DudeAsInCool

Chan Marshall's (aka CatPower) sequel to her 'Covers' album (2000) is dedicated to the great vocalists who've influenced her over the years. Backed by Dirty Delta Blues Band and various feature guests, "Jukebox" includes covers of Hank Williams' "Ramblin' Man", The Highwaymen's "Silver Stallion," Sinatra's "New York, New York", and more - the full track list is below. You can listen to the full cd (while it lasts) courtesy of MuchMusic. Let us know what you think. Enjoy. And if you love it, you can Find It Over @Amazon.

Billboard has learned that "Coachella producers AEG Live/Goldenvoice will stage a summer festival with major headliners at Liberty State Park, just across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan. The event will not carry the Coachella brand. Liberty State Park has hosted a handful of concerts in recent years, most notably a Radiohead show shortly before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks." Read More (The poster is a fake that was published in the LA Times--but if someone wants to photoshop the Manhattan skyline, be my guest :) )

AlleyInsider reports that Ticketmaster has bought StubHub competitor TicketsNow For $265 Million. Would be nice if any of this corporate consolidation brought better service and better ticket prices for concert goers. Fat chance. "The acquisition raises potentially thorny questions for Ticketmaster, which has previously sued brokers who use automated programs called "bots" to scoop up tickets faster than regular fans can, and then resell them for big profits on sites such as TicketsNow. TicketsNow Chief Executive Cheryl Rosner said her site currently doesn't make any effort to keep tabs on how its 800 registered sellers acquire the tickets they sell. Mr. Moriarty said Ticketmaster would attempt to root out people who used technology unfairly, although he declined to give specifics. TicketsNow sold $202 million of tickets in 2006, Ms. Rosner said." Read More

Gotta love Derek Truck's slide guitar work on this song. Just sayin'.

Here is another female blues guitarist - a 17 year old from the Paul Green School of Rock All Stars performing Led Zeppelin's Traveling Riverside Blues at the World Cafe Live Show in Philadelphia on 8/13/06.

This mini-doc takes a look at the legendary jazzman Benny Goodman ...and a concert that took place 70 years to today. A tip of the hat to Fark for the find.

"On Monday, KTVU reported scientists have received an odd signal from space and some readers may have interpreted this as a confirmed extra-terrestrial contact. Scientists did confirm there was an anomalous radio signal and reported it late last year." Read more at KTVU.com

