RYAN ADAMS: An Aquarium Drunkard is killing music by posting two unreleased Adams albums, 48 Hours and The Suicide Handbook. Turns out he already posted a “lost” Whiskeytown album, Those Weren't The Days.
NEW RELEASES: Old 97s frontman Rhett Miller's solo album, The Believer, is streaming in its entirety from AOL Music. Not to mention a couple of classic re-issues from ZZ Top — Tres Hombres and Fandango!
CONSUMER GUIDE: Village Voice dean Robert Christgau's latest gives high marks to the aforementioned Rhett Miller, Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins (see last Friday's post for linkage), the chamber-pop of (Arcade Fire offshoot) Bell Orchestre (hear 'em at MySpace), Frank London's Klezmer Brass All-stars and more…
ROBERT POLLARD talks to PopMatters about realizing his dream to make a double album and selling his rarities on eBay. From A Compound Eye is still streaming in glorious Quicktime from Merge Records.
NEKO CASE: The indie chanteuse tells Billboard she slept with animals when she was a kid. Her label is still giving away downloads of “Star Witness” from her upcoming album.
OS MUTANTES: The Brazilian psychedelic rock legends are reuniting for one night, as part of the Barbican's “Tropicália: A Revolution in Brazilian Culture” festival. This will be the band's first performance since 1973. In 1993, Kurt Cobain attempted to reunite the band, but they refused. Os Mutantes began their career as the house band on a Brazilian TV show — you can see an early performance with Gilberto Gil and later, trippier performances on You Tube.
SEEN YOUR VIDEO: Walk The Line comes out on DVD today, so let's enjoy some Johnny Cash with a four-song set from 1956 that kicks off with “I Walk The Line,” a much later performance of “I Walk The Line,” a spirited clip of Johnny and June belting out “Jackson,” and his funny take-off on “Heartbreak Hotel.” Of course, anyone who knows me knows I would never pass up a chance to hook you up with a little “Ring of Fire.”
GANG OF FOUR and THE KARATE KID? Stereogum finds a slightly embarrassing chapter in the funk-punks' past.
BONO received the Neruda Prize — Chile's country's highest award for the arts — from president Ricardo Lagos. “He moved me very much,” Bono said of Pablo Neruda, the Nobel Prize winner and poet who died in 1973. Will Baude has often blogged on Neruda at Crescat Sententia — here are three examples.
NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL and JEFF MANGUM: Someone is killing music with a slew of unreleased demos and live bootlegs.
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN gets a nifty write-up in the Euro edition of Time magazine. Singer/violinist Sarah Martin talks to NOW about fan reaction to the band's funkier sound on the new album, The Life Pursuit. SEMI-RELATED: Former B&S-er Isobel Campbell tells NOW that she hasn't bothered to check if ex-Belle beau Stuart Murdoch has written any songs about her for the new album before discussing her latest project with Mark Lanegan.
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT: It's no secret that Rufus is a Friend of Dorothy, but really… NTTAWWT.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: Contrary to British tabloid reports, Page Six claims the supposedly sober supermodel has dumped the troubled singer and has her partying with Arctic Monkeys after the NME Awards, later whooping it up at London's Cuckoo Club with Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. — who denies any canoodling (he's engaged, natch).
REESE WITHERSPOON surpasses Juila Roberts as the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. She will pull down 29 million for upcoming horror film Our Family Trouble.
GEORGE MICHAEL was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of possessing drugs, but give him credit for admitting it was his “own stupid fault, as usual.”
CAN'T BLOG THIS: MC Hammer is blogging from the “Where Are They Now?” file.
DENNIS WEAVER, known for his roles in Gunsmoke, Gentle Ben and McCloud, died of complications from cancer Friday at age 81, thereby completing the Don Knotts-Darren McGavin death trifecta.
