Author: Dylan

Congratulations are due to Ed O’Brien and his girlfriend Susan, as they are now the proud parents of Salvador O’Brien. MTV News reports that they left the hospital on January 26th with baby Salvador in tow. This is their first child.

Here’s a delightful article from the Guardian Unlimited.
The shortlist for the NME Awards was announced yesterday. You’ll no doubt be amazed to learn that Radiohead top the list with their customary thousand nominations.
Is OTR alone in wondering, also for the thousandth time, just what it is about this group that has installed them as the noughties’ sacred rock cows? Let’s cut through the customary excuse that their “articulate” and “outspokenly politicised” stance makes everything they do worthwhile. (To OTR’s disgust, even the Today programme fell for this, inviting Thom Yorke to be guest editor for a day between Christmas and New Year.)
Why does no one ever address the fact that their actual music is lumpen, ponderous and unlistenable? Like those leather-bound Shakespeare sets most people buy their CDs not to play but to leave on display to impress friends. (And before the peevish emails arrive – yes, I have the sensitivity of a rhinoceros, and wouldn’t know a good song if I fell over it. Obviously.)
You can read the entire article here.

On their latest CD, jazzers The Brad Mehldau Trio covered Everything In It’s Right Place. As an online-only exclusive, Apple’s iTunes Music Store is selling the 7 1/2 minute alternate version of this track for 99 cents. You can hear a 30 second sample of the track.
You’ll find a direct link right here (you’ll need iTunes to see it, though).

The NME announced their nominations today for the 2004 NME Awards (as voted for by readers of the magazine), and Radiohead leads the pack with five.
The categories and competition-
Best Album
HTTT
The White Stripes – Elephant
Muse – Absolution
The Strokes – Room on Fire
Kings of Leon – Youth and Young Manhood
Best Single
There There
The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
The Darkness – I Believe In A Thing Called Love
The Libertines – Don’t Look Back Into The Sun
OutKast – Hey Ya!
Best Video
There There
Muse – Time is Running Out
The White Stripes – The Hardest Button to Button
Queens of the Stone Age – Go With the Flow
The Darkness – I Believe In a Thing Called Love
Best Live Band
Radiohead
Muse
Queens of the Stone Age
The Libertines
The Darkness
Best UK Band
Radiohead
The Darkness
Coldplay
Muse
The Libertines
You can vote to select the winners here, go down to the bottom of the article to find the link. The awards take place on February 12 in London, so let’s get clicking.

The Roger B. Chaffee Planetarium in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has revamped their OK Computer laser light show. You can catch it on Friday and Saturday nights at 10pm through May 1st.
(Thanks to Tyler.)

A CD with a DJ Ti?sto remix of Radiohead’s “Street Spirit” has been stolen in Belgium this week. DJ Ti?sto remixed “Street Spirit” in 2003 and was played on his DJ Sets all over the world. A friend of the DJ, Cor Fijneman, was doing a club set in Belgium when the cd was stolen. Fijneman was very angry, talking on his weblog; “Of course, this track will shortly appear on the internet, which will take away the exclusivity of the track”.
(Thanks to At Ease.)