Click to listen to Tame Impala's 'Elephant (Todd Rundgren Remix)'
Australian psychedelic and classic rock-indebteded group Tame Impala are gearing up for the release of their second LP, Lonerism, out October 9th on Modular Recordings. While first single "Elephant" easily worms its way into your brain on its own, Todd Rundgren lends a thumping touch to his remix of the cut, which you can check out exclusively here.
"So we got back from tour one day, and Jay pulled this purpley weird looking record out of his bag that he got from some record shop in some place I don't even know," frontman Kevin Parker says. "And he was telling me about it as I was walking upstairs but I wasn't really listening as I was kind of tired and jetlagged . . . something about the guy from the Nazz's solo thing . . . Anyway a few minutes later I heard some kind of cosmic-ness going on downstairs, I resisted a few more minutes but the cosmic-ness continued so I pulled myself downstairs to see Jay with this look on his face like he'd just had his tits blown. Turns out he had indeed just has his tits blown. A few minutes later I had my tits blown too. The song was "International Feel" from the album A Wizard a True Star by Todd Rundgren. So from that day we were Todd Rundgren slaves. Fast forward like four years or something and Glen from our record label said he had agreed to do a remix of our new song "Elephant," which make me go pretty batty. So that's how that all happened. Enjoy!"
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Click to listen to Two Gallants' album The Bloom and the Blight
Bringing a healthy dose of thrash and bash to their folk- and blues-rooted tunes, San Francisco duo Two Gallants will release The Bloom and the Blight on September 4th. It's their first record in five years and inaugural effort with ATO. Here, you can check out the entire record, which includes crunchers like "My Love Won't Wait," somber swooners like "Decay," and road-weary rockers like "Ride Away." You can also pre-order The Bloom and the Blight on iTunes and check out the Two Gallant's batch of U.S. and Europe tour dates throughout the fall.
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Abby Elliott's first gig after leaving Saturday Night Live will be a multiple episode storyline on the upcoming eighth season of How I Met Your Mother, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Elliott will play Janeane, a "crazy" girl who strikes a main character's fancy.
The eighth season of How I Met Your Mother premeires September 24th on CBS, but Elliott won't appear until the second half of the season in 2013. SNL is expected to add new cast members following the departures of Elliott, Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig, and uncertainty about whether Jason Sudeikis will return. The show begins its 38th season September 15th.
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Arnel Pineda of Journey, Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band, and Kid RockDonald Kravitz/Getty Images; Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images; Scott Legato/Getty Images
Lynyrd Skynyrd's scheduled concert at this week's Republican National Convention – originally planned for Sunday night at Tampa's Liberty Plaza – may have been canceled thanks to Hurricane Isaac. But to the surprise of anyone who assumes rockers wouldn't be caught anywhere near a GOP event, plenty of other musicians will be entertaining the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan crowd in Florida this week. At press time, the lineup includes Kid Rock, Journey, the Zac Brown Band, 3 Doors Down, Dave Navarro, Guns N' Roses/Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum and past American Idol winner Taylor Hicks. The house band for performances at the convention itself will be led by former Saturday Night Live guitarist-bandleader, G.E. Smith.
"The average convention-goer is between 35 and 55," says Robin Bronk, head of the Creative Coalition, an entertainment industry advocacy group that has been hosting nonpartisan charity shows at both RNC and DNC conventions for years. "You want to give them what they want. It's the sweet spot of music that's current yet ties in with great memories. And it has to be a group that's not too overexposed, especially in Washington."
Some of the musicians are clearly motivated by politics. Rock played "Born Free" at a Romney rally early this year (Romney has been using the song as his campaign theme since last year, with Rock's tacit approval), and last Friday, Rock appeared at a Ryan rally in Michigan. Skynyrd singer Johnny Van Zant, whose band also played at the 2004 GOP convention, makes no bones about his political preferences.
"We have to make a change now, for the next four years," Van Zant says. "I'm not a politician, but we speak for the common man, and all I know is that we've lost a lot of jobs in the last four years." Van Zant calls Ryan's Medicare plan "pretty doggone good. We've got to take some drastic steps in this country. We can't keep spending and spending."
Hicks and 3 Doors Down, both Southern-based acts, will be performing on the main stage at the convention, held at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. 3 Doors Down singer Brad Arnold says it's a "privilege" to play at this year's GOP event.
Although some of the convention plans are in flux thanks to Isaac, Skynyrd were still scheduled to play "Sweet Home Alabama" and the title track from their current Last of a Dyin' Breed album during a salute to Ann Romney. But would they ever do "Whiskey Rock a Roller" for this audience?
"We would," Van Zant says with a laugh. "Rich people know how to party, too."
Other bands, though, have been hired to play private parties affiliated with nonpartisan causes. At past conventions, the Creative Coalition has recruited the Black Eyed Peas and the Red Hot Chili Peppers (for DNC events) and the Charlie Daniels Band and the Max Weinberg 7 (for RNC-connected shows). This year, the group recruited Journey to play its Florida fundraiser on Thursday. (The B-52's will be performing the same function at next month's Democratic Convention in Charlotte.) Bronk says the concerts shouldn't be seen as an indication of a band's political predilection. "I've never asked," she says. "I guess it doesn't matter to me."
A Journey spokesperson backs up that claim: "It's not an endorsement of any candidate and/or party – it's just another private show," says the spokesperson. "These dates are simply listed as 'Private Event' on the tour grid." What's indisputable is the high price of the evening: a package of six tickets to both shows (Journey and B-52's) starts at a minimum of $45,000.
In other non-Romney-linked concerts during the convention, the Brown band will play a show for the American Petroleum Institute, the trade group for (in its words) "all aspects of America's oil and natural gas industry," and Gavin DeGraw will headline a benefit for Musicians on Call, a charity that brings musicians to play for hospital patients. Navarro and Sorum will be joined by lesser-known members of Jane's Addiction and the Cult for a show Tuesday to benefit the families of wounded or deceased U.S. soldiers.
Kid Rock will be performing at an invite-only show on Thursday, but it's unclear whether Romney is aware of Rock's less Mormon-friendly material. We asked a Romney spokesperson if the presumptive nominee – who's admitted to big love for the Eagles, the Beach Boys and the Killers, led by fellow Mormon Brandon Flowers – was aware of Kid Rock lyrics, like, "I like pussy, suckin' on titties/ Fucked a lot of different bitches from a bunch of different cities," "Been fuelin' up on cocaine and whiskey," and "I don't want to be your friend/ I want to fuck you like I'm never gonna see you again." Or how about the early Rock song, "Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp"?
"Umm, hmmm . . . right, OK," a Romney spokesperson said after hearing those lyrics. "Let me check on this stuff and I'll get back to you." At press time, Rolling Stone had not yet heard back.
Even if the weather impinges on any other planned music events at the Republican convention, it's telling that acts like Skynyrd, 3 Doors Down and Rock are participating. In 1976, the Democrats sewed up the Southern-rock vote when the Allman Brothers Band played benefits for then-candidate Jimmy Carter. (True, Rock is from Detroit, but as heard in "All Summer Long," his music and image now owe an enormous debt to the likes of Skynyrd and other Seventies Southern rockers.)
Van Zant is unapologetic about the way things have changed. "Some of our fans ask why we feel like this," he says, "but I say, if Ronnie [Van Zant, his late brother and original Skynyrd singer] was alive, he'd be a Republican. If our fans [disagree], that's their problem, but it's also freedom of speech."
One rocker consciously absent from the festivities is noted Obama basher Ted Nugent, whose schedule has prevented him from joining in. But fans might be mollified to know that Nugent's former Damn Yankees bandmate Jack Blades (still of Night Ranger) will play the main stage. "Sister Born-Again Christian," anyone?
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Alt-rock icon Bob Mould has made his share of confessional albums layered with deeply personal sentiments, but his latest project isn't one of them. "Silver Age is exactly what it appears to be: It's 38 minutes of rock," Mould says of the album, which Rolling Stone premieres exclusively today. "People can feel free to parse the songs and make what they want of them, but I didn't really have any agenda there."
That's not entirely true, but Mould's agenda had less to do with baring his soul than raising his pulse. After dissecting his own life for last year's memoir See a Little Light: A Trail of Rage and Melody, Mould was ready to do something that didn't require sitting still and being introspective. The result is a propulsive album full of bristling songs as catchy as any Mould has written, with no trace of the electronic elements Mould has dabbled in over the years.
"It's a really simple, natural reactionary record after the three-year process of writing the autobiography, which is all about editing and all about the wordy stuff of writing a book," says Mould, who anchored the influential Eighties punk band Hüsker Dü and the Nineties power-pop trio Sugar. "So it was nice to throw down a simple pop record."
It's no coincidence that Silver Age arrives 20 years after Copper Blue, Sugar's 1992 debut. Merge Records this year reissued the touchstone album, which Mould has been playing in its entirety on the road.
"I wanted to put together a companion piece, something that would complement the sentiment of that album, the aesthetic of that album," says Mould, who recorded Silver Age with drummer Jon Wurster and bassist Jason Narducy. "I really wanted to celebrate that record, because to me it's one of my three favorites that I've been part of."
