a substantial number like their men scruffy and a wee bit chubby. These are probably the same people who, in Playgirl's “sexiest male newscaster” poll, picked Andy Rooney.
BLUE EYES work magic on women.
ABLE DANGER: Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer shed his cloak of anonymity to claim that the 9/11 Commission did not get all of the data on the data-mining project that allegedly identified four of the hijackers more than a year before the attacks. I have no idea whether this goes anywhere, but I agree that Able Danger is a cool name.
OHIO GOV. BOB TAFT will face misdemeanor charges for not reporting golf outings paid for by others. The OH GOP seems to have almost as many problems as the IL GOP — which is one reason I didn't think the recent special election for Congress in OH would be much of a bellewether.
BILL CLINTON, who has been chummy with the Bush family recently, suddenly decides to tell New York magazine that he “always thought that bin Laden was a bigger threat than the Bush administration did.” Perhaps he heard that The New York Times was going to run a story that his administration ignored State Department warnings about OBL in 1996 and the New York Post was going to run a piece about then-Manhattan U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White's plea to tear down the wall between intelligence and prosecutors that went beyond legal requirements. Maybe there should be less finger-pointing and more working together to fix things four years after 9/11.
DOGS may end up carrying their own poop.
CATS AND DOGS, living together, real wrath-of-God-type stuff.
SHEEP generally do not take taxis.
GIANT CAIMAN UPDATE: Now they think the Caiman mentioned here yesterday is an alligator. But Carlito is crafty and has so far eluded Crocodile Jay Young, who has vowed to catch the beast in two days or do the job for free.
AGING CHICKENS have been plucked from the jaws of death by a Vacaville, CA animal sanctuary and several humane societies. They now must adjust to life away from the factory farm.
CROCODILES kill HIV and bacteria that resists antibiotics.