Initially the White Stripes breakup news brought a bit of sadness to my already dark mood for the day (I live in Minnesota, what do you expect? Have you SEEN this winter?). It had become increasingly obvious (Jack’s comments a few months back about getting in the studio with Meg notwithstanding,) that the more time passed, the less likely a new White Stripes album would be made. After reading the very classy press release, I realized that this probably was for the best, and it’s not like Jack White was going to disappear in Third Man records and never come out again. I assume we will be seeing more of The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, and I have a sneaky suspicion this is a new beginning, not only an end. As restless as Jack White seems to be, there can only be more bands and collaborations up his sleeve. I for one would love to see him induldge his folk and country leanings in a full length release, considering his love of classic country. He recently produced Wanda Jackson’s latest release, and has produced everyone from the Von Bondies to The Greenhornes and the legend Loretta Lynn (helping to bring her a Best Country Album Grammy in 2005). He will only continue to be in demand as a producer. Meg has recently been married, but I do hope she doesn’t disappear completely. While it’s true she may not have had the technical proficiency of many of her peers, there is NO doubt she was the perfect drummer for that band. I can’t even picture someone different in that chair. Sometimes things just fit with the right two people and this is the case here. I really will miss this band, as it seemed every release was an “event” that I looked forward too. I can’t say that about a lot bands, but they were on the short list.
At the end of “Under Great White Northern Lights” (one of the finer tour documents made in a long time,) there is a somewhat heartbreaking moment as Jack plays a gorgeous “White Moon” on the piano, bringing Meg to tears. For some reason, this seems fitting today. Thanks for the music and we appreciated every last bit of it.

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.

Not all of this news is brand new, but it’s all worth knowing about. At least, if you’re me or like the same bands as I do.

• The Dead Weather Announce New Album Details – Jack White’s current project The Dead Weather is set to release their second album, following 2009′s widely-acclaimed Horehound. It will be called Sea of Cowards, and will drop May 11th in the US. Pitchfork has the cover art and track listing at the link.
• Tokyo Police Club Announce Sophomore LP – Must be the time for sophomore albums, because Toronto-based Tokyo Police Club are releasing theirs, entitled Champ, on June 8th. They’re also embarking on a pretty extensive tour, most of it with Passion Pit.
• The Libertines to Reunite for Festival Performances – The Libs were one of my favorite bands several years ago, and I always kind of hoped they’d get back together at some point following their well-publicized and not-particularly-amicable breakup in 2004. This isn’t any more than a couple of reunited festival gigs, no album or anything in the works, and I have a feeling even this has all kinds of possible badness in store for it – as much as I love Pete Doherty’s music, he’s not what you might call a stable person. Hope this comes off better than I fear.
• MGMT’s Congratulations Streaming on Their Site – MGMT’s new album comes out tomorrow, but it leaked early so they put the whole thing streaming on their home page. It seems a little more mellow than Oracular Spectacular, but I quite liked it. Not sure how long they’ll leave it up after the album’s out, so check it out while you can.
• Two More Broken Social Scene Songs from New Record – Two more songs from Broken Social Scene’s upcoming Forgiveness Rock Record have been released, and Steregum has the Flash player to prove it. I really REALLY like “All to All,” though “Forced to Love” needs some more time to percolate around my brain, I think. Forgiveness Rock Record is out May 4th.
• Jason Boesel Talks About In-Progress Rilo Kiley and Jenny Lewis Records – Now, when I heard that coming from Rilo Kiley drummer Boesel, I got REALLY REALLY excited; Rilo Kiley is my favorite band, and their last record together was 2006, before they all sort of amicably split up to work on solo projects. I’d like nothing better than for them to get back together and work on something new. This is not quite that. The Rilo Kiley record is a rarities and B-sides compilation, which is still worth excitement, because they have a lot of B-sides and songs they’ve only done live that I’d LOVE to have in studio-produced form. Jenny is working on a new record with her boyfriend Johnathan Rice, but it’s unclear from the interview whether that means he’s working on her record, she’s working on his, or they’re doing a dual one (they’ve both worked on each other’s records before). Boesel is encouraging, though, that Rilo Kiley may reunite for a new project in the future, something I certainly hope comes true.

