Kelly Clarkson has debuted her new single Mr. Know It All on her website.
The song is the first track off her upcoming album Stronger, which drops in October. The single will be available through digital retailers on September 5.
During a Livestream chat, Clarkson said, "We picked Mr. Know It All because it was unlike any song that, really, I've ever come out with. Secondly, just because it's very different from a first single for me. Usually we go with an anthem, guitar-driven song. This is very different, and I was really into it… It's just super sassy and it sets up the album nicely. The whole theme is very empowering."
Here are some nifty words you don’t get to say every day: “The king of Sweden recognized my brilliance and gave me a big, fat cheque for one million kronor (or about $150,000 Canadian).”
That is, unless you answer to the name of Patti Smith… or are a member of American classical ensemble Kronos Quartet. Last night in Stockholm, the legendary punk poet and author (see “Dancing Barefoot,” “Because the Night”) won Sweden’s distinguished Polar Prize which recognizes artists who advance the creation of music.
Is this the best Mötley Crüe cover version ever? Hard to say since Crüe covers are as rare as sunshine in Seattle, but smart money says this may well be a contender.
Eleven-year-old Alaska-based America's Got Talent contestant Anna Graceman – who already has her own website!? - performed a cover version of the Crüe's power ballad "Home Sweet Home" Monday on the program's second night of semi-finals and absolutely rocked it.
Quick – someone check and see if Hell has frozen over!
In a stunning and most welcome development, American Idol judge, memoirist and menswear huckster Steven Tyler may be resuming his former role as a proper rock star and – gasp! – a real musician by participating in a new Aerosmith recording, the group’s first batch of original material since 2001’s much-loathed (by them, and rightly so) Just Push Play.
Sinead O'Connor is looking for a man. BOY is she ever looking for a man. I guess the nice thing about being famous is you don't have to troll all those dating websites and list your movie and music preferences while trying to be witty and attractive. You just have to write a blog about your desperation and it spreads all over the web media (case in point: I actually found this on the Hollywood Reporter).
In a post on her blog, titled "IS SINEAD ABOUT TO HUMP HER TRUCK?" Sinead writes,
"My sh**-uation sexually/affectionately speaking is so dire that inanimate objects are starting to look good as are inappropriate and/or unavailable men and/or inappropriate and/or unavailable fruits and vegetables. I tell you yams are looking like the winners. I actually do know a woman who is a performance artist from America. I have a photo of her being escorted arm in arm by two uk police man onto a plane back home cuz she humped a yam in the middle of her show. I just know that's going to happen to me if I don't take drastic action. [Note: I bet she's talking about Karen Finley]
The problem with the current means by which celebrities are created - you come from a rich family and/or release a sex tape and/or you get on reality TV and exploit your friends and/or family - is that it gives the people who become celebrities an inflated sense of self. And then they start thinking they can do things like write books and record albums. This is OK in theory. What do I care if Kim Kardashian wants to play at making music? But it does clog up the cultural ether with a fair amount of product of questionable value. It also causes a lot of head scratching. Because someone, somewhere, thought this was a superawesome idea and that people would really dig it, and that's weird.
Scott Weiland is selling a digital album, the inventively titled A Compilation of Scott Weiland Cover Songs, via his official store. The item is a web exclusive, costs $15 U.S. and finds the onetime Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver singer reading material by Nirvana, the Stone Roses, David Bowie, the Smiths, Depeche Mode and others (full track listing below).
By now most of us are accustomed to live music venues and sports arenas being named not for people or things but for big corporate sponsors – witness Toronto’s Air Canada Centre and Rogers Centre, the Verizon Theater in Los Angeles, the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado and so on.
But should there be limits on what – or who – can muscle into your entertainment experience by scoring naming rights to venues? Should there be any kind of standard concerning what constitutes an acceptable name? And should the community a venue serves have a say?
If, whenever you listen to David Bowie's Space Oddity you think "This would make a much better children's book...." you're in luck my strange friend!
Illustrator Andrew Kolb has gone and done it for you.
The lo-fi, retro, Canadian artist explains on his website, "Have you ever listened to a song and your mind's eye is immediately filled with visuals? [For the record, no]
"David Bowie's classic space epic is one such song for me. Every lyric paints such a vivid picture that I figured 'Oh hey, I guess I'll make that into a children's book!' Yes, I talk like this."
And he is offering a free download of the whole book!
Kolb says he hasn't heard from Bowie and explains in a separate post that the reason he's giving it away is that he's "sure the legal action of Mr. Bowie would be swift and sparkly."
See and get it here: kolbisneat.com. Don't be deterred if the link doesn't work at first. It took me a few tries.
July 2011
