April 2008

I just got back from seeing Josh Ritter at The Recher Theater in Towson, MD.  This is the second time I’ve seen Ritter in the last few months, and if at all possible it won’t be the last.  Ritter commands the stage with almost reckless enthusiasm, sweeping the audience along through his evocative songs.  Behind him is one of the tightest bands you’ll ever see, locking the upbeat tunes into a hard groove and subtly adding presence to the ballads.

Highlights of the show included “Snow is Gone”, “Harrisburg”, a solo rendition of “Girl in the War”, the always amazing “Kathleen” (which included a 30 second group slow dance), and a version of “Lilian, Egypt” that ended with a disco sing-along, done in stages that represented major periods in American history from the 1860s to present. It’s hard to explain. I guess you had to be there.

Another high point was Ritter’s solo performance of a new song, which he announced as “Folk Bloodshed”. It was very much a Mississippi blues tune, with lyrics that incorporate the Stagger Lee story that’s so popular in the genre. A great new song.

If Josh and his band are coming anywhere near you, do yourself a favor and go see them. You won’t be disappointed.

This new trailer doesn’t officially hit the internets until Sunday, but it’s running 12 cities and someone managed to capture it. So here’s a bootleg to tide us over until the real thing hits:

Removed at WB’s request. Check back when it gets officially released
Here’s the real thing:

So what do you think?

Courtesy of some true heroes down in Brazil, here are five new posters from The Dark Knight. Check them out below, then we’ll dicuss.

Pretty damn cool, huh? Especially the closeups of Joker, Batman, and Harvey Dent. I love the way half of Dent’s face is covered. The Batpod one is pretty lame though. So far that’s the only thing I’ve seen from the movie that doesn’t look completely badass. Oh well, I guess you can’t win them all…

UPDATE
Here’s yet another new one, courtesy of Film School Rejects

Alan Cohen is something of a one-man-band.  Actually he’s exactly a one-man-band.  The Alan Cohen Experience’s debut album, Revolution, features Cohen on vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, and kazoo.  He’s the only person that appears on the album, and he produced it himself.  So, if many great albums are built from collaboration, the synergistic swapping of ideas, the give and take of creative ideas, how does Revolution sound?  Can one man’s vision truly provide the musical variety and the depth of lyrics required to provide a satisfying album?
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There’s a great new poster out for The Dark Knight.  It shows Batman against the backdrop of a building with the bat symbol burned into it, and features the tagline “Welcome to a World Without Rules”.  This.  Is.  Going.  To.  Be.  AWESOME!

(click the header to see the full poster)

Punk sounds so much sunnier when it’s played on a ukulele…

Here’s a cover of The Ramones’ “Blitzkreig Bop” by Gus and Fin, two guys with ukes.

Check out Sunday Music Spotlight alums Vampire Weekend performing “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” on the Kimmel show, with a high school marching band’s drumline. It’s kind of like a much preppier version of Fleetwood Mac getting the USC marching band to perform on “Tusk”…

This summer will see the release of the latest movie in the Will Smith, Action Hero genre. This time the Fresh Prince plays a reluctant super hero in Hancock. Check out the first real look into what the movie is all about:

Hancock is due to hit theaters on July 2nd. What do you think? A worthwhile summer popcorn flick? Or more mindless blockbuster poo?

It looks like the badass DVD edition of Kill Bill we’ve all been waiting for may actually be on its way, and it may be even more badass than we could have imagined. Uma Thurman let slip to MTV that Quentin Tarantino is working on the Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair version of the DVD, and it’s set to include both movies. Plus an intermission. Made up of a whole new chapter of the story. Done in anime. Kick ass.

No word on a release date, but you can bet we’ll be keeping our eyes out.

Noooooooooooooooooo! Über-suck actor Brendan Frasier is going to appear as Gung Ho in the upcoming G.I. Joe movie. You may remember Mr. Fraser from such “films” as The Mummy, Encino Man, The Mummy Returns, George of the Jungle, and Duddley Do-Right. Yep, a world-class resume of suck. Any hopes for the movie to be cool just went out the window. Because Brendan Fraser is the antidote for good movies.