As far as I am concerned, no one can rock quite like Dave Grohl. Whether leading the show with the Foo Fighters or passionately (and comically) destroying the drums with Them Crooked Vultures (concert review), the man is not only a musical genius, but a born entertainer. In my house, when a Foo Fighters album drops, it’s an event and as the release date approaches, anticipation grows to almost unbearable levels.

So, I’m pretty excited to hear that Dave is getting back to work with the Foo Fighters in September to work on their follow up to 2007′s Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace – and this time, they’ll be going back to their harder rock roots and bringing former Nirvana producer Butch Vig on board to help out.

“It’s the first album the two of us have made together in 20 years,” Dave told BBC. “There’s something that Butch does that helps a song become a bigger song. At this point I just want to rock. We’ve done a lot of acoustic stuff, the last couple of records have had a lot of pianos and mandolins. This one, I just want it to be on ten. We’re going to do it in my garage. It’s just a garage, it’s got junk and a refrigerator in it.”

Dave went on to say that while on tour for their last album, they wrote enough material to immediately put out another album, but they knew that meant another immediate tour and after years and years on the road (and with Dave having a recent newborn), they decided they needed a break. They are looking forward to getting back to work though and doing things the old-fashioned way.

“The way you make an album dictates the way it sounds,” Dave explained. “One of my favourite records we made was our third one which we made in my basement in Virginia. We had sleeping bags that we nailed on the wall for sound proofing. The general vibe on that record is really comfortable. I’d got upstairs and make chilli and come downstairs and do a vocal on a couch. It’s the same idea. To me it’s about switching up the process, we’ve been using pro tools and all that computer stuff the last couple of records. We’re putting that stuff in the closet and getting our old tape machines out so that we can just do it like we used to do it.”

Awesome. I can’t wait. In the meantime, I’m glad I have the recent Them Crooked Vultures album (and the memories of being front row to see them a few months ago) to hold me off.

p.s. I totally snapped that photo of Dave Grohl that you see above. He sweat on me.

NASA’a new, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) camera has been sending back some really nice, raw images over the past month or so and its first images released on Wednesday are a cosmic “candy store” of spectacular.

“WISE has worked superbly,” said Ed Weiler, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “These first images are proving the spacecraft’s secondary mission of helping to track asteroids, comets and other stellar objects will be just as critically important as its primary mission of surveying the entire sky in infrared.”

Comet Siding Spring appears to streak across the sky like a superhero in this new infrared image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The comet, also known as C/2007 Q3, was discovered in 2007 by observers in Australia.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/multimedia/pia12830-a.html

The immense Andromeda galaxy, also known as Messier 31 or simply M31, is captured in full in this new image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/multimedia/pia12832-c.html

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Just a few news items from the past few weeks, all courtesy of Pitchfork:

• The Strokes Back in the Studio – For the first time since 2006, The Strokes are working on a new album. They’re hitting two festivals this summer, Isle of Wight and RockNess, both in the UK – they say these are the only two tour dates for the year, though. A nearly ten-minute long clip of them in the studio can be found here.
• The Dead Weather Prepare Sophomore Album and Tour – Also back in the studio, though with much less long a break, is Jack White’s current project The Dead Weather. They’re also planning a major tour, including several of the big festivals. Fingers crossed for a Lollapalooza appearance!
• Info on New MGMT Album – MGMT’s follow-up to 2007′s massively acclaimed Oracular Spectacular is scheduled to drop April 13th. It’s going to be called Congratulations! and includes a track called “Lady Dada’s Nightmare”, a tribute to Lady Gaga. Should be interesting!
• The Bird and the Bee’s Hall & Oates Tribute Album Dated – The Bird and the Bee have been performing Hall & Oates covers at live shows forever, and we’ve known they’ve been planning a covers album for a while. Now it’s firmly titled and dated: Guiltless Pleasures Vol. 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates will come out March 23rd. Does “Vol 1″ indicate they plan more of these? Perhaps, and they do a wonderful job putting their own spin on covers, but I do hope to see some more original material from them sooner rather than later.
• Grandaddy + Earlimart = Admiral Radley – It’s not unusual for LA bands to share members back and forth, form new bands with different configurations, etc., and now Grandaddy members Jason Lytle and Aaron Burtch have teamed up with Earlimart duo Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray to form a new band they’re calling Admiral Radley. They already have dates lined up in Dallas and LA.

