'SNL' Makes Hay With Petraeus Affair

Saturday Night Live is the perfect end-of-the-week pick-me-up for anyone who’s had a tough couple of days. Whether work’s got you down, family issues won’t go away or you feel like the whole country’s on your case, tuning in to NBC on any given Saturday night is sure to provide you with a chuckle or two.

Unless, that is, you’re General David Petraeus.

Even if he’s a huge fan of host Jeremy Renner or last night's musical guest, the monochrome-outfitted Maroon 5, the disgraced former head of the Central Intelligence Agency would have been better off watching a news network, where they might take a moment to talk about anything other than him. If love hurts, consider last night’s episode of SNL a love letter to the adulterous General; a very funny love letter . . .  one that should absolutely not be shown to his wife.

The cold open was a knockout sketch that took place at the famed Washington, DC bookstore, Politics and Prose, under the guise of a CSPAN book reading. The author, there to read excerpts from her latest book, was of course Petraeus’ biographer and girlfriend, Paula Broadwell (played straight by Cecily Strong). From All In, her detailed tome on Petraeus, Broadwell read salacious remembrances of her time with the General; Fifty Shades of Camouflage, if you will. The crowd at Politics and Prose got fidgety at the gross-out mention of Petraeus calling Broadwell "just the right amount of 'dirty.'" And most of the audience left when the subject of socialite Jill Kelley came up, under the auspices of a potential threesome. By the time Broadwell spoke of erotic asphyxiation, there was just one crowd member left, Fred Armisen. His eyes brightened, he smiled, and CSPAN cut the feed.

Another hilariously pointed sketch featured Jason Sudeikis as CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, on his program, The Situation Room. Blitzer took note of the incessant looping of the sole video clip networks had of Jill Kelley (Cecily Strong) walking out of her home and to her car. Out of her home and to her car. Again, out of her home and to her car. And then backwards, followed by the clip cut shorter, and most hilariously, as a dramatic recreation, using the very un-feminine Tim Robinson in place of Cecily Strong.

Seth Meyers jumped on top of the pile too, proclaiming winners and losers of the scandal during Weekend Update. Among the winners, General John Allen, who, while also ensnared in this horror, Meyers pointed out, does have the luxury of leaving the horror that is Afghanistan. The biggest loser? Florida. "Of course, you're involved, Florida! Of course you are. Anytime there's a news story about someone's sordid behavior or bad judgment, it's just a matter of time before your name comes up. Sex scandals are like Jewish New Yorkers. Eventually they all make their way to Florida."

While there was a focus on the former Army General, other highlights included a vacation commercial touting the allure of visiting "your home town," and a digital short called "The Stand Off," where Jeremy Renner, Taran Killam and Bobby Moynihan trained guns on each of the other two guys for two days, constantly: From a parking garage, inside a taxi, at Thanksgiving dinner, in the shower, and back to the garage.

And perhaps most importantly, SNL launched a nü-Saturday TV Funhouse segment, the animated "Midnight Snack," which featured what very well may have been the most genius bit not just of the episode, but of the season: Cool Drones. The Department of Defense, knowing that drones – the remote controlled bomb-equipped mini-planes – are unfavorable with a lot of the public, go about putting together a children’s cartoon to make them more tolerable. The result: drones as a boy band. When they’re not bombing the front lines, they’re teen heartthrobs with backward hats and styled facial hair, singing "Hanging out, having fun, we did our job, and now it's done."

Even General Petreaus would have cracked a smile at that.

Last Week's Recap: 'SNL' Parodies 'Homeland,' Mitt Romney's Post-Election Blues

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Portugal. The Man Makes Pitch for Nature Conservancy in 'All Your Light'

Portugal. The Man Makes Pitch for Nature Conservancy in 'All Your Light' Clip is part of All Hands on Earth environmental campaign $(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

Portugal. The Man is one of a handful of artists – along with Glen Hansard, Raphael Saadiq and Tha Boogie and Tinariwen – to team up with the Nature Conservancy for their new All Hands On Earth campaign, which hopes to inspire fans to protect the environment. Check out Portland-based group's contribution to the campaign with this stripped-down performance of their cut "All Your Light," interspersed with the band talking about the importance of conservancy. "You don't have to do a lot," says bassist Zachary Carothers, "but if a lot of people do a little, a lot can get done."

