Podcast! Best facial hair of 1984 (or horrible hits from Michael McDonald, James Ingram, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson & more)

When I look back on my 39 years, wondering how I got from there to here, I'm pretty sure I can pinpoint the moment that decided everything: taking Holy Communion to the groovin' sounds of Yah Mo B There. It wasn't that my Sunday School (aka CCD) was overly progressive --although it was held in Westford Academy, the high school in my Massachusetts hometown. Instead, I think those crazy Catholics were more concerned with keeping 800 fidgety preteens entertained. So as Father Cronin & Co. dished out the body of Christ, the sound system in the school's gym cranked out that infamous duet from Michael McDonald and James Ingram. (Also in the Sunday rotation: Bette Midler's The Rose.) There we were, mouths open for the wafer, butts wagging to the sexy Yah Mo beat. It explains everything.

So it's with guilty heart that I present this week's Stuck in the '80s podcast: Horrible Hits of 1984. Alas, McDonald & Ingram make the list. You'll also get some Michael Jackson, and I feel crummy about that, too. All that said, this is a wild, madcap 'cast. Let me know what you think. ENJOY THE SHOW!

  

Summer Reading: Mold-A-Rama!

Hey kids, it's Sean. Good to be back. What have I missed? Much love to Stephanie "Aggressanie" Hayes for Pop Life pinch-hitting and overall derring-do. She's swell that one.

Since we're in the poolside heart of summertime fun, let's kick off my return with a story dear to my populist heart: the Mold-A-Rama epic. Print it out and take it on vacation, preferably a turista trek through the kitschy wilds of FLA. It's a sprawling tale of roadside magic, $2 time-travel and genuine waxy goodness. It also smells fantastic. HERE'S THE STORY! HAVE FUN!

How cool is that snapshot by Daniel Wallace?

Stephsong of the day: I'M ON A BOAT!

It's Friday! WOO! That means you're all thinking about what drink to order tonight, what boob to watch on the tube, what portion of the blueberry pie you will methodically eat while standing in the doorway to the fridge. Anything goes, baby! TGIF!

To celebrate this most glorious of days, I'm helping you escape a wee bit early to the deep blue beyond. Here's an SNL digital short from the Lonely Island (a.k.a Andy Samberg's crew.) It features my future husband, T-Pain. It's about sailing on a boat, and how f*#&ing sweet that is. I must have watched it 87 times over the past few months. It's obscene, it's hilarious, it's perfect for Friday. Kick off your flippy floppies and enjoy! This boat is real!

-- Stephanie Hayes, your guest blogger on a boat

The Lonely Island |MTV Music

The Pregnant Fish Playlist

So, I have this fish, see.

Her name is Phyllis. She's a red wag platy, and she's freaking HUGE. She's been huge for about a month now, and she's carrying most of her weight in the belly, if you knowhaimsaying. My boyfriend (who, OK, actually is the only one who takes care of the fish in our house) and I keep waiting for her to explode with a million baby platies, but she just keeps swimming around snatching flakes out of the hungry maws of her tankmates.

Her baby daddy, also a red wag platy who is half her size, follows her around EVERYWHERE. She's probably all like, "DUDE, I just need some SPACE, ya heard? Go watch the algae eater work on that rock or something. Help him with his home improvement project. Have a beer. ANYTHING. Out. Of. My. Grill."

I'm very nervous every time I look at her, mainly because I don't know the first thing about caring for other living beings, and I'm totally scared to see what happens when she drops her litter and then EATS THEM. Also, I'm starting to suspect that this terribly long gestation period may mean she's actually just binging on the barbecue chips, not carrying a million progeny. Oh geez. Pets are exhausting (she says as she NEVER feeds them).

Help Phyllis break her water (not that she'd know) with the Pregnant Fish Playlist. Lets hear your suggestions!

Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses
All That She Wants - Ace of Base
You're Having My Baby - Paul Anka
Alive and Kicking - Simple Minds
There Goes My Life - Kenny Chesney
Eat For Two - 10000 Maniacs
Baby Mama - Fantasia

-- Stephanie Hayes, your guest blogger/fish grandma

Stephsong of the day: Paparazzi, Lady Gaga

It's no secret that I'm a raging Lady Gaga fan. Sean and I notoriously threw down in a he-said she-said extravaganza in the pages of the St. Petersburg Times. (I won, natch. Give up, Daly!)

