3.19.2003

 
U2

Last night at dinner, Phil (on the left) and I had a great music-geek conversation. We exchanged lists of each other's favorite U2 songs. I was recently talking about U2 with B, in a similar music-geek conversation about "favorite guitarists." I think one thing about the Edge: he created one of the few distinctive sounds in rock guitar. Who sounds like him? (On a related note, Phil made a case for the Police, a band to which I've never been drawn, that no one ever sounded like them, either.)

Anyway, I've never been a blanket love-everything U2 fan -- I think Unforgettable Fire is a bore, I find Zooropa unforgivable, and I've never been that into any of the early stuff. But when they're good, they're very, very, very good.

My favorite U2 songs:

1. The Sweetest Thing
2. One Tree Hill
3. Bad
4. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
5. Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Out Of
6. Mysterious Ways
7. Hallelujah Here She Comes
8. Red Hill Mining Town
9. Where the Streets Have No Name
10. Angel of Harlem (true!)



posted by Anon. 9:51 AM

3.17.2003

 
Chick flicks

Not exactly the flag-carriers of radical leftism, the Dixie Chicks are managing to attract every stupid, idiotic censorship-favoring nitwit around the country to boycott them, after lead singer Natalie Maines sounded off about this war towards which we seem to inevitably be heading. Maines' full quote -- to a London audience last Monday -- was, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."

Maines apologized for her statements, avowing complete respect for President Bush, thus managing to alienate the half of America that supported her original statements. Even so, I despise the boycotters -- the heirs, literally and figuratively, of the guys who burned Beatles records when John said that they were bigger than Christ.

posted by Anon. 5:55 PM

 
More Phil

Weird reports coming up regarding Phil Spector. First, there's this report:

PHIL SPECTOR APPARENTLY CLEARED IN MURDER CHARGE

According to published reports, sources in the L.A. Sheriff's office have cleared Phil Spector in the shooting death of B-movie star Lana Clarkson. Instead, police believe Clarkson, who died of a bullet wound to the head, accidentally shot herself.

Although the police have dropped the murder charge against Spector, he won't be offically cleared until the police receive the toxicology reports for both Spector and Clarkson, and complete a review of the physical evidence taken from Spector's LA mansion. As a result, the process could take several months.

Then, this report comes up.

POLICE SAY SPECTOR NOT CLEARED, AFFIRM DEATH WAS A CRIME


In a case that's becoming as strange as his life, Phil Spector has not been cleared in the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson, with police affirming that Clarkson's shooting was a crime.

According to an AP report, Los Angeles Sheriff's Capt. Frank Merriman disputed news reports that said Spector would soon be cleared. "No one involved in this investigation said that," Merriman said. "My opinion is that somebody is orchestrating this to plant seeds of doubt with potential jurors."

In emails sent to friends, Spector intimated that he would soon be cleared of murder charges, calling Clarkson's death an "accidental suicide."

Spector, who is currently out on bail, is being represented by attorney Robert Shapiro of O.J. fame.

This story keeps getting stranger and stranger. Sure, it's no "Peter Buck and the Crockery on the Transatlantic Flight," but what is?




posted by Anon. 5:50 PM