Back to Rockville

U2 books a full week on Letterman

From the Associated Press: Make room, Paul Shaffer. U2 will be on David Letterman's “Late Show” for a full week to promote their upcoming album. The band will be Letterman's musical guest each night from March 2 to 6. It's the first time a musical guest has been given a solid week on the CBS show.

KC music legends: All that jazz and blues

Tom Moon has been a music critic and commentator and a musician for decades. Now he's a correspondent for NPR, among other outlets. He has just issued the paperback version of "1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List."

Court: Janet's breast no 'shock'

Four years ago, I was at the Super Bowl in Houston (Patriots v. Panthers) when this trivial fiasco occurred. We were too far from the stage to see anything. We had no idea how big a deal it had become until we woke up the next day and no one was talking about the great game. It was all about Janet's nipple.

You're not getting enough...Saul Williams

The poet/singer's song "List of Demands" is all over the NCAA tournament, being the track behind Nike's 60-second "My Better is Better Than Your Better" Sparq commercial. The song's video is above; the spot is below, with the 30-second, music-less (but nonetheless excellent) spot after the jump.

James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" is the worst song ever

From the Dept. of News You Can't Use comes the report that British marketing firm Onepoll.com has named James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" the worst song ever. The full list:

1. "You’re Beautiful" — James Blunt.

2. "Axel F" — Crazy Frog.

3. "Mmm Bop" — Hanson.

4. "Mr Blobby" — Mr Blobby.

5. "Birdie Song" — The Tweets.

6. "Shout" — Lulu.

7. "Agadoo — Black Lace.

8. "Grace Kelly" — Mika.

9. "My Heart Will Go On" — Celine Dion.

10. "La Macarena" — Los Del Rio.

More about this incredibly important news story can be found here, here and here.

Another national discourse on race, another attack on music

(Photo of Don Imus and Al Sharpton from The Associated Press.)

I’m no apologist for hardcore rap. I quit listening years ago, when it got redundant, boring, predictable and pointless – a tired, offensive cartoon version of itself.

Hardcore rap and hip-hop in general are under siege again, thanks to Don Imus’ recent episode in whatever you want to call it: racism, bigotry, stupidity, temporary insanity.

Imus has apologized sincerely and asked for mercy and forgiveness, but not before turning the issue upon his prosecutors: Why don’t you do something about the image of women in hip-hop? he asked Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

It was an interesting tactic, like the guy caught robbing a bank who then asks the FBI: Why don’t you do something about corporate tax cheaters?

Imus outrage spills over into hip-hop

It was only a matter of time before media wonks big and small, old and new, transformed The Don Imus Idiocy into an attack on hip hop. A brief tour around the Web...

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: "The Rev. Al Sharpton and others rightly have taken Imus to task. But why haven't the same energies been applied with the same urgency against the worst of hip-hop culture, for instance? " More...

The New York Sun: "The content of much of today's hiphop is extreme, but sadly no longer surprising." More...

indyeastend.com: "I'll bet that if you asked any one of the women on the Rutgers basketball team to let you hear the songs they have on their iPods, you would hear some disgusting anti-women lyrics that would shock you far more than Imus' incredibly dumb words." More...

Reclaimthemedia.com: "Sad to say, but I’m used to hearing black and brown women being call “bitch” “ho” “skank” “skeazer” “gold digger” or some variation of all of the above in popular songs and music videos." More...

From, KABC-TV the ABC affilliate in L.A.: "And since some of you -- actually, a lot of you -- have done the predictable thing and used Imus' predicament as a platform to hold African-Americans responsible for hip-hop, I'll briefly address that. Although I hope you know hip-hop didn't become the No. 1 music genre in the world because only black folks support the music." More...

Philly.com: "You can't put hip-hop in. Everybody wants to put hip-hop in everything." More...

The Hartford Courant: "The rap and hip-hop industry, and many black comedians can share in the fallout. There is not the same outrage from the black community when some African American entertainers cavalierly and excessively use the words "bitches," "hos" and "*****" - having turned them into almost endearing terms." More...

| David Frese, The Kansas City Star

MAKE MIXTAPES, BECOME A PRISON BRIDE

(Photo of DJ Drama from the New York Times.)

The NYT writes this morning about the arrest of DJ Drama and what that means for your mixtapes.

"On Tuesday night he was arrested with Don Cannon, a protégé. The police, working with the Recording Industry Association of America, raided his office, at 147 Walker Street in Atlanta. The association makes no distinction between counterfeit CDs and unlicensed compilations like those that DJ Drama is known for. So the police confiscated 81,000 discs, four vehicles, recording gear, and “other assets that are proceeds of a pattern of illegal activity,” said Chief Jeffrey C. Baker, from the Morrow, Ga., police department, which participated in the raid.

"DJ Drama (whose real name is Tyree Simmons) and Mr. Cannon were each charged with a felony violation of Georgia’s Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization law(known as RICO) and held on $100,000 bond."

More here.

NEWS & NOTES | VELVET UNDERGROUND BID WAS 'A MISTAKE'

The dude who bought the unreleased first album by Velvet Underground on eBay last week for $155,000 said it was a computer error. More here.

CBS has launched a Grammy contest that asks you to upload a video of yourself singing one of nine listed pop songs a cappella. The winner will sing a duet with Justin Timberlake on the Feb. 11 awards ceremony. More here.

| Ward Triplett, the Star