* 911! The roof! The roof! The roof is on fi-ah! One of 50 Cent's houses burns down!
* If John McCain gets elected south of the border, Susan Sarandonmight move to Canada (or Italy).
* Quote of the day by American Idol winner, David Cook: "It's amazing what forgetting to shave will do for you. Accidental cougar bait is still cougar bait so it's all good." (Love it).
* Transformers II has begun filming in Bethlehem... Pennsylvania.
* What would you do if you found out a stranger was living in your closet?! (Besides scream and run, natch).
* And finally, I saw a preview screening of Sex And The City last night, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. Although a tad overwrought and cheesy at times, it will please fans of the show, for shizzles. But people were effed: Girls were dressed up to the nines and were shouting at the screen at times. Before the show even started, one girl got up and started reading off SATC Trivia Cards. It was like an estrogen-filled comic book convention. I was afeared.
Just so we are all ITL (erm, In The Loop), this category revolves around VideoFACT, the Canadian fund which provides grants to new and upcoming Canadian recording artists to assist them in the production of their music videos. The following 5 bands have spent that money well and are therefore the nominees for the VideoFACT Best Independent Video.
Bedouin Soundclash - Walls Fall Down
This stylish trio from Kingston, ON know how to shoot a video. Their multi-pane video for When The Night Feels My Song, put them on the musical map, and their road-trip video for Gyasi Went Home (which was shot in Guyana), showed that they were socially aware. Well, now the boys just want to have fun; thus Walls Fall Down - a one shot video where walls come in and out of the frame, to create various different rooms and scenarios. It's all so smooth and seamless that all that stands out is the infectious reggae-influenced song itself. Walls may be falling down, but we're all too busy singing along.
Cancer Bats - Hail Destroyer
While watching the video for Cancer Bats' Hail Destroyer, you'd never know that the members of this hardcore punk band were apprehensive and somewhat frightened of the unpredictable real-life wolves that were circling them (one of the camera men got his lip gashed open!), but the guys do their best to simply rock out, like they are known to do. Through all the thrashing, shouting and punching the floor, the wolves should be scared of them! Hail Destroyer? Hail Cancer Bats!
Neverending White Lights - Always
If Neverending White Lights' past videos are any indication, frontman Daniel Victor has a flair for theatrics. His video for Always makes no exception. The video opens up on a car wreck, where two strangers (or are they?) have collided into one another. What follows is an examination of life, before and after a traumatic experience. These flashbacks and flashforwards are touching, effective, and in the end, sweet. It's a 3-Act mini-play crammed into a 4 minute video where the curtain drops much too soon.
The Russian Futurists - Paul Simon
C'mon, we've all done it: put on our headphones, started strutting down the street to our favourite struttable song, and envisioned a music video in our heads. This is the concept behind The Russian Futurists' video for Paul Simon (which has also shown up on some Samsung Phone ads). There are the dancing passerbys and the strangers who are singing the very song that you are listening to. If only real life were actually this much fun.
Wintersleep - Weighty Ghost
Wintersleep, the tour-happy Juno-winning indie rock band from Nova Scotia, has been hard at work since 2001, but in this past year, the band has been pushed to the forefront of the Canadian music scene. With the video for the single, Weighty Ghost, (with its quiet houses in the nighttime and hooded children running about) Wintersleep has achieved the oddest oxymoron sense of community and isolation. It's a beautifully eerie feeling from a beautifully shot music video from a band that has more than paid its dues.
Next award category recap: MuchVIBE Best Rap Video!
So when you log on to Flickr, the site greets you in various forms of "hello" - like, "Salut, (your name)!" or "Namaste, (your name)!". If you can't take language classes, it's a good way of learning how to feel comfortable in several foreign countries. At least in greeting people. Anyhoodle, here's what it said when I logged on today:
And I laaaaauuughed and laughed. Lolspeak is so amusing to me. I wonder if this means that McDonalds commercials will soon be all, "HAI THAR, I CAN HAZ CHEEZBURGER LOLZ1!" or if the Flickr office is still full of cool people...
Now, if you heed my call, please fill up the comments section with a seizure-inducing selection of other Lolspeak phrases. Now!!
