'Best of TBH Politoons'
M Is FOR MASHUP - April 23rd, 2008
To Mash You Must Be This Hite
By DJ Useo
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tony Sachs: Happy Record Store Day, For What It's Worth (huffingtonpost.com)
Technology alone isn't to blame for record stores going the way of black-and-white TVs. You can, and should, also blame the major record labels.
Brian McCollum: With its teen idol years long past, band of brothers is quietly evolving (Detroit Free Press)
The last time Zac Hanson talked with us, you could practically hear him wiggling impatiently on the other end of the phone.
PABLO AMOR: "The Long Road to Hoo Ha: An Interview with Supergrass" (popmatters.com)
Only one band survived the highs and lows of the Britpop era. We talked about this endurance, a sixth album, and other lifespan issues with Danny Goffey, the one and only drummer for... yes, Supergrass. Who else could it be?
Richard Clayton: That old black magic of blues (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
The mainstream has nearly forgotten the blues, but it's still out there - in some strange places and wearing some different guises
Lawrence Ferber: "X Marks the Spots: Kylie International" (advocate.com)
Does every nation have its very own feather-loving, techno-dancing, gay-approved diva? Quite possibly.
Jonathan Romney: "Marjane Satrapi: 'If I'm bad, it is God's fault'" (independent.co.uk)
As a teenager in Iran, Marjane Satrapi was so rebellious her parents had to pack her off to Europe. Now her comic-strip account of those wilderness years has been made into a film. So has age mellowed her? Of course not, dummy.
Mark and me (guardian.co.uk)
Last Sunday, children's TV presenter Mark Speight was found dead in Paddington station. Jay Burridge, a friend, describes the joker he knew, the haunted recluse he became - and his reaction to his suicide.
Karla Starr: Were Kanye and Beck Separated at Birth? (Seattle Weekly)
Both have made careers of reveling in their otherness and chameleon-like savvy, establishing a presence on multiple platforms before doing so became an industry necessity.
Jonathan Takiff: Young @ Heart senior singing group makes documentary (Philadelphia Daily News)
Confidentially, Bob Silman hates the name of his senior citizens singing troupe, Young @ Heart, now also the title of a charming documentary film focused on their existence.
20 QUESTIONS: Bruce Campbell (popmatters.com)
6. You're proud of this accomplishment, but why?
For my profession I'm doing exactly what I want to do. I've chosen the arts. The arts are really for me. I feel not enough people do exactly what they want to do because they get hung up on the money thing. Let me tell you, the search for Mr. Money leads to a big fat dead end.
Karen Heller: Tina Fey, star of '30 Rock,' says her life is pretty good (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
On "30 Rock," the NBC comedy Tina Fey created, writes and produces, she plays Liz Lemon, a competent television producer whose personal life is a catastrophe.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Gays and Lesbians (athensnews.com)
More and more, people are accepting homosexuality. Terry and Bill live in Lakewood, Wash., and they celebrated an anniversary in a nice restaurant in Steilacoom. Their male waiter overheard them toast each other, so he brought them a complimentary dessert and wished them, "Happy anniversary." For both Terry and Bill, it was a special night.
Baron Dave Recommends
Oops, That's Not Funny
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and pleasant.
Copyright Feud
Yoko Ono
Footage of John Lennon smoking pot, writing songs and discussing putting the hallucinogenic drug LSD in President Richard Nixon's tea is the focus of a court case starting in Boston next week over whether the video should be made public.
The case pits Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, against Lawrence, Massachusetts-based World Wide Video, which claims ownership of nine hours of raw footage of the former Beatle and Ono that was filmed just weeks before the "Fab Four" broke up in 1970.
The company, which paid more than $1 million for the footage after legal costs and other expenses, nearly premiered it last year at the private Berwick Academy in Maine but abruptly scrapped the screening after the school received a stop order from Ono's lawyers, who assert copyright ownership of the videotapes.
According to court documents, World Wide said it bought 24 original videotapes and their copyrights in 2000 from Anthony Cox, Ono's husband before her marriage to Lennon in 1969.
