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That’s apparently the mindset taken by a bunch of fellers who took it upon themselves to pretend to be the ’70s band Redbone, best known for their hit single, “Come and Get Your Love.” The imposters ended up playing the Butte-Silver Bow Fair in Montana…which rather pissed off the actual band, who were playing in Wisconsin at the time…but, frankly, I think the fault lies with the fair organizers, who probably could’ve avoided the incident if they’d just done a little research. I mean, here’s the real Redbone…
…and here’s the fake Redbone:
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 Submitted for your approval, Bullz-Eye’s take on Lollapalooza 2006. The Mayor of Simpleton and I, after soaking our feet for about 12 hours, sorted through our pictures and broke down our weekend of fun, sun, and being on the run in Chicago. All in all, a very good time, but holy smokes, were we tired. Hell, we still are. One last shoutout to my Dredsen Doll friend in the front row.
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…then you absolutely must see this homemade video for “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down.” That’s it. I don’t have anything more to add, except perhaps the fact that I’m disappointed a group of guys who are clearly “Simpsons” fans are so shockingly dull. |
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File under ‘strange but true’: Johnny Marr has officially joined Modest Mouse. Seems an odd fit, at best…but at least the members of Modest Mouse acknowledge how ridiculously blessed they are to have landed the famed former Smiths guitarist:
Really fuckin’ nice. Still somewhat of an understatement (particularly since the phrase “lucky bastards” appears nowhere in that sentence)…but it’s a start. |
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The first half of my day was totally wrecked, but the Mayor of Simpleton, merely doing his duty in increasing our overall coverage, benefited greatly in the process. Mix Master Mike: Beastie Boys DJ, playing a gig at the Hard Rock Hotel. Air conditioning, free drinks, Playstation, pinball, free food. What’s not to love? Nothing, provided that you don’t care if MMM is at least over an hour and a half late. I met Whitney Matheson, who does the Pop Candy blog at USA Today, but never saw MMM before I had to head down to Grant Park. Wolfmother, dude. WOLFMOTHER! But we’ll get to that in a minute. How was the Go! Team, Mayor? Mayor: Fucking awesome. Chauffeur: Sigh. I knew it. Wolfmother: There is no question that these guys bring the rock, but I have to admit that the songs didn’t exactly stick themselves in my cerebral cortex and bounce around. All I remember was that they rocked, and what appeared to be the entire city of Chicago rocked with them. Gnarls Barkley: Six words: tennis outfits, “We Are the Champions.” Okay, one more word: AWESOME. The Dresden Dolls: I covered them while Mayor checked out the Smoking Popes, and I have to tell you that the Dolls absolutely exceeded my expectations. Plus, you have to give points when a dude and a chick, on piano and drums, wearing white makeup, cover Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.” And knock it out of the park. I got a picture of the cutest girl in the front row, dressed like a Doll. God, that makeup had to have been death to wear in such humid climes. Flaming Lips: Greatest, opening, ever, and I mean EVER. In all of the concerts I’ve ever seen in my life, the Lips’ intro is one I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Alien girls to my left, Santa Clauses to my right, while the band plays “Race for the Prize,” my favorite Lips song. An instant classic. New Pornographers: Seemed almost Amish after the display that the Lips put on, but they still killed, though where was Neko Case? Probably plugging her own (great) record, but still. The show is in the backyard of your adopted hometown, girl! Tomorrow: Day Three: One day too many |
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I am a little late to blogging the last two days’ events, but I thought I’d catch you up on some of my favorite Lolla moments so far. Eels: We walked up to their stage about 20 minutes into the set, and didn’t even recognize the band onstage that was pretending to be the Eels. The Mayor of Simpleton and I are pretty well versed in the Eels’ catalog, and neither of us actually thought that was the Eels. So we went back down to the southern stages, which takes about an hour and a half, top to bottom. I’m only slightly kidding. Editors: Not much in the way of a magnetic stage presence, but DAMN, did they sound good. Secret Machines: Here’s my impression of their drummer: EAT DRUMS! EAT DRUMS! No, Animal, beat drums! BEAT DRUMS! BEAT DRUMS! That guy’s a monster. The Raconteurs: The little girls love Jack White. Even though they’re right up front screaming their heads off, and can see that pasty, straggly haired Jack White, they still love him. The guys love him, too. When they played “Steady as She Goes,” there were about 100,000 people pogoing. Even better, they did a cover of Gnarls Barkey’s “Crazy.” Sweeeet. Violent Femmes: Wow. I had no idea how good these guys were live. I’m sick to death of their first album, but they are undeniably fun in concert. Plus, they cracked a great Spinal Tap joke with their intro. Death Cab for Cutie: Two shots in, my camera’s battery went dead. D’oh. Oh well, the band was backlit, and we were under a no-flash photography order. Coming up next: Day Two: better than Day One. |
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…or listen to James Blunt sing “You’re Beautiful” just one more time? It’s a tough call, isn’t it? Hard to find the upside in either one…and yet, in a poll conducted by London tabloid The Mirror, a majority of UK music fans voted James Blunt more annoying than stepping in dog poo, suffering from heat rash, and having a bad hair day — among many, many other things. Click here for the full list of items the Brits find less annoying than James Blunt … and watch where you step. |
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Huzzah to Donna Da Iguana for introducing us to The Superficial. It’s just like Defamer, only less chatty. And, like Defamer, they love the rack. I know, I know, who doesn’t? Especially Jessica Simpson’s, when it’s popping through her dress?
