New Jersey’s Gaslight Anthem brought “American Slang” to Leno the other night and you could see the “man… we’re on the Tonight Show!” vibe throughout. They’ll be stopping by First Avenue on Monday night, and I have my ticket in hand. Can’t wait. I’m betting they took Rachel Weisz out for shots afterwards. That’s what I would’ve done of course.

American Slang

The ’59 Sound (with Bruce Springsteen)

YouTube and Arcade Fire are teaming up to offer a webcast of the bands August 3rd, Madison Square Garden show. One of the most anticipated releases of the year, “The Suburbs” will be out a day before in the US. Early reviews are starting to trickle in here and here. While I wouldn’t exactly call 2010 a disappointment so far, I am waiting for that one album to make it a truly memorable year. I hope this is the one.

If you caught the latest trailer for David Fincher’s upcoming The Social Network, you probably noticed the absolutely awesome cover of Radiohead’s “Creep.” It only took a minute of digging to find out that it was done by a Belgian girls’ choir called Scala & Kolacny Brothers. And they make some really, really, really awesome covers. I’ve put below their “Creep” cover along with a few of my favorites after the jump.

I may not have been sure about what really did interest me, but I was absolutely sure about what didn’t.

-from The Stranger by Albert Camus

Huge image follows so its under the cut. Check it out though. It had me laughing my ass off.

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When The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air aired from 1990 to 1996, there were very few people out there who would have guessed that Will Smith was going to become one of the largest and most bankable stars in the world. A moderately successful rapper in the late 80s, he was almost bankrupt after underpaying his taxes and owing the IRS $2.8 million when he hastily took an offer from NBC to create a sitcom around him. The show, of course, was a success, nabbed Smith two Golden Globes nods and led a natural transition into his Hollywood career, when in the matter of three years, he starred in the huge box office hits, Bad Boys, Independence Day, and Men in Black, almost immediately turning him into one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.

And it all started with this show. I loved the show and probably watched most of the 148 episodes during my childhood, but like most 90s sitcoms, it suffered from being, well, a 90s sitcom. Most have not aged well (I mean Full House? It’s painful). Still, there is a moment in Fresh Prince that has always stuck out that I always remember. In one of the last episodes of the fourth season, Will’s father Lou suddenly shows up. Absent for most of his life, Will is elated when his father seems to take an interest in actually being his father and making amends for the pain he has caused his son. Ever protective of his nephew who he now thinks of as a son, Will’s Uncle Phil is weary of Lou, but despite his caution, says nothing as Lou offers to spend the summer with Will, as Phil knows that this is what Will wants. The episode ends with one of the most heart-wrenching moments in any 90s sitcom that I can think of – which, you know, is a rarity to begin with, given the nature of television at the time. The acting is actually very effective from Will, who shows shades of the big-time actor that he eventually becomes, as well as James Avery, who played Uncle Phil. Watching this classic moment reminds me why I liked this show so much as a kid.

In the eyes of many, LeBron James became a villain overnight. He went from “The Chosen One” the “The Target.” And make no mistake, teams are going to have their crosshairs on him (what’s new?) but this time, I have a feeling that many arenas LeBron visits this year will welcome him with boos and jeers for the spectacle he put on these past few weeks.

Whoever is to blame in Cleveland for their always coming up short of a championship doesn’t matter. They just didn’t get it done there. Seven years and no rings to show. Then sure, he was absolutely free to join any team that he liked and most would agree that there is no problem with him choosing to go to the Miami Heat, if that was what he wanted. There is no way around it though. I’m all for his decision, but when it became “The Decision,” he humiliated the city and fans that embraced him for seven years. The way that LeBron went about his free agency was a slap in the face to Cleveland, something akin to a guy dumping his long-time girlfriend on Larry King. “Larry, I know she is still madly, deeply in love with me and has been on her knees begging me to stay, so this has been a hard decision for me, but she and I are done. I’m going to go shack up with this hotter, hipper girl down south.”

One of the more interesting parts of the whole ordeal is Cleveland’s owner Dan Gilbert’s instant-classic open letter written awfully in Comic Sans to the fans of the team that was posted shortly after the announcement where he calls LeBron’s “several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up” a “cowardly betrayal” and then goes on to promise that the Cavs will win a championship before LeBron does. As amusing as the whole letter is, who would want to work for such an unprofessional owner?