Full details at Slash Film

Venerable rockers R.E.M. have a video out for the second single from their surprisingly-decent latest album, Accelerate. The video’s not all that interesting, but the song’s actually pretty good, so check it out:

Sunday Music Spotlight alums Plants and Animals have announced a string of tour dates, headlining with fellow SMS alums Rock Plaza Central. The Canadian trio is hitting both coasts through May and June. If you live anywhere near where they’re playing do yourselves a favor and go see them. If not, go buy their album Parc Avenue. It’s the next best thing.

WED, May 14 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Café Live Upstairs ** (P&A headlines)
THUR, May 15 - Baltimore, MD @ 8X10 **
FRI, May 16 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge ** (P&A headlines)
SAT, May 17 - Brooklyn, NY @ Union Hall **
SUN, May 18 - Boston, MA @ TT The Bear’s ** (P&A headlines)
MON, June 23 - Seattle, WA @ Nectar Lounge
TUE, June 24 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir (w. the Dodos)
WED, June 25 - San Francisco, CA @ The Rickshaw
FRI, June 27 - Pamona, CA @ The Glass House
SAT, June 28 - Los Angeles, CA (TBA)
** CO-HEADLINING TOUR WITH ROCK PLAZA CENTRAL

For more information head over to Parc Avenue’s official site

For some reason this just struck a nerve and made me laugh. Hard. Kind of embarrassingly hard actually…

via I Can Has a Cheezburger

Bear with me a second here, because this movie is going to sound pretty dumb. The premise is this: A man has a passion for acting, but turns out to be terrible at it. So he decides to teach acting, landing a job at a high school. When the school decides to cut the drama program he figures the best way to save the program is to write a musical and stage it. The musical he writes is Hamlet 2, a sequel to the Bard’s tale about the Prince of Denmark. You know, the one where everyone dies at the end. Along the way Jesus, the ACLU, Elisabeth Shue, and a gay men’s choir somehow get involved. Got it?

So the premise is either genius or completely retarded. Based on the trailer, and the fact that the movie was the hit of Sundance, I’m thinking it might be the former. But check it out and decide for yourself.

Hamlet 2 opens nationwide August 29th.

“She” is a successful actress. While working on a song for the soundtrack of one of her movies “she” met “him”, a talented musician and producer. They hit it off, and during the course of conversation “she” revealed that she had written some songs. “She” sent them to “him”, and they so impressed “him” that he decided they had to record them. So over the next few months Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward recorded what would become She & Him’s first album, Volume One.
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Tell me if you’ve heard this before: There’s a movie coming out that’s an comic book adaptation, shot and directed in a highly-stylized way that makes it look like a comic book. It’s a hard-boiled detective story that takes place in a crumbling city. And it’s brought to us by Frank Miller. Sound familiar? No, it’s not Sin City. This time it’s The Spirit.

The film is an adaptation of the comic dating all the way back to the 40s. Originally created by Will Eisner, it’s Frank Miller’s vision that will appear on the screen. The movie will follow The Spirit, a former detective who rose from the dead to fight crime, as he battles his arch-enemy, The Octopus (played by Samuel L. Jackson, who we all know is a BMF).

The movie doesn’t hit theaters until January 19th, 2009, but the teaser trailer is out now:

On December 21st, 1970 one of our country’s most iconic photographs was taken. It recorded the visit of the nation’s most popular figure and its most powerful man. It’s a picture that hangs on walls all over the country. It’s the picture that shows Elvis in the Oval Office shaking hands with Richard Nixon.

For a long time that photo was all the public had to mark that historic occasion. Now the National Archives has an exhibit of 28 more photos of the meeting, plus a photo of the WWII handgun Elvis presented to Nixon as a gift. These pics are a must-view for any big Elvis fan (or I suppose any big Nixon fan).