I swear this song doesn't get old for me ... and I say this after hearing it at least 20 times in the last 24 hours. (Seriously, I'm addicted.) The video has the same kind of magic and excitement as Willy Wonka did when I was growing up, minus the candy and greedy kids, of course. Jamie's walking around in this all-white suit, over blocks that light up with every step. He meets these 3 girls along the way that are missing one of their senses and he 'hooks them up', as the cool kids say. One girl got a mouth for speech, another girl got ears for hearing, but check this out - the last girl needed eyes for sight and up until this third girl, Jamie was giving out real body parts. As if I didn't love this video already, he goes and gives her googly eyeglasses. Seriously, when's the last time you saw googly eyes? Scratch that, when's the last time you said the term 'googly eyes'? You can't say it or see it without smiling, can you? It's official, this video is my new 'pick-me-up' for Monday mornings.
For the next three days, I'm Montreal bound! I'm pretty excited that I'll be covering MUTEK for the whole weekend - if you haven't heard of it, it's an annual electronic music festival, and its ninth edition started this past Wednesday and continues till Sunday night. 40 international acts, some of them making their North American debut (!) will be performing at a host of venues, day and night. I used to live in Montreal, and back then MUTEK was its embryonic years - just starting out - but I remember seeing SO many great bands at every edition. DJs, bands, dance parties...the works. I can't wait to go back!
My schedule's pretty rammed. I'll be checking out A/Vision later tonight, and then both Nocturne showcases as well as the MUTEK Piknic on the south shore. And the M83 show at Cabaret, which isn't technically part of MUTEK, but it'll be a banger of a show and it fits nicely into the 'electronica' theme of the weekend. I'll be chronicling my adventures in Montreal right here, so check back to read my coverage!
I'm pretty pumped to be seeing: Christian Fennesz, Underground Resistance, sleeparchive, Kid Koala, The Field, Modeselektor, Tim Hecker, Flying Lotus, Noze, and a dozen other acts that I'm being introduced to for the first time.
Oh, and you can pick up a specially-crafted MUTEK compilation on Beatport.com.
If MUTEK wasn't enough of a weekend activity in Montreal, there's also the Festival Mondial de la Biere (beer fest!) on Saturday. And then on Sunday, the Tour De L'Isle, where cyclists take over 50km of roads and public transit for the day. At the height of the cyclist takeover I'll be relaxing on a beach blanket at Parc Jean-Drapeau, enjoying some sweet minimalist tunes instead of fighting my way through the streets with 30,000 bikes!
OK whoa. That was gross. But look how exciting! Arts & Crafts! The Stills! Together at last! The Stills have finally leaked some specifics about their upcoming third album, called Oceans Will Rise, which will be out on August 19.
The "hook-hungry" album's been described as a "bold new musical stride forward" album and I couldn't be more excited. Because word has it that Tim (Fletcher) has resumed vocal duties. Which makes me tingle, because as you may or may not know, he's my rock 'n roll boyfriend.
The guys have a few Canadian dates lined up in June, where we'll surely get to sample some tunes from the new album:
June 10 @ Zaphod Beeblebrox*, Ottawa
June 11 @ The Mod Club, Toronto (for NXNE)
June 28 @ Woodstock en Beauce, Beauce QC
* quite possibly the weirdest venue name ever. It makes me giggle every time I type it.
And peep the artwork for this bad boy. It was created by NYC-based visual artist Gordon Hull of Surface 2 Air, who contributed artwork for The Stills' last two albums (that's Logic Will Break Your Heart and With Feathers, for all you latecomers). It's a photo of a gold-leafed human skull. But which hominidae is that? Australopithecus Afarensis? Homo Habilis? Or plain ol' Homo Sapiens? I love how simple it is. And of course it's got the classic Arts & Crafts spine details, which I love seeing lined up all in a row on my shelf of CDs. So uniform and consistent.
Tracklisting:
1. Don't Talk Down
2. Snow In California
3. Snakecharming The Masses
4. Being Here*
5. Everything I Build
6. Panic
7. Eastern Europe
8. Hands On Fire
9. Dinosaurs
10. I'm With You
11. Rooibos / Palm Wine Drinkard
12. Statue Of Sirens
Surely you've heard (and subsequently fallen in love with) British duo The Ting Tings by now. We streamed their debut album We Started Nothing a few weeks ago in advance of its release a coupla weeks ago and we kinda love it. It's got the amazing That's Not My Name (which debuted at #1 on the UK charts!) as well as Shut Up And Let Me Go, which you may already know from the iPod/iTunes commercial (watch it).
