HOT: Add Outkast to Stone Mountain
With the successful efforts to have the Confederate flag removed from South Carolina’s State House grounds recently, some have been looking at the appropriateness of other Confederate landmarks in the South. For Stone Mountain near Atlanta, where a large etching of Confederate leaders Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson on horseback stands 400 feet tall, petitioners have a clever solution. Rather than having the etching removed, a petition has been circulating requesting that an image of Big Boi and André 3000 of Hip Hop duo Outkast riding in a Cadillac be added to the monument. Organizers are looking to collect 15,000 signatures on its moveon.org petition before delivering it to officials.
WARM: ‘The Times’ Goes Too Far
When legendary cult rocker Nick Cave’s 15-year-old son died recently after falling down a cliff, U.K. newspaper The Times decided to write an article putting the tragic incident into gruesome context. The article used quotes from a recent interview where Cave said a parent should “stand back” and let their children feel fear. The story also talked about how Cave watched violent films with his sons and was “known as the Prince of Darkness because of his obsession with death and violence.” After harsh criticism over the sensationalist article, it was ultimately removed from the paper’s website, which admitted it was “inappropriate.”
COLD: The Pop Star That Doesn’t Exist
Some Pop music today sounds like it could just be repackaged from 2001 wholesale. In the case of Lucia Cole’s music, that’s exactly what it is. NPR and a number of music blogs recently reported about Cole, an alleged singer allegedly signed to Universal/Republic whose alleged album Innocence was posted to iTunes in late May. But online investigators quickly discovered that the songs on the album were simply tracks taken from a 2001 Jessica Simpson album and given slightly different names. The label confirmed that it had no artist of that name on its roster and her music’s presence has gradually disappeared as the hoax became more widely reported. If it was a scam to make some quick money, it failed — NPR looked up sales reports and found that no Lucia Cole song sold more than five copies.