The other two? His 1989 solo debut, Workbook, and Hüsker Dü's 1985 album Flip Your Wig. "Hüsker fans are always surprised, like 'Why did you pick that one when there's Zen Arcade or New Day Rising?'" Mould says. "But that was the record where Hüsker Dü was completely in control of their own destiny."
In addition to Copper Blue and his own reaction to writing his autobiography, Mould credits Foo Fighters as an inspiration for Silver Age. The singer contributed vocals and guitar to Foo Fighters' 2011 album Wasting Light, and he opened for Dave Grohl's band on tour last year. "Being up on stage with those guys and being in that setting, it sort of reminded me, this is what I do," Mould says. "When I got off of their stuff in December of '11, I went home and banged out the remainder of Silver Age pretty quickly."
Mould spent most of the summer playing Copper Blue at festivals, which didn't allow enough time on stage to mix in many songs from Silver Age. That will change, he says, when he starts a headlining tour September 7th in Brooklyn. "I think to pair it up with Copper Blue in the live show will be really fun," Mould says.
Silver Age is out September 4th on Merge.
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Think of any current radio-friendly rock act and chances are, songwriter-for-hire Marti Frederiksen has helped score them a hit. Recently, Frederiksen hooked up his old pals in Aerosmith once again; their upcoming album, Music From Another Dimension!, features five Frederiksen co-written tracks, including a tune that had been on the drawing board for years, "What Could Have Been Love."
"It's been a good seven years," Frederiksen tells Rolling Stone about the track. "The song came about because Steven [Tyler] really liked it and we worked it up. Someone else would have done the song, but we held it and held it, hoping that it worked for Aerosmith. It's a power ballad-y kind of song, maybe the typical song for Aerosmith. But it just had a good message and Steven was feeling it. So we held on to it and finally, it's seen the light of day."
Frederiksen also earned a producer credit on three of the album's songs, next to other tracks helmed by Jack Douglas, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. "I think the ones that Jack produced are more 'band guy' songs.' I worked on a couple of other songs I didn't produce on the record, and one is a real rocker that came out of the same time as 'What Could Have Been Love' – [new single] 'Lover Alot.' I co-wrote that with the guys. A whole different beast, man – just rockin', loose and uptempo. That's the great thing about songwriting and being able to work with a band like this – you can do something old-school rock and then do a beautiful ballad. The good thing about all these songs is nothing is over-produced."
Music From Another Dimension! is not the only place where songs co-penned by Frederiksen and Tyler will turn up soon: the duo collaborated with Julian Lennon on a song titled "Someday." "It was kind of a last-minute thing," explains Frederiksen. "We were finishing up the Aerosmith stuff in L.A., and Steven was like, 'Julian's staying below where I'm staying, at the Sunset Marquis. We've got to go over and write a song with him – I've been telling him about you.'"
"Steven and I went over there, and Julian has a songwriting partner, Mark Spiro, and all four of us sat down and wrote a song. Literally, an hour and a half later, we had the song done – lyrics and everything. To be honest, it was the first time I'd written with Steven not for Aerosmith or himself," he adds. "It was like a different guy in the room for me, because he's so particular in what he would sing. He was still way into it, it was just a different guy." Frederiksen describes "Someday" as "midtempo. It's got really rhythmic beats in it. Different kind of grooves. It's not your typical production. Really India-kind of strings, and Steven did some backgrounds on it."
Frederiksen credits his own songwriting success to similar open-mindedness. "My big start was through Aerosmith, with [A&R executive] John Kalodner hooking me up with them. They started doing it back on their 'return' – writing with outside writers. They wanted to just get the best songs possible, and get different takes on ideas they may have, and go left instead of right," he says. "I feel like I'm more of a collaborator than a songwriter. I get in with an artist, and I really try to get what they want to get. I never try and steer them towards anything they don't want to do."
"I've been out in Nashville a little now and doing some writing out there, and there's so many great writers," he continues. "A lot of the country stuff, a lot of those guys aren't even concerned about writing the songs – they just want the best songs they can possibly sing, like the Elvis days. I look at it like that – artists would rather stay with their families rather than grind out songs and have to write 50 songs to find 10."
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The National have announced on Twitter they'll be appearing with President Barack Obama at a rally September 1st in Des Moines, Iowa. "Proud to support @BarackObama again in 2012. We'll be opening for him in Des Moines on Sept 1. Follow @OFA_IA for details. #fourmoreyears," reads the post.
The New York indie-rock band joined Ben Harper at an Obama rally in Wisconsin rally in 2010, performing for a crowd of about 26,500. Last Friday, Kid Rock performed at a campaign fundraiser in Michigan for Paul Ryan, the Republican candidate for vice president.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Alt-rock icon Bob Mould has made his share of confessional albums layered with deeply personal sentiments, but his latest project isn't one of them. "Silver Age is exactly what it appears to be: It's 38 minutes of rock," Mould says of the album, which Rolling Stone premieres exclusively today. "People can feel free to parse the songs and make what they want of them, but I didn't really have any agenda there."
That's not entirely true, but Mould's agenda had less to do with baring his soul than raising his pulse. After dissecting his own life for last year's memoir See a Little Light: A Trail of Rage and Melody, Mould was ready to do something that didn't require sitting still and being introspective. The result is a propulsive album full of bristling songs as catchy as any Mould has written, with no trace of the electronic elements Mould has dabbled in over the years.
"It's a really simple, natural reactionary record after the three-year process of writing the autobiography, which is all about editing and all about the wordy stuff of writing a book," says Mould, who anchored the influential Eighties punk band Hüsker Dü and the Nineties power-pop trio Sugar. "So it was nice to throw down a simple pop record."
It's no coincidence that Silver Age arrives 20 years after Copper Blue, Sugar's 1992 debut. Merge Records this year reissued the touchstone album, which Mould has been playing in its entirety on the road.
"I wanted to put together a companion piece, something that would complement the sentiment of that album, the aesthetic of that album," says Mould, who recorded Silver Age with drummer Jon Wurster and bassist Jason Narducy. "I really wanted to celebrate that record, because to me it's one of my three favorites that I've been part of."
The other two? His 1989 solo debut, Workbook, and Hüsker Dü's 1985 album Flip Your Wig. "Hüsker fans are always surprised, like 'Why did you pick that one when there's Zen Arcade or New Day Rising?'" Mould says. "But that was the record where Hüsker Dü was completely in control of their own destiny."
In addition to Copper Blue and his own reaction to writing his autobiography, Mould credits Foo Fighters as an inspiration for Silver Age. The singer contributed vocals and guitar to Foo Fighters' 2011 album Wasting Light, and he opened for Dave Grohl's band on tour last year. "Being up on stage with those guys and being in that setting, it sort of reminded me, this is what I do," Mould says. "When I got off of their stuff in December of '11, I went home and banged out the remainder of Silver Age pretty quickly."
Mould spent most of the summer playing Copper Blue at festivals, which didn't allow enough time on stage to mix in many songs from Silver Age. That will change, he says, when he starts a headlining tour September 7th in Brooklyn. "I think to pair it up with Copper Blue in the live show will be really fun," Mould says.
Silver Age is out September 4th on Merge.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Madonna Apologizes to Australian Fans for Canceled Shows'My children are my first priority,' singer says in audio message $(document).ready(function() { $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .email-content').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').hide(); } ); $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .print-page').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').hide(); } ); }); By
After canceling the Australian leg of her MDNA tour, Madonna has posted an audio message to fans on YouTube apologizing for the nixed shows. "I am really and truly sorry to have disappointed you and that's something that I don't feel very good about," she begins. Though she had thought about writing a letter, Madonna says, she thought the audio clip would be a more direct way to reach fans.
"My children are my first priority," Madonna explains, describing the difficulty of balancing her jobs as a singer and mother. Because her children are older, Madonna notes, she cannot take them on the road with her constantly, and says she would feel like an "irresponsible parent" if she didn't take time at the end of the year to be with them.
"I don't take your love and your support for me for granted," she says as she wraps up her statement. "Please forgive me and know that when I do come to Australia, I will have made the wait worth your while and I will put on the greatest show on Earth. I haven't forgotten about you."
Madonna's Australian leg would've been her first shows in the country in 20 years.
Flashback: Bruce Springsteen Opens for Dr. Hook in 1973Watch a 23-year-old Springsteen perform 'Wild Billy's Circus Story' $(document).ready(function() { $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .email-content').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').hide(); } ); $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .print-page').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').hide(); } ); }); By
When Bruce Springsteen performed at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles on May 1st, 1973, he was still largely unknown to the public. His debut LP Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. hit shelves that January amid a flurry of "new Dylan" hype, but it failed to make much of an impact on the charts. CBS still believed he had huge potential, and that May they booked him at their "Week To Remember" Los Angeles concert series with many other artists on their roster. At this gig he opened up for New Riders of The Purple Sage and Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show – still riding high off the success of their recent hit "The Cover of the Rolling Stone." Springsteen and this then-nameless backing band didn't have time to perform their full set, but they made sure to break out their guaranteed show-stoppers "Spirit In The Night" and "Thundercrack." He also played a relatively new song called "Wild Billy's Circus Story," a tune he'd been tinkering with over the previous few months. Check out video of the performance above.
When Springsteen and the band got home from their California trip they began recording their second LP, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. Bruce also decided it was time to expand the band, so he hired David Sancious to play keyboards. The newest member lived in Belmar, New Jersey, on E Street, which soon gave the band a long overdue name. His presence also created the organ/keyboard dynamic that's been a key part of the E Street sound these past 40 years.
