Burgernoodle

Although the outcome of the Superbowl didn’t agree with me (at all), the musical performances were decent enough and luckily for Fox, wardrobe malfunction-free.  Tom Petty is as controversial as a piece of toast so he was a safe and family-friendly choice for the halftime show, performing his biggest hits which 3 generations of football fans could sing along to. A nervous-looking 2007 American Idol winner Jordin Sparks did a great job with the National Anthem, and I was just relieved she wasn’t performing that wretched single of hers, “Tattoo.”  A slightly-out of practice Paula Abdul performed her first new single in over a decade.  There really isn’t much to say about it - it wasn’t brilliant by any means - but it was certainly a thousand times better than Britney’s “comeback” performance at the VMAs last year.  It was sort of like watching an elderly person finish a running race - kind of heartwarming and you’re just proud of them for giving it a go.  Paula’s forever our girl! (Or middle-aged pop icon.)  The ever-talented (if not sometimes a little bit boring) Alicia Keys banged out a solid medley of hits during the pregame show.  And if you didn’t see Ryan Seacrest introduce her on the red carpet and do his own little rendition of “No One” You-Tube it now.

That’s all there is to say about that.  Check out what could have been if Tom Petty had performed with Justin Timberlake.  Bah!  Good stuff.

Big shocker here. After talks with her management and tour bosses in London, Amy Winehouse decided she just can’t continue touring without her husband, Blake, who is currently in jail awaiting trial for whatever crazy thing he did. I still think he’s hiding in her beehive and this is just an excuse to leave the tour before she looses what few fans she has left.  People have been walking out of her concerts halfway through, utterly fed up with her stumbling, slurring, poor performances.  Winehouse claims she’s a mess and can’t perform well without her jailbird husband, and I’m pretty positive ”husband” is a code word for crack cocaine and heroin.

So I can sort of understand why Backstreet and Bo Bice fans berated burgernoodle on previous posts, but I dare you Amy Winehouse fans, I just dare you.

Everyone loves mash-ups, even Eddie Vedder.  He performed one of his own this year at Lollapalooza 2007 when he rocked “Daughter” right into Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall”.  Not everyone, however, likes anti-Bush setiments, especially corporations like AT&T.  During the telephone titan’s webcast of the concert, portions of the performance were mysteriously cut out…right when Eddie sings “George Bush, leave this world alone/George Bush, find another home”.  In a statement made by At&T, they said that what happened on the webcast was a “mistake”, against their policy, and that “AT&T does not censor performances.”  And if anyone believes that, I’m quite certain they also believe that there’s an extremely rich lady who lives in the sky and collects human teeth as a hobby.  However, it’s understandable why Pearl Jam fans and Bush-haters (who together probably make up 92% of the population) are upset about this.  It’s rock music’s job to challenge the status quo, question the nature of oppressive administrations, and empower younger generations.  Rock stars do not sing about fluffy kittens (although if Jimmy Page had written it, there would definitely be less feral cats running around).  Anyway, the lesson here is that AT&T should grow a pair, Pearl Jam should say something worse next time, and fans need to keep circulating this stuff on the internet.  Here it is, the song that AT&T censored.

If you live in a major metropolitan area, chances are this incredible Canadian arena rock band is probably coming to an amphitheater near you this summer (although, they’re also heading to Maryland Heights, MO and Bonner Springs, KS).  So it would behoove you to (ahem) rush to ticketmaster right now and get yourself a couple of decent seats.  Rush will be rocking North American cities through September before they head off to continue their tour in Europe.  The tour promotes their latest release, Snakes and Arrows, one of the first albums released in MVI format (Music Video Interactive).  You can play this stuff on DVD players, computers, video game consoles.  What does that really mean, exactly?  Who knows,  just do a little research on Wikipedia.  And don’t make any excuses about not having any time for said research, because unless you work on the floor of Nordstrom Rack, you have time.  Back to Rush, check out their summer tour and get more news updates on the band’s official site, http://www.rush.com/. 

Tickets to the Treasure Island Music Festival, a music extravaganza smack dab in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, went on sale yesterday.  Skip to it and order them now before the scalpers of the world shamelessly buy out both days and resell them for 3 x the ticket price.  Saturday will feature dance and electronica, or what know-it-alls like to call trip-hop, and Sunday will be reserved for brooding indie-rocker acts.  Your trippy dippy Saturday could lead to a cool Sunday of sipping on Pabst Blue Ribbon, followed by a potential “sick day” on Monday.  Headlining bands include Theivery Corporation, Gotan Project, and DJ Shadow (Saturday)…and Modest Mouse, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Built To Spill, and M. Ward (Sunday).  There’s a little something for everyone, cause we’re all about diversity here in the Bay Area.  Show is September 15th & 16th, and tickets are $58/day or $110 for both.