Also, Happy Halloween... from HALLOWEEN!!!!

 

Kanye West has co-authored a book, entitled "Thank You and You're Welcome," that outlines a few... oh, let's let the man explain it himself:

It’s dope….10 bucks. I teamed up with co-author J. Sakiya Sandifer to make my literary debut with Thank You And You’re Welcome, an entertaining volume of “Kanye-isms “— the creative, humorous and insightful philosophies and anecdotes used in creating my path to success. It captures the same wit, playful irony, and piercing insight found abundant in my lyrics. In Thank You And You’re Welcome! I deliver my personal message uncensored, without any five-second delay or media distortion. I’ll post some sample pages within a week…

Humility is covered in chapter zero, I think.

I don't know what your Thanksgiving plans are, but if you're interested in commemmorating the colonial invasion of North America by a group of white male religious pilgrims from Great Britain in the 17th century by sharing a feast with the self-professed prince of darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, and his loveable family unit, you might consider entering this contest, which allows lucky winners the chance to do just that.

It's hard to know what the most bizarre part of this video of the Sex Pistols playing on the Tonight Show last night. Was it the fact that they followed Ron Paul? Was it Jay Leno's reminder that "Anarchy in the U.K." had been "re-recorded for Guitar Hero 3," was it Johnny Rotten's chestal thickness? Was it the robustness of Rotten's voice? Was it the fast that Steve Jones has only one guitar solo and has been playing it for 30 years and still messed it up?

Or does it explode?

The star of that one movie (no, not Star Wars Episode I, II, or III) about the mysterious emotionally/mentally-impaired girl (no, not Closer, Where the Heart Is, or Anywhere But Here) who has a troubled romance with a nerdy loser (no, not Hotel Chevalier or Beautiful Girls) and turns him onto indie rock in the process (ding ding ding: Garden State!) has made a nice iTunes playlist full of the indie rock she may even actually love. It's to benefit FINCA International, a microloan organization helping the world's poorest people build solvent lives. The music, meanwhile, is full of bands you probably never heard of.

NATALIE PORTMAN: I've always been into music. I was a huge Debbie Gibson fan when I was 8 years old. She was my first concert. I went with my mom and my best friend, and I wore my hair in a side pony. I loved Tiffany, too. And then in middle school and high school I went through Nirvana, Juliana Hatfield, Jeff Buckley — my teen-angst period. In college I got more into indie and folk. I love this whole [freak folk] movement now with Antony and Devendra and CocoRosie and Sufjan Stevens.

01 Tokyo Police Club - "Be Good"

02 Beirut - "My Night With the Prostitute From Marseille" [Exclusive]

03 Tom Brosseau -"Plaid Lined Jacket"

04 Curumin -"Tudo Bem Malandro"

05 The Shins - "Australia (Björn Yttling Mix)" [Exclusive]

06 Brett Dennen - "Ain't No Reason"

07 Sean Hayes - "Turnaroundturnmeon"

08 Thee More Shallows - "Oh Yes, Another Mother"

09 Angus & Julia Stone - "The Beast"

10 Antony & the Johnsons - "Paddy's Gone"

11 Vetiver - "Idle Ties"

12 Norah Jones - "Broken"

13 Devendra Banhart - "There's Always Something Happening" [Exclusive]

14 M. Ward -"What Is A Soul?" [Exclusive]

15 Wooden Wand -"Forgiveness Figg (Bethany Hotel Blues)"

16 Rogue Wave - "How We Landed" [Exclusive]

Not content to sully the good name of Willie Nelson by, you know, appearing with him in a movie and a music video, Jessica Simpson appears to be prepared to take the rest of Nashville by storm, according to MTV's Rock & Roll Daily Blog:

"Pop music is set to lose another of its starlets to country music. Jessica Simpson is leaving the not-so-friendly confines of Los Angeles and hunkering down in Nashville to start work on her next country-flavored album with John Rich of Big & Rich serving as writer. Previously, Kelly Clarkson NASCARed over to the red states to begin work on her own, Reba McEntire-backed country album."

You know when people ask you what one single thing you would rescue if you could rescue one single thing from a house on fire? Did you ever in a million years think the answer would be "Elvis Presley's army fatigues"? Well, that's what separates you from the super rich, I guess.

As Southern California burns, one woman, Lilly Lawrence (whose castle—yes, she lives in a castle—was among the first Malibu homes to burn) is despairing over the loss of Elvis memorabilia, according to the NY Daily News gossip column Rush and Molloy.

"Gone are 32 or 33 original movie scripts of Elvis'," she told us. "They were his personal scripts, with all his notes in the margins."

Also in the ashes lay original Presley song sheets, she added. "All the music for 'Heartbreak Hotel' and 'American Trilogy,' my favorite. Untold things from Graceland. It's just devastating."

She undoubtedly meant for rock history, as the politically active philanthropist characteristically had a stiff upper lip about herself. "My possessions do not possess me," she said. "I'm more concerned about the boys in Iraq than my possessions."

The boys in Iraq could not be reached for comment.

You know that weapons deal that T.I. was allegedly mixed up in, where he allegedly sent his bodyguard to allegedly buy three alleged machine guns and two (alleged) silencers from an all-too-confirmed undercover cop? Well, Akon says that T.I. was obviously set up. Allegedly.