Well, the pair has finally announced a North American tour, with two Canadian dates: June 9 @ The Plaza Club in Vancouver and June 16 @ The Mod Club Theatre in Toronto.
And guess what? We have two pairs of tickets to the Toronto gig to give away right here. But wait - there's more: a copy of We Started Nothing on vinyl. It'll look great in one of Urban Outfitters' 'legendary' (their words!) album frames.
If you wanna win one of these two sweet prize packs, all you have to do is click below and dump in your details. It couldn't be simpler!
Hurry though. The contest closes Wednesday, June 11 @ 12pm ET!
* Clay Aiken is gonna be a baby daddy! (Um, I just vomited in my mouth. Like, a lot).
* Here are some pictures of Gossip Girl's Ed Westwick and Chace Crawford partying up. The pics look like they were could've been taken off my or any one of my friends' Facebook profiles. See? Celebrities ARE just like us!
* Shirley Manson, lead singer of Garbage, will be joining the cast of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Hmmm... Maybe I'll finally start watching this show now.
* And finally, I can't get enough of Usher's Moving Mountains. Ah! What is WRONG with me?!
The easy-going guys of Theory Of A Deadman dropped by MOD today to chat with Matte Babel and to perform a few diddys. The interview and performances will be up on MuchAXS soon, but in the meantime, here are some pics to keep you content:
HEY GUESS WHAT. A fearsome foursome have joined forces to hit up five Canadian cities for a tour-stravaganza: Akon, Sean Paul, Wyclef and Kardinal Offishall may be coming to a town near you, and if you wanna be there, we've got the presale! Mmm hmm, buy your tix before they go on sale to the general public!
* The presale takes place today (Thursday) from 10am to 10pm local time.
* Your password is: wyclef.
Toronto - July 10 - Molson Amphitheatre (Buy tix) Winnipeg - July 15 - MTS Centre (Buy tix) Saskatoon - July 16 - Credit Union Centre (Buy tix) Edmonton - July 17 - Rexall Place (Buy tix) Vancouver - July 19 - General Motors Place (Buy tix)
You know, it's probably a good thing that jokers and all-around mellow dudes Kardi and Wyclef are going on this tour. Anytime Akon feels like throwing someone off the stage, he can just be like, "yo Kardi, do something hilarious." And then K will bring out one of his silly voices and the show will return to a comfortable PG-13 level.
The avant-garde Icelandic rock band, Sigur Ros, has just made their latest single, Gobbledigook, available for free download on their website.
I have high expectations for Sigur Ros since they are constantly reaching new artistic heights (namely with last year's amazing concert film Heima). This new single does not disappoint - it is much more upbeat than their songs as of late, but it works. On headphones, the instrumentation is extremely effective. Do yourself a favour and download Gobbledigook immediately.
The song is from their upcoming album, entitled (translated) With A Buzz In Our Ears We Play Endlessly. It hits North American stores on June 24th.
Hey everyone... I'm sick...I hate being sick. Being so tired and sore and just wanting to sleep, but being so restless and uncomfortable that you can't really sleep.
Ya, that's what I'm dealing with, but when I do sleep, I have the craziest dreams! The other night I dreamed that I lived in a hotel, but then it wasn't a hotel - it was a condo in the city, and someone had a set of keys to my car and kept taking it out and using my gas, but I didn't know at first. But eventually I caught them. But as it turns out (still part of the dream) I did live in a hotel, and all my stuff was left there when I stopped living there and stopped paying for my stay. So when I remembered I left me stuff there I called the hotel and they said they still had it all and would bring it over! I guess they liked me as a guest. So they brought my stuff, and my mountain bike, and my motorcycle... only I didn't leave my motorcycle there, so they gave me a second motorcycle! And then I also had to not be mad at the guys that were driving my car because in my dream I was doing the same thing. There was an elderly lady who never drove her big blue convertible so I did from time to time... weird, eh?
Writhing with unexpected abdominal agony... Paranoia from abounding, multiple-voiced shrieking... Being speed-of-sound shot into a field of ferocious chrysanthemums and frenetic Criss Angel stunts. All of these things are completely and immeasurably opposite of The Helio Sequence experience. And experience - in life, in concert, in technicolour amazement - cannot prepare you for the staggeringly and stags-roam-free brilliance of two amazing musicians: lead singer/guitarist Brandon Summers and Drum-fill decathlete Benjamin Weikel.
