Hey, look, it’s Akon lobbing that poor fan off the stage at a concert in New York last summer after the guy dared to (allegedly) throw a frisbee at him from the audience. What an amusing flashback. Except for the guy who was slammed into the ground, of course. Or the other audience member he reportedly took out on his way down. Or Akon, who’s finally in trouble for tossing the kid almost six months later.
Ed. note: It’s time for another installment of “VHS Or Beta?”, where Andy Beta looks at the music behind the movies–from preserved-by-Criterion classics to completely inane summer blockbusters. In this installment, he listens to the music behind John Cassavetes’ 1968 “expression of horror at our society in general” Faces.
The Pirate Bay is being sued… by the father of Ron Goldman, who was slain the same night as Nicole Brown Simpson, because O.J. Simpson’s If I Did It is available on the service. Whoa, ’90s retro alert! More »
The Pirate Bay is being sued… by the father of Ron Goldman, who was slain the same night as Nicole Brown Simpson, because O.J. Simpson’s If I Did It is available on the service. Whoa, ’90s retro alert! More »
The Pirate Bay is being sued… by the father of Ron Goldman, who was slain the same night as Nicole Brown Simpson, because O.J. Simpson’s If I Did It is available on the service. Whoa, ’90s retro alert! More »
The concert promotion company Live Nation, according to the Wall Street Journal, is in the process of “finding new ways… to use its platform as a giant in the concert business as a base for expansion.” Among them: Increasing their presence in the small-to-midsize venue market (get ready for more dayglo-painted Fillmores!), moving into the merchandising business with its acquisition of Signatures Network, handling its own ticket sales, and trying to cut costs by de-emphasizing its amphitheaters, which are empty for huge chunks of the year. The employees of those amphitheaters, however, may not be too pleased by the new corporate outlook on their jobs:
Since many people find it hard to tell the great from the godawful when it comes to 21st-century mainstream rock, welcome to “Corporate Rock Still Sells,” where Al Shipley (a.k.a. Idolator commenter GovernmentNames) examines what’s good, bad, and ugly in the world of Billboard‘s rock charts. This time around, he tries to find out just how Arbitron’s new ratings systems are impacting the modern rock radio landscape:
Many thanks to this week’s sponsors, all of whom are buying everyone on their holiday lists copies of Josh Groban’s Noel. If you’d like to be a member of this Yuletide-cheer-filled crew, more information is here. More »
Stephen King, pop cultural pundit and guy who once made John Boy Walton fight a gay clown, has issued a list of the only seven albums he deems worthy this year. Possibly because the modern pop landscape is more frightening for a middle-aged crank than a possessed big rig chasing Emilio Estevez? “Stephen King’s taste in music is more eclectic than scary,” sez AP. Don’t forget boring! The full list is after the jump–y’all can start arguing about Wilco again if you feel like it–but first our impressions.
THE GOOD: Uh.
THE BAD: “In truth, your Uncle Stevie was disappointed with this year’s new music, very disappointed indeed, and his year-end list reflects that,” King says. “I could only find seven albums I wanted to mention.” We know laziness is kind of your thing when it comes to talking about music, Uncle Stevie, but what was so disappointing about ’07? Was your heart broken by Neon Bible? Did you feel ripped off actually paying for a copy of that A Place To Bury Strangers record? Were you bummed to hear how much filler was on the Soulja Boy album after taking all that time to learn how to Crank That? What??
THE WHAAA?: Anyone calling Ozzy’s Black Rain the “finest heavy metal record of the year; a true speaker-buster” needs to have the bridge of his nose rapped with a rolled-up copy of the Decibel year-end issue.
How can you make the warbly Paul McCartney-Michael Jackson duet/Thriller lowlight “The Girl Is Mine”–which someone actually requested at a wedding I attended recently, for serious–even more worthy of the “skip” button? More »