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'X Factor' Premiere Recap: Britney Spears Makes Her Debut

Britney Spears on 'The X Factor.'September 13, 2012 11:00 AM ET

Greetings, X-Factoids! You can relax now, and blow out your Simon Cowell vigil candles, for your favorite $5 million talent show/freak-fest hath returned. I will be your X-Factotum again on this second season, which has already distinguished itself in the premiere, having jettisoned both previous female judges (Paula who? Nicole huh?) in favor of the potentially stark raving awesome duo of Britney Spears and Demi Lovato. Oh, and the immaculately groomed head of LA Reid is back as well, still making the crossed arm X-gesture, which nobody has yet informed him belongs to Wonder Woman.

So far, the dynamic between the new intake and the other judges is harmonious. Perhaps a little too much so: they all agree on just about everything. Demi and Britney seem on their way to intergenerational bestie-hood, and there's nary a hint of the Simon vs. LA smackdowns of yore. Simon has even oddly taken on the role of Demi's romantic consigliore, chiding her to stay away from one of the members of One Direction (the cute one, I think his name is Up.) Surely, we will eventually look back on this period as "the calm before all of those hurricanes."

A singing reality competition show is only as good as its singing reality competitors, though, so let's see what the cities of Austin, San Francisco and Providence have coughed up so far.

The Real Deal
Rihanna look-alike Paige Thomas has an adorable daughter and a hot pink shirt with epaulettes, so we like her already. "I'm Goin' Down" sounded pretty natural pouring out of her, although sometimes it's hard to distinguish oneself with a song like that on a show like this. All the judges adored her to begin with, but then her daughter made a carefully coordinated run to the stage with a little bow in her hair, and you could clearly see a quartet of melted judge-hearts.

Reed Deming has the manufactured affect and face-swept hair of a cog in the pop star machine, which means he'll do fine on this show. The 13-year-old chipmunk was a little too nervous at the start of his Bruno Mars song, "It Will Rain," and Simon stopped him less than a minute in, asking him to switch to another song – a spare, piano-driven version of "Grenade," on which he acquit himself admirably. The Bieber comparisons were non-stop, and he deflected them thus: "I don't want to fall into that Bieber stereotype. I gotta be me." OK, kid: tell that to every single thing about you.

A pleasant late-episode surprise was Jennel Garcia, a teenager who cites Pat Benatar as an influence. (God bless her.) Jennel sang Grace Potter and the Nocturnals' "Paris (Ooh La La)" like she meant business. The camera kept cutting over to her mom as Garcia was singing about being down on the floor, which was uncomfortable, but the girl just radiates confidence and swiveled hips. The judges loved her and so do you.

Demi found a kindred spirit in Jillian Jensen, a 19-year-old with a microphone tattooed on her shoulder blade, who reveals that she was bullied growing up and has a lot of feelings about it. (There's a backstory here, and we're assumed to know it, but for those who don't: Demi was bullied for being fat at age eight and had a decade-long eating disorder because of it.) Jillian has a deep, husky voice beyond her years, almost hoarse, and she breaks down in tears by the end of "Who You Are." Of course, Demi went on stage and hugged her, and of course, I felt like doing same.

Kinda Meh
With his hot pink lipstick, wedding train and booty shorts, could cake decorator Quatrele Da'an Smith have sung anything other than "Born This Way?" He didn't sound terrible, but I couldn't help feel the judges gave him a pass because they liked the fact that he exists, rather than his singing. (LA was the only one to give the sensible "no.")

Vincent Thomas didn't seem even mildly embarrassed to have been in a boy band in Europe at one point, and he kept saying the words 'boy band' over and over. He committed the cardinal sin of dispensing supposed wisdom to the guys sitting next to him before stepping onstage, so we know that he's not going to make it. His voice should have yellow lines around it, because it's the middle of the road. (Oh, snap?)