From the first notes of the heart-wrenching lullaby of a lament, Lately, legalities become obsolete and like a leopard's luminous eyes, you are drawn in, shocked and oblivious to the pounce. Questioning your whereabouts and forgetting your name, you are held prisoner during The Captive Mind by a clairvoyant call to arms, and as "you tired to leave the past behind... They CAUGHT those likely to come back again" Come back again?! You could never leave. Not as the unrelenting, never-mind-rent-is-pricey drumming of Sir Weikel continues to decimate your ears with eagle-like precision, inhuman energy, and masterful technique. And yes, I just knighted Ben Weikel, and no, I can't really do that seeing as how I'm neither British, nor the Queen (props Queen E II), but she's been informed – and she can't deny it.
At this point, the music marches on, and dazed by a deliberate dare, your lips level apart in time and you gaze upward at 45 degrees and sing 45 pleas of "Hallelujah, we don't want answers anyway." Answers are irrelevant and time's laced with merriment as the music loops and magnifies that a defiant act is defined here and now. I hear a POW. I feel a BLUDGEON - filled with hope, I cope with transcendence in its purest form. The artistic process is winning; the muck and drudgery are spinning - so far into the ground it becomes untraceable to hounds.
Transitioning, I learn to keep my eyes ahead and fall to familiar sounds; The Helio Sequence "coming on like you knew THEY would," but I'm still ill-prepared to deal with the resulting machinations of such a propulsive illusion.
Was it illusion? Was it ethereal? Was it destined? It was cohesion. It was relevance. It happened. It had to...
To isolate Lately, The Captive Mind, Hallelujah, and Keep Your Eyes Ahead as the sole standouts of this experience may be accurate, however unfair to the front-to-back magnificence of the rest of the set. Can't Say No, Shed Your Love, and Everyone Knows Everyone also provide pressurized, pungent whiffs if awesomeness while introducing a Helio Sequence neophyte to some (hidden) gems.
At its core, The Helio Sequence is a band with a seductive spirit, an attention to lyrical detail and song-after-cot-damn song of explosive possibilities. And oh yeah, the singer, Brandon, is knucking-futsish in his tone and delivery while Sir Weikel holds his sticks with a grit so beguiling you'd attest that he's wiling. He infuses the songs with such a manic detail that they seem alive before inception, rather as if they were conceived during a fit conniption of the prodigious kind.
Like eating angel cake with Hades, The Helio Sequence is a true confluence of the exponentially unexpected. Sermon: served... Choir: preached to. We all said Hallelujah!
Wow - 10 whole nominees (yup, not "half," not "a quarter," but WHOLE). It's contender after contender, heavy on R&B, light on the fluff, and only overflowing with groove-able goodness. So let's get right down to it, shall we? Who are these magnificent 10 who are nominated for Best International Video - Artist and why do they deserve to be here?
Alicia Keys - No One
No one can tickle the ivories like Alicia Keys. No one can belt it out like Alicia Keys. No one can shimmy in a tight silver dress quite like Alicia Keys, or rock the over-sized one-shoulder sweater. And no one can look so good drenched in the rain like Alicia Keys. She proved all of this and more in the past few months with the video for No One, the first single off her chart-topping album As I Am. Alicia Keys: there is simply no one like her.
Chris Brown - Kiss, Kiss f. T-Pain
Which Chris Brown would you rather kiss kiss? The football jock with the fancy sports car who leers at girls in the hallway? Or the sweet shy nerd who carries the books for the girls? Well, in the video for Kiss, Kiss, Nerd Chris wins out over Jock Chris - but come June 15th, will the Real Chris win out over the other 9 nominees? (Whatever the case may be, I'm sure he would cope just fine if he were to lose out to Rihanna *wink wink nudge nudge*).
Fergie - Clumsy
For someone who is so clumsy, Fergie sure manages to look graceful. Take her performance at last year's MMVAs for example; the big girl who doesn't cry kept her act together and didn't trip once. But then why is she tripping all over the place in the visual pop-up feast that is her Clumsy video? Because she's clumsy 'cause she's falling in love, silly! And frankly, so are we.
