Despite this resident blogger's very short, yet oh-too significant friendship with Lady B's younger sister Solange Knowles, no invitation for Adam Cozens or the rest of the Rockworms.com staff was received in time to make this last weekend's private nuptials of Jay-Z and Beyonce in New York City. Must have been an address mix-up.
The long-time couple solidified their love with the traditional exchanging of vows and rings at a private New York loft on Friday evening. Other attendees to this long rumored wedding including Coldplay's Chris Martin and wife Gwyneth Paltrow as well as past members of Destiny's Child amongst others from the entertainment industry.
The rapper and singer had been a couple for six years prior to this event and it is the first marriage for either of them.
The happy couple celebrated by finally breaking their mutual pledges of abstinence.
Unbeknownst to be, Billboard.com has a "Buzz Tracker" which they use to gather information on what music-makers are generated the biggest noise that week. I particularly loved this version of the chart because the top 5 "buzz-generators" that are featured are such a close-knit, friendly community. Lotta LOLz.
"Everybody here, Comes from somewhere. But they would just as soon forget, and disguise"
-Stipe, "Supernatural Superserious"
The above words are the first that anyone heard from the mouths of R.E.M. in over four long years.
After the release of 2004's mellow Around The Sun there were schools of thought that strongly hinted that R.E.M. had perhaps, had officially lost its way. They rocked hard on Monster, kept it hard but created a new sound in New Adventures in Hi-Fi, followed the craze and went tech'y for Up, bored the room to tears with Reveal and despite still writing great songs, lost more than a little heart with Around The Sun. Perhaps having heard these cries for R.E.M. to return to form, the now aged-rock veterns playing in their FOURTH decade have decided to bring the fire back. No longer are they to be thought of as "that band that used to". They have shed the emo, acoustic veil that has unfairly been laid upon them and have hit back with one of the years most important albums: Accelerate.
While their are many disheartening things that people could take away from this last week's American Idol controversy involving a nameless contestent, Chris Cornell and the song "Billie Jean", the most disturbing report to come forth is found deep, tucked away at the bottom of the previously linked MSNBC article:
"In other news, Cornell is working on his next solo album with superstar
producer Timbaland, but declined to reveal further details other than
to say, 'it’s going fantastic.'"
Temple of the Dog. Soundgarden. Audioslave. Euphoria Morning. Bubba Sparxx?!?!?!??!?!
I can find no justifiable reason that Chris would jump over to work with the man better known for making Missy Elliot beats other than to give off the apperance of relevancy in the industry. It's sad.
I love Chris. I have adored his voice for years and honestly, stranger things have happened, (looking back, who woudl have guessed the Rick Rubin/Johnny Cash colabs would have soared like the did?) but in terms of being realistic, I think that this is a huge miscalculation. Timbo dosen't belong in rock. He is a credibility killer. Or Killa. Either way, I will give the album a fair shot, but then be the first to say "I told you so."
"We know once it's released, people will refer to it as "Dr Pepper for the ears" because it will be such a refreshing blend of rich, bold sounds -- an instant classic."
Axl has been working this next installment of Guns N' Roses awesometastyness for not less than 17 years, and apparently had nothing to do with this Dr Pepper campaign (I guess the Doctor just really likes GNR?).
I don't know about you, but I could go for two things right about now:
1) An ice-cold Dr Pepper. After all, it's just what the Doctor ordered.
2) Some gnarly male, soprano glam-rock vox!
The second best thing about this news (the first thing, of course being a free can of Dr Pepper), is that it gives us who are always looking to be on the cutting edge of our vernacular, a brand new slang term that we KNOW is fresh! Let's start applying it to other areas. Here are some examples:
In School: "That test was like Dr Pepper for my brain!"
In Church: "God is like Dr Pepper for your soul!"
On a date: "You are so hot...you're like Dr Pepper for my eyes!"
These are just a few examples, but I'm sure you can find other places in your life that give you a refreshing blend of bold things. Go ahead, use the phrase; tell 'em Rockworms told you to!
Dr Pepper wasn't available for comment, but we're pretty sure if he had been, he would have said something awesome.
There is a name that we at Rockworms must never utter. A name that is so vile, so congesting to other music sites that to waste our space and resources on it would be shameful.
But yesterday, former Black-Flag frontman and all around awesome dude, Henry Rollins scooped the world with a story claiming that (name not to be said) doesn't even use (his/her) own VOICE on (his/her) own records!