The guys Vincent was giving his ill-considered advice to were Emblem3, a trio of sun-baked high school California bros who sang a half-rapped original ode to their home state. The crowd went bonkers, and the judges seemed impressed, which seems insane to me. If you could imagine a much less dangerous Gym Class Heroes, it would be these dudes – and that's saying something.

The saddest moment of the night belonged to future stalker Don Philip, the utterly unhinged, tear-streaked Gob Bluth clone who apparently sang a duet with Spears once and never got over it. Here he sang "Halo" and it's clear that his voice is kind of shot. Britney had to be the one to discourage his dream, and it was like watching Timmy put down Lassie.

Total Jackasses
Kaci Newton was immediately set up as an over-the-top villainess. We hear the blonde Texan talking trash about Paige, but oddly not in an interview. We're meant to have overheard this. She has a Southern Mean Girls thing going on, with over the top boasting about wanting to be as big as Michael Jackson. On stage, though, she sounded like a Kristen Wiig character singing Katy Perry at the discount opera house or something. The judges unceremoniously ripped her a new one.

On his way to the stage, 50-year-old Shawn Armenta looked like he's checking for tails, which he should be, because his original song is pervy enough to sound 1,000 Amber alerts. It's called "Candy Girl," and it's about "the sweet girls you meet at a local bar." He also danced like he was guiding in a plane. Britney finally asked who let him on stage, which was a very good question, except that if there weren't a couple cartoonishly awful auditions like Shawn each year, someone would totally get fired.

We didn't hear Saane Dakunivosa sing one note before we know she's a total joke. We just intuit it from the half a bouquet of flowers on her shoulder, her very long shout out to the Bay Area and the fact that she's listed as "unemployed," rather than a student. When someone is introduced as unemployed on shows like these, unless it's part of a heartbreaking story, it's a sure sign of a fruitcake.

Finally, the vaguely Ron Jeremy-esque Charles Spangler (also unemployed) gave his age as "57 and 7" and looks every ounce of it. His face is as red as the devil's backside. When he's not barking like a dog on Soft Cell's "Tainted Love," in between "got to" and "run away," he sounds like Tom Waits' cousin who doesn't quite smoke as many cigarettes but is still a bridge troll.

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Bret Michaels Makes 'Magic' With Michael Anthony, Joe Perry on New LP

Bret Michaels and musicians C.C. DeVille, Rikki Rockett and Bobby Dall performs at the after party for the premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures' 'Rock Of Ages' at Hollywood and Highland in Los Angeles, California on June 8, 2012.

While gearing up to take Poison on tour with Def Leppard this summer, Bret Michaels found time to assemble an all-star cast of guests for his new LP, Bret Michaels and Friends: Get Your Rock On, due out in September.

"Every song on it is a collaboration with other musicians," says Michaels. "And it's such a diverse range of people, from Loretta Lynn and Joe Perry [who play on a reworking of the Poision hit "Every Rose Has Its Thorn"] and Jimmy Buffett to Lil Jon, Michael Anthony, Ace Frehley, all the Skynyrd guys, guys from .38 Special and Blackfoot and Rascal Flatts' Jay [DeMarcus]. These are friends and people I've played with, partied with, jammed with throughout the years."

A new rendition of Poison's "Nothin' But a Good Time" unites Frehley, Anthony and Lil Jon. "Ace Frehley is the real deal," says Michaels. "He laid down this amazing solo and then Michael Anthony came in, he did the backups, and I was like, 'Just play some Michael Anthony licks.' He did, and that's what made magic on the song."

While many of the featured artists are now friends of Michaels, they started off as his rock & roll heroes. That's most apparent on his rendition of "Sweet Home Alabama." "I did [it] with all the guys from Lynyrd Skynyrd, the guys from Blackfoot and .38 Special," he says. "That was amazing because probably my first foot in the door as a child was traditional country, then I got turned onto the Beatles and Stones. Then I immediately fell in love with Southern rock, which was kind of a perfect mixture of country and rock."

