Hilary Swank, Mira Nair team up for Amelia Earhart biopic
The director who brought us Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake and Vanity Fair is making a biopic of Amelia Earhart, the first woman to complete a solo flight across the Atlantic who mysteriously disappeared in 1937. Amelia will star double Academy Award-winner Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby, Boys Don't Cry). Swank has a history of playing strong women in film, and her cinematic choices of late have ranged from award-caliber films to horror and romantic comedies. The script for the film was written by Oscar-winner Ron Bass (Entrapment, Snow Falling on Cedars, What Dreams May Come, Rain Man), who used several... read more
Marc Broussard to release digital EP on Atlantic
New Orleans soul singer Marc Broussard will release his digital five-track EP Must Be The Water Feb. 19, marking his Atlantic Records debut. Must Be The Water is a preview of a full-length album to come later this year. The EP was recorded during Broussard’s recent stint on the Rock Boat. Broussard and his band used a bare-bones studio set-up to record five new songs during the cruise, hoping to capture the feel and energy of the live shows they were performing every day on the ship. Broussard’s soulful, Cajun-influenced 2004 debut Carencro was a reflection of both his Louisiana... read more
Grammy roundup: Herbie Hancock, Amy Winehouse, more
This year’s Grammy Awards sustained a few surprises and managed to get by without a WGA throwdown. Here are the liner notes: Alicia Keys opened the show with a post-partum Ol' Blue Eyes. John Mayer managed to escape cruise mayhem in time to pair up with Keys for duet number two. Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban performed a moving tribute to Pavarotti, which was preceded by a video montage highlighting the careers of the deceased tenor, Lucky Dube, Mstislav Rostropovich, Don Ho, Dan Fogelberg, Porter Wagoner, Beverly Sills, Carlos Valdez, Ike Turner, Oscar Peterson and Robert Goulet. Feist brought her... read more
R.E.M. announces European leg of world tour
Recently, just a little bit of rock 'n' roll hysteria ensued when R.E.M., Modest Mouse and The National announced that this spring, they'd be going on tour...together. Now, R.E.M. has announced a European leg of the tour this summer, which is sure to turn many fans across the Atlantic into shiny, happy people. Unfortunately, R.E.M. won't be bringing The National or Modest Mouse overseas. Everybody hurts sometimes, right? European dates are listed below the following video: EuroTrip: March 24 - UK @ London, Royal Albert Hall July 2 - Amsterdam, Holland @ Westerpark 9 - Nice, France @ Theatre De... read more
UNKLE splits up after 10 years
A little part of the trip-hop died last Friday when UNKLE announced it was officially calling it quits. The band announced the split via its website, stating: "After 10 years as musical collaborators in UNKLE, James Lavelle and Richard File are going their separate ways - a decision that is mutual and amicable. Rich will be concentrating on his new band We Fell To Earth, who are currently in the studio working on their debut album." This announcement follows the band’s first-ever U.S. tour, which saw the duo score high-profile spots at the 2007 CMJ Music Marathon Conference and the... read more
What is your favorite song from Thriller?