Rollins, who has recorded in various mediums from music, to comedy to spoken-word has heard from varying sound technicians and producers that (he/she) has an older black lady come into the studio, lay down vocals and (he/she, who is not to be named) sings OVER those track and creates a sort of "duet".
Rollins said: "They have the black
chick come in and sing, and (name who is not to be said) sings over it, and they mix them
together. (Name who is not to be said)
gets (his/her) phrasing basically from this older R&B woman. I found that
out talking to an engineer. (Name who is not to be said) apparently isn't actually the worst singer, she just has no feel. So they bring in this older black woman who sings
the song, then (name who is not to be said) sings to it, and they kind of make a mix of the
two voices, and that's what you hear on the records."
Amazing. We hope to hear more from Rollins, but less about (him/her) in the future.
The husband of a female singer whose voice I liked but could never bring myself to actually intentionally listen to has passed away.
According to a less-than-informative article in our friendly, non-sueing, sister publication, the A-P, Corrine Bailey Rae's husband was found dead in his Leeds flat on Saturday. Offical toxicology reports are still out, but a man has been arrested on suspicion of supplying him with drugs. Hard, dirty, sexy drugs.
The late Mr. Rae, first named Jason, was a saxophonist in the group "The Haggis Horns". Yup. I'm leaving him alone.
Ms. Bailey Rae, who you most likely know from her constant play in Starbucks stores or possibly her two-episode arch on NBC's short-lived, yet brilliant Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, has been nominated for the Grammy for Best Song in both 2007 and 2008.
Props to Mike Keliher for an original idea this morning. We've all heard of the Rickroll (you haven't? geez... here you go then. And by the way, President Kennedy is dead. He was shot!), and quite frankly we're all getting a little sick of them. Even this new surge of "live rickrolling" is still not doing it for me.
Mike's early morning tweet brought a needed twist to the rickroll:
Attn all: Let the record reflect - I'm pretty sure I just invented "snow-rolling":
Then he linked to this video:
If you're under 25, this may be a history lesson for you. Even if you're old enough, you still may not have heard of Snow. I'm not altogether certain these guys were popular outside of suburban Minnesota circa 1993. So watch, listen, and absorb.
I want to encourage everyone--young and old--to follow the wisdom of Mr. Keliher, and find new and creative ways to "Snow Roll" your friends. Think of it like the web-version of tea-bagging, or the brown-eye. You're showing them something they really did not want to see! So I'm putting it out to the massess (or in this case, the dozens...ok let's be honest, Adam, Kyle, and my mom), to start the Snow Roll phenomenon!
And I especially love people from Manitoba, Canada.
So imagine my delight when I stumbled upon the Crash Test Dummies back in the summer of 1994. Originally introduced to me by one-time friend "Weird Al" Yankovic, the Dummies (or CTD) were a delightful little-bit of emo sunshine in my mid-90's Seattle life. Despite releasing many quality albums, the CTD's most well-known collection is 1993's God Shuffled His Feet. Featuring the internation smash hit about things that would make most of us commit suicide "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm", God Shuffled His Feet went platinum in the US, garnered 3 Grammy nominations and to date has sold over 5 and a half million copies.
And that is why it is the subject of the latest installment of Adam's Old & Busted Recap - Crash Test Dummies: God Shuffled His Feet.
A few months ago I went to a friends show here in Minneapolis and a band came on afterwards that I had never heard of before. Romantica played a simple set, about 8 songs or so (I was a little fuzzy), but they really grabbed the entire audience (a solid 40 bodies crammed into an awkwardly small bar) with their quiet intensity, yet full out rocking.
Somebody called them "Alt Country" and I'm not even sure what counts as genres anymore, but Romantica brings sounds and influence that remind me of anyone from Bob Dylan, to Chicago, to...umm...who plays the accordion anymore?
In any case, we often hear of small-town band makes good, and I have no doubt that Romantica has a strong chance of sticking to our ribs--even as the music industry withers away to a pile of bones. And to proove my commitment, and support of good music, I just popped $8.99 for their MP3 Album America, and you should too.
Blog 
Despite this resident blogger's very short, yet oh-too significant friendship with Lady B's younger sister Solange Knowles, no invitation for Adam Cozens or the rest of the Rockworms.com staff was received in time to make this last weekend's private nuptials of Jay-Z and Beyonce in New York City. Must have been an address mix-up.
While their are many disheartening things that people could take away from this last week's 
There is a name that we at Rockworms must never utter. A name that is so vile, so congesting to other music sites that to waste our space and resources on it would be shameful.
The husband of a female singer whose voice I liked but could never bring myself to actually intentionally listen to has passed away.
I love rock music.