Thankfully, CBS filmed the Los Angeles show in color so they could show some of the footage at their upcoming sales convention. It's a rare look at the original lineup of the group. They had another year of struggle in front of them, but everything was slowly coming together.
Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones
After months of speculation whether the Rolling Stones would record this year to mark their 50th anniversary, the band spent time in a Paris recording studio last week. The band was photographed exiting an unnamed studio on August 21st. Two days, later, Jagger tweeted a photo of himself in a studio surrounded by some very Stonesy items: cases of Fender amps, Telecasters, Stratocasters and several harmonicas. "Had fun in the Paris studio this week!" he wrote.
Last week, the Stones also posted a cryptic image of animal eyes on their Facebook page, instructing fans to download the free "uView" app and point their phones at the screen. The eyes came to life and an animal growled while "Start Me Up" played.
It's at least the third time the band has gathered in recent months; they rehearsed in the New York area in late April. "We played everything, really," Keith Richards told Rolling Stone then. "We're just getting our chops together. It was like playing in the garage, a maintenance check, you know?"
The last day of the rehearsals was filmed by director Brett Morgen for a documentary chronicling the band's history to appear on HBO this fall. "Someone would mention a song, and within the second run they had nailed it," Morgen says. "Having screened through 50 years of material over the last six months, I would rank it up there with anything I've ever heard from them. They were extremely tight."
The band also gathered in London in July to celebrate their 50th anniversary with a photo exhibit. Before that meeting, Keith Richards told Rolling Stone the band would also use the time to discuss recording. "I'd love to get some tracks down and see what songs we've got. And that goes along with part of getting the band back together and getting things moving. So I'd love to cut some tracks, yeah." Asked if he saw himself writing one-on-one with Jagger again, Richards replied, "I have no doubt."
If the band is recording new material, it would be their first new songs since 2005's A Bigger Bang. (They've since brushed up a few old songs for 2010's Exile on Main Street and 2011's Some Girls reissue compilations).
Shows are on the horizon too. In July, Jagger surprised fans by mentioning in an interview with the London Evening Standard that the band would be playing live "in the autumn . . . You will definitely be seeing us all together soon. It's been great fun being back together and there are a lot of memories in here. I can't believe it's been 50 years. We've been hanging out together, seeing quite a bit of each other and we want to do some gigs."
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Missy Elliott will release two new singles over Labor Day weekend. Longtime friend and collaborator Timbaland made the announcement on Twitter, revealing the singles will be "9th Inning" and "Triple Threat."
Elliott's last studio album, The Cookbook, was released in 2005. She was set to release the followup in June, but the record hasn't materialized. In April, Elliott took the stage in New York with Timbaland and performed "Triple Threat." Elliott and Timbaland were reported to be involved in the upcoming posthumous Aaliyah album before Elliott's manager shot down the rumors.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Mindy Kaling of 'The Mindy Project' arrives at a screening of Fox TV's new Tuesday night comedies in Santa Monica.
At an interactive chat last night to kick off Fox's new Tuesday comedy block, The New Girl star Jake Johnson addressed the question on everyone's minds: Will Zooey Deschanel's Jess and his character, Nick, get together this season? "You'll have to ask our great writers," he coyly responded. "It'd be great if they get together. If they don't, it'd be fun, too." Johnson admitted he doesn't worry, like the diehard fans in attendance did, if the pairing would come too soon if it featured prominently in the upcoming season – but he did tease that the episode set to start taping today features plenty of Nick and Jess scenes.
Johnson was one of eight actors present at Fox's advance screening event in 10 cities last night, joining stars of returning comedy Raising Hope as well as new series Ben and Kate and The Mindy Project in Santa Monica, California, for a live-streamed Q&A following a screening of the two new shows.
When asked about the similarities between themselves and their characters, New Girl's Greenfield reassured the crowd, "I think they got the right guys for the right roles." Added Johnson, "I think when the show starts, it's one thing. And as it progresses, you become more and more like your character, and/or vice versa." Read into that what you will, Schmidt and Nick fans. Know this: Greenfield followed up by saying, "I just know that I wake up early, I get to set and I unleash. I'm working out a lot of things on set."
The brashly funny The Mindy Project finds Mindy Kaling as the title character, a thirtysomething OB/GYN struggling to balance her career and love life. Of her same-named character, writer-star Kaling said "there's a bigger overlap than I a little bit hate to admit" between their personalities. Though she detailed personal hijinks in her book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, the writer-star did not let on whether, like her character in the show's pilot, she has ever gone to work after spending time in jail following a drunken outburst at an ex's wedding, had a heart-to-heart with a doll at the bottom of the pool, or prayed for a man with "the wealth of Mayor Bloomberg, the humor of Jon Stewart and the face of Michael Fassbender . . . OK, the penis of Michael Fassbender" before a date. Kaling also promised that the love triangle "energy" introduced in the pilot between her character, Chris Messina's gruffly endearing Danny Castellano and Ed Weeks' cocky Englishman Jeremy Reed will manifest during the season, though other romantic interactions will come into play.
Oscar winner Nat Faxon (for co-writing last year's The Descendants screenplay) and Melanie Griffith/Don Johnson progeny Dakota Johnson, fielded questions about their upcoming stint as siblings in Ben and Kate, while Raising Hope's Martha Plimpton and Garret Dillahunt revealed the upcoming list of guest stars on their sitcom include Johnson's mom and "Marcel the Shell" creator Jenny Slate.
The New Girl returns September 25th, along with the debuts of Ben and Kate and The Mindy Project. Raising Hope follows on October 2nd.
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John Dyer Baizley and Matt Maggioni of Baroness.Adam Gasson/Prog Magazine via Getty Images
Three members of the heavy metal band Baroness who had been hospitalized since a mid-August bus crash have been released, the Georgia group said in a Facebook post. Singer and guitarist John Baizley left the hospital yesterday, while drummer Allen Blickle and bassist Matt Maggioni have already arrived back in the United States.
They were among the nine people injured when their tour bus plunged 30 feet off a viaduct in wet conditions near Bath, England, while traveling between gigs. Baizley broke his left arm and left leg, and Blickle and Maggioni each suffered fractured vertebrae in the crash. Guitarist Pete Adams was released the day after the crash and is also back in the U.S.
Baroness have canceled the six dates remaining on their 2012 tour schedule, including appearances at FYF Fest this weekend in Los Angeles, and Hopscotch Music Festival September 6th in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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Missy Elliott will release two new singles over Labor Day weekend. Longtime friend and collaborator Timbaland made the announcement on Twitter, revealing the singles will be "9th Inning" and "Triple Threat."
Elliott's last studio album, The Cookbook, was released in 2005. She was set to release the followup in June, but the record hasn't materialized. In April, Elliott took the stage in New York with Timbaland and performed "Triple Threat." Elliott and Timbaland were reported to be involved in the upcoming posthumous Aaliyah album before Elliott's manager shot down the rumors.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Click to listen to Azure Ray's album 'As Above So Below'
On their new EP As Above So Below, indie-poppers Azure Ray wander through brooding soundscapes with harmonic motion, adding wispy, delicate vocal melodies to cloudy beats. Opener "Scattered Like Leaves" combines the impending doom of the repeated low-end rumble with wondrous lyrics like, "There's love everywhere," while "To This Life" marches to a deliberate tempo that drags along protracted whispers before evolving into a soothing, enchanting ride.
As Above So Below is out September 4th on Saddle Creek.
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Late last week the political world learned that Hall and Oates fans had created their own Super PAC with the aim of damaging the campaign of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. "We just figure that America needs more Hall and Oates," the group's co-founder William Hansmann told Rolling Stone. "We started this as a joke, but then it kind of blew up. I assume they've caught wind of it."
Indeed, Daryl Hall and John Oates had caught wind of Hall and Oates Fans For America – and they weren't happy about it. Their people have asked organizers to dissolve the Super PAC. Halls and Oates Fans for America didn't put up a fight. Here is the complete statement from Hall and Oates manager Jonathan Wolfson:
"Representatives of Daryl Hall and John Oates have been in contact with the founders of the Hall and Oates Fans For America Super PAC and are pleased to report that the group's concerns regarding the unauthorized use of their names for fundraising purposes by the Super PAC have been amicably resolved and that the Super PAC is being dissolved by the founders. The spokesperson for the founders advised that no funds have been raised by the PAC.
"Daryl Hall and John Oates recognize that the personal view points of their fans cross all political spectrums and are honored to be supported by their fans everywhere regardless of political affiliation. The PAC’s founders recognize that the use of the “Hall” and “Oates” names for the purpose of raising funds is not an appropriate fan activity no matter what the goal of the fund raising activities might be.
"Daryl Hall and John Oates are pleased that the amicable dialog with the founders of the Super PAC have brought an expedient resolution to this matter and achieve a result both sides are pleased with."
During its brief lifespan, Hall and Oates Fans For America had no website, Facebook page or any means to accept donations. A Twitter account was quickly suspended for unknown reasons. Basically, all they did was fax in a form to the Federal Election Commission. There were plans to create a series of Romney-mocking videos – possibly using songs such as "Out of Touch" or "I Can't Go For That" – but presumably those plans have been set aside.