Michaels isn't done recruiting collaborators. He hopes to get Zakk Wylde to come in and redo "Go That Far," the theme from Rock of Love. And after checking out Cheap Trick in concert recently, he got another idea. "I'd like to get Rick Nielsen to come in to play on 'Talk Dirty to Me,'" he says. "I think that'd be great to have him come in and put his style on a song that I remade in an over-the-top, punk-metal fashion."

Though Michaels says, "This could be the never-ending record," he's focused on finishing the LP and can't help but get excited about the prospects of future collaborations. "If I was to do another one of these records, it's overwhelming the amount of possibilities," he says. "I've been onstage with Jimmy Page, he's come and played with Poison in Reno, Nevada, and it was an amazing night. And last year, I played with Toby Keith and partied with him. The list is endless."

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Bret Michaels Makes 'Magic' With Michael Anthony, Joe Perry on New LP

Bret Michaels and musicians C.C. DeVille, Rikki Rockett and Bobby Dall performs at the after party for the premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures' 'Rock Of Ages' at Hollywood and Highland in Los Angeles, California on June 8, 2012.

While gearing up to take Poison on tour with Def Leppard this summer, Bret Michaels found time to assemble an all-star cast of guests for his new LP, Bret Michaels and Friends: Get Your Rock On, due out in September.

"Every song on it is a collaboration with other musicians," says Michaels. "And it's such a diverse range of people, from Loretta Lynn and Joe Perry [who play on a reworking of the Poision hit "Every Rose Has Its Thorn"] and Jimmy Buffett to Lil Jon, Michael Anthony, Ace Frehley, all the Skynyrd guys, guys from .38 Special and Blackfoot and Rascal Flatts' Jay [DeMarcus]. These are friends and people I've played with, partied with, jammed with throughout the years."

A new rendition of Poison's "Nothin' But a Good Time" unites Frehley, Anthony and Lil Jon. "Ace Frehley is the real deal," says Michaels. "He laid down this amazing solo and then Michael Anthony came in, he did the backups, and I was like, 'Just play some Michael Anthony licks.' He did, and that's what made magic on the song."

While many of the featured artists are now friends of Michaels, they started off as his rock & roll heroes. That's most apparent on his rendition of "Sweet Home Alabama." "I did [it] with all the guys from Lynyrd Skynyrd, the guys from Blackfoot and .38 Special," he says. "That was amazing because probably my first foot in the door as a child was traditional country, then I got turned onto the Beatles and Stones. Then I immediately fell in love with Southern rock, which was kind of a perfect mixture of country and rock."

Michaels isn't done recruiting collaborators. He hopes to get Zakk Wylde to come in and redo "Go That Far," the theme from Rock of Love. And after checking out Cheap Trick in concert recently, he got another idea. "I'd like to get Rick Nielsen to come in to play on 'Talk Dirty to Me,'" he says. "I think that'd be great to have him come in and put his style on a song that I remade in an over-the-top, punk-metal fashion."

Though Michaels says, "This could be the never-ending record," he's focused on finishing the LP and can't help but get excited about the prospects of future collaborations. "If I was to do another one of these records, it's overwhelming the amount of possibilities," he says. "I've been onstage with Jimmy Page, he's come and played with Poison in Reno, Nevada, and it was an amazing night. And last year, I played with Toby Keith and partied with him. The list is endless."

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Earl Sweatshirt Makes Live Debut in NYC

Tyler, the Creator of Odd Future

Rapper Earl Sweatshirt made his live debut with his Odd Future cohorts at Wednesday night's sold out Hammerstein Ballroom concert in New York, confirming rumors that had been circulating in the days before. The concert marked his first public appearance since returning from a reform boarding school in Samoa, where he'd spent the last year disconnected from Odd Future's ascent.