Still, I think this is all a bit overblown. The backlash for LeBron’s hype machine is getting too much hype. The antihype is now being hyped. People are talking about the destruction of his legacy, the blow his brand is going to take, and so forth. I don’t buy any of it. People will still watch. People will still read about him. The difference? There just may be a few more rooting against him.

Oh, what a tangled web you weave, LeBron.

Welcome to the third edition of “What I’ve Been Reading,” where I share with you, well, what I’ve been reading – and where you can feel comfortable sharing with the rest of the world what you’ve checked out of your local library to help you drift off into someone else’s world. Recommendations are welcome and any thoughts on the books I’ve been reading, of course, are welcome also. Maybe we can even get some discussion going.

The Stranger (1942)
Author: Albert Camus
Synopsis: “A young Algerian, Meursault, afflicted with a sort of aimless inertia, becomes embroiled in the petty intrigues of a local pimp and, somewhat inexplicably, ends up killing a man. Once he’s imprisoned and eventually brought to trial, his crime, it becomes apparent, is not so much the arguably defensible murder he has committed as it is his deficient character. The trial’s proceedings are absurd, a parsing of incidental trivialities–that Meursault, for instance, seemed unmoved by his own mother’s death and then attended a comic movie the evening after her funeral are two ostensibly damning facts–so that the eventual sentence the jury issues is both ridiculous and inevitable.”

Suttree (1979)
Author: Cormac McCarthy
Synopsis: “Set in Knoxville, Tenn., in the 1950s, this novel tells the story of a man who has repudiated his well-to-do parents, deserted his wife and is now a river fisherman who consorts with robbers, ragmen and other outcasts.”

To Have and Have Not (1937)
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Synopsis: “The first time we meet Harry Morgan, he is sitting in a Havana bar watching a gun battle raging out in the street. After seeing a Cuban get his head blown off with a Luger, Morgan reacts with typical Hemingway understatement: “I took a quick one out of the first bottle I saw open and I couldn’t tell you yet what it was. The whole thing made me feel pretty bad.” Still feeling bad, Harry heads out in his boat on a charter fishing expedition for which he is later stiffed by the client. With not even enough money to fill his gas tanks, he is forced to agree to smuggle some illegal Chinese for the mysterious Mr. Sing. From there it’s just a small step to carrying liquor.”

Burning Bright: A Play in Story Form (1950)
Author: John Steinbeck
Synopsis: “‘A man can’t scrap his bloodline, can’t snip the thread of immortality.’ Such is the strength of Joe Saul’s desperate longing for a child, that he feels as if a dark curse is upon him after three unfruitful years of marriage. Yet unbeknown to him, he is sterile. His beautiful, young, devoted wife loves him so much that she secretly conceives the child of another man.”

Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age (2005)
Author: Kevin Boyle
Synopsis: “In the steamy summer of 1925, Detroit, like many northern cities, was in the throes of rising tension from racism as native-born whites, immigrants, and blacks, drawn by the flourishing automobile industry, jockeyed for jobs and housing in the teeming metropolis. In the jazz-age era of changing social mores and rising expectations, Dr. Ossian Sweet, grandson of a slave, attempted to move into a working-class white neighborhood. His neighbors, fanned into a panic by avaricious real-estate brokers and the growing presence of the Ku Klux Klan, threaten Sweet and his family with violent eviction. In self-defense, Sweet and his friends arm themselves and end up killing a member of the mob. The murder indictment of Sweet, his wife, and their defenders attracts Clarence Darrow as defense attorney and the newly organized NAACP, which was in the midst of a national campaign against racial restrictions in housing.”

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March Edition
February Edition

I had no idea that Brandon Flowers of The Killers was releasing a solo album in September, but now that I have heard the first released song and watch the epically badass video, I cannot wait. Enjoy.

“I was so sentimental about you I’d break any one’s heart for you. My, I was a damned fool. I broke my own heart, too. It’s broken and gone. Everything I believe in and everything I cared about I left for you because you were so wonderful and you loved me so much that love was all that mattered. Love was the greatest thing, wasn’t it? Love was what we had that no one else had or could ever have? And you were a genius and I was your whole life. I was your partner and your little black flower. Slop. Love is just another dirty lie. … Love is that dirty aborting horror that you took me to. Love is my insides all messed up. … To hell with love. Love is you making me happy and then going off to sleep with your mouth open while I lie awake all night afraid to say my prayers even because I know I have no right to any more. Love is all the dirty little tricks you taught me that you probably got out of some book. All right. I’m through with you and I’m through with love.”

-from To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway