[HOT]
This Charmless Man
Since you woke up this morning, 500 bands reunited. But one group that has yet to re-team is, notoriously, The Smiths, the influential British Proto-Indie band featuring a braintrust (guitarist Johnny Marr and singer Morrissey) that would prefer a weeklong root canal to performing on stage together again. But Marr gave Smiths fans a smidgen of hope when, at the NME Awards recently, he said he would reform The Smiths — if British Prime Minister David Cameron resigned immediately. It’s unlikely the PM will abide, but maybe it will re-bond the Marr/Morrissey partnership. The pair came together (in spirit) over their mutual hatred for Cameron before. In 2010, Morrissey praised Marr for tweeting at Cameron, “Stop saying that you like The Smiths … you don’t.”
[WARM]
2Pac: The Musical! For Real!
Piano man Billy Joel and Gangsta Rap icon Tupac Shakur finally have something in common. No, Joel hasn’t gotten a big “Thug Life” tattoo inked across his ample abdominal area. Instead, Shakur’s music is being used — Movin’ Out-style — as the basis for a planned Broadway musical from Tony nominee Kenny Leon. To be titled Holler If Ya Hear Me, Playbill reports that casting begins this week and TMZ reported that Shakur’s notoriously protective mother has given the project her blessing. If it sounds to you like a sketch come to life, you’re not too far off — the comedy haven Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre has hosted stagings of the parody Saturday Night Live2Pac: The Musical! since 2009 (sample tagline: “Like Mamma Mia but with more rapping”).
[COLD]
Hump’s Day?
Since 1956, the Eurovision Song Contest — a sort of continent-wide version of American Idol — has been won by the United Kingdom’s entry five times. In recent years, winners included Finnish Death Metal bands and Azerbaijani Pop duos, but it has been 15 years since the U.K.’s last victory. So they’re pulling out the big guns this year. Or, rather, the Big Hump. Representing the U.K. is 75-year-old schmaltzy Pop singer Engelbert Humperdinck. When they stopped laughing, much of the country was aghast, with The Telegraph noting that, while The Hump has sold 150 million albums, “it is impossible to find anyone who owns one.”