All the pics are after the jump
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A couple of weeks ago we got to see two pictures of Snake Eyes from the upcoming big screen edition of G.I. Joe.  Now we get to see a pic of Scarlett, the crossbow-wielding, red-headed hottie.  She’ll be played by the foxilicious Rachel Nichols, and if this pic is any indication, she’ll be the movie’s main attraction.  As always click for the full pic.

via Film School Rejects

The Decemberists’ frontman Colin Meloy recently popped into Portland’s Jackpot Records to play a few tunes.  Here’s his solo take on “We Both Go Down Together”, quite possibly the least depressing song about a Romeo and Juliet story.

This May’s season finale of Lost is going to be so big they just couldn’t fit it into one hour. Or two. It’s going to be THREE HOURS. That’s as long as The Godfather! It’s set to air over two nights, with the one hour part one on May 15th, and the last two hours on May 29th. In reality that sounds like a one hour episode and a two hour season finale, but really it’s just semantics.

The producers say they decided on the extra hour to allow more time to reveal some of the show’s secrets. I’ll believe that when I see it. In any case, anytime we get more Lost it’s a good thing in my book.

E! Online has all the details.

Some genius crazy person inspired madman managed to get a remote controlled car to play the Super Mario Brothers theme on water-filled bottles.

I don’t even want to know how long this took to setup. It’s cool though, so props to the crazy dude who took the time.

I’m in Boston. I’ve been up since 4AM. Sooooo tired. So, without too much fanfare, here’s a leaked trailer (with Polish subtitles!) for this summer’s theatrical feature Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It gives us a chance, albeit fuzzy, to see what this fancy schmancy 3D animation will look like. And it doesn’t look bad. My interest level? Meh.

[VIDEO REMOVED AT WARNER BROTHERS' REQUEST]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is due out August 15th. So what’s your take? Will you be in your storm trooper costume on August 1st, waiting in line? Or is it just another shameless attempt from George Lucas to separate you from your hard-earned money?

They’re loud.  They’re crude.  They’re Danish.  They’re The Floor is Made of Lava.

They’re also relative newcomers, only forming in March 2006.  It hasn’t taken long for them to make a name for themselves however.  As a matter of fact it only took them four months to secure a record deal and crack the top 5 of the Danish charts?  Why?  Are they musical wunderkinds?  Doesn’t seem like it, thought they’re certainly competent.  No, it’s not their overwhelming musical ability that’s propelled them to such quick success.  It’s their ability to create upbeat songs that make you move like the floor is in fact made of lava.

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Bryant Gumbel, the worst football play-by-play announcer EVER has been fired by NFL Network.

What made him so bad?  Watch this:

Notice how he screwed up the sponser of the postgame show AND he called Tony Romo “Rick”.  Adios Bryant.  You won’t be missed.

It’s starting to get a little ridiculous how many pictures are popping up from Iron Man. Today SlashFilm uncovered 28 more. Yes, 28. Plus a new video clip (from Nickelodeon of all places).  Here’s the clip:

Pics are after the jump

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Death Cab For Cutie is back with a new single and a new album on the way. Here’s the video for the single, “I Will Possess Your Heart”.

Clocking in at over eight minutes it’s a little hard to get through. Pretty good once it gets going though.

The new album, Narrow Stairs, is due out May 13th. But you can preorder it now.

I’ll admit, I’m cheating a little bit this week.  It’s not technically a cover; it’s a remix.  But it’s different enough that I’m counting it.  Plus it’s one Sunday Music Spotlight alum remixing another.  How could I pass it up?

Bon Iver’s debut album For Emma, Forever Ago is quiet and introspective. The Rosebuds “Get Up Get Out” is a full on disco-pop song. So you wouldn’t expect Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon to remix the song, would you?

Well he did. And it’s good. Real good. Vernon strips down the instrumentation and adds his own unique backing vocals. The result is a completely different take on the song than the original.

