Status Ain’t Hood, Tom Breihan’s blog for the Village Voice, is calling it a day. It seems that Breihan’s found himself a new gig for some yet-to-be-named online project, and that his planned departure later this week is coinciding with a potential writers’ strike at the Voice that may begin… More »
Eminem must have punched the wall when (and if) he heard that arch-enemies Fred “That Little Limp Bizkit Bastard” Durst and Tom “My Bum Is On Your Lips” Green united their powers for an episode of Green’s talk show Tom Green’s House Tonight! More »
When one heard that Alicia Keys was on a series of Dove Soap “minisodes” (or, God forbid, witnessed one), the most logical reaction was “why?” Why would someone with a successful music career and several glamorous movie projects in the works bother to show off her talents in such a tacky way? More »
Man, those guys over at England’s Wall Of Sound are stoked about putting out Hurricane, Grace Jones’ first studio album since 1989’s Bulletproof Heart. Says label managing director Mark Jones, “No one has inspired more people whatever race, sex, color, or creed to be who they want to be and so much more.” Yes. When I think we think of inspirational figures in world history, it’s hard to top a model who recorded a bunch of disco albums, got addicted to coke and starred in Boomerang. Did Martin Luther King hang out with Andy Warhol at Studio 54? No, he was dead. Did Eleanor Roosevelt play a Bond villainess? No, she was dead. So, at the very least, Grace wins by default. Maybe he opened with that doozy so he could slip this one by: “Her new album will not only re-establish her as one of the world’s most important artists but also introduce her to a new generation of music lovers.”
Reactions to No Age’s MTV debut on last Friday’s installment of FNMTV are currently running 51/49 against of the Los Angeles duo’s paint-and-glitter-drenched backyard bash, with the “anti” faction complaining that they want more singing. More »
The attention the media gives to Guns N’ Roses and My Bloody Valentine may give young bands the idea that it’d actually be good for their legacy to record regularly for six years, then hold off for at least another 15 so that fan excitement can build and their myth can blossom. (Hey, if Sting and Joe Strummer had waited that long to record follow-ups to Synchronicity and Combat Rock, maybe people would have cared more about Brand New Day and Rock Art And The X-Ray Style!) So I looked at what would have happened to some of rock’s most legendary figures if they, too, had waited 15 years to release new albums once their first six years of putting out records were done–and found that extended absences rarely make later projects look much better.
After months of buildup, Jay-Z played his much-discussed headlining set at the Glastonbury Festival last night, and he opened it with a special dedication to Oasis’ Noel Gallagher, who had said that Jay was an inappropriate addition to the Glasto bill because it was “built on a tradition of guitar… More »
Amy Winehouse apparently made it through her set at Glastonbury last night standing, with highlights including her covering “A Message To You Rudy,” finally spitting out that gum that she’s always chewing during her performances, and calling Kanye West a “cunt” in the middle of one song. (Kanye, naturally, responded right away on his blog, saying that being hated by “Whinehouse” was a sign that he’d really made it and appending a LOL.) But at the end of her set was when things really got real; she jumped offstage and sang while teetering around in front of the crowd, and one fan was so excited by this that he allegedly went in for a quick grope of either her breast or her beehive. Winehouse “thanked” this person with a quick punch (at the :45 mark of the above video), although the BBC is reporting that said concertgoer hasn’t pressed charges yet. Well, it takes time to get to the police station from the front row!
The likes of The Singing Office and the show where they lend babies to people have shown that the wellspring of creativity at this nation’s television stations is running even drier than usual these days, so anything that shows even the slightest flicker of inspiration is greatly appreciated. Which is why you should know that it’s OK to get excited by Primary Wave Music Publishing’s announcement that it’s shopping an animated program starring John Oates’ mustache.
Nas issues a rebuttal to his Fox News antagonists. [Nah Right] More »
