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| The Crawl: Gone in 27 Seconds, Thriller Hits the Stage, Election Night Tracks, and More |
| Posted 11/6/2008 5:37:00 PM by Kate Thuma |
| Filed under: Blur, Crawl, Damon Albarn, Jeffrey Lewis, jonas brothers, Michael jackson, Nas, Pete wentz, Taylor Swift, Will.i.am |
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 <<Dirt on the Dump: Taylor Swift let slip that her October split with Joe Jonas was sealed in a 27 second phone call exactly how long it takes to explain the purpose of a purity ring. [Just Jared]
+ Inspired by the surplus of triple-threat zombies, theater producer/owner Jason Nederlander is producing a musical adaptation of Michael Jackson¹s "Thriller" video.
[Broadway World]
+ Will.i.am, Nas, and Jeffrey Lewis have all released tracks recorded on election night. [NME]
+ Pete Wentz literally owes Joe Biden his life: his parents met while working on a Biden campaign and the VP-elect attended their wedding. [AP]
+ Damon Albarn might be up for some jumbo jet head-checking; BBC Radio 1 is reporting that the singer is considering a Blur reunion. [BBC] |
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 The big music news of the weekend: In a People magazine cover story, singer Clay Aiken came out of the closet. That’s right, 2003 American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken — who sang in a boys’ choir as a child, who worked as a special-needs substitute teacher, who wowed American with his delivery of an Elton John ballad, who hosted a 2005 NBC Christmas special with special appearances by Barry Manilow and Will & Grace co-star Megan Mullally, who spent much of this year starring in a Broadway musical, and whose fan club membership comes with a tote bag and lip balm - is gay.
In coming weeks, look for rapper Chuck D. to announce that he is black, David Bowie to reveal that he is British, Kid Rock to admit that he likes skanky strippers and Lil Wayne to confess that he is the best rapper alive. Blender also hears that the Jonas Brothers will hold a press conference to confirm that they are related. |
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 Beverly Hills 90210 is back on air, a charismatic sexy man is about to be elected president, and giant grungy jeans are in again so it’s not surprising that music is also experiencing something of a 90s redux moment. This weekend you can relive the greatest decade ever with performances by Juliana Hatfield at the Bowery Ballroom in New York, Tricky at the Music Box in L.A (both tonight,) Stone Temple Pilots at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Saturday, and Lisa Loeb in Battery Park New York or Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard playing solo at the Living Room in New York on Sunday.
In case you’ve retired your flannel for good here are some other awesome-ish shows happening this weekend:
Friday: Fender 50th Anniversary Jazzmaster concert featuring Thurston Moore, J Mascis and Tom Verlaine at the Knitting Factory in New York City
Saturday: Eagles are performing at American Airlines Center in Dallas
Sunday: Disney’s Concert for Hope featuring Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, and Demi Lovato at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City California. |
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 <<The Jonas Brothers on VMA host/coitus enthusiast Russell Brand: “I think he did a good job [at the show].” Hunh?
[MTV]
+ Kanye West jumps on stage at last night’s G.O.O.D. music showcase, the kids go apeshit. [Nah Right]
+ David Gilmour nixes Pink Floyd reunion tour. Why? He still sorta hates bandmate Roger Waters’ guts. [MSNBC]
+ More hate! The Elton John–Lily Allen feud escalates as Elton nixes any potential collaboration with her. Says Lily: “I’m not defending my drunkeness [sic] because I don't need to.”
[NME]
+ Leighton Meester—who plays bitchy Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl and guest-stars as a pop star on Entourage this season—to release an album. Sometime. And in the future. [MSNBC]
+ Preview footage from Common’s futuristic, blanched-out new video for “UMC (Universal Mind Control).” It's Hype Williams directed, naturally. [Hypetrak]
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 Congratulations to God, who scored big at last night’s Video Music Awards. Big-time musicians aren’t usually the holiest of humans, and the values represnted by the Ten Commandments are generally flouted in MTV fare like “The Hills” and “My Super Sweet Sixteen.” And yet, He was everywhere at the VMAs, being thanked by acts from Britney Spears to Lil Wayne. It was almost enough to make you think He cares about the VMAs, but then you notice what Demi Moore was wearing and you think again. Maybe God was busy deciding the fate of the NFL’s opening weekend.
You know the VMAs are boring when the only person to start beef is Jordin Sparks. The American Idol champion, whose previous career has been notable mostly for her absolute lack of any interesting opinion or expression, hopped to the defense of the Jonas Brothers, who were recurringly teased by host and recovering sex addict Russell Brand. For Brand, who says he once had a “harem,” the Jonas’s decisions to honor God (yep, Him again!) by avoiding non-procreative sex before marriage must have seemed as odd as a Peruvian coca farmer who listened only to Minor Threat and was straight edge. After Brand’s 50th the-Jonas-Brothers-are-virgins joke, Sparks came onstage and said pointedly, “Not everybody -- guy or girl -- wants to be a slut.”
Brand wanted us to know that he loved sex, which is hardly a daring position to take on MTV. Sparks was more of a provocateur, if speaking up for a policy endorsed by religious fundamentalists can really be considered “provocative.” Should MTV teenagers believe, a la Brand, that having sex is cool, or, a la Sparks, that virginity is cool? As Paris Hilton brilliantly said to Sway during the pre-show broadcast, “I dunno.” This much seems certain: Neither Brand nor Sparks will be back onstage at next year’s VMAs, though sex and sexuality will makes their inevitable appearances.