PopMatters Most Anticipated Films of 2008 I've done a short edit to highlight their top pics - read the full by clicking PopMatters above: 11 January sees the JJ Abrams produced Cloverfield finally coming to a theater near you. This Blair Witch Godzilla, focusing on some found footage shot by young adults during a giant monster’s attack on Manhattan. Another well publicized possibility is Michel Gondry’s follow-up to his quirky and quite clever The Science of Sleep. Be Kind, Rewind stars Jack Black and Mos Def as video store employees who decide to replace their entire inventory with homemade versions of famous movies after all their tapes are accidentally erased. Maybe Will Ferrell can set things right. A week later, on 29 February, his latest collaboration with Old School writer Scot Armstrong hits. On the plus side, Semi-Pro promises to be a ridiculous, raunchy sports comedy... Speaking of something that will require a little karmic and creative support to actually work, Fox falls back on its stunt casting ways to turn their version of Dr. Seuss’s beloved tale Horton Hears a Who! (14 March) into yet another example of pop culture quipping 3D animation. Our excitable elephant is played by former flavor of the month Jim Carrey. The microscopic Mayor of Who-ville he indirectly interacts with is essayed by current comic go-to guy Steve Carell. Reading the cast list—Johan Hill, Seth Rogen, Dan Fogler, Dane Cook—there appears to be a lot of heavyweight humor talent involved. George Clooney’s latest directorial effort, the football period piece Leatherheads (4 April) promises more pseudo-Coen Brothers riffs from the adept actor turned filmmaker. While the presence of Renee Zellweger is problematic (as is her obvious resemblance to a character played by Jennifer Jason Leigh in the Coens’ Hudsucker Proxy), this could be a sparkling screwball comedy. On the other side of the funny business fence is the Tina Fey vehicle Baby Mama (18 April). Ms. 30 Rock plays a 37-year-old business woman who, when she discovers she’s infertile, hires a working class gal (Amy Poehler) to be her surrogate. Could be interesting. Could be Juno meshed with Baby Boom. Jon Favreau’s intriguing take on the classic comic book hero Iron Man (2 May). From the novel casting (Robert Downey Jr., Terrance Howard, Jeff Bridges) to the intriguing premise, this could be a winner. Equally capable of lighting up the screen are Andy and Larry Wachowski. As their first film behind the lens since a little something called The Matrix Trilogy hit theaters five years ago, the 9 May arrival of their Speed Racer adaptation has fans of the classic ‘60s anime worried. Some have celebrated the cartoon look and eye candy appeal present in the recently released advertisement. Others wonder if the visual scope will undermine the title’s smaller pleasures. One things for sure, by 22 May no one will care. After a gestation period longer than any other title coming out (Last Crusade was 19 years ago!), and more questions about the cast and creators than should technically be allowed, George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg, and Harrison Ford are once again resurrecting the classic serial action icon, Indiana Jones. Steve Carell is back again, this time paired with The Devil Wears Prada‘s Anne Hathaway, for an update of the classic Buck Henry/Mel Brooks TV spy spoof Get Smart. While physical comedy and sight gags are usually reserved for the Epic Movie crowd, this one has possibilities. The already overhyped Wall-E (27 June - Pixar) has been stunning preview audiences with its 3D look at a lonely robot, and the alien visitors who suddenly soar into his life. This heavily guarded project, proposed long ago by the creative minds behind Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Cars, promises to be the movie of 2008. The geeks have already crowned it a must-see masterpiece without ever viewing a single fully realized frame, and with limited family friendly options coming to the marketplace during the season, this could be the biggest hit of the year as well. For those who want more comic book chaos, Guillermo Del Toro is back with the sequel to his spectacular Hellboy. This time around, the Hellspawn hero takes on The Golden Army, the rebellious forces of a mythical realm. With a bigger budget, and a lot more creative cred (thanks in part to the international acclaim for Pan’s Labyrinth), we could finally be witnessing the birth of another favored franchise. Similarly, 18 July sees the return of the brilliant Christopher Nolan and his continuing take on the Batman legacy, this time entitled The Dark Knight. After kvetching over the casting of Heath Ledger as the latest incarnation of The Joker, the trailer has proved that the British auteur knows what he’s doing. Once August arrives, all bets are off. Indeed, with the continuing effects of the writer’s strike still being assessed, what will and will not be released in 2008 becomes a question for a near psychic level of speculation. Another Judd Apatow produced farce, the stoner comedy Pineapple Express, promises to land on 8 August. In October, Ridley Scott is expected to deliver his latest, Body of Lies, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. November brings the return of everyone’s favorite boy wizard (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) while David Fincher switches gears from 2007’s Zodiac to bring the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button, to theaters. Oddly enough, the year ends where it began—with JJ Abrams hyping the hell out of his take on the Star Trek series. The unnamed number XI promises to look at the crew of the Enterprise during their Starfleet Academy days.

Joystiq.com compares the XBox Live and Apple TV for movie playing and rentals:

There's been a lot of discussion about the rock band Spirit over at the Lefsetz Letter recently. Spirit was an American indie rock band founded in 1967, and based in Los Angeles, California. The guitarist, Randy California, recently passed away, but you can get a sense of his genius, and the band's continuing cult status, in the following live videos. I Got A Line On You Nature's Way

In all fairness, I think the video was poorly edited -- it would have been nice if they let him actually speak for a period of time to understand where he was coming from --

The movie business is a bit more with it than the music business and they will survive... but the major music industry is pretty much finished unless they makes changes quickly.

