Coldplay gives away new single, announces free MSG show
When you’re as big as Coldplay, you are granted a series of magical powers. Which ones? Teleportation, for one thing. That one’s useful when you need to buy baby Apple an obscure, handcrafted something-or-other only available in, say, Slovenia. Another magical power? The power to Take Over the Web. Well, not exactly, but you can bet that there may users of “teh intenets” are currently hanging out at Coldplay.com. What’s the appeal of a little homepage? This morning, Coldplay began offering its new single, “Violet Hill,” for download. For free. For one week only. That’s one tenth of the band’s... read more
Wolf Parade announces tour, re-names new album
Recently, we told you that Wolf Parade will grace will help commemorate Sub Pop Records’ “celebration of 20 years of not going out of business.” Well, the lupine-monikered band is not all about celebrating others’ success—it rightfully deserves its own commemoration. That’s why Wolf Parade has announced a summer tour that will take it through the United States and Canada. Why celebrate? Because the sequel to the band’s stunning debut, Apologies to the Queen Mary, is on the horizon and will dock (sorry) June 17. What’s more, yesterday, Pitchfork revealed that the record formally known as Kissing the Beehive has... read more
Mike Judge, Jason Bateman team up for new office comedy
Right now, if you search IMDb for Extract (Mike Judge’s newly-announced workplace-comedy starring Jason Bateman), the occasionally dubious website directs you to Beef Extract Room, supposedly a silent documentary short released in 1901. (“AKA Beef Extract Department. No. 1: Filling Jar,” it says, “One of approximately 60 short films produced by Selig for meat-packers Armour & Co.”) There are no memorable quotes. So, until that gets fleshed out a bit more, here’s the basic information. Judge has written, and will direct the film, set to be the first project under the Beavis and Butthead/King of the Hill/Office Space creator’s production... read more
Son of Rambow
Son of Rambow, the new film by Garth Jennings, was an audience... read more
R.E.M., STP, NIN, more headline Voodoo Music Experience
With this year’s Jazz & Heritage Fest already halfway over, another New Orleans music extravaganza is already shaping up. The 10th New Orleans Voodoo Music Experience will be held October 24-26 at New Orleans’ City Park with R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails and Stone Temple Pilots set to headline. The Neville Brothers, New Orleans’ First Family of Funk, returned to New Orleans for their first performance since Katrina for this year’s Jazz Fest and will make their first appearance at Voodoo Fest this year as well. Other local acts including the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Irving Mayfield’s New Orleans Jazz Orchestra... read more
Hammer, Tongs and the DIY Inspirado of John Rambo
Garth Jennings’ 12-year-old self didn’t catch the political subtext of forgotten veteran John Rambo’s plight... read more
My Five Dads
When I first encounter Scarlett Johansson, she's at a playground in NYC's West Village, conversing with a man at least twice her age... read more
New Avett Brothers EP coming this summer
Avett Brothers fans have something to look forward to (beyond the 4.5 quillion tour dates the group is working through currently, natch). The band of brothers will cap off months and months (and months and months) of touring with a brand new EP on July 22, entitled The Second Gleam. Conveniently enough, it will provide Avettaholics with six brand-new songs just before the siblings headline the Koka Booth Ampitheatre in Cary, NC. Tickets for that show go on sale May 9. Also coming from Ramseur Records on July 22 is the debut from Samantha Crain, The Confiscation, and the first... read more
The Beatles and Cirque du Soleil hit DVD in late June
The Beatles and Cirque du Soleil are coming together (again) right now. Well, June 24, anyway. That is the release date for the new feature-length documentary about Cirque du Soleil’s “LOVE” show, set to the Beatles’ album of the same name, which has been showing at Las Vegas’ Mirage Hotel since 2006. Cirque du Soleil teamed up with Apple Corps Ltd. to make the 84-minute DVD, entitled All Together Now, in hopes of giving viewers an inside look at the partnerships and creativity that went into the much-acclaimed production. The project was initially borne of George Harrison’s friendship with Cirque... read more