Yoko Ono
Hollywood's Big Closet
Gay Actors
Ian McKellen made headlines two years ago when the openly gay British actor spouted off on what seemed an unspoken truth: it's impossible for homosexual Hollywood actors to have successful careers.
"It's very, very, very difficult for an American actor who wants a film career to be open about his sexuality," McKellen said.
From celebrities of yesteryear like Rock Hudson and Montgomery Clift to current-day A-listers, gay actors have long concealed their sexuality, due in large part to studios who fear millions of movie-goers will stay away from films featuring homosexual stars playing straight characters.
But some say the tide might slowly be turning as young actors begin coming out amid an atmosphere of unfiltered news and photos on Internet blogs and websites.
Gay Actors
Bails On Anniversary Bash
Barbra Streisand
Israel says Barbra Streisand has pulled out of a celebration of the country's 60th anniversary next month.
Streisand was among the celebrities set to appear at a Jerusalem convention hosted by Israeli President Shimon Peres beginning May 13.
Streisand, who will be 66 on Thursday, was to perform a rendition of the Hebrew prayer Avinu Malkeinu, or "Our Father Our King."
She gave no reason for the cancellation, Peres' office said.
Barbra Streisand
Wedding News
Beyonce & Jay-Z
The marriage of singer-actress Beyonce Knowles and hip-hop mogul Jay-Z is official -- the couple have filed a wedding license, a town clerk in a New York City suburb said on Tuesday.
The couple held a lavish private celebration in Manhattan on April 4 but have been mum about details of their wedding.
Houston-born Knowles, 26, and Brooklyn native and former street hustler Jay-Z, 38, whose real name is Shawn Carter, have been romantically linked since September 2002.
Beyonce & Jay-Z
Breaks Arm
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black, one of the most popular child stars in Hollywood history, marks her 80th birthday on Wednesday but plans a subdued day at home because of a recent accident.
"I broke my arm last week at my house, it hurts quite a bit," she told Reuters on Tuesday.
With her bubbly, optimistic screen personality, Black lured millions to the movies in the 1930s during the Great Depression. Her best-known films include "Little Miss Marker," "Stand Up and Cheer" and "The Little Colonel."
She ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress in 1967 and then became a diplomat, serving as ambassador to Czechoslovakia and Ghana. In recent years, Black has lived quietly in Woodside, California, an upscale town in Silicon Valley south of San Francisco.
Shirley Temple
Joins CNN
Tony Snow
Former White House press secretary spokesliar Tony Snow has joined CNN as a conservative commentator.
Snow's new duties return him to the world of punditry he occupied for 10 years at CNN rival Fox News Channel. In addition, he was host of Fox broadcasting's "Fox News Sunday."
In 2005, Snow had his colon removed and underwent six months of chemotherapy after being diagnosed with cancer. In March 2007, he underwent surgery to remove a growth in his abdominal area. Doctors determined it was a recurrence of his cancer.
After surgery and a five-week absence, he returned to the White House and underwent chemotherapy. He announced his resignation as press secretary last August. Cancer was not a factor in his departure, he said at the time, explaining that he needed to earn more than his $168,000 White House salary. "I ran out of money," said Snow, the father of three.
Tony Snow
Charged With DUI
Richie Sambora
Richie Sambora was charged Tuesday with drunken driving following his arrest last month when his blood-alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit, prosecutors said.
The Bon Jovi lead guitarist faces two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit, the Orange County district attorney's office said.
Sambora, 48, was pulled over in Laguna Beach on March 25 after he was allegedly seen swerving and straddling two lanes. District attorney's spokeswoman Farrah Emami said Sambora's blood-alcohol level was .13 percent; the legal limit is .08 percent in California.
Richie Sambora
Royalties Lawsuit Dismissed
Richard "Richie Ramone" Reinhardt
A federal judge has tossed out a lawsuit by a former Ramones drummer who says he was cheated out of royalties.
U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin said in a ruling Friday that a contract Richard "Richie Ramone" Reinhardt signed when he performed with the Ramones between 1983 and 1987 clearly covered digital uses of his songs.
Reinhardt filed a lawsuit last year claiming he was owed nearly $1 million in royalties on songs sold over the Internet. He wrote six songs for the group.