"Y'all better act like y'all missed me," Earl shouted to the crowd before launching into "Orange Juice" and "AssMilk," fan-favorite collaborations with group founder Tyler, the Creator. The surprise performance came on the heels of Earl's appearance in the music video for Odd Future's latest single, "Oldie," as well as an interview with New York radio station Hot 97's Peter Rosenberg, his first since returning. "We waited so long for that shit," Tyler added from the stage. "You have no idea how awesome this is."

You can watch Sweatshirt perform a nine-minute rendition of the new track "Oldie" on stage at the Hammerstein Ballroom below.

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Bruce Springsteen Makes Surprise Appearance at Austin Music Awards

Bruce Springsteen at a surprise appearance in New Jersey.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.com

Bruce Springsteen opened his SXSW blitz a night early, making a surprise appearance on lead guitar and occasional vocals during Alejandro Escovedo's closing set at the 30th annual Austin Music Awards, at the Austin Music Hall on March 14th. "We need one more guitar player," Texas singer-songwriter Joe Ely declared after performing "The Highway Is My Home" with Escovedo and his band the Sensitive Boys. Springsteen – scheduled to own the town the next day, with a highly anticipated keynote speech and an evening concert with the E Street Band – walked on in a black-and-white checked shirt, with a modest grin, to a roar of delight from the audience. Ely immediately kicked into "The Midnight Train," a song by his Flatlanders bandmate Jimmie Dale Gilmore, with Springsteen taking a pair of meaty feedback-laden guitar solos.

Escovedo told a story about his own guest shot at a Springsteen gig, in Houston a couple of years ago, and "how it changed my life," before reprising the song the two played at that show, "Always a Friend," from Escovedo's 2010 album, Street Songs of Love. Ely, Escovedo and Springsteen then alternated verses and harmonized in the traditional pilgrim's song, "Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad," with Springsteen firing dirty-metal lead-guitar breaks.

Springsteen was about to leave the stage when Escovedo called, "One more!", and brought out one of his earlier guests, New York singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys, for a version of the Rolling Stones' "Beast of Burden." Jeffreys handled lead vocals, but Springsteen played tart fills, like a New Jersey-born Keith Richards, and took a howling turn in the song's signature litany: "Am I hard enough/Am I rough enough/Am I rich enough/I'm not to blind to see."

Reggae Meets Zeppelin
Springsteen was not the only superstar on the prowl. At a private party, under the stars at the Hotel St. Cecilia, reggae singer and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jimmy Cliff was introduced by ex-Led Zeppelin vocalist and current Austin resident Robert Plant. Before Cliff's set, the two reminisced in one of the hotel rooms about their first encounters in Britain, during one of Cliff's early tours there. Cliff's show was a magical, low-key affair: the singer on acoustic guitar, with a second guitarist and conga player, performing on a lawn, with bare-minimum lighting at their feet, as if they were seated at a fire in the Jamaican hills. Cliff, in undiminished voice, performed almost nothing but hits, including "The Harder They Come," "Many Rivers to Cross," Sitting in Limbo" and a repurposed version of his 1970 anti-war single "Vietnam," now titled "Afghanistan" with timely references to Syria, Libya, Israel and Iraq. Cliff also sang his opening track from the 1972 soundtrack, The Harder They Come, "You Can Get It If You Really Want," which could easily double as a new anthem for SXSW hopefuls. "You must try, try and try/Try and try," Cliff warned, before finishing the chorus with the good news: "You'll succeed at last."

The Doctor is In
Dr. John's current renaissance – fueled by his new album, Locked Down, produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys – hit another high with his March 14th set at La Zona Rosa, during which he previewed much of that record's heated sticky gumbo – including "Locked Down," "Revolution" and the Afro-beat of "Ice Age" – with his road band. Dr. John also played guitar, a rarity, and reached back into his catalog for "Loop Garoo," from 1970's Remedies, and the acid-era voodoo of "I Walk on Guilded Splinters" on 1968's Gris-Gris. He finished with Professor Longhair's "Big Chief," notably playing it on organ instead of piano. It was a typical New Orleans finish, rendered with fresh relish.

SXSW has another three evenings to run, with thousands of acts appearing at more than 90 venues. But the first big night belonged to the veterans and experts. 