Emmylou Harris prepares for new album, summer tour
Legendary Southern songbird Emmylou Harris will be hitting the road this summer for a North American tour. Harris has already done some touring this year, first with Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin and Buddy Miller in January, and a month later as a headliner on the 2008 Cayamo Cruise. Her summer tour will be in support of her upcoming album, All I Intended To Be, due out June 10 on Nonesuch Records. The new record is Harris’ first solo release since 2003’s Stumble Into Grace. The singer/songwriter recorded the new album over a four-year period with her longtime producer Brian Ahern... read more
Isabella Rossellini will explore bug sex in Green Porno
Other than a desire to expose what lies beneath the surface, the tiny-insect documentary Microcosmos and David Lynch's twisted suburban classic Blue Velvet may not seem to have much in common. But starting May 5, the worlds of bug copulation and the memorable visage of Isabella Rossellini will come together for Green Porno, a online series of "third screen" short films commissioned by the Sundance Channel and directed by Rossellini and Jody Shapiro. Sundance co-produced My Dad is 100 Years Old, Rossellini's debut short film (co-directed with Guy Maddin) about her Italian director father Roberto Rossellini, and later asked the... read more
Carly Simon: This Kind of Love
We know nothing stays the same... read more
Jordana Spiro’s Guide to Chicago
In the TBS comedy My Boys, PJ Franklin, a twenty-something Chicago sports writer, balances her dream job, a dating life and a never-ending poker tournament with the boys. Although most of the series is shot in LA, Jordana Spiro, who plays PJ, got to know Chicago while shooting some scenes there. Here she shares her top five Chicago spots:... read more
Documentary to feature Bill Cosby, Steve Harvey, more
Bill Cosby has joined the ranks of comedians featured in a documentary entitled Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy. The film is based on Darryl Littleton’s book that was released late in 2006 with a similar title. Robert Townsend will direct, and Littleton also has a hand in production. A stand-up comedian under the stage name D'Militant, Littleton’s lens is both first-hand and historical. “I feel like maybe in the last decade it has become a little bit more buffoonish than it was,” Littleton said to NPR. “My role models were people like Dick Gregory, Richard Pryor and... read more
Catching Up With... Anna Paquin
Best known for her Academy Award winning performance in The Piano at the ripe old age of 11, Anna Paquin has gone on to act in myriad projects, including Finding Forrester, all three X-men movies, Almost Famous, HBO originals and... read more
Haiku Review, Vol. One
R.E.M., My Morning Jacket, Colin Meloy and more... read more
Scrubs poised for awkward shuffle to ABC
As the dust settles from the scuffle between NBC and ABC over the series, Scrubs prepares to take its exit from NBC. After seven years with the network, the final episode airs next week in a decidedly un-hyped fashion. The downplayed finale is part of a deal between NBC and ABC that sees Scrubs moving to the latter, negotiations of which ceased to remain secret for long. Under the long-pending deal, ABC is set to pick up 18 episodes of Scrubs for next season. Although production has been going on for weeks, ABC has aimed to keep things quiet with... read more
Scarlett Johansson Talks About Her (Real-Life) Dad
In Paste's June cover feature on Scarlett Johansson, we focused on how she's been influenced personally and professionally by her five "dads" (Woody Allen, Bill Murray, Tom Waits, Barack Obama and Bob Dylan). Here's what she had to say about her actual dad:... read more
Boris to conquer North America this summer
Over the past few years, there has been a lot of talk about Japan creating a new, standing army. That seems a tad unnecessary, doesn't it? Who needs a standing army when you've got the face-melting metal of Boris to defend your great nation? Think about it: if it came down to some bootleg North Korean nuke versus the band that wrote Pink and Amplifer Worship (50-megaton records if we've ever heard one) we all know who would come out on top. Just in time for the stateside release of its latest album, Smile, Boris has announced a new North... read more
Constantines: Kensington Heights
Constantines are the most under-appreciated... read more
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