Daily Loaf

Stay up-to-date on your music news.

• Green Day hit the studio to re-record 21 Guns with the cast of the American Idiot musical, and also plan to shoot a new video to accompany it. This could be the next big hit on Glee.
• Jennifer Lopez has released her new single, “Louboutins,” which she will perform at the American Music Awards on Sunday. Her stilettos were made for walking, and she wants you to know about it.
• Eminem is pushing back his Relapse 2 album release to 2010, but on Dec. 21, he’ll re-release his fifth studio record as Relapse: Refill with seven bonus tracks. If I had to have some sort of relapse, I’d be stoked to have Slim Shady by my side.
• Paul McCartney joins Ringo Starr for a duet on Starr’s forthcoming album, Y Not. Ringo + Macca + new song = something that everyone will listen to and support because nobody talks shit about the Beatles.
• The ninth annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival will be taking place June 10 – 13 next summer in Manchester, Tenn. Those are also the only dates in 2010 when I will actually wish to be in Tennessee.
• The Decemberists are releasing an iTunes-exclusive “full-length video album” next month, and have just released its drug-induced trailer. Check out the video and get more music news links after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night, Dereck and I attended the SuperNova Sunday event at NOVA 535 (535 Dr. M. L. King Jr Street N, Saint Petersburg, FL 33701, (727) 821-6682). I’ve been spending a lot of time at NOVA lately, and when I heard they were putting on a weekly party that was part Gong Show and part social gathering, I decided it was time to go do a photo shoot.

More pics after the jump: Read the rest of this entry »

Paula, I feel your pain.

The “nice” American Idol judge (AKA the “nutso” American Idol judge) gets lots of flak for being overly kind to even the most unlistenable contestants. But as one of three judges last night for GaYbor Karaoke Idol II, the entertaining weekly competition at Streetcar Charlie’s in Ybor, I now realize how tough it is to tell someone to his/her face that singing might not be the best career choice if you can’t carry a tune for shit.

Actually, it wasn’t that much of a problem that we were unable to tap our inner Simon Cowells (even though I know that my fellow judges, Albert the Realtor and Tara the International Woman of Mystery, definitely have some Simon in ‘em). The five contestants all showed merit, and a few were just downright good — particularly the winner, Yarrick Conners, whose awesome range and rhythmic precision suggest he should get himself to an AI audition as soon as possible (plus, he kind of looks like Taye Diggs). Read the rest of this entry »

You’d think so from the way the judges have been fawning over him; in fact, Simon Cowell says a Lambert win is already in the bag. And according to some critics, the St. Petersburg Times‘ Eric Deggans among them, American Idol needs Lambert to win to retain some measure of cred.

I agree with Deggans that it’d be cool if America made a “semi-kinda-sorta-openly gay man” its Idol, even if, as the New York Times‘ Stephen Holden suggests, the whole sexuality angle has been “overhyped.” But if Lambert doesn‘t win, I’d hate to see the blame fixed on the is-he/isn’t-he question. Because the potential problem with Lambert isn’t that he’s so out-of-the-box — it’s just the opposite. His performances have become predictable. Read the rest of this entry »

Simon Cowell teased it last night: During tonight’s show an announcement will be made about a “surprise change to the rules that could alter the face of the competition.”

Alter the face of the competition? You mean forbid Paula from wearing sparkly eye makeup?

Apparently not. The change is procedural, not cosmetic: Once during the season, the judges will get the chance to veto the audience’s elimination vote.

May they use their awesome new power wisely.