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Plan Your April Fools' Day Pranks With Rufus Wainwright, Evanescence And Cinderella

Posted 4/1/10 10:00 am EST by in Music


Today is April 1, which is April Fools' Day. Long a haven for pranks and tricksters, the day has taken on new meaning in the age of the Internet, so you can expect plenty of online-related gags all day (Google has already changed its name to "Topeka" for a day and the hilarious minds at nerd outpost Think Geek have rolled out their April Fools' Day products, including Dharma Initiative alarm clock and canned unicorn meant). Musicians aren't immune to the charms of April Fools' Day either, as just last year Coldplay announced their new album would be recorded in zero gravity and Kid Rock told everybody he was acquiring the naming rights to the baseball stadium in Detroit.

In case you plan on goofing on your co-workers, roommates or significant others today, why not fire up an April Fools-appropriate soundtrack? You can map out your gags with a spring in your step care of Run-DMC's "It's Tricky" or contemplate your own "Foolish Games" with Jewel. Do you pride yourself on being both a joker and a thief? Wolfmother has your theme song. Or are you perhaps the victim of a lot of pranks and punks every time the month of April rolls around? Evanescence feel your pain. Intent on being "Nobody's Fool" today? Only firing up some Cinderella can really guarantee that.

Of course, the April Fools' Day soundtrack kicks off with Rufus Wainwright's "April Fools," a bubbly little slice of cabaret rock that dances and swaggers and not only reminds us of the perils of April Fools' Day but also feels a lot like spring.

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'Seward's Folly' Brings Alaska Into The Fold: Wake-Up Video

Posted 3/30/10 9:00 am EST by in Wake-Up Video


When Thomas Jefferson struck a deal with France for the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, it was a huge step forward for American expansion. And a relative deal, too — the United States swapped 15 million dollars for roughly 828,000 square miles of land, which ended up making up parts of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Louisiana. There were even parts of Canada in there. It was a massive instant expansion and lead to a period of great American prosperity that pushed the country towards the Pacific Ocean.

But not all acquisitions were treated as genius. On this day in 1854, Secretary of State William Seward signed a deal with Russia to acquire Alaska for seven million dollars. It was instantly referred to as "Seward's Folly" and "Seward's Icebox" because of it's remote location and troublesome climate. The U.S. Senate barely ratified the treaty (it passed via a single vote) and the country eventually took possession of the territory six months later. It was thought of as an arctic wasteland until the discovery of gold in 1898, and a number of other natural resources were eventually discovered, making Seward look more like a visionary as time went on.

In hindsight, Seward had an impressive career as a politician and also survived an assassination attempt on the same night that Lincoln was murdered. In honor of his vision and foresight, here is Dr. Dog's "Alaska," a fine ode to our 49th state.

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Searching For The Good Stuff On Day 2 At Lollapalooza

Posted 8/2/08 5:35 pm EST by in Festivals, Lollapalooza


Grant park skyline
Maybe it was my mood, but I kept thinking, “Man, there’s nothing I want to see this morning at Lollapalooza.”

Day two dawned kind of sleepy-eyed, as I looked over the schedule and saw bands I either knew I wasn’t that psyched about, or who I’d seen enough and didn’t need to book a repeat appointment with. But then, some of the coolest bands I’ve seen over the years at Lolla are the ones playing early on a side stage (like, well, The Verve, back in the day), so I opened my mind and ventured out. Because you can, I hit four different stages in the span of about 90 minutes and it was a mixed, but satisfyingly gumbo-like sampler.

The Ting Tings did their spunky ringtone dance punk thing on the main stage, which segued into the jubilant Flaming Lips-meets-Crosby, Stills & Nash at a My Morning Jacket show jam of Dr. Dog (a group I would not normally check out), and after a 50 yard walk, I was turned onto he spiky minimalist electro rockers the Foals, who kicked my head in with submachine bass and chiming guitars. All I can say about the death rattle blues of the Gutter Twins – fronted by former Afghan Whigs front man Greg Dulli and ex-Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan – is that Lanegan freaks me out and I know he wasn’t really staring down at me like he wanted to jump down and cave my face in, but it sure felt like it.

For a look at all the Lolla action -- the good, the bad and the ugly -- check out Gil's Lollapalooza photo diary.

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For The Record: Avril Lavigne, Santogold, Dr. Dog & More

Posted 5/5/08 3:16 pm EST by in For The Record


AvrilFTR

· Avril Lavigne has been struck mute by a wicked case of acute laryngitis. So far, she’s had to scrap eight North American dates.

· Santogold’s released a new track through the new RCRD LBL venture. Those crazy kids like to give away that free music!

· The excellent Dr. Dog are releasing a new album, and hitting the road.

· Tom Hanks released this video endorsing Barack Obama. Consider the youth vote signed, sealed, and delivered!

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