The inspiration for Paste's 40th cover, Michael Jackson's Thriller 25th Anniversary Edition, hits record store shelves this week. What is your favorite song from the album? [1584 votes total] Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' (219): 14% Baby Be Mine (8): 1% The Girl Is Mine (35): 2% Thriller (213): 13% Beat It (224): 14% Billie Jean (562): 35% Human Nature (85): 5% P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) (125): 8% The Lady in My Life (30): 2% None (Other) (83): 5% Full Results Comments ... read more
Idle-y Warship Res and Talib Kweli's new group
Where would the music world be without a little website called MySpace? It's hard to imagine now what life was like before artists (and their publicity people) had the freedom and control to announce their upcoming projects and tours through one outlet on the Internet. Recently, the social networking site enabled hungry masses of adoring fans to quickly learn about a new collaboration between Philly songstress Res and not-so-underground hip-hopper Talib Kweli. (Really, once you collaborate with Kanye West, can you really still claim to be part of the underground world?) First brought to the public eye via a live... read more
Billy Joel selected as Shea Stadium's
There probably aren’t as many massive venues that have been as memorable as smaller ones like the Fillmore West, CBGB’s, or the Roxy in London. If we had to pick a few, right up there would be Central Park, Red Rocks (because everyone releases a concert movie from there) and the iconic Shea stadium. Soon, Shea will be closing and New Yorker Billy Joel (number 30 on Paste’s Best Living Songwriters list) has been chosen as the final artist to grace the field. “The Last Play at Shea… From The Beatles to Billy” will be held on July 16, the... read more
Val Kilmer replaces Will Arnett as Knight Rider voice
In a move that could be described as "cold as ice...man!", Variety reports that General Motors recently put the brakes on Will Arnett's already-recorded voiceovers for the upcoming NBC Knight Rider movie. Arnett, known to many as Arrested Development's magician named G.O.B., apparently made a huge mistake when he signed on to become the voice of KITT (a Ford Mustang in its new incarnation), what with being under contract as the voice of GMC Trucks. He told Variety: "Because of a long relationship with General Motors...I had to respectfully withdraw from the project." NBC may have had to hustle to... read more
Gnarls Barkley sets Odd date, preps single
Prepare yourself. Ten years from now, when VH1 inevitably rolls out an I Love 2006 show (scheduled between Flavor of Love 35 and Scott Baio is 56 ... and a Jaded Father of Four, natch) a geriatric Hal Sparks will wax poetic about how for a particular moment in time, music was taken hostage by the R&B-space-funk of Gnarls Barkley. Cut to a graying Michael Ian Black belting out "They think I'm crrraaaaazzzzzyyyy!!!!!" while Henry Rollins rhapsodizes on the beauty of Cee-Lo Green and Danger Mouse's collaboration. The future, friends, is truly a scary place. But don't get too down... read more
Rogue Wave tours Europe, adds more U.S. dates
When Rogue Wave released Asleep at Heaven’s Gate last year, it did so with a little help from one of its friends. Said pal was Nada Surf lead vocalist/guitarist Matthew Caws, who was featured on the bands third album. Now, the two indie-rock groups are teaming up again. Rogue Wave is about to set off with Nada Surf throughout Europe. After finishing up that trek, Rogue Wave will come back to the States for a series of shows throughout April, including the fun-in-the-sun musical experience that is Coachella. In the meantime, you can get your Rogue Wave fix by... read more
Fans petition Led Zeppelin for world tour
The planet's multitude of Led Zeppelin fans, in the wake of the widespread journalistic misunderstanding spurred by the announcement that Lez Zeppelin ("All girls. All Zeppelin.") would perform at Bonnaroo, have created a petition urging the actual Led Zeppelin to go on world tour. So far, it's been digitally signed by more than 8,300 people. News organizations, even those as reputable as the Associated Press, were apparently tricked by the one-letter name difference and prompted by months of rumors that Zeppelin would headline. (Other unfortunate publications included NME, Yahoo! Music News, The Chicago Sun-Times, AcesShowBiz.com and Telegraph.co.uk.) Apparently, fans the... read more
Martin Scorsese to direct Bob Marley documentary
Martin Scorsese is set to direct a documentary on the life of legendary reggae artist Bob Marley, reports Variety. Despite the success of a recent wave of musical film biopics including Ray and Walk the Line, a film depicting Marley’s life has never been made. Several proposed projects have surfaced over the years, including The Bob Marley Story, to star Marley’s son Rohan as Bob and Grammy winning artist Lauryn Hill as his wife Rita, but they have all languished in development or been scrapped by studios. After winning the Academy Award for Best Director in 2006 for his film... read more
