ROBERT POLLARD, hiding under the name Townshend Research, played Schuba's in Chicago on the 22nd. The sound is bad, but you're right up front for the GbV classic “Game of Pricks.” And that's Tommy Keene on guitar, too.
NEW RELEASES: You know it's a slow week when Grant Lee Phillips is the only full album that catches my attention at AOL Music. MySpace has new stuff from The Coral Sea, which is kinda ambient and kinda psychedelic, and Dirty on Purpose, which got a nice review from Frank at Chromewaves.
BROKEN MASCIS SCENE: Speaking of Chromewaves, Frank also has a writeup of the J Mascis – Broken Social Scene gig that surveyed the greatest hits of the Dinosaur, Jr. catalog. Plenty of linkage to MP3s, streams and pics, as well as to background on the gig from Canada's Globe & Mail.
GOMEZ and THE BAD PLUS played DC last week, so you can stream both sets from NPR now. Gomez's latest album, How We Operate, is getting generally favorable reveiews on Metacritic.
TOP OF THE POPS: Stylus looks back at the just-cancelled UK music TV classic, noting (among other things) why it thrived during the punk era over The Old Grey Whistle Test.
SEEN YOUR VIDEO: There is plenty of Porky's-style voyeurism in this clip of Dwight Twilley's “Girls.”
THE GO! TEAM: Scotland on Sunday reports the members are able to quit their day jobs, but that Ian Parton seems to have a full-time job finding and getting clearance for obscure samples. There's plenty to stream via the Hype Machine, including a cover of Sonic Youth's “Bull In The Heather.”
EMPIRICALLY GOOD MUSIC: I don't know if there really is such a thing, but it's always nice to read when someone like Leah at Ashcan Rantings writes about being exposed to — and falling in love with — music not on the basic radio menu.
THE CUTOUT BIN: Here's another helping of fortuitous finds from the Hype Machine. Baz Lurhmann – “Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)” (Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich accidentally spawned the Gen-X version of “Desiderata”); Cheap Trick – “Hot Love” (like a Pate fan would pass it up); Buzzcocks – “Ever Fallen In Love?” (probably my favorite of theirs); The Byrds – “Triad” (which helped get David Crosby kicked out of the band); Yo La Tengo – “Beanbag Chair” (brand new and surprisingly poppy); The Slugs – “Hooked on a Feeling” (ooga-chuckas from Pravda Records' Super Fantastic Mega Smash Hits ); Os Mutantes – “Desculpe, babe” (Tropicalia in advance of the P-Fork fest); The Who – “The Seeker” (from a time when you would just put out a great song as a single); The Hollies – “The Air That I Breathe” (just for the harmonies); Funland – “Obligatory Cover (For The Kids)” (I'm warning you, it's not for people with taste).
LEONARD COHEN: Filter talks to Teddy Thompson, Rufus Wainwright and Lian Lunson, the director of Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man about the songwriter and the man.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: Babyshambles briefly broke up after the troubled singer left the rest of the band waiting at London’s Waterloo station for six hours, when they were due to go to Paris. But Pete apologized, and the band flew in to the city of lights.
DEAD MAN'S CHEST: Saturday's world premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest at Disneyland was a swashbuckling good time, according to USA Today, and a fashion shipwreck, according to TMZ. However, the latter doesn't cite Keira Knightley. Without Rupert Friend lurking nearby, the Mouse was totally macking on the Chael-clad starlet. Of course, some of you might prefer to go straight to the pics of Kightley in the see-thru tank top.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: It seems that the reason we haven't seen pics of the Tom-Kitten is that none of the tabloids wanted to pony up four million bucks like they did for Shiloh Jolie-Pitt. Three million is just plain insulting to the Tom-Kat, y'know.
BRITNEY SPEARS, otoh, even has trouble selling photos of herself these days. It probably doesn't help when you attack the very tabloids to which you're trying to sell the pics.
PATRICIA ARQUETTE got hitched to actor Thomas Jane last weekend, while everyone was paying attention to Nicole Kidman and Marcia Cross.
