BANDS BEYOND THE BREAK-UP

From Sparky's Nightmare to Fleetwood Mac, a bunch of rock'n' roll bands carry on even after the couple within them collapses. For example:

* JOHN DOE and EXENE CERVENKA of X
* GWEN STEFANI and TONY KANAL of NO DOUBT
* SONNY and CHER
* CARRIE BROWNSTEIN and CORIN TUCKER of SLEATER-KINNEY
* LINDSAY BUCKINGHAM and STEVIE NICKS (and STEVIE NICKS and MICK FLEETWOOD) of FLEETWOOD MAC
* BOY GEORGE and JON MOSS of CULTURE CLUB
* possibly BOB MOULD and GRANT HART of HUSKER DU (though it's difficult to confirm they were a couple, despite rumors)
* ANNIE LENNOX and DAVE STEWART of THE EURYTHMICS
* JACK WHITE and MEG WHITE of THE WHITE STRIPES
* MAC and LAURA OF SUPERCHUNK
* LAURYN HILL and WYCLEF JEAN of THE FUGEES
* RICHARD and LINDA THOMPSON of FAIRPORT CONVENTION (who toured while they were gettting a divorce)

AGONIZING CONFUSION ABOUT THE BUFFAY FAMILY TREE

On "Friends" DVD Marathon: Day Two, I'm wondering why in some episodes Lisa Kudrow's character Phoebe has only one sibling, her twin sister Ursula (also played by Kudrow) and in other episodes her only sibling is goofy pyromaniac Frank, played by Giovanni Risbisi.

I'm watching an episode right now from Season 5 wherein Phoebe's long last father returns and he's talking as if he only had two children, Phoebe and Ursula.

Am I unaware of a plot point?

"La Vie En Rose"

Saw the new Edith Piaf bioflick last night at the historic Tampa Theatre and while I thought it contained some singulalry beautiful scenes and great acting, it was edited into a non-linear hodgepodge of horric incidents in Piaf's life, one after another, which frankly, made it a really jolting, depressing experience.

So...go see for yourself.

The number one song on the day I was born was George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord"

which is, conveniently, my favorite song of all time.

Find out the song that was number one on your special occasion (s) by consulting:

http://www.bobborst.com/popculture/numberonesongs/



and thanks to the radtacular Christine O' Brien for making me hip to this site.

GORE VIDAL ON AMERICAN POLITICS

"There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party . . . and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit stupider, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than the Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt — until recently... and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments when the poor, the black, the anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentially, there is no difference between the two parties."

-GORE VIDAL

HAPPY INDIE DAY!

Think about what it means. Don't be a slave to big business, government, celebrities or technology.
Read a book. Pet your cat. Kiss a sweetie. Love your mom.

Sissy Spacek as LORETTA LYNN, etc

(Whispering) I'm right now watching "Coal Miner's Daughter," the great LORETTA LYNN biopic starring Sissy Spacek who not only nails the acting part, but manages to sing the tar off the roof of all Lynn's hits. (Beverly D'Angelo also does a convincing job portraying Lynn's buddy PATSY CLINE in the film).

Hands down, Spacek is my all-time favorite actor-portraying-a musical -legend. She is peerless.
Spacek's portrayal is on one end of the spectrum with Dennis Quaid's cartoony JERRY LEE LEWIS at the other.

Here's a list of other actors playing musical types. Give me your thoughts on your faves (and non-faves). Add more.

* Jessica Lange as PATSY CLINE
* Tom Hulce as WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
* Joaquin Phoenix as JOHNNY CASH
* Reese Witherspoon as JUNE CARTER CASH
* Diana Ross as BILLIE HOLIDAY
* Gary Oldman as SID VICIOUS
* Jennifer Lopez as SELENA
* Lou Diamond Phillips as RITCHIE VALENS
* Gary Busey as BUDDY HOLLY
* Jamie Foxx as RAY CHARLES
* Angela Bassett as TINA TURNER
* Val Kilmer as JIM MORRISON
* Phillip Seymour Hoffman as famed rock critic LESTER BANGS
* A bunch of actors have portrayed ELVIS PRESLEY including Jonathan Rhys-Meyer, Kurt Russell, and Michael St. Gerard

And in Todd Haynes' new "I'm Not There," (2007) seven actors and actresses including Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Cate Blanchett portray BOB DYLAN in all his various eras.