Quoth Akon to MTV: "It's obvious he was set up. But sometimes when you're in a position of that stature and you're that big... you just [shouldn't] allow that energy around you. You have to have people around you to let you know or avoid that energy. Even if he was a [gun] collector, naturally, you get a license to collect. That's just common sense... At that stage where he's at, he don't need to protect himself. You hire legitimate law enforcement, or you hire people who are licensed to carry. Surround them around you and you'll be safe."

And by "energy," I think he means buying machine guns from cops, which goes without saying.

It's not unprecedented for bands to cancel shows on account of everything from low ticket sales to laryngitis (ahem). But when Aerosmith cancelled a date on the enchanted island of Maui (where, apparently, nothing ever happens) a month ago, it inspired a class-action lawsuit! Read all about it at sueaerosmith.com.

I suppose I'd sign up, too, if the complaint included the songs "Janie's Got a Gun" and "Rag Doll."

Talented actress/dirty Marilyn Manson video star Evan Rachel Wood is reportedly getting signed to a deal with Interscope Records based partially on the moderate success of the Across the Universe soundtrack, and partially on the fact, according to an Interscope rep, that "you should hear her karaoke."

I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

According to a poll of Vanity Fair editors, Purple Rain, the immortal album by Prince and the Revolution, is the best movie soundtrack of all time. I don't disagree, at least not on first blush.

Here's the whole list:

1. Purple Rain

2. A Hard Day's Night

3. The Harder They Come

4. Pulp Fiction

5. The Graduate

6. Superfly

7. Trainspotting

8. Saturday Night Fever

9. American Graffiti

10. The Big Chill

And here are 5 they either forgot or never heard of, and more's the pity:

Rushmore

Morvern Callar

Kids

Velvet Goldmine

Lost in Translation

Thanks to the wonder of Golden Fiddle, here is a photo of Robert Plant and Jessica Simpson in conversation that ranks up there with the Elvis meets Richard Nixon snap, "The President and the King." This shot makes me incredibly happy, though I can't honestly say why. It's just so absurd.

Click the thumbnail for a better look, and feel free to make it a caption contest.

The good news, according to Mariah herself, is that when you wear her new perfume (they're usually called a fragrance or a scent when celebrities sell them, but I think we should keep those words for ourselves), which I believe is called Implant—wait, no! It's called M—you won't smell like the inside of a s'more. "It's blended in there," she explained. "it's not like you're gonna walk around smelling like marshmallows."

There's more good news, of course.

Jennifer Lopez, who apparently is a singer who releases records from time to time, is on tour. That tour will not stop in Boston—and not because it's not a college town, either. The internet speculates that it's because, see, Boston is where Ben Affleck is from, and I don't think I'm telling tales out of school when I disclose that Lopez and Affleck used to be an item.

It's a sad story, but Boston is the real loser.

Idolator has the keys to the Spice Girls comeback single, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)."

It's really not that awesome, but I don't know who expected any different. Does it seem a little strange to be rooting for the Spice Girls even though (A) they're not underdogs, (B) I don't like their tunes very much and (C) was always slightly repelled by what they stood for? Well, that's because I am, I guess...  

I don't even know what to say or think about this Cadillac ad, in which Bob Dylan appears (as himself?) driving an ESCALADE (!!!???) while the music of Smog, a/k/a Bill Callahan chugs along as a soundtrack. Granted it's really an ad to promote XM Satellite Radio, and the amazing show, Theme Time Radio Hour, Dylan hosts thereon, but STILL! As was pointed out here, the Escalade is what Tony Soprano drives. It's a monster. It's indefensible. It's... oh, it's Bob Dylan. I guess he really can do whatever he wants, as long as there's a cheeky, semi-self-referential punchline like "what's life without a few detours?" at the end.

Sigh.

 

Even as his music career slides into oblivion, Kid Rock is still a fighter, whether on the red carpet with Tommy Lee, or in the parking lot of a Waffle House in Atlanta, with some random cracker.

Way to go, Kid Rock!

The mighty Nas tells all about his controversial new album title (if not indeed his controversial new album), which I'm going to have the good idea not to print here, but if you click on this link, Idolator will hook you right up.

"I don't know where that [report] came from and neither does Def Jam," Nas said early Thursday morning (October 18) in a Manhattan recording studio when asked about a Fox News article published earlier this week. The story quoted a "source close to" label head L.A. Reid, who scoffed at the thought of the company supporting an album with such a title, and also claimed the album was not on the label's release schedule. "None of us knows where that came from."

Indeed.

If the brand-new abstract impressionist cinematic meditation on Kurt Cobain About a Son was either not enough for you or never made it to your town (or if you hated it because there was no Nirvana music or pictures of Kurt in it), but you still hunger for a movie about the last rock star, don't despair: There's an adaptation of the book Heavier Than Heaven (bad title) in the works, exec. produced by none other than Courtney Love.

Read all about it.

On the eve of her big new album, Carnival Ride, American Idol winner/ CMA-AMA-PCA sweeper/ music industry savior Carrie Underwood grants a gabby interview/cover story to Entertainment Weekly, which I link to here to appease the Underwood minions who reacted less than charitably to my assesment of her "talent" during the Academy of Country Music (or was it the Country Music Academy) Awards.

Quoth Carrie:

"I've learned this, that haters wanna hate. You could sing a song perfectly, you could write the songs perfectly, and some people are absolutely going to hate you. I heard, like, on live shows, people thought I was lip-synching. Which, I guess, hey, if they think it sounds that good that they think I'm lip-synching, I'll take it. Whatever. I know there's a certain point where I have to just be like, 'Forget it, I don't care.' And I do care.

Insert punchline here---> ________________.