Saturday, January 13, 2007

What a guy!

Sticking to his working-class roots, that's my Wellah.

PUSHING 50, Paul Weller shows no sign of mellowing - we hear the singer refused a CBE in last summer's Birthday Honours.

A source close to Weller, 48, says he received a letter asking if he was interested in receiving one but replied with a firm "thanks but no thanks". The Modfather's spokeswoman confirms: "Paul was surprised and flattered, but it wasn't really for him."

High Fidelity

There are certain books, movies, et al, that hit a bit too close to home for me. That is, they describe my personality perfectly. One of those is High Fidelity. (Both book by Nick Hornby and movie featuring John Cusack).

My fav quotes from High Fidelity.
Rob: What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?
But then, there is:
Rob: It would be nice to think that since I was 14, times have changed. Relationships have become more sophisticated. Females less cruel. Skins thicker. Instincts more developed. But there seems to be an element of that afternoon in everything that's happened to me since. All my romantic stories are a scrambled version of that first one.
Or:
Dick: I guess it looks as if you're reorganizing your records. What is this though? Chronological?
Rob: No...
Dick: Not alphabetical...
Rob: Nope...
Dick: What?
Rob: Autobiographical.
Dick: No fucking way.

Friday, January 12, 2007

Hip-Hop is Dead

Heard this on BBC Radio 1 today. Any song that samples "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is cool by me.

Kate, Kate, Kate

Girl. Girl. GIRL. You have got to get rid of the junkie. You're a supermodel. And a style icon. LOTS of guys would write crappy poetry for you. That being said, fabulous jacket. And the boots? So cool.

Kate must love putting up with a bunch of crap. How else could you explain the reason she stays with Pete? He was recently snapped in Germany sneaking around with one of his groupies and during their holiday he was supposedly out trolling for drugs again. Kate, of course had a miserable time on their vacation in Thailand. Oh, and remember that song he was writing for her? It or something like it evidently ended up on a bathroom floor. Boo!

Harper!

This story is freaking awesome. And rather uplifting.

A high school play based on Harper Lee's classic "To Kill a Mockingbird" brought together black and white high school students to tell the classic story of racial injustice — and even drew out the novel's reclusive author.

Wednesday night's invitation-only performance was organized to celebrate diversity and arts education in Alabama, the home state of the novel's author, whose book and the movie made from it won immediate acclaim at a time when Alabama was still rigidly segregated.


This is truly great.

The two public schools near Birmingham are only about 16 miles apart. But Mountain Brook is one of the state's wealthiest communities, with a median home price of about $300,000, while the same figure in Fairfield is about $68,000.

Mountain Brook High draws from an overwhelmingly white suburb, while Fairfield students are from a mostly black district.

The performance has helped the students transcend not only the 30-minute distance between their communities, but a cultural divide as well. Teens who were strangers this time last year are spending hours on the phone, sending each other multiple text messages per day and chatting on the Internet networking site Facebook.

The Montgomery performance was in Troy University's Davis Theater, directly across the street from the bus stop where civil-rights icon Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man 51 years ago.

The symbolism of the location was not lost on Regan Stevens, a 17-year-old Mountain Brook senior who plays Scout, the book's main character in the fictional Southern town of Maycomb during the Depression.

Scout recounts how her father, the lawyer Atticus Finch, fought in vain to save a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman.

"I hate to say life's not fair," Stevens said backstage after lamenting the play's sad, but realistic ending. "But it's just that things are not always where they need to be. The great thing about Harper Lee's novel is that it helps us address that because it shows us the problem areas that we need to work on and that's what the civil rights movement thankfully did."

Girls and the 'Babes


Because of my weakness for U.K. pre-fab girl groups, I'm entirely too excited about this collaboration. However, I'm wondering if they're going to change some of the lyrics a tad.



Girls Aloud and Sugababes have recorded a version of Aerosmith 'Walk This Way' as this year's Comic Relief charity single.

Although neither group has yet commented on the collaboration, it is understood the track is due to be released ahead of this year's Red Nose Day, which is expected to take place on March 16.

