[HOT]
Class of 2012: Truancy Runs Rampant!
Should Cleveland be offended that almost every major act being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last weekend had at least one no show? The Ohio city is supposed to get the induction ceremony every three years now, but given how many honorees played hooky this year, should the Rock Hall be thinking of, say, taking their talents to South Beach? Probably not. Everyone had valid excuses — Faces’ Rod Stewart and Beastie Boy Adam Yauch called in sick (and I’m certain can produce doctors’ notes, if required), longtime Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante was just weirded out by it all, Laura Nyro is deceased and Axl Rose is an asshole.
[WARM]
Lassoing the Moon
This week in “Doh!” news, the Sunday Times reported that the organizers of the London Olympics approached The Who’s management about having drummer Keith Moon play at an event at the Olympics’ closing ceremonies this summer. The manager said he told the Olympics, “If they have a round table, some glasses and candles, we might contact him” (he’s been dead for almost 35 years, you see). The Olympics’ party planners — who also asked The Sex Pistols if they wanted to be part of a revue-style show number (they declined) — became an international laughing stock. Or maybe they’re on the cutting edge, knew Moon was dead and were just checking in on the availability of a hologram Keith …
[COLD]
Hologram Tupac, Y’all!
Most of the outlets that reported the news that Nate Dogg was going to perform at Coachella with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg — in, of course, hologram form — handled it with a careful eye for journalistic integrity. Which, today, means they put a question mark at the end of some hard-to-believe statement that can’t be confirmed (like, “Obama To Make Islam National Religion?”). So … “Nate Dogg Appears as Holograph at Coachella?” Nope, it was a hologram Tupac Shakur who joined the Hip Hop legends onstage (some outlets did correctly pre-report the phantom ’Pac’s appearance). Upon hearing the news, Slash said, “You mean we could have just had a hologram Axl?!”