This week: The Flash, This Is Us, For the People, Rise, Grown-ish, Riverdale, Atlanta, How to Get Away with Murder, On My Block, The Walking Dead, Deception.
What better way to kick off a weekend than with new music? Featuring new tracks from The Maine, Halsey, Gorillaz, and more.
“Callwood at the Cooler” sees Brett Callwood waxing lyrical about events in the news, pop culture and the etc. This week’s topics include: new movie trailers, and live music,.
The trophy is a silly Moonman. Treasured memories include girl-on-girl kisses, a flying Fartman and the bobbling of a pasty-covered breast. Where other shows confer honors and respect, this one relishes gaffes, guffaws and giggles. Forget “The envelope, please.” It’s time to push the envelope. MTV’s Video Music Awards is among the most irreverent of awards shows. Which may be precisely why it matters. “It’s pop music; how seriously can you take it?” said MTV news correspondent Kurt Loder. “It’s not Martin Heidegger or something. There’s a lot of empty pomp associated with other shows, like the Oscars and even… Read more »
What everyone always wants to know is: who’s the worst? Meaning: which really famous person out there is a berk whose lack of personality is in inverse proportion to their abundance of fame? And the answer is, of course, all of them. No, it’s not. It’s Jon Bon Jovi. The next question – who’s the best, of course – is more difficult. The interviewees I like are the ones that turn out to be more than you expected, whether that’s more intelligent, or honest, or bonkers, or fun, whatever. And there are plenty of those. Madonna (sharper), Björk (wilder), James… Read more »
“One-man band”: when you hear that phrase you probably picture a dude on a street corner with a pair of cymbals between his knees, a drum on his back, some kazoos in his mouth and a guitar case full of quarters. Think again. While naming a band after yourself is fine and good for guys like Dave Matthews and Jon Spencer, some band names are actually just cryptic pseudonyms for a single, mad studio genius. The past year has seen an explosion of do-it-yourself-ers, including ex-Eels bassist Tommy Walter with his band Abandoned Pools, stone alone emo-ter Chris Carrabba of… Read more »
Numerous critics and closed-minded fans have been less than kind about cartoon supergroup Gorillaz’s decision to play live shows hidden behind large projector screens displaying comic images of the characters. But the minor agony of journalistic slings and arrows is nothing compared to headaches the band experienced right before the tour launched in Toronto on February 23. “We lost our original bass player on the first day through something slightly dubious that happened 15 years ago,” said vocalist Damon Albarn, who also fronts the band Blur. “Basically, he’s in prison now. But fortunately, at the 11th hour we found a… Read more »
Cartoon hip-hop/popsters Gorillaz are going on tour, confirming nine North American stops, beginning February 23rd in Toronto, in support of their platinum self-titled debut. Which begs the obvious question, how? “It will definitely involve big movie screens and lights,” says the band’s producer Dan “The Automator” Nakamura. “The musicians will be behind the screens and backlit onto them. Two-dimensional figures have problems when projected because they get distorted – so it’s a matter of making it look good.” Gorillaz – which also features the artwork of Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett and the vocals of Blur’s Damon Albern, Cibo Matto’s… Read more »