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Bruce Springsteen Makes Surprise Appearance at Austin Music Awards

Bruce Springsteen at a surprise appearance in New Jersey.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.com

Bruce Springsteen opened his SXSW blitz a night early, making a surprise appearance on lead guitar and occasional vocals during Alejandro Escovedo's closing set at the 30th annual Austin Music Awards, at the Austin Music Hall on March 14th. "We need one more guitar player," Texas singer-songwriter Joe Ely declared after performing "The Highway Is My Home" with Escovedo and his band the Sensitive Boys. Springsteen – scheduled to own the town the next day, with a highly anticipated keynote speech and an evening concert with the E Street Band – walked on in a black-and-white checked shirt, with a modest grin, to a roar of delight from the audience. Ely immediately kicked into "The Midnight Train," a song by his Flatlanders bandmate Jimmie Dale Gilmore, with Springsteen taking a pair of meaty feedback-laden guitar solos.

Escovedo told a story about his own guest shot at a Springsteen gig, in Houston a couple of years ago, and "how it changed my life," before reprising the song the two played at that show, "Always a Friend," from Escovedo's 2010 album, Street Songs of Love. Ely, Escovedo and Springsteen then alternated verses and harmonized in the traditional pilgrim's song, "Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad," with Springsteen firing dirty-metal lead-guitar breaks.

Springsteen was about to leave the stage when Escovedo called, "One more!", and brought out one of his earlier guests, New York singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys, for a version of the Rolling Stones' "Beast of Burden." Jeffreys handled lead vocals, but Springsteen played tart fills, like a New Jersey-born Keith Richards, and took a howling turn in the song's signature litany: "Am I hard enough/Am I rough enough/Am I rich enough/I'm not to blind to see."

Reggae Meets Zeppelin
Springsteen was not the only superstar on the prowl. At a private party, under the stars at the Hotel St. Cecilia, reggae singer and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jimmy Cliff was introduced by ex-Led Zeppelin vocalist and current Austin resident Robert Plant. Before Cliff's set, the two reminisced in one of the hotel rooms about their first encounters in Britain, during one of Cliff's early tours there. Cliff's show was a magical, low-key affair: the singer on acoustic guitar, with a second guitarist and conga player, performing on a lawn, with bare-minimum lighting at their feet, as if they were seated at a fire in the Jamaican hills. Cliff, in undiminished voice, performed almost nothing but hits, including "The Harder They Come," "Many Rivers to Cross," Sitting in Limbo" and a repurposed version of his 1970 anti-war single "Vietnam," now titled "Afghanistan" with timely references to Syria, Libya, Israel and Iraq. Cliff also sang his opening track from the 1972 soundtrack, The Harder They Come, "You Can Get It If You Really Want," which could easily double as a new anthem for SXSW hopefuls. "You must try, try and try/Try and try," Cliff warned, before finishing the chorus with the good news: "You'll succeed at last."

The Doctor is In
Dr. John's current renaissance – fueled by his new album, Locked Down, produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys – hit another high with his March 14th set at La Zona Rosa, during which he previewed much of that record's heated sticky gumbo – including "Locked Down," "Revolution" and the Afro-beat of "Ice Age" – with his road band. Dr. John also played guitar, a rarity, and reached back into his catalog for "Loop Garoo," from 1970's Remedies, and the acid-era voodoo of "I Walk on Guilded Splinters" on 1968's Gris-Gris. He finished with Professor Longhair's "Big Chief," notably playing it on organ instead of piano. It was a typical New Orleans finish, rendered with fresh relish.

SXSW has another three evenings to run, with thousands of acts appearing at more than 90 venues. But the first big night belonged to the veterans and experts. 

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Exclusive Stream: Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo Makes His Solo Debut

Lee Ranaldo, 'Between the Times and the Tides'

Click to listen to Lee Ranaldo's album 'Between the Times and the Tides'

Lee Ranaldo has spent the past three decades building a body of work that includes his work as a member of Sonic Youth and a variety of experimental side projects, but Between the Times and the Tides marks the guitarist's first album as a solo singer-songwriter. "Over the summer I pulled out a bunch of my acoustic guitars and was just fooling around, and a whole bunch of songs just started generating, just kind of out of nowhere," Ranaldo told Rolling Stone last year. "What was refreshing about this was just to see all these songs sprout and actually kind of follow each other down this road and actually get completed."