Reinhardt's six songs for the Ramones were "Smash You," "Somebody Put Something in My Drink," "Human Kind," "I'm Not Jesus," "I Know Better Now" and "(You) Can't Say Something Nice."
Richard "Richie Ramone" Reinhardt
Forgotten Film Score Made Into Ballet
Sergei Prokofiev
A Danish choreographer has dug up a forgotten film score by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev and turned it into a ballet danced by Cuban star Carlos Acosta.
Kim Brandstrup, whose "Rushes - Fragments of a Lost Story" premieres at Covent Garden in London on Wednesday, stumbled across an incomplete score Prokofiev wrote for a film version of Pushkin's classic short story "The Queen of Spades".
But the movie never made it to the screen and the music, by one of the 20th century's greatest composers who worked both in ballet and film, has been left to languish in a Russian archive.
"I was reading an article ... and in a footnote it said that there were these scores that Prokofiev had written in the 30s for films that had never been used because the films were either abandoned or banned by Stalin," Brandstrup said.
Sergei Prokofiev
CNN Contract Extended
Larry King
Larry King is staying at CNN for at least another two years.
King, 74, and CNN extended their contract through at least 2011. His talk show, always one of CNN's top-rated shows, has run since 1985. King's existing deal was set to run out in summer 2009.
King's fate at CNN wasn't ever really in question even before word of the extension. But some doubt crept in two weeks ago with a news report that claimed low-rated "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric might replace King at some point.
Larry King
Men In Peril!
Congo
Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.
Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.
Rumours of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.
Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.
Congo
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for April 14-20. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (1) "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 23.65 million viewers.
2. (2) "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 23.34 million viewers.
3. (4) "Dancing With The Stars" (Monday), ABC, 17.20 million viewers.
4. (6) "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 15.75 million viewers.
5. (8) "Dancing with the Stars" (Tuesday), ABC, 15.42 million viewers.
6. (14) "NCIS," CBS, 15.13 million viewers.
7. (16) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 13.94 million viewers.
8. (26) "CSI: NY," CBS, 13.43 million viewers.
9. (28) "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," NBC, 13.27 million viewers.
10. (23) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 12.98 million viewers.
11. (16) "Survivor: Micronesia," CBS, 12.01 million viewers.
12. (58) "Biggest Loser 5," NBC, 11.39 million viewers.
13. (20) "60 Minutes," CBS, 10.75 million viewers.
14. (X) "ABC News: Democratic Presidential Debate," ABC, 10.69 million viewers.
15. (15) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 10.63 million viewers.
16. (28) "Hell's Kitchen," Fox, 10.56 million viewers.
17. (9) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 10.48 million viewers.
18. (34) "Rules Of Engagement," CBS, 10.40 million viewers.
19. (31) "Oprah's Big Give," ABC, 10.09 million viewers.
20. (34) "Brothers and Sisters," ABC, 10.08 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Al Wilson
Al Wilson, the soul singer and songwriter who had a number of 1970s hits including "Show and Tell," has died. He was 68.
Wilson was born on June 19, 1939, in Meridian, Miss. He sang in the church choir as a boy and had his own spiritual singing quartet. His family moved to San Bernardino in 1958 and he found work as a mail carrier, office clerk and janitor.
He toured for four years with the group Johnny "Legs" Harris and the Statesmen before joining the Navy. Following a two-year stint, he moved to Los Angeles and played with the Jewels and their successor group, the Rollers. A drummer, he also worked with the instrumental group the Souls.
In 1966, he was spotted by manager Marc Gordon, who introduced him to singer Johnny Rivers, who signed him to his Soul City label. Wilson's first single, "The Snake" in 1968, was a hit and was followed by "Do What You Gotta Do."
"Show and Tell" was released in 1973 and the next year was No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100 chart.
In addition to his son, Tony, Wilson is survived by his wife, Patricia; daughters Alene Harris and Sharon Burley; a brother, Eddie Wilson; sisters Lottie Ross, Ruby Conyers and Maebell Cole, and 13 grandchildren.
Al Wilson
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