For a larger look, click here. To see the gallery, click here. |
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And the joke this time - and a not very funny one, at that - is that, for the third time, Elvis Costello’s early catalog…his first 11 albums, to be specific…are being reissued, this time by Universal Music Enterprises. Shockingly, although the albums were previously put out in special editions by Rykodisc and Rhino (the latter including an entire second disc’s worth of bonus tracks), Universal assures us that these will be the “definitive reissues.”
Backed into a corner, Costello admitted he’d spent the money from the Rykodisc and Rhino reissues maintaining his nasty Faberge Egg habit. Equally, I can assure Universal that, although I have all of Elvis’s albums (and, quite frankly, have had no real aversion to sticking with the Ryko reissues of those initial 11 albums, bonus disc or not) and have seen him live multiple times, there’s just no way in Hell that I’m going to buy these things again. By the way, the above lyric is from Elvis Costello and the Attractions’ “It’s Time,” from All This Useless Beauty, an album not included in the reissues. (It’s from 1996.) Still, it was that or once again use Morrissey’s all-too-apropros line, “Reissue, repackage, repackage…” |
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If you’re torn as to which you should be more excited about…the fact that Heath Ledger has been selected to play the Joker in the next “Batman” flick, or that Meatloaf is getting ready to release Bat Out of Hell III…then we’ve got the perfect middle ground for you: an MP3 of a Jim Steinman composition that was intended for a never-produced “Batman” musical. The song is called “Wonderful Toys,” as in, “Where does he get those…?” It’s over the top in that way where, when it reaches its heights, you realize, “Hey, I can see my house from here.” Shame the thing didn’t get produced. I have visions of Joel Shumacher directing… |
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…how’s this? |
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…you’re missing out on a rebroadcast of the first 24 hours of MTV. I watched some last night, and here’s what was part of the goods: Split Enz - History Never Repeats, One Step Ahead For a guy whose musical tastes were almost entirely influenced by early MTV, this is like Christmas day. |
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…and Al sticks it right back! Actually, this is kind old news, but a response to an earlier posting where I posited that “Weird Al” Yankovic’s parody of James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful” (called - naturally - “You’re Pitiful”) would be on his new album, Straight Outta Lynnwood was deemed inaccurate, so I went into research mode. It made sense that it’d be on there, after all, he’s made the song available as a free download on his site, so I figured it was intended as a teaser for the upcoming disc. Yeah, not so much.
Isn’t it amazing what a haircut and a shave can do for a guy? Although Blunt himself gave the go-ahead for the cover, according to Yankovic in an E-mail interview with NPR, Blunt’s label - Atlantic Records - quashed his plans to put it on the forthcoming album. “The legality in this case is somewhat moot,” Yankovic wrote NPR. “James Blunt could still let me put it on my album if he really wanted to, but he obviously doesn’t want to alienate his own record company… and my label (Volcano) could release the parody without Atlantic’s blessing, but they don’t really want to go to war with another label over this. So really, it’s more of a political matter than a legal matter. I have a long-standing history of respecting artists’ wishes, so if James Blunt himself were objecting, I wouldn’t even offer my parody for free on my Web site. But since it’s a bunch of suits — who are actually going against their own artist’s wishes — I have absolutely no problem with it.” Word. |
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