Daily Rounds....Obamamania Edition....

So now that my faith in humanity has returned and I can face problems like personal credit card debt and what to do with my lazy ass on a Friday night, let’s discuss some pop culture nuggets. Here is the return of your Daily Rounds and it’s a week’s worth of goodies.

* First, I would be remiss to not discuss the Obama/Biden win and say how wonderfully amazing it is to have two politicians who speak the truth, sometimes too much of the truth, come into the White House. I am very much looking forward to January 20th, 2009.

* And here comes the bloodshed within the Republican party. Even though John McCain, during his very graceful concession speech on Tuesday night, blamed the loss of his campaign on himself, the same can not be said for many of his advisors who pointing some really dirty fingers towards Governor Palin. The accusations upon the VP hopeful have ranged to her comfort standing in a towel in front of male campaign staffers to the idea that she was not aware that Africa was NOT a country. Um, and this is supposed to discredit her for a run in 2012? Shouldn’t this have discredited her from the run in 2008? Oh Repugs.

* There’s a good chance Blur might be getting back together. Damon Albarn, who has consistently shot down the idea, said a reunion was “very possible” in an interview with the BBC earlier this month. Damon and onetime Blur band mate, Graham Coxon, who are notorious for disliking each other beyond the point of reconciliation, recently sat down for lunch and have begun discussing the possibility of making music together once again. So if 2009 brings Blur around, as well as Jane’s Addiction, it will officially be my favorite year, well at least for now.

* David Lynch has just signed a deal with On Networks to produce a series, based on his book Catching the Big Fish” for the web. The media company has recently scored a few big names to bring new programming to the web, such as Amy Poehler with her ”Smart Girls at The Party” program, which features young girls and their stories in pursuit of self-confidence. Lynch’s show will focus on the Director’s interest in Transcendental Meditation.

* This Q&A with the creators of “How I Met Your Mother” doesn’t let us know who the mom will finally be, but it does clue us in on the behind the scenes stuff and if they planned Robin and Barney making out in the first season.

* I think I found a new comedy crush. Um SNL, you taking notes?

* The Yeah Yeah Yeahs will be releasing a new album next year. They say it will be different, but I say I will be the judge of that.

* Melissa Etheridge wonders if those who voted against her right to marry think she should still pay taxes or treated like a true second class citizen. I like this idea.

* And finally, Zack and Miri came in at number two last weekend at the box office, but you’ll hear what I think of the movie later this week. Warning…it’s a mixed bag.

ENJOY!

Daily Rounds...

*Ashley Todd, the McCain campaign worker from Pittsburgh, who yesterday said she was attacked by an Obama supporter and mugged, as well as had a letter B carved into her face by her attacker, has changed her story once more. As expected from most media outlets, even from Michelle Malkin, the 20 year-old LIED and made up the whole attack. Pittsburgh police are looking into the matter to see what charges will be brought against the girl.

* Woohoo! Word is Gale Harold was released from ICU, following a nasty motorcycle accident earlier this month. A rep for the amazingly beautiful actor said late last night that Harold is expected to make a full recovery and would like to thank the fans for well wishes and prayers.

* Larry David, much like myself and millions of others, can not wait for November 4th to roll around. Any one else battling election paranoia/depression/anxiety?

* Bravo will not sit idly by and allow Lifetime to take Project Runway. The network already has another fashion designer making it big reality show in the works. On the other hand, this could be very bad news for PR and even the host, Heidi Klum is worrying what this will do to the fans of the program, along with the move to a new network.

*Jane’s Addiction reunited last night to a sold out crowd in downtown LA, had the Fire Marshall come down and wowed the small crowd with 10 classic songs. And good news, Dave Navarro declared the performance by the original foursome a success on his blog and said he hoped it would happen again. Navarro credited the power behind the band to returning original bassist Eric Avery. Check out pictures from some luck bastards here!

*Sarah Palin is now saying that she did not spend $150,000 on new clothes and that apparently they are all on some plane or something. This is a day after the McCain campaign somewhat confirmed the purchases and said all items would be donated to charity after the campaign. Can these two crazies get their stories straight?

* And finally, can you wait till 2009 for your next Lost fix? No, well check out the trailer for the fifth season below.

Jane's Addiction To Reunite Once Again....

The original lineup of Jane’s Addiction will be reuniting once again this evening to play a ten song set at a downtown LA bar, La Cita. Rumors of this evening’s show have been floating around for weeks. The band’s original foursome reuniting briefly earlier this year to play the NME Awards, but before that it was 1991 the last time Eric Avery joined his fellow band mates on stage. Eric Avery, bassist of Jane’s and Dave Navarro, guitarist of Jane’s, have been waxing nostalgic about an extended reunion since the NME awards back in April on their respective blogs and Navarro even gave away a few tickets for tonight’s gig on his. Avery has revealed a bit more on his blog, confirming the performance, admitting that this has been in the works for awhile, as well as declaring the future of Jane’s to be promising.

As a self-determined Jane’s Addiction fanatic, to see the original lineup of this band would be mind blowing, especially in a 400 person capacity venue. So all you lucky devils checking out the band tonight, feel free to upload everything to YouTube tomorrow for us suckers on the East Coast. And for you all you fellow Jane’s fans, start praying there will be an announcement any day for a tour.

In other, Spielster musical obsession news, Morrissey confirmed that he will be penning his autobiography and soon. It will not come out before his next studio album, scheduled for a February 2009 release, but it appears that Moz will be laying down all the good facts since there has been so much speculation about the singer throughout his popularity. I can not wait to read this!

Jane's Addiction Reunion at NME Awards....