Flo Rida - Low f. T-Pain
The song may be called Low, but Flo Rida's career is currently at an all-time high. The man is nominated for Best International Video and he's performing at this year's MMVAs! And here's to hoping that his back-up dancers will be wearing Apple Bottom jeans and boots with the fur. It would only make sense, ya know? (PS: It seems as if the MMVAs love it when T-Pain is featured in songs, because this is his second time in the same category where he's reared his collaborative head.)
Kanye West - Stronger
If you were to tell me that your various limbs don't start shaking every time Kanye's Stronger starts up, I'd know you were a dirty liar. This great 2007 redux of what was already a great Daft Punk song took the world by storm with its killer beats and rhymes - and the video ain't too bad either, what with its clean futuristic imagery and all. Now, Kanye West will do anything for a Klondike, but what will he do for an MMVA?
Madonna - 4 Minutes f. Justin Timberlake
If you have only 4 minutes to save the world, what do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?! Well, if you're Madonna, you call up Justin Timberlake and Timberland and together you write a club-ready pop song and then film a video that turns you inside out - literally. We've now seen the inside of Madonna's cheek and the inside of Justin's ribs - if that's not called putting your heart and soul into a project, I don't know what is.
Miley Cyrus - Start All Over
Miley Cyrus's hit song may be called Start All Over, but that's the last thing this girl has got to do. Her career keeps going up and up, even when she's the centre of photo scandals every few months. If anything has upstaged this music video as of late, it's her infectious and endearing self-made YouTube videos in which she dances up a storm in her bedroom, like any other teenager. She's so unapologetically normal that we're almost afraid an MMVA win would give this girl an ego.
Rihanna - Don't Stop The Music
Oh Rihanna. May it be a dance-able club jam (Umbrella, Don't Stop The Music) or a well-constructed ballad (Take A Bow), this girl is taking over the world one hit at a time. She has worked with the best (Jay-Z), has been compared to best (Beyonce), and is (allegedly) dating the best (Chris Brown), but still manages to stand out all on her own. Here's to hoping that Rihanna never does stop the music - because we simply can't get enough!
Sean Kingston - Beautiful Girls
Only 18-years old and he's sampling Ben E. King? I know what you're thinking: how could he?! But Sean Kingston's Beautiful Girls, an homage to the good ol' days with a stylish video full of jukeboxes and poodle skirts, is so sweet and hummable that you can't help but let it suck you in. And then come the strings and the grandiose percussion at the end and it's like you've fallen in love all over again - yearning for that milkshake to share with your high school sweetheart at make-out point. (Too far? OK - you get the point.)
Usher - Love In This Club f. Young Jeezy
The situation that Usher finds himself in in his Twilight Zone-esque video for Love In This Club doesn't seem so bad. It seems he can't get out of the club in which the gorgeous Keri Hilson is trying to get freaky with him. Sticking around in such an enviable situation warrants him an MMVA. Oh yeah, the song is pretty damn good too.
Next award category recap: VideoFACT Best Independent Video!
According to Dan I'm the "only person" who's incessantly watching Weezer's Pork And Beansvideo to see how many new YouTube memes I can pick out. I haven't come across any other posts outlining each meme that's in the video one by one, so here you go. The definitive list. As far as I can tell, K-Fed and the Evolution Of Dance dude are the only two that were digitally added in - everyone else that 'stars' in the video was actually at the video shoot. Oh, and here's an interview that Wired magazine did with director Matthew Cullen that explains a little more!
Phew. In the final scene there are about 2000 things happening at once (reminiscent of the meme battle in that South Park episode) so rounding out the list required a few pause 'n plays, but I think I caught them all!
Do you think being the oldest is the best or the worst? Does it work in your favour or does it cramp your style? MOD wants to know what you think. If you are the oldest kid, MOD wants to talk to you via webcam. Contact us at ondemand@muchmusic.com.
There've been rumblings and rumours swirling around this year's list of MMVA performers, but we can finally tell you that it's all true. Oh yes. Let's break this down right now
I know you were all virtually glued to the TV every Sunday and Tuesday night for the past three months waiting to see who would make it to the Girlicious and America's Best Dance Crew finals, and now you can prepare to have your pants danced off by both winners live at the MMVAs. Girlicious and JabbaWockeeZ will both be here to perform!