For variety's sake, I wasn't going to include her in my songapalooza this week, but at the last minute, I decided I just had to. Why, you ask? This video. Srsly. It's for the song Paparazzi, which admittedly isn't my favorite tune off her album. But this video is freaking epic. It has sex, murder, black lipstick, wheelchair dancing. It recalls the days when music videos were mini-movies -- think Michael Jackson's Thriller (God rest his soul. And not that anything could ever top Thriller, but it's good to see the ambition.)

Anyway, I have it on good authority that Sean warmed up to Lady Gaga after she performed on American Idol this season. So, what I'm saying is, Sean is a big poo-face who lies, and Lady Gaga owns him.

What do you think? Still hate her guts? I know how this crowd rolls, but a girl can dream.

-- Lady Stephanie Hayes, your guest blogger

Lady Gaga |MTV Music

Madonna, Whitney, Mariah to throw down in bloodbath

Not since MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch has there been a fight so brutal. (Do you remember that show? Claymation, lots of blood, totally offensive in every way? Anyway...)

Madonna, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey are all scheduled to release their new albums this September. This could be a total coincidence, but as a professional skeptic, I have to call shenanigans on that thought. I imagine this is a total ego contest. One of them is going to come out on top, thereby solidifying her place in the Diva Hall of Fame that exists solely in her head.

This makes me wonder... who would win in an ACTUAL fight?

Let's discuss.

Madonna
Things to consider: Cone bra, Kabbalah, faux British accent, scary yoga arms, scary yoga thighs, leotards, Britney Spears.

Whitney Houston
Things to consider: Crack is wack, Waiting to Exhale, Bobby Brown, Bobbi Kristina, Kevin Costner.

Mariah Carey
Things to consider: Ice cream cart, body shimmer, high C that opens garage doors, the ghost of Old Dirty Bastard.

Hmm... I think I give the edge to Madonna. What do you think?

-- Stephanie Hayes, your guest blogger who could take them all!

P.S. - CELEBRITY DEATHMATCH!

Celebrity Deathmatch - MTV Shows

Photo: AP

Stephsong of the day: Phantom Limb, The Shins

Occasionally, I'll trade my all-consuming love for bass-heavy cheeseball pop and do the hipster thing. Like the rest of Garden State nation, I quite like the Shins. My fave from them is Phantom Limb, from Wincing the Night Away.

I don't have a clue what the song means, and I'm pretty sure I don't know most of the lyrics. I usually just sing whatever sounds right. For example, I've consciously turned one line into "Tuscon, Milwaukee, Austin!" which I'm fairly certain is not possible. But I commit, and that's the important thing. The song jams in a mellow way. See if you like it.

Oh, and the video makes me feel like I just took eight handfuls of drugs. Enjoy.

UPDATE: I just looked up the lyrics. "Tuscon, Milwaukee, Austin" is actually "To zombie walk in our stead" (whatever the eff that means). Close. so close.

-- Stephanie Hayes, your very hip guest blogger

The Shins |MTV Music

Stephsong of the day: This Is How We Do It, Montell Jordan

AWWW YEAH! I'm running this joint while Sean's away, and that means one thing, and one thing only: MONTELL JORDAN.

To your left, behold a photo of the exact moment This Is How We Do It came on when I went out dancing a couple months ago. No lie. If you look closely, you can see me passionately forming the word, "Thiiiiis."

I've loved This Is How We Do It since 1994. My middle school dance team did a routine to the song, which, looking back, was probably highly inappropriate. Preteens grinding to, "So I reach for my forty and I turn it up. Designated driver take the keys to my truck." Ouch. FOR GOD'S SAKE, WHO WAS IN CHARGE?

Anyway, I know every lyric, including the rap in the middle. I even bought the movie Multiplicity for the scene where the many Michael Keatons have a house party and dance to this song. Har!

So travel back with me, ladies and germs, to a simpler time. A time before iPhones and electricity and combustion tractors. A time called 1994.

-- Stephanie Hayes, your guest blogger, doing it like I do.

Montell Jordan |MTV Music

Stephsong of the day: The Middle, Jimmy Eat World

As part of my guest blogging doodies (heh, doodies), Sean encouraged me to introduce you to my personal catalog of greatest hits. So every day this week, check back for a new song from Steph's Vault of Horrors. They will make you laugh, cry, stay up at night screaming, "WHY, GOOD LORD ABOVE?" (See previous blog).

