Tampa Calling

A weekly bulletin on musical guests playing late night TV; set your TIVOs or DVRs if you’ve got an early bedtime.

The Late Show with David Letterman, CBS
Wednesday, May 27: The Dead (rerun, April 23)
Thursday, May 28: The Killers (May 11)
Friday, May 29: Wynton Marsalis (May 13)

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, NBC
Tuesday, May 26: Dwight Yoakam
Wednesday, May 27: Sarah McLachlan
Thursday, May 28: Prince
Friday, May 29: James Taylor

Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, CBS
Friday, May 29: Erin McCarley (rerun, April 20)

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, NBC
Tuesday, May 26: Keane
Wednesday, May 27: The-Dream
Thursday, May 28: Rodney Atkins

(Video of Tori Amos and the rest of the schedule on Leno after the jump)
Read the rest of this entry »

So far, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has failed to impress many, but the show’s first week of music wasn’t too shabby (the Roots as house band, Van Morrison, Justin Timberlake). Last night Clap Your Hands Say Yeah ripped out a new single, called “Statues” to a very excited audience (what’s with the people on the side of the stage, anyway?).

Video:

Featuring layered, highly danceable funk courtesy of Danger Mouse with a killer vocal and dark lyrics by Cee-Lo Green, Gnarls Barkley’s soultastic new groove “Run” easily ranks as the best single to drop in ‘08. Now, if only they’d do something about the video, which made me feel woozy and might make you have an epileptic seizure, according to Billboard. And the lame cameo by Justin Timberlake, who’s usually money when it comes to stuff like this, doesn’t help. Am I just a wuss or are the strobe effects a bit intense?

OK, just watched it again. Not only does the video kinda suck but it’s a health hazard. At least for me. Regardless, the song itself is more pop excellence from music’s most lethal duo.
Gnarls Barkley’s album The Odd Couple, the follow-up to their masterful 2006 debut St. Elsewhere, comes out April 8 and I couldn’t be more stoked. Been a Cee-Lo fan since back in high school when we used to drive around blasting Goodie Mob, digged his highly underrated solo discs and this Gnarls Barkley brilliance with Danger Mouse might go down as the most important music of the decade. For real.