Next let's turn to three of Canada's cutest pop-rockers, who are currently battling it out (if your comments are any indication!) in the category of People's Choice: Favourite Canadian Group: Simple Plan (!), Hedley and illScarlett. All performing.
And finally there's the urban sizzlers. These guys have pretty much dominated the charts for the past twelve months (in the case of some, they're still pretty comfy hogging the #1 throne): Rihanna (Umbrella, Don't Stop The Music, Breakin' Dishes, Take A Bow, If I Never See Your Face Again), Sean Kingston (Beautiful Girls), Flo Rida (um, Low, Elevator) and Kardinal Offishall f. Akon (Dangerous). Phew.
Thoughts? Who are you most pumped to see perform on one of the MMVA stages? Me: JabbaWockeeZ. It'll be a sight to see them rehearse and perform live on June 15. Check out the full list of performers here.
Will there be a rooftop performance this year? Will someone perform some 'extra' songs past the live show airtime, the way Alexisonfire did at MMVA07? Will Rihanna bring a 'shoe wrangler' with her again this year? Will anyone lip synch? WHO KNOWS!!
Nope, it's not a lie, there's a beef brewing between Usher and Jay-Z and it has nothing to do with music. They're both married so we know it's not over a girl either. What else could it be? (hint: it's over a boy).
If you weren't aware, Jay-Z is a part owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team. Usher is a part owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers. OK, but no one is going to take a basketball game that seriously, right? Well, if you're a part owner of a team then the success of that team can make you more - or less - money. And, let's say, you have the "next Michael Jordan" on your team - or LeBron James, to be specific.
LeBron plays for Usher's Cavaliers. But for some reason spends a lot of time with Jay-Z. Like, Jay-Z will talk to LeBron even when he is on the court beating Jay-Z's own team, and they even throw an annual party together every NBA All-Star Weekend (In addition to Jay-Z writing diss songs to help LeBron).
Still don't see it? Well, Jay-Z is in motions to bring the Nets to Brooklyn - it'll happen after the 2009-10 NBA season. And LeBron James? He'll be an unrestricted free agent in, you guessed it, the 2010 season.
If I had to bet, I would put the farm on LeBron joining Jay-Z in the jump to New York, and Usher getting no love in the club (And yes I know they just did a song together but I don't see that changing anything when the time comes - this is the "next Michael Jordan" after all).
The New Kids On The Block have added a second Toronto date after tickets for their show on Sept 21st sold out (and it sold out pretty damn quickly, I might add):
New Date:Fri, Sept 19th @ ACC, Toronto
So if you missed out first time around, get ready to bombard your ticket wicket of choice once again. They go on sale this Monday, June 2nd @ 12pm via livenation.com or ticketmaster.ca.
* And speaking of boyband reunions, there are rumours that NKOTB are adding more shows to their tour! We'll have all the details first thing tomorrow AM.
Here's a treat! Panic At The Disco have made a video for That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed) (watch it), the second single from Pretty. Odd, and we've got a tres cool behind the scenes featurette for you to enjoy.
The video was directed by Alan Ferguson and has an "end of innocence" theme to it - it follows the lives of the members of PATD from childhood to old age, beginning with a sequence of Russian nesting dolls (called matyroshkas). The video's got the works - magical forests, frolicking hills, rowboats, and more. In "Beyond The Video" you can hear Alan Ferguson, a 'mini' Ryan Ross and the members of PATD talk about the process of making the video and doing their own stunts!
So this past weekend was the Eurovision Song Contest - the annual competition where each European country submits a song to be performed and then all of Europe votes for their favourite. The winner's song then goes on to become a European hit and... yeah - not 100% sure what the ultimate goal is, but the event is overdone, cheesy, kitschy, and the Europeans love this shit. And frankly, so do I.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see the competition this year (since we live in Canada, finding a channel that live broadcasts the event can be difficult), but I've followed up on who won the event: Russia's entry Believe, sung by the smoldering Dima Bilan (who was accompanied on stage by Russian figure skater Evgeni Plushenko - so odd).
But I'm definitely left scratching my head (and not just at the oddity that was the performance). You see, the song - although sappy and overdramatic - manages to be really boring. Is this really what the Europeans are drawn to?