Speaking of the pre-show, which was unbearably stagey and full of GRATUITOUS SHOUTING DESIGNED TO SIMULATE EXCITMENT, does MTV News put bug-eyed Jim Cantiello on the air just so he’ll make Tim Kash look good by comparison? Between Brooke Hogan and Christina Aguilera, who won the Donatella Versace Look-a-like Contest? Has anyone told Michael Phelps that with his goatee, he’s a dead ringer for music business executive Jason Flom? If you watched the pre-show on mute, would you have missed anything at all?
Back to sexuality: How about that Britney Spears, huh? Dressed in silver sequins, she stayed on message all night, giving three nearly identical acceptance speeches that might’ve been memorized off a Post-It note. She got offstage fast, avoided saying anything interesting, talked about God (yep, Him again!) and her family and refuted her highly-sexual past by dressing conservatively. Holy shit: Britney is the new Sarah Palin! Both are being spun, marketed and rebranded for maximum popularity, and in a country where salvation is always just a photo-op away, that means talking about God in public, no matter what you’ve done in private. |
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 Brothers from the same mother, Joe, Kevin and Nick discuss the making of A Little Bit Longer.
Where did the magic happen?
Nick: We did a lot of the work on a studio bus while we were touring with Miley Cyrus.
Kevin: And we completed the record at Studio Wishbone in L.A.
The money spent recording this album could buy …
Kevin: An Audi R8.
Nick: A chef would be nice, so I can make sure my blood sugar’s in check.
Joe: About a 35,000-foot yacht. It’s hard to tell exactly how big, because we don’t have a measuring tape that long.
Studio demands include?
Kevin: A bag of mixed Hershey chocolates. The Krackles are always gone first.
Most frequently ordered takeout dish?
Kevin: Barbecue-chicken pizza from a restaurant in L.A. called Eclectic. You can hear someone yelling, “eclectic!” during the talking part of “Lovebug,” because the order had just arrived.
Album you unabashedly ripped off?
Kevin: There’s a song by the Rascals called “Good Lovin’.” We didn’t rip it off, but our song “BB Good” is inspired by that.
The haters will say?
Kevin: “You guys have turned me on now. This is awesome!”
Why should someone buy the record?
Joe: We understand people do download stuff illegally sometimes.
Kevin: But that’s illegal!
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| It
takes a lot of work to relax properly. You need the right atmosphere,
the right company and especially the right music. As part of our larger
commitment to chilling out, we’re starting to compile a list of
quality events and performances taking place across the country each
weekend that should offer the perfect relaxation quotient. Here’s the
first round. Feel free to post additions in the comments section.  << Friday, August 22: Donna
Summer at the Hollywood Bowl in L.A.; Jonas Brothers with Demi Lovato (a.k.a.
the New Miley) at the Blosson Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls,
Ohio
Saturday, August 23: The Germs at Echo in L.A. (with ER’s
Shane West channeling the legendary Darby Crash); En Vogue at BB King’s in New
York City
Sunday, August 24: Radiohead with Liars at the Hollywood
Bowl in L.A.; 25th Annual Roots of American Music Festival featuring John Doe and
Exene Cervenka as part of the Knitters as well as Patti Smith and her band at
Lincoln Center Out of Doors at Damrosch Park Bandshell in New York City
Random Opportunity for Weird Fun:
Today through September 1, at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago, you can
participating in Sing-Along Little Mermaid, which involves
unabashed singing along during a showing of The Little Mermaid (in
costume if you’d like). |
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 Jonas Brothers
A Little Bit Longer
Hollywood
Band of Brothers: Disney’s featherweight
rock gods crank it up — respectfully
By Josh Eells
>>
Read the full review here.
 The Dandy Warhols
Earth to the Dandy Warhols
Beat the World
Portland rockers spurn the catchy music they were born for
By Theon Weber
>>
Read the full review here.
 Inara George With Van Dyke Parks
An Invitation
Everloving
L.A. pop sapling hooks up with L.A. pop
grizzly bear for a set of lush crush jams
By Karen Schoemer
>>
Read the full review here.
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 Jonas Brothers
"Tonight"
Criticizing
the Jonas Brothers is mostly pointless (and, considering their
millions of rabid teenage fans, possibly deadly). Still, we didn't
enjoy their last single, "Burnin' Up" — with its cringe-worthy come-ons
and pseudo swagger, the song proved that these Disney idols really are
virgins. New track "Tonight" is much better, an unflagging blast of
pop-rock with its sights on iTunes records (it currently stands atop the store's songs chart). Plus, it makes the most out of the boys' insufferable Bobcat-Goldthwait-as-'80s-power-balladeer vocals. Beneath the sugar coated dance-rock
beat lies some uncharacteristic negativity: "No, we're not going to wait
this out tonight/ No we're not gonna make this right." The bipolar pop
attack is nothing new, but this is an extreme case. In fact, the brothers
sound perfectly elated by the proposition of a dead end evening. Girls
will scream excitedly while these dudes crack their hearts.
Bobcat Goldthwait will not collect any royalties. 
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 << Timbaland
enlists the Jonas Brothers to guest star on his next album and
calls Africa a "country" in this revealing new interview. [MTV]
+
50 Cent sues Taco Bell for using his name in vain in an ad campaign. We
really didn't make that sentence so rhyme-y on purpose. [AOL]
+
The original reality TV dirt bag, The Real World's Puck, is actually
more of a cretin now than ever! Watch him talk about something called
the Rusty Pelican in this video chat. [TMZ]
+
Comic book geek and My Chemical Romance front man Gerard Way gives us a
list of his favorite graphic novels ever. Yes, it includes The Dark
Knight. [L.A. Times] |
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