Just a quick FYI on the state of music blogs and .mp3 sharing. Last week Google and its affiliate, Blogger, shut down a number of music related blogs citing that they had been violating their terms of agreement by posting copyrighted material without the permission from the holders.

Now if that were the case, I think it obviously appropriate to remove these sites from the interwebs because not only are they violating the terms of service, but they’re breaking the law – which would ultimately be the responsibility of Blogger.

However, as it turns out (and it’s a bit complicated), these blogs in general, did have permission to post the stuff they had on their sites. But just like a gov’t cleanup job, the left hand doesn’t seem to know what the right hand is doing and while “cleaning up” these blogs, deleted a LOT of people’s hard work and countless hours of time consumption.

So let’s be clear, Blogger went in to a number of its hosted web sites and deleted these blogs completely (which of course technically they have the right to do). They didn’t send a cease and desist notice. They didn’t suspend the account, they didn’t just remove one or two posts or put the posts temporarily into draft mode. They completely obliterated blogs with years worth of posts and effort… and as it turns out, for no good reason.

Take a look at a couple of these stories that can explain it far better than I can, with much more detail and with specific examples about the DMCA and Blogger’s responses as to how they handled the situation and why they handled it the way they did.

It’s pretty lame and discouraging reading, but it’s important.

Pitchfork
The Daily Swarm
True Slant
irockcleveland’s Blogger help ticket

I‘ve done my part and donated to Haiti, but I’d donate another $100 if I was promised “We Are the World” would never be remade again. As my friend so aptly put it after seeing this, “Haven’t they suffered enough in Haiti?” But hey, it’s for a good cause, so whatever, I’ll lay off the criticism of what was an awful song in the first place. Do check out the We Are The World Foundation website and if you can help out in anyway, even if it’s only a few dollars, please do. The short-attention spans of both the media and the public seems to be kicking in – which is a shame, because the country is still in shambles, the death toll has climbed to 250,000, and Haiti will continue to need assistance in the months (and years) to come.

Enjoy the video… or probably not.

Fans were gushing today over the news that former Guns n’ Roses bassist, Duff McKagan, would likely be filling the shoes of Eric Avery as the new bass player for @JanesAddiction. Founding member Avery left the band after a very brief reunion last summer.

It’s been all but confirmed by Perry Farrell who would only simply say that that the prospect of a new bassist is “very likely.” But it makes sense that McKagan would be the choice as he’s been close friends with the band since the late 80′s and has collaborated some with Jane’s guitarist, Dave Navarro, in the band Camp Freddy.

Despite no official confirmation, Farrell said on his site, Xiola.org, that the “mysterious” bassist is writing with the original trio and that songs for the first new album since 2003′s “Strays” are starting to come together. “We’ve got one great song so far called ‘Top Dog,’” he says.

Giggity-giggity!

If there’s one reason to convert to Christianity, this is it. Unless you’re a bad little boy or girl. If you’re a good guy (which I’m sure you are), you’ll dig the badassery that is Krampus. You might not have heard of Krampus, but that’s because anyone that’s ever ran into this demon, probably didn’t live to tell about it or was too frightened to do anything but be quiet little saints for the rest of their lives.

Krampus travels the globe just before Santa Claus each year; but instead of helping deliver gifts, he finds all of the naughty girls and boys and either beats them into oblivion or carries them away and drop them into the pit of hell. These days, when kids seem undisciplined as ever, I say bring back the traditional harshness that is Krampus today!

MERRY CHRISTMAS from RowThree and MorePop!!

more info on Krampus

Proving that social networking is a huge cultural force, the New Oxford American Dictionary has chosen ‘UNFRIEND’ as its 2009 Word of the Year (WOTY). To “unfriend” means to remove someone from your friend list on a social network like Facebook or MySpace. The new word is an excellent choice as the 2009 WOTY because of its “currency and potential longevity,” according to Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program.

This is a word you may have used yourself – or at least hear others use. If you’re on Facebook, that’s a concept you’ve likely been exposed to (and hopefully, not been the victim of yourself).