Whereas Ranaldo has traditionally contributed only one or two songs per Sonic Youth record, Between gives him space to explore musical tangents that would not necessarily fit in with that band, such as the straight-up folk rock of the single "Off the Wall" or the spare acoustic ballad "Stranded." The album will be in stores on March 20th, but you can stream it in full today.

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Exclusive Stream: Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo Makes His Solo Debut

Lee Ranaldo, 'Between the Times and the Tides'

Click to listen to Lee Ranaldo's album 'Between the Times and the Tides'

Lee Ranaldo has spent the past three decades building a body of work that includes his work as a member of Sonic Youth and a variety of experimental side projects, but Between the Times and the Tides marks the guitarist's first album as a solo singer-songwriter. "Over the summer I pulled out a bunch of my acoustic guitars and was just fooling around, and a whole bunch of songs just started generating, just kind of out of nowhere," Ranaldo told Rolling Stone last year. "What was refreshing about this was just to see all these songs sprout and actually kind of follow each other down this road and actually get completed."

Whereas Ranaldo has traditionally contributed only one or two songs per Sonic Youth record, Between gives him space to explore musical tangents that would not necessarily fit in with that band, such as the straight-up folk rock of the single "Off the Wall" or the spare acoustic ballad "Stranded." The album will be in stores on March 20th, but you can stream it in full today.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Bruce Springsteen Makes a Surprise Appearance at New Jersey Fundraiser

Bruce Springsteen with Tony Amato from Boccigalupe and The Bad Boys in Asbury Park.

Bruce Springsteen took the stage at a small club in Asbury Park for a surprise appearance on Saturday night.

The Press Room was holding a fundraiser for the family of Springsteen's longtime personal trainer, Tony Strollo, who died earlier this month at the age of 40. When Strollo's brother, singer-songwriter Michael Strollo performed at the event, Springsteen played backup acoustic guitar behind him for several songs.

Springsteen then played a six-song set, including "Rosalita," "Soul Man," "634-5789," "Detroit Medley," "Hold On, I'm Coming" and "10th Avenue Freezeout." He was backed by event headliners Boccigalupe and the Bad Boys, a Jersey-based band that Springsteen has often played with. 

Reporting by Griffin Lotz

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Blue Ivy Makes Her First Public Appearance

Beyonce Knowles with baby Blue Ivy at Sant Ambroeus in New York City.

Blue Ivy Carter hit the town for lunch yesterday, bundled up tight against the cold February wind.

Us Weekly is reporting that Beyoncé and Jay-Z took their seven-week old daughter out for lunch at Sant Ambroeus in the West Village on Saturday. While the couple have been out a few times since Blue Ivy's birth on January 7th – they were spotted at the Knicks game on Monday – this was the baby's first public appearance.

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Bruce Springsteen Makes a Surprise Appearance at New Jersey Fundraiser

Bruce Springsteen with Tony Amato from Boccigalupe and The Bad Boys in Asbury Park.

Bruce Springsteen took the stage at a small club in Asbury Park for a surprise appearance on Saturday night.

The Press Room was holding a fundraiser for the family of Springsteen's longtime personal trainer, Tony Strollo, who died earlier this month at the age of 40. When Strollo's brother, singer-songwriter Michael Strollo performed at the event, Springsteen played backup acoustic guitar behind him for several songs.

Springsteen then played a six-song set, including "Rosalita," "Soul Man," "634-5789," "Detroit Medley," "Hold On, I'm Coming" and "10th Avenue Freezeout." He was backed by event headliners Boccigalupe and the Bad Boys, a Jersey-based band that Springsteen has often played with. 

