[HOT]
Kanye Falls Into The Gap
Kanye West is a weird (if incredibly talented) fella. Not Michael-Jackson-weird, but strange nonetheless. So it wasn’t a monumental shock to read that the rapper has picked up a little side gig — at chintzy clothing company The Gap. West apparently isn’t folding khakis and asking customers if they need help — he’s reportedly doing an internship at the company’s New York offices, according to US Weekly. He reportedly is trying to learn more about the fashion industry, undoubtedly getting ready to expand his clothing line. Or maybe he’s just being smart and working on a back-up plan once the music industry collapses on itself completely. Still, if you’re in the mall in a few years and see some dude with white sunglasses ranting about how “George Bush doesn’t like V-neck sweater vests,” you’ll know who it is.
[WARM]
Phone Numbers in the News
“Kiss Me Thru the Phone,” Soulja Boy’s recent single, included a phone number that fans could call and leave messages for the rapper. But Mr. Boy’s people must not have done much research when they released the song overseas last month. In the UK, if you call the number, you get the home of Gerry Matley and his wife Catriona Howard Smith. The couple says they’ve been receiving calls about 60 times a day, but, miraculously, they seem good-humored about it. “What are the chances of our phone number appearing in a U.S. rap song?” Matley said during an interview with the BBC. “Probably as likely as winning the lottery, but without the money.” Meanwhile, a new ’80s-themed fitness center chain has acquired the rights to the number “867-5309,” the title of ’80s Pop star Tommy Tutone’s sole hit. An’80s-themed fitness center chain? We’re guessing that means lots of leg warmers and mounds of cocaine in the bathrooms.
[COLD]
Cohen: “Leave My Song Alone!”
Since Jeff Buckley covered the song “Hallelujah” in 1994, the song has been used on tons of movie and TV soundtracks, rivaling soundtrack faves “I Feel Good” and “I’m Too Sexy” in over-use and generally making people sick to death of the tune. Seems even the song’s creator, Leonard Cohen (despite lots of royalty money), is sick of it. In an interview with U.K.’s The Guardian, Cohen asked that artists give the song a rest. “I think it’s a good song, but too many people sing it,” he said. He did feel some pride in having the song become so huge, because, he said, the album it was on originally was deemed not good enough to release by Sony.
