Coming Attractions: Weezer

This just in from Billboard:

Having completed its promotional obligations in support of its 2005 Geffen album, "Make Believe," Weezer has begun a hiatus of undetermined length. As previously reported, frontman Rivers Cuomo will return to Harvard in February, with plans to graduate in June with a degree in English. In early 2005, he resumed his studies at the university after an eight-year break.

To tide fans over, Geffen will release an as-yet-untitled live Weezer DVD sometime this year. Footage was captured last month during a trek through Japan. According to Weezer's official Web site, the project will center on a seven-camera concert shoot and will also feature behind-the-scenes footage.

Warning: This Coldplay CD may not work...

... and there's nothing you can do about it. This link'll take you to a picture of the insert new Coldplay. Worthy of note is that...

"This CD cannot be burnt onto a CD-R or hard disk, nor can it be converted into MP3 for file sharing."

It goes on to list a whole lot of ways that the CD might not work like in car stereos, portable CD players, DVD players, game players and basically anything other than a traditional CD player which is where I listen to about... uh... 10% of my music. And then there's this...

"Except for manufacturing problems, we do not accept product exchange, return or refund."

Fair enough. Oh, did I mention that the insert is inside the CD so you won't know any of this until after you've bought and opened it...

But wait. Don't despair Coldplay fans. It's all for you.

"In order for you to enjoy high quality music, we have added this special technology."

Nice touch. Very fan-friendly, Chris... Thanks!

The punchline for all this effort to keep you from actually listening to their music? If you do this, none of it works...

Coming Attractions: Keane

Looks like we can expect a new Keane CD by May...

The follow-up to 2004's Hopes And Fears is still untitled, but the group's fan site has come up with a list of songs likely to appear on the album, which was recorded between April and December in studios in Rye, England and New York by producer Andy Green, who also oversaw the band's debut album. The site published a studio photo that included a track listing.

The album is being mixed this month and the January issue of Q magazine reveals a few details about some of the songs. "Is It Any Wonder?" has a "Jimi Hendrix-style riff," "Atlantic" addresses newly married pianist Tim Rice-Oxley's fears about his relationship, "Put It Behind You" examines the bad break-up of drummer Richard Hughes and his girlfriend, and "Crystal Ball" deals with the strain that success can put on friendship.

Here's a provisional list of song titles from the forthcoming Keane album:

"Nothing In Your Way"
"Hamburg Song"
"Thin Air"
"Is It Any Wonder?"
"Try Again"
"Let It Slide"
"Put It Behind You"
"The Frog Prince"
"Crystal Ball"
"The Night Sky"
"Atlantic"
"Bad Dream"
"Broken Toy"

Tomorrow's Predictions Today

This Modern World's Tom Tomorrow lists his predictions for 2006. #8 is a sure bet...

TOP 10 PREDICTIONS FOR 2006

1. Bad things will happen in the world.
2. Good things will also happen.
3. Conservative bloggers will blame liberals for the former.
4. Conservative bloggers will take credit for the latter.
5. Winter will be followed by spring.
6. Bill O’Reilly will act like an egomaniacal buffoon.
7. Spring will be followed by summer.
8. New revelations will prove the Bushies to be even more corrupt and incompetent than we already thought, and we already thought they were pretty darned corrupt and incompetent.
9. Americans will be afraid of something.
10. George W. Bush will pull off his human flesh-mask on live tv, revealing his true identity as the ancient and monstrous entity, Cthulhu.

Blowing off the dust...

Ok, did everyone survive the holidays? Mine were quite hectic (as demonstrated by the lack of blogging) as I travelled large chunks of the country from New Mexico to Indiana with many stops in between. In many respects, it was the best holiday season ever and I can thank my lovely fiancee for that! But I think we both could have done without the flu/food poisioning...

Anyway, if there are any regular readers still out there, welcome back and Happy New Year!