Karl THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:
FRIDAY TIMEWASTER: Sugar Crash, a version of Breakout to which I can relate.
LAURA CANTRELL: When I mentioned her the other day, I should have added that Elvis Costello once said, “If Kitty Wells made Rubber Soul it would sound like Laura Cantrell.” The late legendary DJ John Peel dug her, too. And she sang on They Might Be Giants' “The Guitar.” If you're the sort who likes Lucinda Williams — and you know who you are — you can download several tracks legally.
YOU AIN'T NO PICASSO is absolutely killing music with Now That's What I Call Indie Covers! Vol. 1. David Byrne covers Whitney Houston! Rilo Kiley covers Robert Palmer and Pete Townshend! Of Montreal covers The Who! Belle and Sebastian cover ABBA! The Mountain Goats cover Ace of Base!!! (and if you've never heard the Mountain Goats cver Ace of Base, let me assure you it's every bit as cool as their Thin Lizzy/R. Kelly medley in its own way) Now how much would you pay? But wait… there's more! The Flaming Lips cover Queen! Click now and there's even a bonus link at the page with the bonus tracks! Servers are standing by!!!
SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES: The band's entire catalog is to be remastered and reissued. Which is much better than having it remastered and unissued. I would add that I love that the music blog linked above is One Louder.
MSN's VIRTUAL EARTH is more virtual than it should be.
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CARMEN SANDIEGO? Have you tried Google?
FRIDAY AFTERNOON CLUB: Forget Google… try Droogle! Or: How to Drink Alone, from the fabulous My Blog is Poop.
SCARLETT JOHANSSON: The Island may be flopping, but the billboard unnecessarily exaggerating Johansson's physique is so good Scarlett nearly crashed her car. And since it's Sky News, there's an accompanying photo gallery. Sadly, the billboard has been taken down. What? You thought I wouldn't go the extra click to try to bring you the complete story?
MUST LOVE DOGS? Not if you're a movie critic.
CONOR OBERST, Wes Anderson, Jonathan Safran Foer and the new male infantilism? What's new about it?
ARE YOU A HIPSTER? Chromewaves has the links that will provide your answer. There's even a Wes Anderson reference.
TERROR BUSTS: A senior British al-Qaeda operative sought by authorities since the July 7 London bombing was arrested in Zambia. British authorities reportedly balked at giving U.S. officials permission to apprehend him last month. British police arrested nine more men in pre-dawn raids. Pakistani security forces arrested an Islamic militant thought to have set up a meeting between murdered U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl and his kidnappers. Russian Police engaged in an operation against militants in Dagestan, preventing a major terrorist attack in Moscow and detaining about 150 accomplices, including policemen, civilians and clerics.
BILLY CORGAN wants to reunite Smashing Pumpkins, but doesn't want to play the old songs right now, thank you very much. How about… FREEBIRD!
THE STROKES: Thanks to Golden Fiddle, we get an A/B boss comparison of advance reports on the band's third album from NME and Spin.
PAYOLA: Slate asks, “What's wrong with it?”
OOOH, BLACK DIAMOND: Almost certainly America's top black Neil Diamond impersonator. Download to hear for yourself.
EMINEM is getting strange new respect from those he mocks, including Moby and Hillary Duff.
IRAQ: Austin Bay posts a translated editorial from Al Adala, a newspaper published by the Shiite Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. Blackfive thinks it was “pretty @#$%ing crazy” for Gen. Casey to talk about a drawdown as soon as next Spring or Summer (as noted here yesterday), but I think Blackfive is missing the two big “ifs” in Casey's statement.
BRADGELINA UPDATE: Pitt, Jolie and her kids are shacking up at Pitt's Malibu mansion. What will the neighbors say?
RENEE ZELLEWEGER may be getting divorced as quickly as she got married?
THE FRENCH HOTEL: Her 24-carat engagement ring is too heavy and is hurting her finger. She may not have to worry about that much longer.