It makes me think that the only reason this song won is because of Jim Beanz, the American producer heavyweight who got his paws all over it. Jim Beanz is signed to Timbaland Productions and has a long list of major production credits, such as albums like Nelly Furtado's Loose, Ashlee Simpson's Bittersweet World and Britney Spears' Blackout - he's definitely a contender. So isn't it only obvious that if he were to tinker with a Eurovision Song Contest entry, that it would reign supreme. OK, I guess the fact that Dima Bilan came in second place 2 years ago (thus already being a crowd favourite) and that he brings the sexy, doesn't really hurt either.
Did you see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? Did you love it? Did you hate it? MOD is looking for someone to give us their opinion about the film via webcam. If you have a webcam and skype and have an opinion about this film, please email us at ondemand@muchmusic.com!
Earlier this month in Britain, 13-year-old Hannah Bond committed suicide, and her coroner, Roger Sykes, blamed Hannah's death on her love for all things "emo." UK's The Daily Mail, which reported on the story, went on to exemplify rock band My Chemical Romance as being a key instigator in this now much-publicized suicide.
Well now My Chemical Romance has made an official statement on their website, which reads as follows:
We have recently learned of the suicide and tragic loss of Hannah Bond. We'd like to send our condolences to her family during this time of mourning. Our hearts and thoughts are with them.
My Chemical Romance are and always have been vocally anti-violence and anti-suicide. As a band, we have always made it one of our missions through our actions to provide comfort, support, and solace to our fans. The message and theme of our album "The Black Parade" is hope and courage. Our lyrics are about finding the strength to keep living through pain and hard times. The last song on our album states: "I am not afraid to keep on living" - a sentiment that embodies the band's position on hardships we all face as human beings. If you or anyone that you know have feelings of depression or suicide, we urge you to find your way and your voice to deal with these feelings positively.
As a result of all this, on May 31st, fans of My Chemical Romance will be protesting outside of the The Daily Mail's offices in London.
I'd agree with MCR's statement that, although dark at times, there is no condoning of suicide in their music. Clearly, this has all taken on a life of its own, one that My Chemical Romance obviously cannot be held responsible for - No?
Daryl Hall (of Hall and Oates fame) has his own internet TV show which is basically what the URL says. It's him from locations all over including his homes in NY and London, performing his hits with kick ass guests like KT Tunstall and T-Bone Burnett. He also plays and sings on his guests' songs and shows why he could rock an 80s ballad in a shiny suit like nobody's business... his voice sounds seriously better than ever... and as much as I wish it was so, I am not being sarcastic. If you go back through the archives of episodes not only do the Gym Class Hero's perform, but so does his old pal Oates - I guess Daryl let him out of the basement for a song or two.
Check out my interview with KT Tunstall this Saturday at 11am ET and Sunday at 11pm ET on the Loop Weekend on MuchMoreMusic where we chat all about performing Live From Daryl's House.
PS: KT Tunstall is badass - her album is great and without a doubt she's one of the coolest people I have ever interviewed. Both times I've chatted with her have been like watching WrestleMania 2... well maybe not that cool, but pretty close.
* Mimi & Nicky landed in Japan today and they were quick to show off their wedding rings. They SO don't look like a couple to me. More like a couple of FRAUDS! (hey-o!)
Here we are at the finale of Rock The Cradle, after only 6 short weeks. You'd think I'd have something better to do with my life, but no, apparently not. So let's just get right to the Final 3 since it's all about them (and sadly, not all about me... for once).
Right off the bat, host Ryan Devlin introduces the Final 3 with a dramatic voice over. First we have...
"Crosby Loggins: the perfectionist..." Is he really?
And peep the artwork for this bad boy. It was created by NYC-based visual artist Gordon Hull of Surface 2 Air, who contributed artwork for The Stills' last two albums (that's Logic Will Break Your Heart and With Feathers, for all you latecomers). It's a photo of a gold-leafed human skull. But which hominidae is that? Australopithecus Afarensis? Homo Habilis? Or plain ol' Homo Sapiens? I love how simple it is. And of course it's got the classic Arts & Crafts spine details, which I love seeing lined up all in a row on my shelf of CDs. So uniform and consistent.
The avant-garde Icelandic rock band, Sigur Ros, has just made their latest single, Gobbledigook, available for free download 