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Arnel Pineda of Journey, Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band, and Kid RockDonald Kravitz/Getty Images; Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images; Scott Legato/Getty Images
Lynyrd Skynyrd's scheduled concert at this week's Republican National Convention – originally planned for Sunday night at Tampa's Liberty Plaza – may have been canceled thanks to Hurricane Isaac. But to the surprise of anyone who assumes rockers wouldn't be caught anywhere near a GOP event, plenty of other musicians will be entertaining the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan crowd in Florida this week. At press time, the lineup includes Kid Rock, Journey, the Zac Brown Band, 3 Doors Down, Dave Navarro, Guns N' Roses/Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum and past American Idol winner Taylor Hicks. The house band for performances at the convention itself will be led by former Saturday Night Live guitarist-bandleader, G.E. Smith.
"The average convention-goer is between 35 and 55," says Robin Bronk, head of the Creative Coalition, an entertainment industry advocacy group that has been hosting nonpartisan charity shows at both RNC and DNC conventions for years. "You want to give them what they want. It's the sweet spot of music that's current yet ties in with great memories. And it has to be a group that's not too overexposed, especially in Washington."
Some of the musicians are clearly motivated by politics. Rock played "Born Free" at a Romney rally early this year (Romney has been using the song as his campaign theme since last year, with Rock's tacit approval), and last Friday, Rock appeared at a Ryan rally in Michigan. Skynyrd singer Johnny Van Zant, whose band also played at the 2004 GOP convention, makes no bones about his political preferences.
"We have to make a change now, for the next four years," Van Zant says. "I'm not a politician, but we speak for the common man, and all I know is that we've lost a lot of jobs in the last four years." Van Zant calls Ryan's Medicare plan "pretty doggone good. We've got to take some drastic steps in this country. We can't keep spending and spending."
Hicks and 3 Doors Down, both Southern-based acts, will be performing on the main stage at the convention, held at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. 3 Doors Down singer Brad Arnold says it's a "privilege" to play at this year's GOP event.
Although some of the convention plans are in flux thanks to Isaac, Skynyrd were still scheduled to play "Sweet Home Alabama" and the title track from their current Last of a Dyin' Breed album during a salute to Ann Romney. But would they ever do "Whiskey Rock a Roller" for this audience?
"We would," Van Zant says with a laugh. "Rich people know how to party, too."
Other bands, though, have been hired to play private parties affiliated with nonpartisan causes. At past conventions, the Creative Coalition has recruited the Black Eyed Peas and the Red Hot Chili Peppers (for DNC events) and the Charlie Daniels Band and the Max Weinberg 7 (for RNC-connected shows). This year, the group recruited Journey to play its Florida fundraiser on Thursday. (The B-52's will be performing the same function at next month's Democratic Convention in Charlotte.) Bronk says the concerts shouldn't be seen as an indication of a band's political predilection. "I've never asked," she says. "I guess it doesn't matter to me."
A Journey spokesperson backs up that claim: "It's not an endorsement of any candidate and/or party – it's just another private show," says the spokesperson. "These dates are simply listed as 'Private Event' on the tour grid." What's indisputable is the high price of the evening: a package of six tickets to both shows (Journey and B-52's) starts at a minimum of $45,000.
In other non-Romney-linked concerts during the convention, the Brown band will play a show for the American Petroleum Institute, the trade group for (in its words) "all aspects of America's oil and natural gas industry," and Gavin DeGraw will headline a benefit for Musicians on Call, a charity that brings musicians to play for hospital patients. Navarro and Sorum will be joined by lesser-known members of Jane's Addiction and the Cult for a show Tuesday to benefit the families of wounded or deceased U.S. soldiers.
Kid Rock will be performing at an invite-only show on Thursday, but it's unclear whether Romney is aware of Rock's less Mormon-friendly material. We asked a Romney spokesperson if the presumptive nominee – who's admitted to big love for the Eagles, the Beach Boys and the Killers, led by fellow Mormon Brandon Flowers – was aware of Kid Rock lyrics, like, "I like pussy, suckin' on titties/ Fucked a lot of different bitches from a bunch of different cities," "Been fuelin' up on cocaine and whiskey," and "I don't want to be your friend/ I want to fuck you like I'm never gonna see you again." Or how about the early Rock song, "Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp"?
"Umm, hmmm . . . right, OK," a Romney spokesperson said after hearing those lyrics. "Let me check on this stuff and I'll get back to you." At press time, Rolling Stone had not yet heard back.
Even if the weather impinges on any other planned music events at the Republican convention, it's telling that acts like Skynyrd, 3 Doors Down and Rock are participating. In 1976, the Democrats sewed up the Southern-rock vote when the Allman Brothers Band played benefits for then-candidate Jimmy Carter. (True, Rock is from Detroit, but as heard in "All Summer Long," his music and image now owe an enormous debt to the likes of Skynyrd and other Seventies Southern rockers.)
Van Zant is unapologetic about the way things have changed. "Some of our fans ask why we feel like this," he says, "but I say, if Ronnie [Van Zant, his late brother and original Skynyrd singer] was alive, he'd be a Republican. If our fans [disagree], that's their problem, but it's also freedom of speech."
One rocker consciously absent from the festivities is noted Obama basher Ted Nugent, whose schedule has prevented him from joining in. But fans might be mollified to know that Nugent's former Damn Yankees bandmate Jack Blades (still of Night Ranger) will play the main stage. "Sister Born-Again Christian," anyone?
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AfroPunk's slogan, "The Other Black Experience," is outdated. In the decade since founders Matthew Morgan and James Spooner set out to document the burgeoning scene of black punk and hardcore kids across the country, that binary understanding of black youth culture – once observed through the distinction between baggy jeans and skinny jeans – has blossomed into a writhing ecosystem of cultural and digital exchange, sprouting bohemian sects of young minorities in any and every major city.
Sprawled across Fort Greene's Commodore Barry Park this past weekend were black kids with guitars and skateboards, sure, but also Dominican girl-goths spinning frantic trap samples, Filipino synth-funk nerds using reverb as an instrument and tatted-up British fashionistas streaming neo-soul through ukulele folk. Not to mention the over 20,000 attendees wafting between the main stage and the skatepark, spiking incense in the grass like tiki torches and substituting moshpits for airtight dance-battle circles.
Trying to catch the dozens of acts spread across two stages and two days was damning. Exhilarating DJ sets by Roofeo and the Supasonics filled gaps well (where else could you hear the Who blended into Kirko Bangz?), but at any given stage one couldn't shake the feeling you were missing something awesome at the other end. The Green Stage boasted the great lawn and catalog artists Erykah Badu and TV on the Radio, while the Red Stage was a hybrid performance lot/skatepark that housed BMX demos as well as edgier acts like Das Racist and Janelle Monae.
Genre was a fluid concept at AfroPunk. Most of the lineup was yoked together not by similar scenes or sounds, but a certain stylistic rarity that set them apart. Burgeoning BK crews Phony Ppl and Flatbush Zombies couldn't be farther apart in sound, but the local-heavy audience raced to cheer them both on as the latest triumphs of the borough. Spank Rock's blonde DJ sported an oversized hoodie at the top of their set, only to strip down to the G-string beneath and twerk the night away to the band's blistering Baltimore bop. And Reggie Watts and Bad Rabbits both employed milky falsettos to deliver completely different energies.
Diversity was just as prevalent on stage as it was off. Around the park's perimeter, black bikers showed off Harleys and graffiti artists wore bandannas over their faces to filter toxic fumes. Merch booths stocked apparel and accessories, shilled by local celebrities from the dense, colorful world of Tumblr fame. Raised to notoriety on a diet of infinite selfies and feverish reblogs, a couple of these mini-scenesters (few out of their teens) have already cracked through to the big leagues: eyewear-designing twins Coco and Breezy have graced the faces of Nicki Minaj, Kelly Osbourne and Serena Williams, and Glyn Brown's heart-shaped pins had the city in such a frenzy he landed a collaboration with Nike. If music was AfroPunk's main draw, fashion was the sideshow act: attendees sported tie-dyes, studded leather, neon hair and spastic prints. Editors and A&Rs scoured the park, taking notes as next year's trends whisked by at every turn.
On Saturday, the political and polarizing Das Racist wasted no time getting down to business. "So the cops shot nine people in front of the Empire State Building?" hypeman/comedian Dapwell shouted in mock-disbelief as soon as the trio hit the stage. "This song is about the NYPD – just kidding," Heems quipped between hair-flips before leading the large crowd in a singalong: "It's a brand new dance, give us all your money/ Everybody, love everybody," a chorus that really could be about the NYPD if you squint just so.
Across the field, downtown staple Venus X spun hardstyle and trance to prep the crowd for Badu, but sound issues bested them both. Badu's set, faintly audible to those farther out on the lawn, received a much-needed boost when Yasiin Bey (whom she still called Mos Def) appeared to spit a 16 over "Love Of My Life," but her interpolation of Texas-trill beats and an impromptu cover of Nicki Minaj's "Beez in the Trap" fell flat for conservative Baduists.
