News Roundup: 12/8/2009
December 8th, 2009 | 1:27 pm est |
The Smashing Pumpkins have released the first track from the band’s upcoming “album,” Teargarden By Kaleidyscope, which will span 44 songs over the course of 11 (!) discs. “A Song for a Son” finds front man Billy Corgan crooning and snarling over piano, guitars, and 19 year-old Mike Byrne’s percussion. Fans can expect the remaining Kaleidyscope songs to be released in similar fashion, one at a time, over the course of several months. [Guardian.co.uk]
Eddie Vedder and longtime girlfriend Jill McCormick are engaged. The Pearl Jam front man popped the question last Friday night in Washington, D.C., several hours after he joined President Obama in paying tribute to Bruce Springsteen at the Kennedy Center Honors gala. Meanwhile, Pearl Jam recently announced a string of European dates for mid-2010, including several festival appearances. [Spinner.com]
Tom Waits is supposedly under consideration for a role in Guillermo del Toro’s production of “The Hobbit,” which will begin shooting in 2010. The film won’t mark Waits’ first appearance on the silver screen, as the songwriter has also appeared in movies like Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts,” and Jim Jarmusch’s “Down By Law.” [Guardian.co.uk]
Today marks the 29th anniversary of John Lennon’s death. His assailant, Mark David Chapman, is currently serving time at the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York, where he has been denied parole five times. [Spinner.com]
Another unfortunate milestone — the 40th anniversary of the Rolling Stones’ infamous performance at Altamont Speedway — occurred this past weekend. Rolling Stone takes a look at the concert, the security measures taken by the Hell’s Angels, and the murder of concertgoer Meredith Hunter. [RollingStone.com]
Fela Kuti — the man who created Afrobeat, influenced James Brown, and inspired one of Broadway’s newest musicals — is now the subject of an upcoming biopic. Steve McQueen will co-write and produce the film. [Variety.com]
Every holiday season, producer Steve Albini hangs up his headphones, packs a rented van full of Christmas gifts, and drives around Chicago with his wife to provide needy families with donations. Recent changes to the U.S. Postal Service’s “Letters to Santa” program have changed the way Albini’s charity operates, however. Donors are no longer able to secure the names and addresses of needy families; instead, the post office acts as a middle-man by forwarding the gifts along. The new procedure is meant to encourage security, but some donors — including Albini and wife Heather Whinna — say it also limits charities’ impact. [ChicagoTribune.com]
Lenny Kravitz won’t take Steven Tyler’s place in Aerosmith, claiming that Tyler is an old family friend who deserves Kravitz’s loyalty. “I hope the band stays together,” he said in a Twitter post. “They are classic.” [RollingStone.com]
If you don’t have the decency to tell your users
a) what’s going on
b) when it will be fixed
c) what permanent changes are to be expected
when they repeatedly ask for it on your only forum for communication, then don’t be surprised if people will find other sites to use for future reference.
wtf are you talking about k.a ?
# December 8th, 2009 @ 5:53 pm est | tim
wtf are you talking about k.a ?
He’s talking about the revamped site with ads that pop up everywhere and missing reviews.
In regards to the Smashing Pumpkins:
I think everyone thought for a while there, in the post-Mellon Collie era, that Billy Corgan was the epitome of self-indulgent rock star. It appears that he’s about to show us that we ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.
I tried to click a link on this website, but it was blocked by a pop-up. When I went to close the pop-up, the ‘x’ became obscured by another pop-up. How can such a great website permit the use of such irritating advertisements?
To people annoyed by pop-ups: I’ve actually had no problem with that on this or any other site. I downloaded an add-on with Firefox (the browser I use) called Pop-Up Blocker, might be Adblock Plus – very useful and highly recommended!
To AMG – it would be great if users could search by year and rating (specifically 5 stars, not 4-5 stars, e.g.). I’d like to be able to find new music that is 5 star quality (not reissues, compilations, etc.). I realize this decade has seen music reach a very low point but if there are any perfect 5 star albums being released I’d like to be able to find them easily – without looking through a list of new releases that are only 4 to 4-1/2 stars. I mean, I can literally list off the only 5 star albums I’ve found from this decade (all of which are great) – Blueprint by Jay Z; Stankonia by Outkast; Toxicity by System of a Down; Is This It by the Strokes, Elephant by the White Stripes, and maybe a couple electronica albums (and a lot of classical albums – though I mostly search for great, modern rock/pop albums). Just a suggestion!
Seth
nextcongress@yahoo.com
Why don’t you post the new releases each week anymore? Please bring that back!
This past sunday I watched the “Gimme Shelter” movie, having no clue it was the concert’s anniversary.
um .. if you use firefox and install ‘adblocker plus’ you don’t have that problem. i haven’t had a single issue with the new site, except on the first day where i was directed to a completely wrong review. but that’s happened occasionally for the 7 or 8 years i’ve been using the site on a regular basis.
I use IE8 and don’t get pop-ups on either work or home computer… oh and go Corgan! Not a bad song
This is not only about popups and annoying ads. Such features are often (although perpaps unfortunately) necessary to get a site running.
Many of the problems after the database changes have been fixed. But some are not, and there is no information on why, or when or whether they will be fixed at all. Allmusic had one feature for identifying highly rated and recommended albums, through the genre pages. Now those recommendations are mostly gone or thoroughly incomplete, and fx the alternative/indie subgenre is gone altogether.