Other contenders for 2009 WOTY.

hashtag: a # [hash] sign added to a word or phrase that enables Twitter users to search for tweets (postings on the Twitter site) that contain similarly tagged items and view thematic sets

intexticated: distracted because texting on a cellphone while driving a vehicle

netbook: a small, very portable laptop computer with limited memory

paywall: a way of blocking access to a part of a website which is only available to paying subscribers

sexting: the sending of sexually explicit texts and pictures by cellphone

Are there better commercials on television right now?

It is unfortunate, but it looks like Oasis may be a band of the past – and yeah, possibly for good this time. It’s been no secret that since their rise to fame in the mid-90s the bad-boy Gallagher brothers who front the popular Britpop band despise each other. They’ve walked off mid-concert, cancelled tours, and taken breaks from the band all due to their bickering, which had often been public and profanity-laced.

Just last month, Liam spoke candidly in an interview, saying that the only time they see each other is on stage and they do not even travel together while on tour. He summed it up by saying: “He doesn’t like me and I don’t like him, that’s it.” Less than a month later, the band would be no more.

After an argument backstage between the brothers at the Rock-en-Seine festival in Paris a few weeks ago, Liam ended up breaking Noel’s guitar. Minutes before the show was to begin, it was announced that they would not be taking the stage. Just two hours after this, an official statement was released on the band’s website by Noel himself:

“It’s with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight. People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer. Apologies to all the people who bought tickets for the shows in Paris, Konstanz and Milan.”

Will this really be the end of Oasis? Well, according to Liam, he is going to continue the band without Noel – but then, as Noel contributed as lead guitar and was the principal songwriter (not to mention, he often contributed vocals), it is, in reality, Oasis no more without him – not anymore than the Beach Boys are still the Beach Boys, at least.

‘Tis a shame, because despite their arrogance, despite their popularity, despite the overplaying of some of their songs, despite everything, they are not only a band that I love (indeed, I have all of their albums), but they are actually insanely good too. They are far from a guilty pleasure.

Let’s hope Peggy Gallagher, their mother, is correct when she says, “I’m convinced the band will reunite because they do love each other very much, but they’ve always been very different. The funny thing is, they didn’t fight as children. They didn’t fight until they started the band… I hope this isn’t the end of Oasis. I don’t think it is. They’re just tired at the end of the tour. They’ve had fights before and got over it.”

I suppose not really movie news, but it is related considered the subject of this story, Anvil!, is the focus of one of last year’s best documentaries, Anvil! The Story of Anvil.

According to an article in The Toronto Star (written by Lips himself) Anvil! found themselves playing to a crowd of over 40,000 people at Gillette Stadium – rather than the 20 or 30 that usually show up in the local bar scene. If you’ve seen the documentary you know how big of a deal this is.

“I was thanking him as he shook my hand saying “great show, great show!” He then shook my son’s hand as he was being whisked away in his SUV. Wow! I had just met Angus Young, lead guitarist of the mighty AC/DC. It was such an honour to be able to thank him in person for his big heart and generosity for letting Anvil have an opening slot at the biggest and most meaningful show we’ve ever done in America….

What a night! What a show! We so appreciate these kind of moments. It’s been a long, hard road to this destination. Next stop, Giants Stadium in New Jersey!”

The story of Anvil! just gets better and better and couldn’t happen to a more devoted group of guys. Head over to the Toronto Star article and read Lips experience for yourself. He’s like a kid in a candy store finally realizing his dreams – with not even a hint of egomania. Keep on rockin in the free world guys. We in the third row love ya.

Oh and Brookly Vegan has a bunch of stills from the show.

Want to make sure you’re well prepped for what could be the final party on the planet? Keep up to date with the impending armageddon with the Asteroid Watch widget from Nasa.gov.

JPL’s Asteroid Watch Widget tracks asteroids and comets that will make relatively close approaches to Earth. The Widget displays the date of closest approach, approximate object diameter, relative size and distance from Earth for each encounter. The object’s name is displayed by hovering over its encounter date. Clicking on the encounter date will display a Web page with details about that object.

The Widget displays the next five Earth approaches to within 4.6 million miles (7.5 million kilometers or 19.5 times the distance to the moon); an object larger than about 150 meters that can approach the Earth to within this distance is termed a potentially hazardous object.

If this is too much for you, you can follow the Twitter which is a bit more selective and doesn’t notify you of every passerby, just the ones that are likely to kill us all.