VAUGHNISTON: Author-actress Nancy Balbirer, a former roommate of Aniston hints that the future Friend iced her nipples before auditions, and lamented her big butt and her nose, got liposuction, a nose job and a hairline adjustment. Aniston's flack vehemently denied Balbirer's claims of plastic surgery. The movie rights to Balbirer's book containing the thinly veiled Aniston character haver been acquired for Vince Vaughn's management company.
NOT SO BLIND ITEM: D-Listed asks, “Which unmarried Oscar nominee/heartthrob had an affair with a male wardrobe assistant on a recent project?” And then posts a photo.
JESSICA SIMPSON had an easy alarm code for the palatial Malibu-adjacent newlywed estate where Newlyweds was shot. But it was the TV show that made her look like a dumb blonde. Anyway, it's probably not her keen intellect that has Dane Cook's girlfriend jetting to New Mexico, where Simpson and Cook are shooting Employee of the Month.
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY likens the Oscars red carpet to a dog show. But she's excited to go, anyway.
LOHAN LOWDOWN: Folks studying these photos have noticed the tenn queen's apparently spontaneous nose bleed.
ARE BRUCE WILLIS and supermodel PETRA NEMCOVA dating? The answer depends on which one you ask.
WINONA RYDER got possessive the other night at Von's on Bleecker Street when Liev Schreiber went outside for a smoke, according to Page Six. Schreiber has been linked to Naomi Watts, so one wonders whether Ryder has taken to stealing boyfriends instead of clothing. Perhaps not; Watts seems to have her hands full of Capote director Bennett Miller.
KATE WINSLET was already getting kudos for her dirty talking, but now James Gandolfini says he's impressed with her swearing. Now that is saying something.
IRAQ: Bill Roggio has another situation report, noting both the the unity demonstrations being held throughout Iraq and the violence in Baghdad's Doura district (though it was pretty nasty before the mosque bombing). At Iraq the Model, Mohammed reports — among other things — that the Iraqi Army seemed to do well, or at least better than the interior ministry's forces. He also suspects that the political types will now have more resistance to clerical influence on the future government. And with the violence seemingly abating, the Washington Post reports that Baghdad's main morgue logged more than 1,300 dead since Wednesday.
PORTS IN A STORM: The Coast Guard said in December 2005 that questions about foreign influence, employees and operations made it impossible to assess the threat posed by a state-owned Dubai company's purchase of a firm that manages some terminal operations at US seaports. Although Clay Lowery, an assistant secretary at the Treasury Department, said at Monday's Senate hearing that these concerns were addressed, Sens. Susan Collins and Joe Lieberman said questions remained, even after an 85-minute classified briefing. A little noticed development is DP World's new promise to create an independent subsidiary to handle its US interests, which may be the compromise struck here. Such arrangements are typical when foreigners want to buy companies that manufacture parts for weapons sytems, etc.
IRAN has begun testing about 20 centrifuges used in enriching fuel and is making improvements at its Natanz nuclear facility, according to the IAEA. The agency was not “in a position to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran,” the new report added. Russian officials have down played progress on its proposal to enrich uranium for Iran. The European Union demanded that Iran reinstate full suspension of all uranium enrichment-related activities. The New York Times runs an op-ed by Prof. Barry Posen titled, “We Can Live With a Nuclear Iran.” Posen seems to think the only other option is a military invasion, ignoring options like sanctions, support for democratic groups in Iran or even airstrikes on known facilities.
PIG-CASSO, a/k/a Pinto, will be showing his works at Chicago's Brookfield Zoo on March 1st, which is National Pig Day. one of the pig's paintings will then by auctioned on eBay.
AYILA THE BELUGA WHALE blows “bubble rings” for Japanese tourists. The BBC has Real video.
DOGS DO CALCULUS when playing fetch on the beach, though mathemeticians differ on whether they find the optimal path in a global manner or moment-to-moment.
THE CROCODILE ate my wedding ring, sweetheart! No, really…
DALAI THE CAT has been missing for two weeks, but he was blessed by the Dalai Lama himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald… striking. So he's got that goin' for him, which is nice.