Bon Iver Vs Rosebuds - Get Up Get Out

The remix is part of the collection Sweet Beats, Troubled Sleep. It’s remixes of each song on The Rosebuds Night of the Furies and it was commissioned by Merge Records to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the album’s release. The best part? It’s available for free from their website.

Star Trek veteran George Takei is a contestant on CBS’ Secret Talent of the Stars.  Apparently his “secret talent” is sucking at singing.  Here’s a clip of Sulu taking on the Willie Nelson classic “On the Road Again”:

Now that we have three members of the original Star Trek cast to dabble in singing, let’s have an Enterprise Talent Contest!

First up is William Shatner with his epic performance of Elton John’s “Rocket Man”:

Finally we have Leonard “Spock” Nimoy singing the world’s greatest ode to a fictional midget, “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins”:

Now that you’ve seen the evidence,

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Über songmeister Bob Dylan picked up a special honorary Pulitzer Prize on Monday for his “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.”

It’s fitting that Dylan is the first rock musician to win an award typically reserved for classical composers.  He is widely considered rock music’s poet laureate, and his career has spanned over 40 years with no sign of stopping.  His most recent album, 2006’s Modern Times, was his best in years and showed that he can still combine insightful lyrics with good old-fashioned rock n’ roll.

Bob Dylan - Thunder On The Mountain

Congrats Bob!

The fine folks over at SlashFilm uncovered a slew of new photos from Iron Man today.

There’s some good stuff here. Lots of Iron Man, Iron Monger, and the two of them duking it out. Can’t wait for May 2nd to get here.

For good measure, here’s a new clip from the movie that shows Tony Stark trying to fly for the first time:

For this week’s Spotlight we head north, up to the wide open land where bacon is ham, healthcare is free, and the metric system is king.  Our tale starts in Nova Scotia, where two high school friends decide to form a band.  They head off to college in Montreal, where they hook up with a French-speaking native.  And the eclectic trio that would become Plants and Animals was complete.

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Imagine the world’s worst martial arts instructor.  No, seriously, imagine it. Got it?  Now, watch this trailer, and tell me this guy isn’t worse than what you had in mind (NSFW language):

The Foot Fist Way hits theaters May 30th

Remember that spinoff of The Office we talked about a while back?  Well NBC announced their fall schedule today, and listed in the Thursday 9:30 timeslot is “The Office [Spinoff]“.  According to TV Squad the network isn’t sure what the show is actually going to be yet, but they’ve committed to doing it.  Interesting.  Does anyone else smell suck?

WARNING:  THAR BE SPOILERS AHEAD

New pics of Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight have surfaced.  I’ve posted them after the jump, but they seem like they could be gigantic spoilers, so click at your own peril.

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Since I just posted a Random Cover of the Week a little while ago I would normally put this off until next week.  But I just couldn’t.  I think you’ll understand…

BoingBoing uncovered a clip of The Leningrad Cowboys, a Finnish band we’ve briefly covered before, with the former Soviet Red Army Chorus, covering one of the most American bands ever, Lynryd Skynyrd.  Here’s their Devo-meets-Willy-Wonka-esque take on “Sweet Home Alabama”.  I’m speechless…

Our favorite ukulele player Molly, aka SweetAfton23, is back with a new direct-to-internet performance.  This time she “covers” The Moldy Peaches song “Anyone Else Buy You” (the song featured in the movie Juno).  I put “covers” in quotes because she kind of veers off course a couple of verses in, substituting other songs’ lyrics for the verses.  See if you can spot the artists she pays homage to here:

I came up with (in no particular order): The Bloodhound Gang, Kanye West, Vanilla Ice, Eminem, Lady Sovereign, Nirvana, Tom Lehrer, Avril Lavigne, and Led Zeppelin.  Brilliant!

Once again Jenna Fischer proves that she’s just as talented as she is cute.  In this clip the cast and crew of The Office recite Jenna’s “10 Things You Don’t Know About Women” (NSFW language)

via Egotastic