This morning, Kylie Minogue stopped by the fourth hour of Today to plug her first U.S. tour, even though most of its shows sold way out during their presales; it’s always nice to hear “Two Hearts” on a major American network. (She also called her upcoming tour “dinky,” although I suspect that was because of its reduced run and not the prices.) Odder still was that the producers decided to celebrate her first trip to the States they played her off with… Neil Diamond? Oh, Today, every time I try to watch you I realize that you are just so damn weird. [YouTube] More »
It is always kind of awesome when one of the shows in Dick Wolf’s empire of NYC cop dramas takes on the music business. G-Train! “No Bozo Jam”! Patrick Stump as a criminal! And last night’s episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent continued that tradition, with its Williamsburg setting, Bono in the front/long greasy ponytail in the back aging rocker character, and opportunity for newly installed detective Zach Nichols–played to pitch-perfect effect by Jeff Goldblum–to both rant about the unfairness of the music business and show off his piano skills. (One of those things actually played into why one cast member killed another, FYI.) More »
Last night’s American Idol saw the exits of two contestants, as well as a bunch of weird stuff that made me wonder if Paula Abdul had secretly added producing the show to her choreography duties. There was a little bit of old (the disco medley that trotted out a bunch of disco-era stars, who were definitely not lipsyncing), a little bit of new (Lykke Li’s “I’m Good, I’m Gone” soundtracking the Ford ad), and a ghost of last year’s Idol (David Archuleta, who was forced to fill a minute with an awkward pep talk about Idol-derived “opportunities” for this week’s elimination candidates). Lil Rounds, as expected, went home, and was informed that she would be doing so in an elimination sequence that was as awkward as it was short. And then there was Anoop Desai, who had an off performance this week but who really deserved better from the judges during the course of the competition. More »
Last night, American Idol showed the world just how finger-on-the-pulse its method for finding this country’s newest music superstar was by holding Disco Night, in which Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, and Yvonne Elliman finally got their due. The night went pretty much as expected–Lil went diva, Danny was cheesy, Adam rendered a radio staple somewhat unrecognizable in a good way–although one surprising development came when Kris Allen took the stage, and maybe the front-runner position as well. More »
Last night’s American Idol was supposed to be the episode where the well-meaning, Timberlakeish Michigan native Matt Giraud got sent home for making the United States’ viewing public sit through a second Bryan Adams song in the space of one hour. But he was granted a week’s reprieve thanks to the brand-new “judges’ save,” which basically allows for even more drama next week, when two people get banished from the couches. (Honestly, did anyone think that he wouldn’t get to sing for his life next week, given the way Paula Abdul and Kara DioGuardi practically climbed over the table to prove that, yes, he really did know how to love a woman?)
Last night, American Idol brought Quentin Tarantino in for Songs From The Movies night, and he was probably one of the best mentors the show’s ever seen, honestly. (He was completely geeking out the whole time, and it was kind of great how he treated his mentorship like directing a movie, and talked about the whole package of each performance—hey, he tried to rein in Danny Gokey’s preacher hand movements, albeit to no avail.) But the night overall was something of a dud, thanks in large part to the unfortunate song choices—seriously, two Bryan Adams tracks?—that made me think that my idea to restrict the night’s repertoire to songs that had appeared on Tarantino soundtracks should have been employed. Although I guess doing so would have resulted in Kara calling every song “obscure,” since she gave that tag to the song that won the freaking Best Song Oscar two years ago. (This freakin’ show.) On to the rankings!
Like many of you who watched last night’s movie-themed American Idol, I was a little mystified by the second Bryan Adams song of the evening, Matt Giraud’s take on “Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?” Not because the selection—a song from Don Juan DeMarco that Adams co-wrote with Mutt Lange and Michael Kamen—pushed the night over into having too much of the Canadian rocker, but because there wasn’t enough. With only seven contestants left at this stage, everyone could have had their own Bryan Adams song from a film. Wouldn’t you have enjoyed hearing Adam Lambert‘s take on “One Night Love Affair”? Six other Adams songs that made their way onto soundtracks are below the cut. (Add them to last night’s selections, and you have more than enough material to fill a show.) Here’s hoping the producers will start running their theme-night ideas by me in advance.
I have watched Lil Kim‘s performance on last night’s Dancing With The Stars multiple times, hoping to figure out just what this “wardrobe malfunction” that is lighting up Google Trends this morning might entail and simultaneously giggling at the notion that the foul-mouthed MC who once found a pastie appropriate evening wear could go any further with the whole breast-revealing concept. Clip after the jump.
This week, American Idol goes to the movies, with director Quentin Tarantino sitting in as mentor as the contestants take on the frustratingly vague theme of “songs from film.” (Tarantino has actually served as a guest judge on the show in the past, and he’s not exactly a pushover, which should be awesome when he deals with Lil Rounds’ outsized ego.) The bloodthirsty Tarantino has always had a deft touch when it comes to putting together soundtracks for his own flicks, and part of me kind of hopes that the seven remaining Idol contestants will be restricted to songs that he paired with his body of work over the years. After the jump, it’s time to play Fantasy Idol one more time—and hey, the results sound kind of like the hallways of my college dorm!
There’s this Los Angeles band called the Boxmasters. Heard of ’em? They play country-pop (or “Modbilly” as they like to call it) in the vein of the Byrds, Muswell Hillbillies, and Mike Nesmith. Ring any bells? They put out three albums in the past year! Still never heard of them? Oh, well, their singer and sometime drummer is actor/screenwriter/director Billy Bob Thornton. Now let’s say you’re a journalist. What are you gonna ask about: the music of yet another country-pop band or the fact that your singer is a pretty famous dude in another industry? Yesterday, CBC host Jian Ghomeshi made the unpardonable mistake of placing the Boxmasters’ music in the context of their singer’s more well-known endeavors. He paid the price with an interview that careened from awkward to esoteric to combative.