OSAMA BIN LADEN plotted to sell poisoned cocaine in the U.S.
EGYPT: Stunned by the terror attacks on Sharm el-Sheik, Egyptians are debating whether mosques, schools and the government itself should be blamed for promoting Islamic extremism. That's good, as some of the events described in the linked article are sobering and the New York Sun has an article showing that many Egyptians are blaming Israel.
SUFJAN STEVENS has staffed his touring band with Illinois alums; with eight musicians, he’s confident that something close to justice will be done to the record onstage.
BRIAN ENO was inspired to make his first solo vocal album in 15 years by new technologies: He describes these “auto-tuning devices” as “altering the gender and the pitch of the voice, so that you could sound like a high-pitched female instead of a man with a cold – which is what I actually am.” Eno has huge numbers of CDs containing tracks he has never released, and estimates he has only released four percent of everything he has recorded: “I have a huge rejection rate – so when I die, they're going to have a party, with all those posthumous albums.”
KAISER CHIEFS AND BLOC PARTY plan to team up for the holidays. It's almost like Christmas in July!
WASHINGTON STATE'S The Olympian newspaper has its own MP3 blog, with everything from bootleg Dylan/Cash tracks to local bands.
THE REST OF THE YEAR IN MUSIC: After all of those mid-year “Best of 2005” lists, the Daily Pennsylvanian looks forward.
CHRISTOPHER LEE was a real secret agent during WWII and has played everything from Dracula to Willy Wonka's father onscreen. Now, in his 80's, he's fronting two heavy metal bands.
PETE DOHERTY UPDATE: Apparent ex-galpal Kate Moss gets a libel judgment against a London tabloid, but Pete prefers to punch a reporter in the face.
TOP TEN WORST SONG LYRICS EVER, according to Blogcritics.
SUPERGRASS: You can preview “St. Petersburg,” another track off the band's upcoming disc, at the Road to Rouen site.
LIZ PHAIR: If you're still interested in Miz Liz, someone is not killing music from her forthcoming album so much as wounding it.
TARA REID: Living down to her reputation.
POLITICS MAY BE SHOW BUSINESS FOR UGLY PEOPLE, but that hasn't stopped The Hill newspaper from compiling its list of the Top 50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill.
AN AMISH TEEN was charged with theft and underage consumption of alcohol, after police got complaints about loud music coming from a buggy.
THE CUTTHROAT WORLD OF PROFESSIONAL MINI-GOLF is exposed by The New York Times. I smell Pulitzer!
CULT OF THE iPod: In a victory for those killing music, the gadget escapes a Canadian tax levied on blank media such as CDs that the Canadian Private Copying Collective (which collects tariffs on behalf of musicians and record companies) sought to extend to MP3 players.
COW EMISSIONS are being measured in a “bio-bubble” by the University of California to help write the state's first air quality regulations for dairies, which could affect regulations nationwide. Researcher Frank Mitloehner wants one thing to be clear: “We're not talking about flatulence.” Right.
NIGERIAN COWS UPDATE: Nigerian cows continue to wreak havoc with traffic and motorists.
WILD PONIES: The annual pony swim across the Assateague Channel, made famous by Marguerite Henry's 1947 novel “Misty of Chincoteague” went forward despite a thick fog, raise money for the local Volunteer Fire Company, which cares for the ponies.
DOGS: More than a third of British dog owners fear dognapping; almost half of owners have now had their dog fitted with a microchip to track their dogs, according to a new poll.
FINALLY, I note that our own Sylvia Hauser has been working very hard these past few weeks in Chicago. However, by next Summer, she will probably be living in Georgia. So when I read news coverage of the heat wave sweeping the Southeastern U.S. and saw the picture here, I could not help thinking how much Sylvia would enjoy cooling off with a beer in the back of a pickup truck. I'm not kidding, either; I genuinely think she might enjoy it. So I thought it might provide a soothing image for Sylvia to contemplate in the midst of her hectic work schedule. Except for the two funky-looking dudes in the truck, of course.
