Signs of Life 2008: Best Music
Leona Naess - "All is Fair"
the everybodyfields - "Worth Keeping"
TVotR, The Roots, Cee-Lo, more re-imagine Nat King Cole
Live at Paste: Whitley
One imagines Neil Young growing restless on his tour with Wilco and Death Cab for Cutie, only too conscious of the greenhouse gas his cross-country jaunt generates. Yet with bailout bonanza fever raging in the heart of Capitol Hill and Detroit's biggest automakers seeming more like Oliver Twist than Arthur Jensen, what's the second greatest living songwriter to do?
With a sensational ending now in tow, Edward Norton’s Class 5 Films has sold television rights for its unfinished Obama documentary to HBO for “low seven figures,” according to Variety.
It's not like it was really a question who Mavis Staples was pulling for in the election. And once it actually happened, releasing the former Staple Singers' Live: Hope at the Hideout the day of seemed liked it had been an awfully well-conceived idea.
Hip-hop and presidential politics: two great tastes that taste great together. Sure, we already know that most rappers are firmly in the tank for Obama, but in the weird pop-cultural bouillon that has been the election season it was only a matter of time before they flipped the keys, as the canny Nasir Jones put it. The students of Atlanta's Ron Clark Academy have done just that with a little song-and-dance number about the 2008 election that's already spreading like wildfire across the grassy plains of the interwebs.
Patton Oswalt is known for his comedy, not his politics. But on his website last week, the Comedians of Comedy founder noticed, perhaps presciently (and with a surprisingly small amount of tongue in his cheek), the subject of America's next great political novel: John McCain.
Eight years after co-founding the Drive-By Truckers during Bill Clinton's re-election bid, Patterson Hood found himself diving headlong into Bush II's second go-round. He was not happy. "I was in a state of semi-shock and near-depression as my daughter's birth was impending," wrote Hood in an e-mail statement, "and I was depressed to think of her born into the world during a Bush Presidency."
"We can get out of this mess, and life can be better than it is," ends an impassioned screed sent out by former lead Talking Head David Byrne last night. The e-mail sent out to a mass of subscribers via the website for his new album with Brian Eno, EverythingThatHappens.com, didn't mention either candidate specifically by name, but it's pretty clear which one Byrne (who, incidentally, cannot vote) wants in the White House.
When we learned Josh Brolin would be playing George W. Bush in Oliver
Stone's new film W., we were inspired to cast actors to portray some
other American presidents. The rest, as they say, is history.
Tonight, Senator Barack Obama will make his fourth guest appearance on The Daily Show. The Democratic Presidential nominee will join the program's host, Jon Stewart, via satellite from Florida, where his campaign continues with less than a week until Election Day.
Hillary Clinton's done it. So has John McCain. Sarah Palin, too, just last week. Now it seems it might be Barack Obama's turn on Saturday Night Live, if rumors are to be believed. The junior senator from Illinois will supposedly appear on the show on Nov. 1, just in time, before the election (finally) comes to a close on Nov. 4.
Shot through the history of comedic cornerstones like The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live and Spinal Tap is comedian Harry Shearer. His newest project, Songs of the Bushmen, takes musical aim at the Bush Administration, lampooning Colin Powell (“Smooth Moves”), Paul Wolfowitz (“Wolf on the Run”) and Karl Rove (“Turd Blossom Special”) amongst others. The album’s cover even features a portrait of George W. Bush with a bone through his nose—offending Clear Channel enough to get banned from billboard advertisements.
Let's be serious: Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live these past few weeks has been exactly what we needed to cope with this increasingly absurd election (Joe the Plumber, anyone?). Now, news has emerged that Palin wants to be in on the joke and will make an appearance on the show tomorrow night. (She apparently thought the first sketch was hilarious...even with the sound off.)
Last Wednesday night, a blue-collar hero went down in
history. Toledo, Ohio’s own Joe Wurzelbacher—aka “Joe the Plumber”—was invoked
no less than 26 times, making him more central to the third presidential
debate between John McCain and Barack Obama than anything else, including
taxes, education, the war, terrorism, the environment and energy independence.
Seeing as how a playlist about plumbers would’ve been pretty short, today’s Current Events megamix will focus simply on great songs about guys named Joe. Here’s to you, plumber man!
These are trying times to use America as a unifying name, but that's exactly what DC's These United States does. Still, don't be thinking that this band travels to hoot 'n holler Lee Greenwood covers. On its recent sophomore album, Crimes, helmsman Jesse Elliott shouts about thieves and murderers and hubris and sins and salvations... (Alright, so maybe America is a fitting metaphor).
According to a statement issued this morning, Dave Grohl and his Fighting Foo aren't the least bit pleased with John McCain's unauthorized use of one of the band's signature hits, "My Hero," at his campaign rallies:
With the Nov. 4 presidential election looming and slowly becoming a reality (after what feels like an eternity of campaigning), Wilco has decided to take it upon itself to rally people to vote.In honor of this Friday night's presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama (the first of three)—and my obsession with politics as full-contact sport—I've compiled the following playlist to tell the story of the 2008 election so far. Whether you're red, blue, independent or other, enjoy.
Part I: The Primaries
“Changes” - David Bowie
The Thin White Duke sings about what us young (and old) Americans want in Washington this year.
Part 3: The Media
“You’re The Best” - Joe Esposito
CNN claims it’s got “The Best Political Team on Television,” while Fox News claims it’s got “The Best Political Team Ever.” With slogans this superlative, how come the coverage sucks so bad?
Barack Obama has gotten plenty of love from the music industry. Did you notice all the acts that worked for him while on the campaign trail? Now, the Democratic presidential nominee has announced plans to release Yes We Can, a campaign soundtrack and ode to his slogan of change by empowering the people.
When Al Franken announced his intention to run for a U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota last year, the one-time Saturday Night Live star offered assurances to his prospective constituents that the author of books like Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them) was in the race for real.
How do you top a Saturday Night Live season premiere already slated to pair Michael Phelps as host and Lil Wayne as musical guest (UPDATE: And Barack Obama)?
Saturday, August 23rd
We received a call out of the blue asking if we'd like to play the DNC on Tuesday—the night Hillary Clinton is to speak. The word was that they had fallen in love with the song "People" off of Real Animal, and that it really emphasized the message of the night. Turns out that the talent producer of the event is a fan of my music, and she came across the song and thought it was perfect for the tone of the night. I thought any opportunity to play against the Republicans was a great one.
Given that we’re headed into the final leg of the longest election cycle in recent history, it’s actually a small miracle we haven’t heard more from Michael Moore. Yes, he’s popped up every now and then to push some of the requisite buttons, but he’s been mostly quiet following the release of his heath-care treatise Sicko last summer—no small contrast from the previous election, in 2004, when he commanded record crowds for his blistering doc Fahrenheit 9/11.
Reunited rockers Rage Against the Machine set out to make a surprise appearance at the Ripple Effect Festival last night in Minnesota before the police blocked them out. Rage's set, announced that afternoon, reportedly wasn't cleared and didn't meet with 7 p.m. curfew rules.
The Democratic National Convention kicked off last night in Denver, Colo. with a tribute to Ted Kennedy and a heartwarming speech from Michelle Obama. All well and good, mind you, but it's the four-day bonanza of musicians set to perform that boggles the mind. While music has been prevalent in campaigns for the last few decades, Barack Obama and the DNC take the cake with a truckload of inspiring and interesting choices for this year's convention.