Janelle Monae provided one of the festival's biggest moments when Pharrell Williams (undeniable forefather of the AfroPunk ethos) emerged from backstage Sunday evening to introduce her. "When I heard her album, I had to contact her and let her know how special her body of work was," Skateboard P professed of the alt-pop firecracker. Monae is an electric performer, bringing theatrics to the stage along with a full band and background dancers: hooded men stalked the singer until she shot them down with a phallic thrust of her striped cane. When the band cued up a cover of the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back," the entire park deservedly lost their collective shit.
South Carolina's Toro y Moi was delightfully chill, belting shy falsettos over dreamy funk and opening with a loopy, stuttering R&B gem "Roses Quartz," much in the vein of their acclaimed debut Causers of This. And at the weekend's finish, TV on the Radio blanketed the park with their trademark blend of post-punk, electro and jam-band soul. Of course they were called back for an encore, because who wanted this night to end?
"You are AfroPunk!" hosts beckoned to the crowd between acts. "Who's ever been called an Oreo for no reason? Who's ever been told they talked 'white'?" Later, a councilwoman took the stage to implore fans to re-elect Barack Obama. "This isn't Ozzfest or one of those big jams," another host rallied. "This is by the people, for the people!" But despite this legitimate rhetoric, AfroPunk didn't feel revolutionary. For these digitally native, culturally insatiable kids, it felt normal – which means, in so many ways, it was victorious.
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Lupe Fiasco doesn't really like music journalists. At least, that's how he comes across over the phone the day after an impromptu listening session for his latest project, Food & Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album. His answers come with agitated pauses and condescending snickers: after two critically acclaimed commercial triumphs, one critically panned commercial smash, a public battle with his record label and countless tiffs with other artists, the Chicago-born Muslim MC is through explaining himself. Instead, he's (still) counting the days until his record contract is fulfilled, and he isn't letting fans (or critics) stifle a message he feels destined to deliver.
According to Lupe, Food & Liquor 2 attempts to tackle the history of America in a few hundred bars. Inspired by the writings of James Baldwin and Howard Zinn, tracks range from exposés of Native American alcoholism to analyses of nuclear weapons programs. And then there's "Bitch Bad," the scathing commentary on the use of the word "bitch" throughout the black community, framed as a narrative about a young boy and girl. The video, which climaxes with mock rappers and video models applying blackface, premiered on MTV and was followed by a round-table discussion of the expletive and its significance. Lupe played Socratic for most of the segment, content to lob questions to the panel of bloggers and industry insiders (and one video model). These days, he's careful never to stake a claim or teach a lesson. Instead, he tells Rolling Stone, he's just trying to "start conversations" – but he refuses to be at the center of them.
Why make a sequel to Food & Liquor now? What was your thought process behind creating a Part Two? What are you interested in trying to figure out, beyond that? I don't really look into it that deeply. I think people might be overthinking it. It wasn't that much of a decision either way, like, "Oh, we're going to take people back to the first album," or, "Oh, I'm going to take advantage of people relating it to the first album." It wasn't that serious. I guess it's serious enough for people to ask questions about it, but maybe you should answer it for yourself, too. Not to be a jerk about it, but specifically for that one thing, it's not that deep. It's just Food & Liquor 2.
In the "Bitch Bad" video, there's a sequence during the second verse that shows a rapper and a girl dancing. Were you referencing anyone specific there? The girl is styled like Nicki Minaj. OK. Nicki Minaj isn't the only girl with pink hair. Lady Gaga I think had pink hair at one point. To tell the story, that's what a hip-hop video looks like. The general hip-hop video looks like that. That's the images you see. Go on World Star [Hip-Hop], nine times out of 10 it's going to look like that. It's not taking shots at anybody, it's not meant to be a diss record. I don't want to get off into the distractions. That's a distraction, to be like, "Oh man, are you dissing Nicki Minaj?" That's a distraction from the point of what the video's about. That's what happened with "Around My Way." People got caught up with "Man, Pete Rock don't like it?" as opposed to, "The suicide rate in Pine Ridge is really 50 percent?" So I'd rather not indulge. If you feel that way, make sure you say you feel that way. Or Rolling Stone feels that way. Don't say Lupe said that.
It sounds like in this conversation, and at this point in your career, you're being cautious. Not that you're holding anything back, but in terms of being particular with the messages you put out and how you put them out. Nah, not really. I think it's more that I'm 30 and I want to do something else. I don't really have time to get caught up in what other people think about other things. That's not me being cautious. If you feel that way, why don't you do it? If you feel that's what the video is about, then why don't you say it? That's not my intention. When you do that 15, 20 times a day, you get fed up. Not with fans, but with the industry. You get fed up with interviewers and magazines, you get fed up with blogs, that whole piece. Like, my man, why are you interviewing me if you already got the answers to the questions in your head? Not speaking of you, just in general. At a certain point you get tired of beating a dead horse. What else do you want me to say? What else can I say? Everything that I've said has already been like . . . the facts have never been debated, it's always why I said it, or how you feel about it, as opposed to exactly what we're actually talking about. I'll talk to my fans before I talk to an interviewer about it, if I'm at a show talking to 10,000 fans, as opposed to filtering it through a magazine. That sort of gets played out.
Right now you're talking to a fan and an interviewer, and I think the discussion you're trying to have with "Bitch Bad" is an important one. There's a point made about Internet culture in the video, during a scene where young girls are watching an uncensored video online. You mentioned World Star Hip-Hop earlier – 10 years ago, a kid may have had to stay up late and watch BET Uncut, but now it's all accessible. Are those messages changing or getting worse because of the mediums? I don't know, man, to be honest. I wasn't making a statement about promoting certain images through their sites – I was just using that to set the scene. It wasn't a comment on Internet culture or anything like that. It wasn't like, "World Star Hip-Hop is the worst thing ever because they show naked women!" Picasso painted naked women. Was he the worst thing ever? Which would be World Star's response to somebody who would say that. There are naked women walking around Africa who were walking around like that for 10,000 years.
To tell a story you have to have character, you have to have a setting. I wanted it to be as real and realistic as possible. When you go on the Internet, there are clean versions, but you rarely see clean versions because that's the point of the Internet. It's free speech. Say whatever you want. It's not governed by the FCC. Who am I to tell them what they can't do and then get pissed when someone tells me what I can't do?
So your goal wasn't to indict anyone, but to argue that these are possible effects of these images and messages? A kid seeing his mom call herself a "bad bitch" may internalize that and be affected down the line by it? Nah, I'm not saying that, either. It's in the third verse: "This is a disclaimer, I'm not trying to teach you a lesson." I'm not trying to say this is what's going to happen, or potentially what's going to happen. Because you don't know, the characters are fictional, based on true events. I know personally what has affected me, but that's me personally. I've talked about it before and I'm not going to talk about it again. Everybody has their relationship with how things are going to affect them. It was moreso to just get you to think. Not to teach you a lesson or tell you what to do. I don't think people thought that's what it was. I think people just felt, "Oh, somebody's addressing something in hip-hop and pop culture at large. OK, what do we think about that?" Some people don't care, some people have never heard the song, some people haven't seen the video. Some people adore it and will write a dissertation about it. But at the end of the day I'm not really trying to tell you anything. I'm not trying to get you to do anything.
Let's talk about the rest of the album. There are live instruments on a few tracks that you did with your band. How would you describe the overall sound? There wasn't really a full musical arc to it. I was more caught up in the concept of the great American rap album, as opposed to sonically how it would go. I just got beats that felt good, that sounded good. There were some tracks specifically – not album-wide – like "Bitch Bad," that sounded like a beat that would be out now. Not 10 years ago, or 15 or 20 years ago. There's other records like "Around My Way," which is a remake of a record that came out 20 years ago. I can't say that there's a consistent theme throughout the album, but it's modern. That's the best way to describe it – it's a modern album with modern sounds, as opposed to it being a classic boom-bap record or a neo-soul record or a trap music record or whatever. It just sounds modern.
Lyrically, you have tracks that are about American history and songs described as straight-up "rappity rap." You've always been openly confident about your lyrical ability. Do you still feel competitive? Nah, for me it's art. I do this for the sake of myself. It's a selfish process. I don't really have any expectations from anyone for your comments or your reviews or your previews. Not to say that I won't see it, but that's not the point. I'm happy rapping a song like "Form Follows Function" for myself, the same way I can sit and watch a movie by myself or go to an art gallery by myself. Who do you listen to at the end of the day? Who do you look for to give you the thumbs up or the thumbs down about a certain thing? I don't really look to the public atmosphere for that kind of validation. I'm trying to find that validation in myself with my own art and put it on display, and if people like it, they like it. If they don't, they don't. Some stuff I don't even put out. I'll just be home, happy, creating something for myself, and then ball it up and throw it in the trash. It's less about trying to prove something or get on somebody's list or make a fan happy or make a hater mad or convert a non-believer. That's not the case for me anymore. Mixtapes, The Cool, whatever. We're done now. You get it, I get it, we're done. If you want to participate in this album, fine, if you don't, that's just as fine. I'll go on tour, go on vacation and come back next summer.