NICOLE KIDMAN and KEITH URBAN seem to be happy enough to enjoy the attention at the Sydney hotel where Urban had been staying before the wedding.
JOHN CUSACK wants a restraining order against a woman who he says has been stalking him.
JESSICA SIMPSON: The pneumatic blonde's new single may sound like Madonna's “Holiday,” but the rollerskating themed video will look like Madonna's “Sorry.” Eva Longoria, Christina Applegate, Christina Milian, Maria Menounos, Ryan Seacrest and Andy Dick make cameos. The first four are nice, but some PR flack should be fired for raising expectations with rumors that it would be Longoria, Jessica Alba, Eva Mendes and Carmen Electra strapping on the skates. ALSO: Shes now denied that she's dating Jared Leto.
BRADGELINA: Jolie has been making the news recently, so let's note that Brad Pitt is one of 15 people making America great, according to Newsweek magazine. I also learned that Target is people, too.
THE EMMY AWARDS have changed their nomination procedures, which could result in some overlooked and new titles — like Gilmore Girls or Battlestar Galactica — making the list of nominees in the top Emmy categories for the first time. These changes are already incorporated in the predictions at EmmyWatch 2006, which is run by Robert Licuria (who also runs the forums at the Gold Derby.
LINDSAY LOHAN is a great spender and a great kisser, proving it's all about practice, practice, practice.
WHITNEY HOUSTON has supposedly detoxed her cracktastic self, with a little help from Denzel Washington and Mel Gibson. Hope springs eternal.
PETRA NEMCOVA: The tsunami-surviving supermodel was playing “music” by James Blunt at her latest photo shoot because it made her feel more sexy. A former Nemcova boyfrend says Blunt should be having the best sex ever. So how do these stories square with Blunt having a dinner date with the French Hotel?
WARD CHURCHILL UPDATE: The University of Colorado professor who called some of the World Trade Center victims “little Eichmanns” in an essay he wrote after 9/11 is being dismissed after investigations found him guilty of research misconduct and “repeated and deliberate” infractions of scholarship rules. He will appeal and — if he loses — probably sue.
ROBOTS: Given the recent prediction that people will be having sex with robots in five years, I guess it's not a shock that robots are already having sex with each other.
IRAQ: At ITM, Mohammed translates an al-Sabah story on the militant groups accepting the national reconciliation plan. This seems consistent with reports (like yesterday's) of the major terror groups not accepting it, as they seem unlikely candidates for amnesty. The Counter-terrorism blog notes a Moroccan newspaper report that Iran may have given Jordan intell help locating Zarqawi. Ray Robison, formerly of the Iraq Survey Group, translates and analyzes a recently declassified document suggesting that Saddam's inner circle not only actively reached out to the Taliban and jihadists in the region, but also hosted discussions with a known Al Qaeda operative about creating jihad training “centers,” possibly in Baghdad.
EAST TIMOR: The Financial Times reports on the resignation of the prime minister following the worst violence seen in the country since Indonesia's bloody withdrawal in 1999. East Timor does not get much media coverage in the US; it does down under because Aussie troops are involved. Consequently, Aussie columnists like Andrew Bolt have noticed the double-standard applied to East Timor compared to Iraq.
MOOSE, the feisty Jack Russell terrier who played Eddie for 10 years on TV's Frasier, has died at 16 1/2.
ANIMAL HOARDING: In Petaluma, CA, Roger Dier admits that, yeah, a thousand rats does seem like too many for a one-bedroom house.
FOUR PELICANS DETAINED on suspicion of drunk and disorderly conduct in Laguna Beach, CA.
SQUIRRELS: Nothing but trouble, I tell you.
MUFFY: At 22 feet, 1/4 inch long, she takes the title of largest Burmese python on display in America away from the Bronx Zoo's Lulu. But Muffy wasn't ready for her 15 minutes of fame, fuming, spewing from her nostrils and opening her jaws wide enough to swallow a poodle as she was held down and measured.