Today, I'm easing you in with a song very close to my heart: The Middle by Jimmy Eat World, off 2001's Bleed American. It's probably my favorite song. Peppy, happy, simple, but I actually seriously like the message. I listened to this song over and over during a somewhat tumultuous period of my young, dramatic life. It was always comforting to hear, "It just takes some time, little girl you're in the middle of the ride." So true. SO TRUE.

The strange thing is, I can't tell you how many times this song has subsequently come on the radio in the middle of a crappy day, like a little shot of Red Bull to make it all better. It always makes me smile. It's not preachy, not overdone. Just... sweet.

Enjoy this one, because honestly folks, it only goes downhill for you from here.  Mwahahaha.

Warning: There are boobs and bras and panties in this video, so just, uh, make sure your boss isn't standing over your shoulder. Unless that's what you're into.

-- Stephanie Hayes, your guest blogger in the middle

Jimmy Eat World |MTV Music

Shuffle your iPod, laugh at your friends

Hey everyone! Stephanie Hayes here, steering the ship while Sean is out of town for the week. That's me at left modeling my prized Lil' Wayne shirt at a rest stop somewhere near Pensacola. That was a good day.

Some of you know me from my regular blog, Deal Divas. Some of you know me from American Idol nights. Some of you know me from hanging out tragically too much with Sean and Steve at Derby Lane. Some of you know me from the waiting room at therapy (and yes, I know your secret).

To kick start my guest blogging tenure, I thought we could play a little game. It's called "Close Your Eyes and Smell." JUST KIDDING. That one comes later.

If we're ever going to have a real relationship with matching dishes and a gravy boat and a golden retriever, we need to be honest with each other. The best way to get our tastes out in the open is to play the iPod shuffle game. Maybe you played it on Facebook already, but humor me and do it again! It'll be fun!

Put your iPod -- MP3 player, Windows media center, whatever -- on random and write the first 20 songs that come up. You're not allowed to cheat. If you do, a little elf bursts forth from the monitor and screams, "LIAR! YOU SKIPPED DISCO DUCK!

Put your results in the comments section. Here are mine. I feel we're really connecting.

1. Pocket Full Of Sunshine - Natasha Beddingfield
2. Salt Shaker - Ying Yang Twins (Dear God, this song is obscene)
3. U + Ur Hand - Pink
4. Saving My Face - KT Tunstall
5. L.O.V.E. - Ashlee Simpson (HAHAHAHAH, wow, I suck)
6. Doginabag - The Fratellis
7. Grillz - Nelly (Yesssss)
8. Fergalicious - Fergie (This is getting worse)
9. I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston (WHA?)
10. Put Your Back In To It - 69 Boyz (I feel faint)
11. Blood Red Summer - Coheed and Cambria
12. Cotton Eye Joe - Rednex (I just died. It's official.)
13. Never Scared - Bone Crusher
14. Time In A Bottle - Jim Croce (Of course that would come after Bone Crusher)
15. The theme from Cheers (!)
16. Powerless - Nelly Furtado
17. Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard
18. Polite Dance Song - The Bird and the Bee (Finally something cool)
19. I Want To Know What Love Is - Foreigner (AND THEN I GO AND RUIN IT)
20. Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve (I'm mostly just bitter now)

Wow. I'm a shameful person.  Tell me yours is worse? Please? Marissa? Starfish? Bassnote? Come through for me, friends.

On Michael Jackson, legacy and living on

Hey gang, I heard the news about MJ when I was at home, totally preoccupied. For reasons I won't get into now, I wasn't going to come in. But come on, I had to say something, right? If only because Kid Lulu looooves Michael now. Here's my MJ appreciation for Friday's St. Pete Times. I'll talk to you soon.

His legacy will be as messy, as cluttered with oddities and accusations, as his life: a dark, spinning carnival ride we peeked at through our fingers. But whether you adored Michael Jackson throughout his 50 years — or left him after the Elephant Man’s bones or the tabloid horrors or the nose that became an electrical socket — this much is true:

History, as history tends to do with iconoclasts who provide great spinning flashes of joy, will remember the King of Pop well.

Like Elvis.

Like Sinatra.

In fact, it’s already happening.