With previous albums, you've had a history of having trouble with leaks. How do you plan on beating the leak this time around? You just don't give it to anybody. You can't control it once you turn it into the label, so there's the expectation that it'll leak a week before the album comes out. That's the world we live in. But up until now, no one has a copy. As an artist, you have to strategize to make the final, for-sale product [have] more value, and more than music. When people get the physical album in their hand, it's a piece of art in itself. There's no way that the label should've let this happen. There's no way in hell that they should've let this physical CD, the way it's designed, come out. But it's out. That in itself for me makes that special. So whoever has the download, yeah, you have the music, but everyone has the music. You don't have this. You're missing out. We have to make the physical music a little more valuable instead of just having a download link and a bunch of songs you downloaded from some torrent site. People try to make the music value-less, and I don't think we're going to stop that train, but the one thing that they can't devalue are things that are in the outside world. The digital space is different, but the physical space still carries value. That gives me satisfaction. You downloaded it for free, but you're still missing out on the whole experience.
You've said James Baldwin was an inspiration for this album. What do you think about his legacy today? Why was he your muse this time around? I think Baldwin is overshadowed. I don't think Baldwin's in the conversation anymore. So that's why I tried to bring him back around, because he was such a powerful figure. He was a homosexual, he was an atheist, he was black, he was a writer, he was a down brother, he lived in Paris and grew up in the slums of Harlem. And he was a preacher. So he had all these things that made him Public Enemy Number One, but he was also loved and adored by the public at the same time. If you were just a card-carrying religious person, you'd shun him because he was gay. If you were a card-carrying white person, you'd shun him because he was black. And through all of that, he was smarter than anybody. He's had more of an impact for me than everybody. He's such a polarizing figure, but being so polarizing, his sense was so common. Very strong and powerful common sense about common-sense things. He challenged the notion that common sense had to be simple.
What is some of the source material you looked to for inspiration on this album? Howard Zinn's The Bomb. Steven Pimpare's A People's History of Poverty in America, which is based on Zinn's A People's History of the United States. There were a myriad of Baldwin speeches. The sample on the intro to the album is from Take This Hammer, a documentary that follows Baldwin around in the late Fifties. Now I'm reading things that back up what I was saying on the album – books like Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt by Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco.
So you'd say recording this album was a learning experience as well as a creative one? Not necessarily, because a lot of this stuff I already knew. It was more for the sake of the people who are going to say, "That's not true, where'd you get that from? You're making that up," to have some cites – an index or an appendix where I could look at you and say," This book, that book, this guy, that speech reaffirms what I'm saying." There are certain songs where I literally read a book and wrote a song about it. I needed to know the specifics. I had to read The Bomb to write a song about the nuclear weapons program.
We hear a lot about America on this album, but we don't hear about Chicago. On the "Hood Now" outro, you mention Kanye West being front row at fashion shows. With artists like Kanye pushing hip-hop into places it hasn't been, and Chicago still suffering in many ways, how do you feel about the city now and the music that's coming out of it? No comment. It's easier and safer and smarter for me to say no comment. I addressed America. Chicago is in America. These aren't site-specific. There's some examples that stand out more than others, like Pine Ridge, South Dakota or Camden, New Jersey or Detroit, that stand out physically because they're wastelands, but it's systematic. If you go through the entire country, you'll see a reflection of the same things. The same conformity, the same injustices, the same discrimination – the same happy times, the same good times. You see it all, because it's America. There's not one place that's foreign in America, if that makes any sense. When I talk about no-space-specific, I'm talking about everywhere.
On "Put Em Up," there's a line where you say, "Only Tupac is topping me now." What did you mean by that? I think everyone sees Tupac as an inspiration. "Tupac Back" – I didn't write that song, Rick Ross and Meek Mill wrote that song. Everybody equates themselves to who they feel is the pioneer of their thing, whether it be folk singers that look back to Bob Dylan or reggae people who look back to Bob Marley. These head figures that had a social and cultural pitch to them – not saying they were saints in any way, but within their genre they did something that transcended their genre. Everybody reveres Tupac. Tupac Shakur is a great man, a great figure, a great person. He's Martin Luther King status. The same admiration I have for Baldwin, I have for Tupac.
Yesterday at the session, you mentioned you had one more album after this and you were out. Are you happy right now? Commercially, yes. Commercially, I don't care. I don't really have any expectations.
But personally? Personal, I choose to not comment on. How I feel personally I don't think is for public consumption anymore. Professionally, I'm aware I have accolades, but the commercial space is one I don't want to be in anymore. I'll still make music, but make music that is art. I think you'll slowly see that with the last record on Atlantic. You'll start seeing specks of it on Great American Rap Album, just the way we curate certain things, like the "Bitch Bad" video and the cover art. And once we really get into the rollout of the album, it'll all start to culminate on the last album, which is called Skulls. You'll see, like, "Oh, wow, he's not kidding." I'm really about to kick back and just do music for the sake of doing music, as opposed to doing music for the sake of doing an interview or shooting a video to it or having some kind of commercial incentive behind doing it.
So exactly what message do you want to get across or emphasize about this album or where you are right now? If I could control that, I'd write the interview myself. I'd write all my interviews myself if I wanted to have that type of control, but I can't.
I get the feeling that you're not too fond of interviews. These are my last interviews. We're doing a big documentary for the album, which will hopefully come out, if not the album day, hopefully a few days after – we've just got to finish it. That will be my piece de resistance about who Lupe is and what his music is, and that's it. After that, you'll have to talk to the publicist.
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Click to listen to Two Gallants' album The Bloom and the Blight
Bringing a healthy dose of thrash and bash to their folk- and blues-rooted tunes, San Francisco duo Two Gallants will release The Bloom and the Blight on September 4th. It's their first record in five years and inaugural effort with ATO. Here, you can check out the entire record, which includes crunchers like "My Love Won't Wait," somber swooners like "Decay," and road-weary rockers like "Ride Away." You can also pre-order The Bloom and the Blight on iTunes and check out the Two Gallant's batch of U.S. and Europe tour dates throughout the fall.
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Click to listen to Azure Ray's album 'As Above So Below'
On their new EP As Above So Below, indie-poppers Azure Ray wander through brooding soundscapes with harmonic motion, adding wispy, delicate vocal melodies to cloudy beats. Opener "Scattered Like Leaves" combines the impending doom of the repeated low-end rumble with wondrous lyrics like, "There's love everywhere," while "To This Life" marches to a deliberate tempo that drags along protracted whispers before evolving into a soothing, enchanting ride.
As Above So Below is out September 4th on Saddle Creek.
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Maria Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot.
A lawyer for members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot has appealed their convictions on charges of "hooliganism" for a protest against President Vladimir Putin in a Moscow cathedral earlier this year, Reuters reports, even as the musicians say they're more committed than ever to seeking the removal of Putin.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, were each sentenced to two years in prison August 17th for their February "punk-prayer" demonstration in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. Their lawyer, Nikolai Polozov, said he doubts the court will reverse the convictions. "If the court abides by the law it would throw out the verdict," Polozov said. "But being realists, understanding all the efforts the state has put into this case, we think it's unlikely the verdict will be overturned."
Musicians including Paul McCartney, Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers have expressed support for Pussy Riot in a case that has drawn widespread criticism for being a politically motivated show trial intended to suppress dissent against Putin.
Police in Russia had been seeking additional members of Pussy Riot, two of whom fled the country over the weekend. One of the jailed rockers, Samutsevich, told The Guardian that the trial strengthened their resolve to push for change.
"Our verdict shows just how scared Putin's regime is of anyone who can undermine its legitimacy," she said, in response to written questions the newspaper submitted through the band's lawyer.
Samutsevich said the future of Pussy Riot is uncertain for now, though their commitment to political reform has only grown stronger. "We, along with many citizens of our country, are burning even more with the desire to finally take from Putin his monopoly on power, since his image no longer seems so total and terrible," she said.
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Duran Duran canceled Saturday night's Atlantic City show at the last minute due to the illness of keyboardist Nick Rhodes.
An announcement posted on the band's website Saturday said that Rhodes had been sick for the past few days, and that doctors had advised him not to perform that night at the Revel Ovation Hall.
"Rhodes, who along with the rest of the band, has now been on the road for almost two years in support of their latest All You Need Is Now album, has been experiencing an array of symptoms that doctors believe could be the result of exhaustion," the statement said.
"I have struggled through the last few nights, hoping that I could simply work through this, but today I felt so unwell I had to see a doctor," Rhodes says in the statement. "We absolutely hate to disappoint our incredibly loyal fans and cancel a show at the last minute, but unfortunately the doctor has strongly recommended that this is what we do on this occasion – so it is with enormous regret that we are unable to perform in Atlantic City tonight."
The band says that it is hoping to reschedule the show within the next few days.
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Flashback: Bruce Springsteen Opens for Dr. Hook in 1973Watch a 23-year-old Springsteen perform 'Wild Billy's Circus Story' $(document).ready(function() { $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .email-content').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').hide(); } ); $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .print-page').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').hide(); } ); }); By
When Bruce Springsteen performed at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles on May 1st, 1973, he was still largely unknown to the public. His debut LP Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. hit shelves that January amid a flurry of "new Dylan" hype, but it failed to make much of an impact on the charts. CBS still believed he had huge potential, and that May they booked him at their "Week To Remember" Los Angeles concert series with many other artists on their roster. At this gig he opened up for New Riders of The Purple Sage and Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show – still riding high off the success of their recent hit "The Cover of the Rolling Stone." Springsteen and this then-nameless backing band didn't have time to perform their full set, but they made sure to break out their guaranteed show-stoppers "Spirit In The Night" and "Thundercrack." He also played a relatively new song called "Wild Billy's Circus Story," a tune he'd been tinkering with over the previous few months. Check out video of the performance above.
