HOT: Fox News Says Kiss Off
KISS bassist Gene Simmons recently caused a ruckus while visiting Fox News (he was also to appear on the Fox Business Network). While at Fox HQ, Simmons reportedly defended and joked about Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual assaults, while also ripping his shirt open and yelling, “Hey chicks, sue me” after barging in on a staff meeting. The network banned him for life as a result. Simmons later offered a weak apology (he’s sorry if he “unintentionally offended” anyone) but said reports of his behavior were “highly exaggerated and misleading,” which rings about as authentic as President Trump bragging about how deeply humble he is. What’s the greater badge of honor — getting banned from Fox News, or banning one of Rock & Roll’s most detestable figures?
WARM: Rockin’ Space
Forty years ago, NASA launched a pair of gold-plated phonographic records full of spoken messages and an array of earthly music into deep space (the “Voyager Golden Record” was recently issued as a box set). Those crafts — currently billions of miles from Earth — are getting some help in their efforts to communicate to extraterrestrials what life on Earth is/was like. In honor of its 25th anniversary, Spain's Sónar Electronic music and technology festival sent a radio transmission with curated clips of music by artists like Modeselektor and Jean-Michel Jarre to an “exoplanet” with a climate believed to be conducive to life. A second transmission is slated for April.
COLD: Dumb Patriot
In an attempt to capitalize on the misguided backlash against NFL players expressing their opinion by not standing for the national anthem, a Country music “star” released a ridiculous song that was instnatly met with widespread ridicule. As many pointed out, Neal McCoy’s “Take a Knee, My Ass” is hilariously titled (unintentionally), seeming to suggest it’s a song about anal knee sex (which is fine — don’t kink-shame). Someone must’ve pointed that out to McCoy, but instead of re-titling the track, a clunky parenthetical — “(I Won’t Take a Knee)” — was deemed sufficient. It seemed impossible that someone would one day put out a song so panderingly patriotic, it makes Toby Keith’s post-9/11 “Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (The Angry American)” come off like the 21st century’s “This Land is Your Land,” but here we are.