The track was produced by TLC producer Dallas Austin. Austin also worked on Sugababes' 2005 album 'Taller In More Ways'.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Random 10

1. Comfortably Numb- Scissor Sisters
2. Cheryl Tweedy- Lily Allen
3. 80's Life- The Good, The Bad And The Queen
4. Human- Goldfrapp
5. Philadelphia Freedom- Elton John
6. What Ever Happened To?- The Buzzcocks
7. I Was Made To Love Her- Stevie Wonder
8. Out Of The Sinking- Paul Weller
9. Made Of Stone- The Stone Roses
10. The Importance Of Being Idle- Oasis

Bonus-
11. She Comes In the Fall- Inspiral Carpets
12. Walk Away- Kelly Clarkson

Good, Bad, Queen

"80's Life?" Is a great song!

First came Blur, then Gorillaz. Now, Damon Albarn has another supergroup up his sleeve, dubbed The Good, The Bad, and The Queen and featuring Paul Simonon of The Clash, Simon Tong of The Verve, and Fela Kuti drummer Tony Allen.

HOT DIGGITY DOG

David Beckham is coming to America.

The 31-year-old English midfielder, weary of the politics and the lack of playing time in Spain with Real Madrid, today agreed to a five-year deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer and will join the team when his contract with Real expires on June 30. According to reports in the British news media, the deal includes salary and commercial opportunities worth $250 million.



You know what this means?

1. Many lovely pictures of David in American sports magazines. Hopefully in shorts. Or in a suit. Or shirtless.

2. Many lovely pictures of Posh's batshit crazy self in batshit crazy outfits in American gossip rags. Hopefully the outfits will contain some of the following elements: feathers, ruffles, weird pockets, inappropriate cleavage, or hats.

EVERYONE WINS!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Versus Cancer gig

I have the sudden desire to check the prices of plane tickets from Chicago to the U.K. for the end of March.....

THE Charlatans are the latest act confirmed for the Versus Cancer charity gig.

The Manchester band will join Echo And The Bunnymen and Ian Brown at the M.E.N. Arena on March 30.


Rave and pet peeve

One of my absolute favorite things are the Celebrity Playlists on iTunes. I love them, and have been known to start liking a band if they have a particularly stunning one- i.e. My Chemical Romance, who had Doves, Blur, Massive Attack, The Stone Roses and THE LA'S!!!

Also, Liv Tyler had a good playlist. Well, she should. Her mom is Bebe Buell and her dad is that woman from Aerosmith, er, Steven Tyler. (I've always been a Joe Perry girl)

Pet peeve? Artists that pick themselves. Kayne West and Mariah Carey, I'm talking to you! If I didn't get to vote for myself for cheerleading captain in 1992 and 1993, you don't get to pick your own song. It's not cool.

Jerry Lee Lewis gets a bye in the latter category. Why? Because he's The Killer. And more than a little bit scary.


OMG



Mrs. Urban, you lucky bitch. I'm so very glad I have a subscription to W. I'm thinking Mr. Bond's, er, CRAIG's, picture will be on the flower shop's fridge sometime in the near future. Guh. GUH!

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

I'm getting old

Signs you're getting on a bit:

You eat something that you shouldn't have, and instead of bemoaning the pain in your lower GI system, you think, "Good Lord, that's interesting. What went wrong?"

Much like what I think people who practice Tantric sex must feel like after a romp in the old hay. Okay, maybe not. Like I'd know. (the Tantric sex, obviously not the hay. I'm from IOWA).

Monday, January 08, 2007

David Bowie - Rebel Rebel

Happy birthday, you hot tramp.

King Monkey, a Smith and a Ryder walk into a bar...

Ian Brown has put together a Manchester super-group featuring Happy Mondays and The Smiths members for his new album.

Entitled ‘The World Is Yours’, the former Stone Roses singer is currently recording the new LP with bassist Andy Rourke and guitarist Paul Ryder.



via Rolling Stone



Hold on, Elroy. Paul Ryder plays BASS, not GUITAR. Jesus, can't anyone use the Google?


Sunday, January 07, 2007

Sweet Baby Jesus


Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the cover of Italian Vanity Fair.

Bello indeed. Fwaaah, Mr. Bond.














via Pink Is the New Blog