I

TOP 10 ECO-FRIENDLY CITIES IN THE WORLD

According to Veg News magazine (June 2007) the Top 10 Global Green Urban Hotspots are:
(1) AMSTERDAM, which spends $40-million a year on its cycling infrastructure. Thirty-seven per cent of Amsterdam's residents commute by bike. The city is filled with bike paths. The city also has community cars and an expert recylcing system.

(2) CHICAGO where supergreeen Mayor Richard Daley aims to make his city the most eco-friendly in America. The city has planted half a million trees since 1989, implemented greening city rooftops to conserve energy and filter rainwater. The mayor passed the Environmental Action Agenda to replace 130 city vehicles with hybrid automobiles and installed 10,000 bike racks. Cycling is one of the most popular transit options as well as the city's superb public transportation system.

(3) CURTIBA in Brazil was transformed by its architect-mayor Jaime Lerner in the 1970s. With a population boom in the 1970s, Lerner redesigned the city for people not cars, building parks and creating lakes to ease flooding and closing the main street to traffic making instead a pedestrian-only plaza. The city also has an economical and environmentally friendly bus system with entire roads, highways and lanes allocated exclusively for buses.

(4) FREIBURG near the Black Forest of Germany. The city's residents in the 1970s planned a mass civil disobedience event to protest a planned nuclear power plant, raising environmental awareness and discussion about the city's energy future. Three decades later, Freiburg is a solat city with photovoltaic panels soaking up the sun's rays from the roof of Central Station, the hospital, the soccer stadium, city gardens and the local brewery. Citizens uses the bicycle as a means of transportation on one-third of their trips. The city has also reduced its grabage disposal by two-thirds since 1980.

(5) KATHMANDU, though its architecuter is medieval, its mindset is modern and eco-friendly. The capital of Nepal, the city of Kathmandu uses solar energy and solar water heaters and limits its buildings to nine feet and utilizes bulding rooftops for gardens and activity.

The rest are LONDON, REYKJAVIK, PORTLAND (OREGON), SINGAPORE, and TORONTO.

I'M A REBEL (BECAUSE I SING SO)

A few years ago while hanging wih some friends watching bands at New World Brewery in Ybor City, I spotted a guy inside with a T-shirt with the word "REBEL" (in all caps) written across his chest.

That seemed odd to me - would a real rebel, say Marlon Brando, wear a T-shirt proclaiming him thus?
And, what makes one a real rebel?
Remember Brando in "The Wild One"? When asked what he was rebelling against, his character simply muttered, "What have you got?" I'm not sure Brando ever came out and declared himself a rebel. It all makes me think about the handful of rock 'n' roll artists who feel the need to depict themselves in song as iconoclasts and are therefore suspect to real rebels. These include:

(1) BILLY JOEL, who spent his entire pre-paunchy youth telling us what a badass he was in songs such as "Only The Good Die Young," in which Joel taunts that nice Catholic Virginia to come out and have sex with him. Don't forget "You May Be Right," wherein Joel sings about riding his motorcycle in the rain. "You may be right,' Joel sings, "I may be dangerous." Whoo, dangerous indeed.

(2) MICHAEL JACSKON never tires of telling the world want a tough guy he is, but his rebel declaration rings most clearly on the anthemic "Bad," wherein he demands the whole world needs to answer right now just to tell you once again who's bad. (Um, you?)

(3) According to JOHN MELLENCAMP's "Authority Song", he's always fighting The MAN. But, he laments, he just can't win.

(4) "Wanted Dead or Alive" let us know that JON BON JOVI was a cowboy* , but metaphorically so, since it was "on a steel horse" he rode. What is that? Like, a car?

(5) It takes a a special guy to sing that he's "Bad To The Bone." GEORGE THOROGOOD is so -b-b-b-b-bad, he also drinks alone. (see; "I Drink Alone.')


* All country music fits into this category. Singers of that genre are constantly lauding their own rebelliousness.

ON BEING "NEUTRAL":

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."

--BISHOP DESMOND TUTU

Discussion about indie rockers in movies:

PUNK ACTORS IN FEATURE FILMS. I'll start, you add.
(Not regular ol' rock stars, but from the punk and indie rock crowd.)

* IGGY POP in "Cry Baby" with DEBBIE HARRY, and a few others.

* JOHN Doe of X appearing on the screen in everything from "Great Balls of Fire" to various episodes of "CSI" and "The West Wing."

* RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS bassist FLEA making his screen debut in "Suburbia" and appearing in a dozen or so from then to now including "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," and "My Own Private Idaho"

* ANN MAGNUSON of BONGWATER was a regular on the 1980s Jamie Lee Curtis/Richard Lewis sitcom "Anything But Love." She's also had small roles in "Panic Room," "A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon," "Making Mr. Right" and "The Hunger." Magnuson was also on episodes of Nickelodeon's great "The Pete & Pete Show."

* JACK WHITE of the WHITE STRIPES in "Cold Mountain."

* COURTNEY LOVE, beginning way back with a bit part in "Sid & Nancy," to her critically-acclaimed turn in "The People Vs. Larry Flynt" and several others.

* HENRY ROLLINS has been in a bunch of cruddy action movies.

* JOAN JETT (She has punk cred via The Runaways) opposite Michael J. Fox in the horrid "Light of Day."

I've also seen in movies JANE WEIDLIN of the Go-Go's, ELVIS COSTELLO, GRACE JONES, LOU REED, SUZI QUATRO, CYNDI LAUPER, and DAVID JOHANSEN of the New York Dolls.

Observations on revisiting "Desperately Seeking Susan"

Today I watched again "Desperately Seeking Susan," the 1985 Susan Seidelman-directed flick showcasing the best of Madonna's acting abilities.

The movie is cool and nostalgic, jam-packed with Big Apple early '80s street cred by featuring cultural hotspotsof the time Danceteria (where everyone dances to Madge's "Into the Groove") and the (still-thriving) Greenwich Village vintage store Love Saves The Day.

The movie also features underground New York musicians in bit parts including Richard Hell (of Richard Hell and The Voidoids) as the thug "Meeker", No Wave pioneer Arto Lindsay as a newspaper clerk and Bongwater chanteuse Ann Magnuson as a cigarette girl.

ELEVEN CLUES YOU ARE A HIPSTER*

(1) You graduated from a liberal arts school whose football team hasn't won a game since the Reagan administration.

(2) You frequently use the term "post-modern" (or its commonly used variation "PoMo") as an adjective, noun, and verb.

(3) You carry a shoulder-strap messenger bag and have at one time or another worn a pair of horn-rimmed Elvis Costello-style glasses.

(4) You spend much of your leisure time in bars and restaurants with monosyllabic names like Plant, Bound, and Shine.

(5) You have one Republican friend who you always describe as being your "One Republican friend."

(6) Your hair looks best unwashed and you position your head on your pillow at night in a way that maximizes your cowlicks.

(7) You own records put out by Matador, DFA, Definitive Jux, Dischord, Warp, Thrill Jockey, Smells Like Records, and Drag City.

(8) You bought your dishes and a checkered table cloth at a thrift store to be kitschy, and often throw vegetarian dinner parties.

(9) You enjoy complaining about gentrification even though you are respinsible for it yourself.

(10) You have refined taste and consider yourself exceptionally cultured, but have one pop vice (ElimiDATE, Quiet Riot and Entertainment Weekly).

(11) You have kissed someone of the same gender and often bring this up in conversation.


* All of it cribbed from Robert Lanham's insightful "The Hipster Handbook." ( wwwfreewilliamsburg.com)

ALSO, CAN SOMEONE PRAISE ME

for my amazing prescience when way back in March I linked to the Journey "Don't Stop Believing" video??


Someone from "The Sopranos" probably reads "Earful of Cool," but then again, probably not since only like 300 people have checked out the Little Blog That Could.

QUOTE:

"One of my heroes is Barbie. She may not do anything, but she always looks great doing it."
--PARIS HILTON

OTHER WEIRD ROMANTIC UNIONS:

Gene Simmons + Diana Ross

Gene Simmon + Cher

Mike Tyson + Robin Givens

Brad Pitt + Robin Givens

Frank Sinatra + Mia Farrow

ANNA WINTOUR'S 1970s AFFAIR

I know I haven't posted in ages - of course, you've all been busy with your own blogs- but I just read something today that freaked me out as much as I was stunned when I learned that Faye Dunaway was married in the early 1970s to Peter Wolf, lead singer of the J. Geils Band.

It's this:
Anna Wintour, the icey editrix of American Vogue, the woman who reportedly inspired a former assistant to write the biting memoir "The Devil Wears Prada," (played brilliantly in the comic flick by Meryl Streep)

Anna Wintour, she of the fur coats and bangy bob,

had a week-long affair in the 1970s with BOB MARLEY!!

IT'S BRIAN ENO'S BIRTHDAY!

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Just because:

Throw your fists up in the air:

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2794656

Creepy flashback: Naomi and Michael Jackson

is right here:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVLkHhHx03U&NR