Reporting by Griffin Lotz

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Blue Ivy Makes Her First Public Appearance

Beyonce Knowles with baby Blue Ivy at Sant Ambroeus in New York City.

Blue Ivy Carter hit the town for lunch yesterday, bundled up tight against the cold February wind.

Us Weekly is reporting that Beyoncé and Jay-Z took their seven-week old daughter out for lunch at Sant Ambroeus in the West Village on Saturday. While the couple have been out a few times since Blue Ivy's birth on January 7th – they were spotted at the Knicks game on Monday – this was the baby's first public appearance.

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Spike Lee Makes Musical Discovery for 'Red Hook Summer'

Click to listen to Judith Hill's 'Desperation'

Last August, just five months shy of the world premiere of his latest film, Red Hook Summer, Spike Lee belatedly discovered its musical centerpiece. While attending a Michael Jackson tribute concert at Los Angeles' W Hotel, the acclaimed director was stunned by a performance from Judith Hill, a young, unsigned artist who had been slated as a backup singer for the late pop star's This Is It world tour. After Jackson's death, Hill made waves with her stirring rendition of "Heal The World" at the singer's 2009 memorial service.

Lee was quick to approach Hill backstage after the show. "If you've got any music to submit, I've got this movie coming up," Hill recalls the director telling her. Says Lee of the classically trained musician he cast as the signature artist in his new film, "She's a phenomenal talent. She can sing with the best of them."

Ten of Hill's songs, mostly soulful ballads, are featured in Red Hook Summer, one of several music-centric films premiering this weekend at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.  The film, which Lee is calling the fifth installment in his "ongoing chronicle of Brooklyn," is spiritual: It tells the story of Filk, a young Atlanta boy whose mother leaves him for the summer with his God-fearing preacher grandfather in Brooklyn's Red Hook housing project. Lee felt it essential that the songs he chose for the film, as well as its score, live up to its heavenly aura.

To that end, he enlisted longtime friend and collaborator Bruce Hornsby, who'd previously scored the director's 2009 ESPN documentary Kobe Doin' Work, to create "very stark" background instrumentals. "There's no strings, no orchestration," Hornsby tells Rolling Stone, describing his scoring for the film. "No dressing up. It's just very bare-bones piano."

Hornsby and Lee met twenty years ago through jazz great Branford Marsalis; Hornsby's music is featured in Lee's 1995 film Clockers and 2000's Bamboozled. The pianist, most famous for his 1986 single "The Way It Is," has otherwise turned down several opportunities to score films over his career. "I've been really selective about who I've worked with in every area of music," he says. "But I know I would always do it for [Spike]."

Much of the anticipation surrounding Red Hook Summer stems from how little about the film is actually known. Until the director sent out a cryptic tweet on the first day of shooting last summer, he'd kept an airtight lid on any news surrounding the production. "That was done on purpose!" Lee says now, with a menacing cackle. And how did he keep things so quiet amid today's know-it-all blogosphere? "We've got baseball bats," he deadpans, before specifying: "Willie Mays and Hank Aaron Louisville Slugger bats."

One nugget that did cause chatter, however, was Lee's confirmation that Mookie, the Sal's Famous pizza delivery boy who first appeared in his 1989 classic Do The Right Thing, would be making a reappearance in Red Hook Summer. But the director is quick to downplay the character's role in the film, noting that many of his previous Brooklyn-based films have used recurring characters. "When the pizzas were delivered to the hostages in Inside Man, it was from Sal's Famous Pizza," Lee says. "The two cops who murdered Ray Raheim in Do The Right Thing, they reappear in Jungle Fever, and they also reappear in Clockers. These [films] evolve and keep on going and interact."

When Red Hook Summer premieres this weekend at Sundance, Lee is making sure all of its key musical players are on hand to celebrate. He's flying out Hill and her band to play at an after-party, and Hornsby will also be in attendance. Lee is hoping they'll get the opportunity to jam together. "I've been rehearsing my band," Hill says excitedly. "We're getting ready for it."

Sundance, says Lee, "is gonna be the place to be. We have a party at night and then after that we just party with the DJs till four in the morning."

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