The past few months have been especially kind to those of us who’ve been holding out hope that our favorite brilliant-but-canceled TV series will find their way to the big screen. By all accounts, the Party Down movie is in the works, and an Arrested Development movie is likely to follow the sitcom’s Netflix revival. And now, to the delight of (probably) the same people who love those shows, Splitsider alerts us that the Flight of the Conchords film has moved beyond the idle-chatter stage. In fact, Rhys Darby — better known as Conchords manager/ New Zealand diplomat Murray — recently said that he and the show’s principals, Bret McKenzie and Jermaine Clement “have connected recently. We’ve talked. And the boys do want to make one. So it’s just a matter of finding time. And I think next year pen will hit paper.” Well, now. That sounds promising.
We recently stumbled across an impressive trove of rock ‘n’ roll portraits by Ontario artist Laurie Masters over at Behance Network. Masters is apparently entirely self-taught and creates her portraits of celebrities from photographs – she was originally a musician, and as such it’s perhaps no surprise that her work focuses largely on musicians (PJ Harvey, M.I.A., the Arcade Fire), although her subject matter also encompasses a variety of other artists and actors. Endearingly, she also creates dolls of her subjects, some of which can be seen at her website (apparently Flight of the Conchords were particularly impressed by their stuffed likenesses). We’re not necessarily always fans of the whole painting-directly-from-photos idea, but Masters’ rock ‘n’ roll portraits are an interesting and ongoing project. We’ve collected some of our favorites after the jump.
Earlier this week the announcement that Vampire Weekend, Beach House, and Dum Dum Girls would all be performing together this summer at Merriweather Post Pavilion (among other venues) may have gotten us a little bit too excited. The combination of these three massive indie bands all playing on the iconic stage that legends from Jimi Hendrix to Janis Joplin have graced (and that Animal Collective, of course, named their critically-acclaimed album after) has convinced us that this may just be the most “epic” concert of the summer. And that got us thinking: Could we come up with a concert that was even more epic in scope?
Now that they’ve subjected the world to some eye-blinding cover art, put out a cheesy promotional infomercial, and preemptively apologized for the song “Flash Delirium,” all that’s left for MGMT’s newest album Congratulations is the actual music (which is now streaming here). Amidst the oblique psychedelic meandering of their latest, the guys in MGMT felt compelled to saddle a pair of songs with some extra musical baggage: “Brian Eno” and “Song for Dan Treacy.”
In honor of MGMT bestowing their blessing on these two artists, we’ve compiled a list of songs about musicians/bands (the recent death of Alex Chilton is another unfortunate reason to examine this niche). After the jump, check out our choices, accompanied by some defining lyrics and ranging from self-referential jokiness to teary-eyed homages to a seriously pissed off Jay-Z. As always, let us know which songs we’ve left off.
1. Kings of Leon will collaborate on a collection of down home jackets, jeans, shirts and accessories with French designers Surface To Air next month in Denmark. [via Xfm]
2. The co-hosts of the 82nd Academy Awards will be Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin; Martin previously hosted in 2001. [via Awards Daily]
3. James Franco will follow up his current gig on General Hospital with a guest appearance on 30 Rock. He’ll be playing Jenna’s love interest. [via EW]
4. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx (The Shipping News, “Brokeback Mountain”) is donating her diaries and manuscripts to the New York Public Library. [via BBC]
5. Flight of the Conchords may not be coming back for a third season because “it requires so much work.” [via Reuters]
Exciting news: Your latest Flavorpill Mixtape has arrived. Your ears are salivating. Your fingers are ready to click ctrl + left click and “save as.” Ten essential downloads from this past week in music after the jump — all free for the taking! Take a listen, and then leave us a comment with what you think. Read More »
1. Honest to blog: Diablo Cody is in talks to adapt the Sweet Valley High books. [via Heat Vision]
2. J.J. Abrams is executive producing a new “comedic medical show” for FOX. [via THR]
3. Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake will star as Mark Zuckerberg and Sean Parker in David Fincher’s Facebook movie. [via Variety]
4. Three unnamed songs from Flight of the Conchords will appear in an upcoming version of Rock Band. We think… [via NME]
5. After a $12.5 million renovation, you can see two Art Deco murals on the lobby ceiling of the Empire State Building; they’ve been hidden since the ’60s. [via NYT]
Stop laughing at New Zealand’s music scene! Yes, yes, we know you watch Flight of the Conchords every Sunday on HBO. And yes they are cute and funny (and might have a movie in the works?!), but if you want to really know what’s happening musically in the Land of New Zea you have to check in with Midnight Youth.
While they’ve opened for OK Go and Incubus in the past, this is the band’s first attempt at breaking through as headliners in the States (they recently signed to Warner Bros.) Fresh off their sold out shows at LA’s Viper Room and then SXSW, Midnight Youth’s in New York tonight for an engagement at Joe’s Pub. This pop-powerhouse quintet are sure to make you stop, drop and bop along to their ridiculously infectious anthems like “The Letter” (which incidentally was number 1 on the New Zealand charts for 10 weeks straight).
This month, comedian extraordinaire Eugene Mirman released his first book, The Will to Whatevs. Featuring chapters such as “The Fifty N’s of Nightlife” and “The Heart, the Penis, and Mrs. Vagina,” it provides an abbreviated guide to just about every aspect of modern life. Of course, it’s the kind of guide you’d need a severe head injury to actually follow, but as with most things in Mirman’s world, that’s pretty much the point. This year, he returns to his supporting role on HBO’s Flight of the Conchords, as well as joining the cast of Adult Swim’s new show Delocated. He’s also set to release his third live comedy album, and has some big-screen plans in the works. This week, he hits the tail end of his current book-release tour, after which he’s staying out on the road with John Wesley Harding for the duo’s Cabinet of Wonders.
After the jump, we catch up with Mirman amid all the chaos to see how he’s holding up, learn more about his All-Night Think Tank Party League, and discover his plan to reinvent the audiobook.