When Springsteen and the band got home from their California trip they began recording their second LP, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. Bruce also decided it was time to expand the band, so he hired David Sancious to play keyboards. The newest member lived in Belmar, New Jersey, on E Street, which soon gave the band a long overdue name. His presence also created the organ/keyboard dynamic that's been a key part of the E Street sound these past 40 years.
Thankfully, CBS filmed the Los Angeles show in color so they could show some of the footage at their upcoming sales convention. It's a rare look at the original lineup of the group. They had another year of struggle in front of them, but everything was slowly coming together.
Artist: Kopecky Family Band Song: "Heartbeat" Album: Kids Raising Kids
"'Heartbeat' is a fun and lighthearted love song that was born on the out of tune piano in my living room. I hope it makes you smile," Kelsey Kopecky tells Rolling Stone.
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Think of any current radio-friendly rock act and chances are, songwriter-for-hire Marti Frederiksen has helped score them a hit. Recently, Frederiksen hooked up his old pals in Aerosmith once again; their upcoming album, Music From Another Dimension!, features five Frederiksen co-written tracks, including a tune that had been on the drawing board for years, "What Could Have Been Love."
"It's been a good seven years," Frederiksen tells Rolling Stone about the track. "The song came about because Steven [Tyler] really liked it and we worked it up. Someone else would have done the song, but we held it and held it, hoping that it worked for Aerosmith. It's a power ballad-y kind of song, maybe the typical song for Aerosmith. But it just had a good message and Steven was feeling it. So we held on to it and finally, it's seen the light of day."
Frederiksen also earned a producer credit on three of the album's songs, next to other tracks helmed by Jack Douglas, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. "I think the ones that Jack produced are more 'band guy' songs.' I worked on a couple of other songs I didn't produce on the record, and one is a real rocker that came out of the same time as 'What Could Have Been Love' – [new single] 'Lover Alot.' I co-wrote that with the guys. A whole different beast, man – just rockin', loose and uptempo. That's the great thing about songwriting and being able to work with a band like this – you can do something old-school rock and then do a beautiful ballad. The good thing about all these songs is nothing is over-produced."
Music From Another Dimension! is not the only place where songs co-penned by Frederiksen and Tyler will turn up soon: the duo collaborated with Julian Lennon on a song titled "Someday." "It was kind of a last-minute thing," explains Frederiksen. "We were finishing up the Aerosmith stuff in L.A., and Steven was like, 'Julian's staying below where I'm staying, at the Sunset Marquis. We've got to go over and write a song with him – I've been telling him about you.'"
"Steven and I went over there, and Julian has a songwriting partner, Mark Spiro, and all four of us sat down and wrote a song. Literally, an hour and a half later, we had the song done – lyrics and everything. To be honest, it was the first time I'd written with Steven not for Aerosmith or himself," he adds. "It was like a different guy in the room for me, because he's so particular in what he would sing. He was still way into it, it was just a different guy." Frederiksen describes "Someday" as "midtempo. It's got really rhythmic beats in it. Different kind of grooves. It's not your typical production. Really India-kind of strings, and Steven did some backgrounds on it."
Frederiksen credits his own songwriting success to similar open-mindedness. "My big start was through Aerosmith, with [A&R executive] John Kalodner hooking me up with them. They started doing it back on their 'return' – writing with outside writers. They wanted to just get the best songs possible, and get different takes on ideas they may have, and go left instead of right," he says. "I feel like I'm more of a collaborator than a songwriter. I get in with an artist, and I really try to get what they want to get. I never try and steer them towards anything they don't want to do."
"I've been out in Nashville a little now and doing some writing out there, and there's so many great writers," he continues. "A lot of the country stuff, a lot of those guys aren't even concerned about writing the songs – they just want the best songs they can possibly sing, like the Elvis days. I look at it like that – artists would rather stay with their families rather than grind out songs and have to write 50 songs to find 10."
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Will.I.Am has teamed with NASA and Discovery Education for a special educational event that includes a new song that will be broadcasted from the Curiosity rover on Mars. "Reach for the Stars," a cosmic tribute from the Black Eyed Peas leader, will premiere at a special event tomorrow starting 1 p.m. PDT at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
For more information, including a live stream of the event, visit NASA's website.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Will.I.Am has teamed with NASA and Discovery Education for a special educational event that includes a new song that will be broadcasted from the Curiosity rover on Mars. "Reach for the Stars," a cosmic tribute from the Black Eyed Peas leader, will premiere at a special event tomorrow starting 1 p.m. PDT at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
For more information, including a live stream of the event, visit NASA's website.
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
Artist: Brandi Carlile Song: "That Wasn't Me" Album: Bear Creek
"'That Wasn’t Me' is just a song about forgiveness... it's about addiction, reformation, honesty and forgiveness but almost never in that order," Brandi Carlile tells Rolling Stone.
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Organizers of the Creamfields festival near Cheshire, England, canceled the last day of the EDM event after heavy rain and flooding overtook the festival grounds, the BBC reports. Yesterday's headliners included Deadmau5 and Calvin Harris, but people had begun to leave the festival Saturday night because of the poor weather. Organizers informed attendees on Sunday morning of the decision to cancel. Skrillex and Avicii were among those who had already performed.
Rain also dominated the Isle of Wight festival earlier this summer, leaving thousands stranded as the festival grounds were flooded.
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Zeds Dead perform at the Mad Decent Block Party in Los Angeles.
Toronto duo Zeds Dead are riding the dubstep wave to sold-out shows, a summer of festival appearances including Lollaplooza and Coachella, and chart-topping tracks on influential dance chart Beatport. But Zach Rapp-Rovan and Dylan Mamid haven't forgotten how they got their start.
"We started off throwing free parties and it’s always a great vibe," Rapp-Rovan tells Rolling Stone. "I think they should be doing them everywhere, free parties are great as long as there’s good security and people don’t get hurt or something."
Getting back to those roots, Zeds Dead headlined the Mad Decent Block Party yesterday, a free show at L.A. Center Studios that required only an RSVP for entry. During their hour-long closing set, the pair took the opportunity to preview some new material, of which they have a lot coming.
"We’re working on some remixes as well as upcoming EPs and still working on stuff for our upcoming album, which will be out at some point," Rabb-Rovan says. "We’re just in the lab all the time."
Among the upcoming remixes is a Marina and the Diamonds track. That's a good starting point for their future endeavors as they are looking at working with a many different types of vocalists. "We also want to start collaborating with a lot more songwriters, rappers and singers and stuff," Mamid says. "So we have a lot of stuff set aside for that."
They don't want to jinx any possible partnerships, but being a part of EDM movement brings opportunities galore. "People, especially in the hip-hop world, really are interested in the EDM world and want to be involved in some way, whether it be because they actually like it or because their fan base knows it," Mamid says. "EDM’s really taken over right now, a lot of people want to integrate that into their sound."
For the two, who started off in hip-hop, this means they have the chance to go back and potentially work with some of the top names in that field. "I feel that for sure, it seems tangible to work with some people you never would’ve thought you’d be able to before," Mamid says.
They're also dabbling in hip-hop in their own work, as a response to writing on tour. "Sometimes when you’re on the road, you end up writing stuff that’s very catered to the dance floor," Rabb-Rovan says. "But also, after a while, you’re on the road for long enough it goes reverse and you start making chill stuff, which is what we found on our last bus tour. By the end, we were just making like chill hip-hop stuff."
Zeds Dead hope to release the new EP in the fall, and then an album sometime after that. The full album will be the chance for them to show off the chill beats along with the hard-edged dubstep sound their fans have come to know.
"I think absolutely, if and when we do an album, it’s gonna be a lot of mix and even more just completely a listening experience where you’re not gonna find a lot of dancefloor bangers on it," Mamid says.
DJing on a nightly basis, Rabb-Rovan says, "is very [much] like psychology, study of what makes people react." What they're seeing are fans eager for a mix of tempos. "I still love the hard shit, but I think there’s a bit of people stepping back from how dubstep’s been getting extremely hard," he says.
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We knew it would be tough topping Tara getting shot in the head, but the True Blood writers have done it again, with last night's season finale supporting Sam Trammell's claim that this was the best cliffhanger yet. Here's my question though: The old Lilith was pretty boring, her vocabulary limited to little more than the phrase "I choose you." Will this new vampire god at least continue bloviating in that syrupy-sweet Louisiana accent of his, peppering his speech with "Sookeh!"? Because if that version of Bill is gone for good then a big piece of this series has died along with him.
As expected, the death toll was high in "Save Yourself," but this being True Blood, there is little time to mourn the lost – even in the case of Russell, whose campy, playful and utterly maniacal presence will sorely be missed. He was staked in order to make way for what will undeniably be Season Six's villain, the vampire god I can only call "Billith."
True Blood has always ended its seasons with a handful of plot lines either unresolved or newly introduced, but this particular season finale has left almost all the characters knee-deep in conflict, with summer 2013 feeling like a lifetime away. However, for those frustrated by the seemingly forgotten-about plot involving M. Warlow, fear not: HBO GO is offering a sneak peek of Season Six, and it turns out Nora is familiar with the mysterious vampire who cut a deal with Sookie and Jason's ancestor 300 years ago.