Last night’s Jane’s Addiction performance was an incredibly special moment for me. The band first accepted their “Godlike Genius” award from NME’s editor Conor McNicholas, who said when NME thought about brining the awards bash to the states, Jane’s Addiction was the first band that came to their mind to celebrate. The award has previously gone to the likes of New Order, The band gave quite a nice speech and it was quite amazing to see a group of men, who at one point were able to bring the music world to a grinding halt and then imploded on themselves, get back up there and pal around like they have not missed a beat in the past 17 years. They then went on to play four songs and truly seemed to be enjoying their moment up there. They began their first performance together with the classic Spanish intro to “Ritual de lo Habititual” which of course mean their first song would be Stop and I was excited merely by the fact that Avery was playing the same bass he did in the video way pack in 1990. Here is their performance of Ocean Size.


See Jane’s Addiction is my favorite band and not to get too cheesy or My So Called Life on y’all, but the band was practically my soundtrack for years. While most of my friends listened to Nirvana and idolized Kurt Cobain, I found myself obsessed with Jane’s and credit them for opening my eyes to some great music like Love and Rockets, The Velvet Underground, The Germs and X. See as an only child, I didn’t really have an older brother or sister to introduce me to music out there beyond what was played on the Top 40 stations in New York. Damn it, I am getting all Angela Chase on this thing. Anyways, I can honestly remember the moment I first heard and saw Jane’s Addiction and I was mesmerized. They were white dudes, with pink dreads and piercings, in crazy clothes and their music blew my very young mind. I had never heard anything even remotely close to the songs on Nothings Shocking. I remember begging my mother to buy me the album and she did so reluctantly and was worried because of the naked women on fire on the cover. I am pretty sure that without Jane’s in my life, I could have ended up a generic Dave Matthews fan from Long Island (no offense friends) who didn’t strive for creativity. I have since listened to various styles of music, but usually they are always on the fringe. I want to personally thank those four dudes in Los Angeles for creating the breeding ground for the chick that I am today.

So back to last night’s awards, the crowd seemed to eat up the Jane’s performance and I have to say it was more than thrilling to watch these guys perform once again, even if it was through the internets. I am hoping that with the praise they received for the show they put on and the fact that it seemed they were able to put aside their differences now this could lead to a possibility of a full scale reunion. Or at least I can send out that energy and see if it actually happens. Either way, it was incredibly amazing to see the people indirectly responsible for part of who I am today back together and celebrating the great music they put out there for the masses. Here is an interview with the dudes before their performance, courtesy of NME.

Here is another little ditty from last night, Mountain Song.



Related Articles/Posts:

* Associated Content – Jane’s Addiction Reunion Show

* Spielster’s take on Jane’s Addiction reunion

* NME’s blog coverage of the awards

* Help Wanted – Eric Avery’s new solo record

* LA Times reviews the NME Awards

* Stereogum’s take on the Jane’s Reunion

Wish I was Ocean Size....Jane's Addicition is reuniting!!!!!

So tonight could be one of the best nights ever and I can’t participate. Tonight, the NME Awards comes to America for the first time and they are honoring JANE’S ADDICTION – my favorite band ever! – with the “Godlike Genuises” nod. This is the first time an American band has been given this honor from the influential magazine. What is truly exciting about this is that this will also be the first time in 17 years the original line up of Jane’s will be together and performing on stage.




Eric Avery, the original bassist and true melody maker for Jane’s, said he did not have an issue with putting aside some of the bullshit that kept this band separated for so long to perform tonight. Avery said that this is more of a celebration of the past as opposed to a money making opportunity. Eric went on Navarro’s SpreadTV to discuss the band, his decision to play with them and his feelings on those who replaced him in the 17 years following his departure from the band. Also Dave Navarro and Perry Farrell have apparently put their bullshit aside and come together for the show tonight as well. While word on this remains that tonight’s performance is a one time reunion, I can’t help but keep my fingers crossed and hope that they decide to make this reunion into a summer tour. I mean Lollapalooza would be a perfect place, since their last show was during the first year of the ground breaking festival.You can watch it, like I will be doing, on NME’s Myspace Page. The festivities are also honoring Mick Jones, The Lemonheads for their It’s a Shame About Ray album from 1992 and the rest of their nominees for the besties from this year in music.
Here is a little flashback to 1991, when heroin was everywhere and Jane’s was at the top of their game.


In other music news that is blowing my mind…

* All Tomorrows’ Partes makes its US debut this summer and it’s going be in the upstate New York. (Woohoo!) My Bloody Valentine is bringing their reunion tour there, along with Built to Spill, Meat Puppets, Shellac, Mogwai, and Polvo. And this is just the beginning of the lineup. I can not fucking wait for this. I knew there was a reason I didn’t shuttle my ass to Coachella this weekend on California.

* Tribe Called Quest will reunite this summer to play the reunion friendly Rock the Bells tour. They will be joined by Nas, Mos Def, De La Soul, Spank Rock, Rakim and the reunited Pharcyde. My ass will be attending this as well, since in 1992 all I listened to was TCQ and Jane’s.

* Mariah Carey scores another number one with her new album E=MC2.

* Even though its only April, Rolling Stone is picking the best of music, rock, etc for this year. My favorite radio station, Indie 103.1 won the top slot for this year.

* Get the Nine Inch Nails singe here for free. And apparently Chinese Democracy the beyond long awaited album from Guns N’ Roses is completed and ready for the masses. I can not fucking wait to hear this and I am very much assuming that this band will be reuniting soon to promote this as well.














Seriously, all I need is Tripping Daisy and Blur to reunite and play NYC and I can die. Today is giving me pretty damn good news about all my favorite bands. This also might force me to get my Jane's tattoo this weekend!!!

Enjoy!

And if you check out the NME awards tonight, let me know what you thought! I will update later tonight with pics and news from the event!!!!