“We’ve noticed the less we say about the future of the show, the more people want to talk about it, so in an effort to reverse this trend we are today announcing that we won’t be returning for a 3rd season. We’re very proud of the two seasons we made and we like the way the show ended.” Bret? Jemaine? Murray? Alas, nobody’s present: The Kiwi powers-that-be have pulled the plug on a Flight of the Conchords Season 3 (although they will remain, in real, non-HBO life, the bane of the novelty music paparazzi.) Ah well, it was a good run.
Category: Music
Kenny wasn’t like the other kids.
“Van Toffler, the president of MTV Networks, said on Monday, ‘Ken was a great guy. His personality really brought “Remote Control” to life, as well as a new style of programming for MTV. We were really flying by the seat of of our pants then, and Ken was the reason it worked.’” R.I.P. Ken Ober, 1957-2009. Well, that’s surprising — and depressing — news.
Turn You Inside Out.
“Guantanamo may be Dick Cheney’s idea of America, but it’s not mine,’ Morello said in a statement announcing the effort. ‘The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me.’” A group of musicians including Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, R.E.M., Billy Bragg, Pearl Jam, the Roots, Rosanne Cash, and David Byrne demand that Gitmo close, and that their music stop being used for torture. “If there are any legal options that can be realistically taken they will be aggressively pursued,” Reznor promised.“
People Who Died.
“I thought of Jim not as my doppleganger, exactly — that would have been ridiculous. But we were the same age, came from similar backgrounds (his old man was a saloon keeper; mine, a cop), and had something of the same spoiled altar boy’s worldview, and we both worshipped at the dual shrines of the Roundball and the Word.“
In Slate, editor Gerald Howard remembers the late Jim Carroll, best known as author of The Basketball Diaries and the album Catholic Boy. “Tall, slim, athletic, pale, and spectral as many ex-junkies are, Jim was a vivid presence in any setting. He was a classic and now vanishing New York type: the smart (and smartass) Irish kid with style, street savvy, and whatever the Gaelic word for chutzpah is.“
For Christmas, Buy her a Drum(stick).
“Songs performed by Dylan on this new album include, ‘Here Comes Santa Claus,’ ‘Winter Wonderland,’ ‘Little Drummer Boy’ and ‘Must Be Santa.” Put away the Mannheim Steamroller — In order to help Feeding America, the freewheelin’ Bob Dylan will release a holiday album, Christmas in the Heart, October 13. “It’s a tragedy that more than 35 million people in this country alone — 12 million of those children – often go to bed hungry and wake up each morning unsure of where their next meal is coming from. I…hope that our efforts can bring some food security to people in need during this holiday season.“
Does Anybody Here Remember Vera Lynn?
Vera, Vera, what has become of you? Does anybody else in here feel the way I do? Well, Rog’, apparently they do. (And, to be she fair, she did say we’d meet again.)
THAT Direction Home.
“Motorists who follow Dylan’s directions, however, may take some time to reach their destination. “I think it would be good if you are looking for directions and you heard my voice saying something like, ‘Left at the next street…. No, right… You know what? Just go straight.’ He added: ‘I probably shouldn’t do it because whichever way I go, I always end up at one place – Lonely Avenue.’” By way of a friend, Bob Dylan plans to voice a satellite navigation system. Yes, please.
That Les Paul Sound.
“‘For 10 years, I was a laugh,’ he told CNN in an interview. ‘[But I] kept pounding at them and pounding at them saying hey, here’s where it’s at. Here’s where tomorrow, this is it. You can drown out anybody with it. And you can make all these different sounds that you can’t do with a regular guitar.’” Lester William Polfuss, a.k.a. Les Paul, 1915-2009. “In 1948, after being involved in a severe car accident, he asked the doctor to set his arm permanently in a guitar-playing position.“
The Angel, the Sidekick, and the King of Pop.
“Although this is an extremely difficult time for her family and friends, we take comfort in the beautiful times that we shared with Farrah over the years and the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world.” Farrah Fawcett, 1947-2009.
Also leaving us of late, Ed McMahon, 1923-2009. “‘Quit? Oh, I’ll never quit,’ he told Entertainment Weekly in 2005. ‘This is what I do. If I’m in a wheelchair, I can still do radio. I tell everyone that there is only one way that I’m going to go. I’ll be on TV, we’ll be going to a commercial break, and I’ll look dead into the camera and say, “They’ll be back. I won’t.” And that will be it.’“
Update: “‘Michael Jackson made culture accept a person of color,’ the Rev. Al Sharpton said. ‘To say an “icon” would only give these young people in Harlem a fraction of what he was. He was a historic figure that people will measure music and the industry by.‘” Michael Jackson, 1958-2009.
Peas’ Porridge Cold.
“But to retire the very concept of ‘selling out’? To dismiss the notion that an artist’s reputation could ever be sullied by wanton greed? Nuh-uh. I can’t allow it…We as a culture must reserve our right to shower disdain on the Black Eyed Peas.” Old friend Seth Stevenson reads the riot act to will.i.am and the Black Eyed Peas for shilling for Target…and, apparently, anyone else who comes down the pike. “Observe how eagerly — how incredibly naturally — the Peas embrace the role of discount store shill. Stop for a moment and ponder the fact that will.i.am has a giant Target logo on his hat. A line must be drawn. I draw it here.”