White Stripes release single, get sued by DJ
In what seems like severely delayed vengeance, a Canadian radio host is suing Jack and Meg White for their sampling of her radio show at the beginning of the song “Jumble Jumble” from their 2000 release De Stijl. Dominique Payette, once-radio host and now professor at Laval University, is suing the band for $70,000 for the unauthorized use of the 10-second clip. When a former listener told her about the clip in March 2007, she wrote a letter in an attempt to remove the record from shelves and receive compensation for the use of her voice. According to Wired, Payette... read more
Tapes 'N Tapes tours 'n tours
We know that Walk It Off, Tapes 'N Tapes' highly-anticipated sophomore release, strides into stores April 8 via XL Recordings, but the record isn't the only thing on the march. The Minneapolis quartet (that's eight low-top-wearing, stomping feet) will be touring for over a month surrounding the street date, starting with an appearance at SXSW and concluding May 17 in Colorado. Walk It Off is the follow up to 2006's gush-worthy album, The Loon. Tapes 'N Tapes ticket (say that 10 times fast) presale starts Feb. 15 through TapesNTapes.com, and regular sales start Feb. 22. Tour 'N Tour: March 16... read more
Larry David to star in Woody Allen's next feature
Have you ever exited a Woody Allen movie thinking, "Sure, that was neurotic, but was it really neurotic enough?" Apparently Allen has, as the director has cast Larry David as the lead in his next feature film. David is best known as writer/creator of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfield, in the former of which he portrays a comic persona that bears more than a little resemblance to Allen's. David actually worked with Allen previously on Radio Days and Oedipus Wrecks (Allen's third installment of New York Stories), but both roles were extremely minor. One fortunate effect of this casting... read more
Survivor begins 16th season, markets like crazy
As Survivor began its 16th season last night on CBS, one thing was clear: Although the $1 million prize can only ever go to one person, everybody makes it out alive, tanned, toned and with a diet void of too many preservatives. The network’s Consumer Products division has decided to cash in on such health-related associations via the great American tradition of extensive merchandising. Variety reports that the Survivor brand will be licensed to a fitness program and vitamin-enhanced sunflower seeds containing 100 percent of the recommended daily intake of B and C, coming to a checkout line near you... read more
Kanye West brings Daft Punk to Grammys, searches 'Net
Kanye West, already a multiple Grammy-award winner, took home four more mini-gramophones at the 50th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night. West's latest, Graduation, earned him the Best Rap Album title (his third for as many albums) but failed to snag Album of the Year—also for the third time. This year, however, Kanye didn't waste precious airtime railing against the dubious Grammy voting system. He swiftly shut up any potential detractors with an electrifying (and electrified) performance of his Daft Punk-sampling hit "Stronger," wherein a giant pyramid opened up during the bridge of the song to reveal the mysterious French... read more
New Jim Henson biopic in the works
Muhammad Ali. Martin Luther. Patrice Lumumba. All legendary men. All subjects of biopics titled after their last names. Soon, the ranks of legendary boxers, religious leaders and freedom fighters will have among them a new comrade: the man, the myth, the Jim Henson. While Henson may not have transformed sports, religion, or Congolese politics, his accomplishment did bring millions of people together in universal love for stuffed animals with funny voices. The Muppets were—and remain—influential figures in global politics and society, and soon, their creator will take center stage. Recently, Empire Film Group (responsible for such blockbusters as Blonde and... read more
SXSW announces complete musical line-up
Today, the good people of SXSW announced the complete list of bands that will appear at the festival this year. We at Paste realize that even the biggest music fan may be daunted by the enormity of the list, and we're here to help. Below, find a (very abbreviated) guide to this year's SXSW line-up, and remember to check back here for live updates and daily reviews of the festival. Angels & Demons: Bible of the Devil The Black Angels Black Top Demon Evangelicals The Unholy Two Demon's Claws Icy Demons Kush & Jah Bloodfiyah Angels Bands with potential anger... read more