Vampires, Humans and Shifters
Now that Russell has devoured the Fairy Elder,Sookie and her brethren are no longer invisible to the still-hungry vampire. Firing on all cylinders, the fairies blast Russell with light power, although Sookie isn't much use to them, with her "microwave fingers" shorting out every few seconds. No matter, because the fairies aren't making a dent in Russell's resistance anyway. But who needs light power when your fear can summon a vampire with an ancient grudge? Before the credits have rolled, Russell Edgington is dead at the hands of Eric,who is almost giddy over avenging his Viking family's murder: "That felt even better than I thought it would." Steve, heartbroken over his lost love, zips away, not to be seen again for the rest of the episode – kind of.
It's easy to dust yourself off from a light power/staking battle like this one if you're vampire, fairy or part-fairy, but if you're a mere human like Jason, you're going to suffer some side effects. In the case of Sookie's brother, who was caught in the Russell/Fairy Elder crossfire at the end of last week's episode, he's now suffering from some nasty hallucinations – namely, the ghosts of Corbett and MichelleStackhouse.
Back at Authority headquarters, Sam (who gave the wardrobe department one less person to dress for the final two episodes of the season) has a brief audience with Bill, having volunteered to be his "breakfast," but his attempts to reason with Sookie's now completely cuckoo ex are only met with fangs. It's a good thing Sam can shift into a fly – not only because it allowed him to get away, but because Bill jumping on chandeliers in an effort to catch him was one of the episode's unintentionally comedic high points. After taking a quick loop around Steve and Russell's bedroom, Sam makes it back to Luna in her jail cell, with a crafty plan in hand.
Sookie takes Jason back to her house to decompress, but Corbett and Michelle's near-constant vampire trash-talk is having its intended effect on their son. By the time Eric, Nora and Tara (the vampire sibs made a pit stop at Fangtasia, where Tara brought them up to speed on Pam) burst into the house seeking Sookie's help to break Jessica and Pam out of the Authority – and get Bill to drop his cult-leader behavior – Jason is showing signs of becoming the newest incarnation of an anti-supernatural hatemonger. Despite her brother's protestations, Sookie agrees to help the vampires, because, as Tara reminds her twice, with plenty of hostility in her voice (yeah, she's not ready to reconcile with her best friend just yet), "You. Owe. Pam." That and Eric promises to transfer ownership of the house back to Sookie within 24 hours. Where did that come from? Killing Russell? Eric's gentle demeanor this episode was very Season Four, which of course means it won't last. Sigh.
A power-suited Steve enters the Authority prison area to collect wolf cub Emma for a walk. But he seems twitchy, nervous – and as Chelsea, the young marketing-student vampire receptionist notices, suddenly devoid of his Southern accent. That's because it's a skinwalking Luna, who is about to exit the Authority with her daughter in her arms and her boyfriend (still a fly) on her shoulder when she's stopped by an agitated Rosalyn. That video of Steve and Russell draining 22 frat boys wound up going viral after all and now Rosalyn needs the AVL spokesman to do damage control on a news broadcast. "Steve" is ushered into a small room with a camera, and within seconds Luna has the attention of the entire nation. But the message that comes across is that not only do vampires exist, but shape-shifters as well. Luna-as-Steve, unable to hold her shift any longer, begins vomiting black blood before reverting back to her natural appearance. She also announces to the world that the Authority vampires are keeping humans as food in an underground bunker in New Orleans, which most likely will trigger a human uprising come Season Six. Just as Rosalyn is about to feed on Luna, a fly enters the vampire's mouth, causing her eyes to pop out and blood to spurt from her face before she explodes, leaving nothing but a goo-covered, naked Sam in her wake. Luna, her body ravaged from skinwalking – but Emma safe in her arms – begins passing out, the camera cutting away before we learn if she met the same fate as Tommy Mickens. Will Season Six find Sam a single stepdad?
Eric and Nora gain clearance from Bill back into the Authority, with a bound-and-gagged Jason, Tara and Sookie in the back of Jason's truck posing as their prisoners. Once in the elevator, the five gear up with stakes and guns, with Jason, dressed like a cat burglar and rocking a "Time for tolerance is over" attitude, out for the kill. They jam the surveillance feed, and upon entry, sharpshooter Jason makes a clean sweep of every vampire security guard, with Nora and Eric finishing off the rest by descending Mission: Impossible-style (without wires – remember, they can fly). Their path clear, Sookie and Tara bust Jessica and Pam out of their cells, leading up to the hottest kiss all season – between Tara and Pam! (Sookie's reaction: "Oh, OK." Jessica, who totally called this last week: "I knew it!") But it's not a happy reunion for everyone. When Jess sees Jason in the Authority lobby, she runs into his arms and proclaims her love for him, but he's so far gone in his own extremist beliefs now that he doesn't even reciprocate her hug. "I can't ever love a vampire," he states matter-of-factly. Jess is crushed – and so are we. This girl has to meet someone new next season, please? Maybe a vampire this time? Before she becomes as hardened and bitter as Pam? Once Eric and Nora reappear, the gang is ushered back into the elevator, which is headed up to the safety of the roof. Only Eric and Sookie stay behind, in their last-ditch effort to save Bill.
One of the reasons why everyone has actually managed to escape is because Bill, who petulantly established himself as the "chosen one" last week (beheading Kibwe, smacking Jessica) has been too busy tricking Salomé into thinking that she is the new prophet. Dressed in angelic white, Salomé drinks the entire vial of Lilith's blood, but begins to violently contort on the carpet. Bill, his humanity forever a memory, sits at her side, and calmly and smugly begins to explain how he outsmarted her. Her narcissism allowed her to be both blind to the idea of anyone else being the chosen one, and so impatient for what she believed to be the Rapture that she didn't even smell the blood she drank. It was not Lilith's blood, and furthermore, it was blood laced with silver. Salomé concedes to her rival just before he stakes her, "Lilith chose wisely."
Right before Bill drinks down Lilith's actual blood, Eric and Sookie show up to combat his message of hate with one of love. But it's unlikely the most skilled de-programmer could jolt Bill out of his zealotry. The tirade of venom that Bill unleashes onto Sookie, culminating in his calling her an "abomination," is enough to cause even Eric to wince. (While in their jail cell, Jess mentioned to Pam that the Vampire Bible considers Sookie an abomination. The question is, why? Because she's half-fairy, half-human?) To Bill, this religious fervor is the release from the century-plus of torment and guilt he has carried with him. He believes that Lilith has freed him from an eternity of fear. Sookie, bawling over the loss of the man she loved (again), tries one more time to remind Bill of what they once shared: "If I ever, meant anything to you at all . . ." But Bill cuts her off, destroying any vestiges of their love for good: "I told you, the first night we met, vampires often turn on those they love the most."
Bill swallows Lilith's blood, while Sookie, Eric and the rest of us watch in horror as blood shoots out of his eyes and mouth – and the 175-year-old vampire explodes into a pile of goo. For a handful of seconds, as Eric comforts a shattered Sookie, we're forced to envision a True Blood without Bill Compton (which is just weird). And that's when Eric notices Bill's entrails are still moving. Suddenly, a blood-soaked Bill rises from the puddle, and a new vampire god is born. "Billith" brandishes his fangs, and Eric and Sookie bolt.
I think it's safe to say that we're all on Team Eric now, no?
Favorite Couple: How could it be anyone other than Tara and Pam? They've gone from mortal enemies to unwitting maker and progeny to willing lovers in the span of one week. Let's hope they'll find the time in between the Billith madness to go on some vampire dates next season. In their geisha dresses.
Winning Species: Fairies. Other than their pre-credits cameo, the fairies took a backseat to the action in this episode. Except for Maurella, who popped out four daughters (and sported a completely flat stomach after the deed) while visiting Andy at Merlotte's – and then left them to be raised by their father and ostensibly, Holly, who only had these words for her fairy-humping beau: "You're a dick." Between Andy's fairy babies, Sookie's fading light power and the unresolved M. Warlow story line, these supes aren't going anywhere next season.
Losing Species:Werewolves. Ever since Alcide's thwarted boots-knocking with Sookie, the werewolf plot lines have remained completely disconnected from the rest of the story – unless you're named Emma. In short, to level the playing field with the malicious J.D., Alcide took a shot of V (courtesy of his father, the T-1000-erm, I mean, Jackson), broke J.D.'s neck, and took his rightful place as Shreveport packmaster, ordering all wolves to respect one another and not take advantage of those younger and weaker. Great. What's that got to do with the Bon Temps crew?
Previously: Game Time
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7:22 PM
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Click to listen to Tame Impala's 'Elephant (Todd Rundgren Remix)'
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Coach
Arnel Pineda of Journey, Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band, and Kid RockDonald Kravitz/Getty Images; Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images; Scott Legato/Getty Images
Matt Berninger of The National
Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones
Mindy Kaling of 'The Mindy Project' arrives at a screening of Fox TV's new Tuesday night comedies in Santa Monica.
John Dyer Baizley and Matt Maggioni of Baroness.Adam Gasson/Prog Magazine via Getty Images
Azure Ray, 'As Above So Below'
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Maria Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot.
Duran Duran keyboardist Nick Rhodes
Zeds Dead perform at the Mad Decent Block Party in Los Angeles.
Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton in 'True Blood.'