Here's music video for "Sunny Bloody Sunday." A tip of the hat to Stereogum for the find:

That Man I Shot (live) From the DBT website: "Two separate backstage visits by almost strangers, each touched in different ways by our American tragedy in Iraq, led to the writing of The Home Front and That Man I Shot. I was only a kid when we were over in Vietnam, but I somehow did learn a lesson or two from it. I never so much wanted to be proven wrong in my beliefs as with our current situation, but the evidence so far seems to support that it ain't working out too good for anybody. Now, we're just trying to save face, at the expense of many young lives that could be ordered to serve our country in more productive ways. Seems our band has some fans over there and we're always moved by the stories of really fine folks who are sacrificing so much for our privileged existence. The man in That Man I Shot probably doesn't agree with a lot of my viewpoints, but I tried to be true to what he said and how he said it. You don't have to agree with someone to respect them and that seemed to run both ways with us. As a writer, it's not my job to agree or disagree and certainly not to judge. It is my job to be as true to the character's voice as humanly possible and to tell the story accordingly. The extended family that inspired The Home Front absolutely broke my heart with their story. I changed the names and some details but again tried to be true to the spirit of what they told me."

Here's another version of the video, which was constructed by Jeremy Blatter. A tip of the hat to Stereogum for the head's up.

Also, try your luck and win a bottle of Bolli and £50 worth of Drinks tokens here :) http://www.dontstayin.com/pages/competitions/3423

In his excellent article, "Has ATT Losts It's Mind?", Tim Wu at Slate.com examines the repercussions of ATTs plan to filter the internet and he doesn't like what he sees. Not only does he consider the plan Orwellian, he believes the company and its shareholders will suffer, and questions the plans legality: "AT&T's new strategy reverses that position and exposes it to so much potential liability that adopting it would arguably violate AT&T's fiduciary duty to its shareholders. Today, in its daily Internet operations, AT&T is shielded by a federal law that provides a powerful immunity to copyright infringement. The Bells know the law well: They wrote and pushed it through Congress in 1998, collectively spending six years and millions of dollars in lobbying fees to make sure there would be no liability for "Transitory Digital Network Communications"—content AT&T carries over the Internet. And that's why the recording industry sued Napster and Grokster, not AT&T or Verizon, when the great music wars began in the early 2000s. Here's the kicker: To maintain that immunity, AT&T must transmit data "without selection of the material by the service provider" and "without modification of its content." Once AT&T gets in the business of picking and choosing what content travels over its network, while the law is not entirely clear, it runs a serious risk of losing its all-important immunity." Read more at Slate

A number of artists recently put together a Tribute to Marvel Comics Creator Stan Lee. Check out the Jeff McMillan's acrylic work below... and other artists' tributes HERE

"Since 2000, MediaDefender has served as the online guard dog of the entertainment world, protecting it against internet piracy. When Transformers was about to hit theaters in summer 2007, Paramount turned to the company to stop the film's spread online. Island Records counted on MediaDefender to protect Amy Winehouse's Back to Black album, as did NBC with 30 Rock. Activision asked MediaDefender to safeguard games like Guitar Hero; Sony, its music and films; and World Wrestling Entertainment, its pay-per-view steel-cage championships and pudding-wrestling matches. The first time Ethan broke into MediaDefender, he had no idea what he had found. It was his Christmas break, and the high schooler was hunkered down in the basement office of his family's suburban home. The place was, as usual, a mess. Papers and electrical cords covered the floor and crowded the desk near his father's Macs and his own five-year-old Hewlett-Packard desktop. While his family slept, Ethan would take over the office, and soon enough he'd start taking over the computer networks of companies around the world. Exploiting a weakness in MediaDefender's firewall, he started poking around on the company's servers. He found folder after folder labeled with the names of some of the largest media companies on the planet: News Corp., Time Warner, Universal." Guess who won? Conde Nast's Portfolio takes a look at the teenagers who hacked into MediaDefender, the anti-piracy unit hired by Sony, Universal and Activision. Read More

Workout Music Can Improve Your Health The New York Times says, "The playlist fixation has a scientific basis: Studies have shown that listening to music during exercise can improve results, both in terms of being a motivator (people exercise longer and more vigorously to music) and as a distraction from negatives like fatigue. But are certain songs more effective than others?" Read More@The NY Times LifeHacker members discuss their audio choices to work out with: Read more at Lifehacker

I've never owned a laptop - I stick with desktops

The good news is whether its Apple or Dell or Sony or Hewlitt Packard, computers are getting better and cheaper

Here is the one minute version: