Author: Dylan

At the MoveOn “Bush in 30 Seconds” award ceremony (find out more about that here), Moby performed a cover version of Creep again. This time, however, he got up and announced that he was singing it from the perspective of George Bush. Several attendees commented that the cover was far more emotional and well done than the one he played on a recent Conan O’Brien appearance, particularly during the chorus.
Bush in 30 Seconds was a contest held by political action committee (PAC) MoveOn in which ordinary people were asked to submit 30-second advertisements explain why George Bush should be stopped as soon as possible. The contest generated quite a bit of heat from several conservatives who were apparently upset that two of the (non-finalist) ads compared Bush to Hitler (although, oddly enough, they didn’t seem to mind when when supporters of President Bush used TV ads morphing the face of Democratic Senator Max Cleland (D-GA) into that of Osama Bin Laden during the 2002 Senate race).

Organizers have confirmed that Radiohead, a reunited (although it’s unknown if EVERYONE will be there) Pixies, and Kraftwerk will headline the first day (May 1) of this year’s Coachella Festival, to be held at Empire Polo Fields in Indio, California. They are still negotiating contracts with other bands, including headliners for the second day. Other confirmed bands include Air, Prefuse 73, the Thrills, Electric Six, Sahara Hotnights and the (International) Noise Conspiracy.
Reports from people who have gone say that Coachella is a festival show done right for a change- plenty of food, drink, facilities, and speakers (this isn’t always the case, and speakers ARE crucial). This year should be no different, and the lineup is already such that it can’t NOT be a winner. We’ll keep you posted as to tickets and other confirmed performers as the news rolls in.
You can now sign up to be on the Coachella mailing list over at the otherwise (still) bare official website.
(Thanks to E. Figueroa, Dave, and Mike.)

An interesting article appeared in the Mercury News, about how HTTT grew on one writer to the point where it became a watershed album.
An excerpt-
“One of the best pop music experiences is hearing a song like OutKast’s “Hey Ya!” — sort of the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” of its day — a song that makes you feel bulletproof for 3 minutes and 55 seconds, that makes you get up and dance every time or sing at the top of your lungs in the car.
But there’s something better. It’s finding an album that you hate at first, maybe for even more than a dozen plays, but that ends up changing your musical tastes and maybe your life.
I had one of those moments with Radiohead’s “Hail to the Thief” over the holidays, an album that a number of readers pointed out was surprisingly absent from my top 10 for the year.”
Read the whole article here.
(Thanks to Sean.)

According to the same Billboard article that tells us of Radiohead’s return to the studio, one should not waste time saving up for a CD of Radiohead’s Split Sides music…
“It’s just for the dancing and that’s it,” Greenwood says of the music. “It was important to us and we took it seriously. It was a privilege. What a man! [Cunningham] is inspiring. We went to his apartment in New York and he was demonstrating how he used a laptop to do the choreography, and he’s in his 80s. He sat there using a [Macintosh] G4. Just to have not given up and keep changing is inspiring.”
Again, you can read the entire article here if you’re so inclined, but you and I both know you clicked on RH Back in the Studio! first, and have already seen it.
It should also be noted that an audience recording of Split Sides (taken from the UK performance, which itself was a playback of the recording of the US performance- got that?) is widely available from your file-sharing program of choice.

A little snippet from a Billboard article…and it’s good news indeed!
Despite being on a break, Radiohead has lately not been far from its Oxford, England-based studio. “I was in the Radiohead studio just a couple of hours ago,” guitarist Jonny Greenwood told Billboard.com yesterday (Jan. 12). “[Drummer] Phil [Selway] was there drumming and recording and [lead singer] Thom [Yorke] has been in and out. We don’t take time off very well. We’re enjoying it still, so why just go home and do nothing?”
Read the rest of the article here for some more interesting information.
(Thanks AGAIN to Ara, who just keeps ’em coming.)

For the seventh time since 1994, Radiohead has been nominated for Best British Group at the BRIT awards. Their competition is The Darkness, Sugababes, Busted, and Coral.