Diamond in the Rough.

Bleah…so much for ABC’s “Old School” advertising strategy. Game 3 was some of the worst NBA basketball I’ve ever seen, and this is coming from a guy who really enjoys watching Knicks-Heat series. Just plain ugly…Kinda sad when the most memorable part of the game is the halftime show. Speaking of which, I’m more out of it than I thought. From what alternate universe did this Lil’ Kim version of Jewel come from? I remember her as an adorable snaggletoothed and deadly earnest folk chanteuse. She’s the last person I ever expected to drop the acoustic guitar and start hip-hopping to a Britney bounce. Well, I can’t say I’ve ever been a big fan, but with its infectious hurdy-gurdy backbeat, “Intuition” seems like it might just be this summer’s “Get this Party Started” – the bubble-gum pop song you can’t get out of your head. And from Jewel too…Who knew?

Crossing Dylan.


Ethel the Blog points the way to a remarkable confluence of two of my favorite things: the freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and ADA Claire Kincaid. Apparently, the lovely Jill Hennessy sings “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” on the recently released T-Bone Burnett-produced soundtrack for Crossing Jordan. Other potential standout tracks (not by Hennessy) include covers of VU’s “Pale Blue Eyes”, Dylan’s “Buckets of Rain,” Donovan’s “Season of the Witch,” and The Kinks’ “Days” (Also covered by Elvis Costello for the Until the End of the World soundtrack.) Right now, there’s no sign of any of these tracks on Kazaa, not that I’ve checked or anything. To be honest, I’ve never watched Crossing Jordan – from afar, it looks awful. But that doesn’t speak any less of the late Ms. Kincaid…for two seasons there, Jack McCoy was a lucky, lucky man.

Szpilman, drop the remix.

Go shorty, it’s your birthday…Found while trying to ascertain on news.google whether there’ll ever be another Portishead album: Pianist star and self-proclaimed 50 Cent fanatic Adrien Brody moonlights as a hip-hop DJ. But does he do rhymes, or strictly beats? A Kazaa search only brought up all of Night Ranger’s oeuvre.