You might recoil at this notion, and that’s fine, totally understandable. But you can’t deny that the kid — and he was always a kid, for better or worse — was incandescent, otherworldly, a black Fred Astaire who shattered sales records and racial barriers, especially those at MTV, the greatest pop cultural force of the 20th century. Birthed during cable television’s infancy, the music-video channel was primarily a vehicle for white artists. Then came 1983, and Billie Jean and Beat It and Thriller — the last being an album, a video, a zipperiffic fashion movement.

One white glove for all.

Ultimate Playlist Challenge: The Surfing Playlist

Just got the call from our peeps at Personal Best: Those crazy health freaks are doing a cover story on something called "paddleboarding." That sounds about right for the Gulf, which isn't exactly a hotbed of hanging ten. But they need an accompanying playlist for the feature, and I'm kinda coming up short on paddleboarding tunes. (Dog Paddle -- Modest Mouse!)

So in the spirit of the summer, and because I get to write the words MR. ZOG'S SEX WAX, we're now rocking the Surfing Playlist. So let's hit the (air)waves, shall we? Who's up for a swim?

Shoot the Curl -- the Honeys
Some People Ride the Wave -- Devendra Banhart
Surfin' Safari -- the Beach Boys
Crest of Waves -- Coldplay
Pump It -- Black Eyed Peas
King of the Surf Guitar -- Dick Dale
Hawaii Five-O -- the Ventures
Paradise, Hawaiian Style -- Elvis Presley

'D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)': New Jay-Z song tells good pals Kanye West, T-Pain to get real

This isn't the best Jay-Z track ever, but it sure is a ballsy one. From the rapper's upcoming Blueprint III, D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune) takes a swipe at such good pals as Kanye West, Will.i.am and T-Pain, major abusers of Auto-Tune, the pitch-correction processor that robotizes voices. (Remember Cher's Believe? Like that.) Expect rebuttals, hurt feelings, Kanye moying, etc.

Reinvention, rebel yells and the art of the chug: Kid Rock, Lynyrd Skynyrd and YOU

It looms on the concert calendar like a call to arms.

This Saturday at Ford Amphitheatre: Kid Rock and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Oh yeah, this show is special.

This sucker is deep.

This one is us.

Look in the mirror, Tampa Bay: This gig will have beer and bongs and bikinis and more beer. Confederate flags will flutter in the same breeze as rap music; hip-hop fans will high-five Joe Six-Pack. Florida natives will mingle with transplants from the Midwest — much as Jacksonville’s Lynyrd Skynyrd will take a stage with Michigan’s Kid Rock.

Look familiar?

The show will be hot. It’ll be hairy. It’ll be really, really LOUD.

Just like you. Yes, you.

In a classic-rocking town where Eddie Money could run for mayor, this show is like the arrival of ape-draped royalty.

Not so much a melting pot as a melting keg, the local crowd will mix the employed and the jobless, pickups and Porsches. And everyone will cut loose together on a Saturday that’s been circled on our autographed Hooters calendar for weeks.

Speaking of which: Kid Rock is famous for bringing strippers onstage. Dude is all about gentlemen’s clubs and...well, you know where I’m going with that.

On Saturday, hollers for "Freebird!" will be earnest and, alas, they will be answered. And when our unofficial Florida anthem is played — If I leave here tomorrow . . . — the shed will light up with Bics and BlackBerrys, tradition and today.

There might be a fistfight or two, and the cops will be lurking. But for the most part, the vibe, of the show and the crowd, will be loose, fun, sexy — as if we’re all on vacation, as if we live in a tourist wonderland.

What’s your name, little girl?

What’s your name?

There are bigger concerts coming to town this year: Kenny Chesney, U2, Green Day. But Saturday’s is different. This show is about reinvention, rebel yells, remixes. It is about the art of the chug, of the inhale.

In other words, Tampa Bay, they’re playing your song.

****

"This show is great for our community" says David Harb, the general manager at Ford Amp. The 40-year-old is also a muckety with Live Nation, the concert and events company. But more than that, Harb is a native, raised in St. Pete and running one of the major venues in Tampa.

Harb sees the Kid-Skynyrd bill as a natural fit for our town and our times. "This is the biggest little city you’ll ever live in," says Harb. "It’s cosmopolitan, but at the same time, that Old Florida feel still exists. There’s just a great balance here. There’s nowhere else like it."

Rickey Medlocke, guitarist for Skynyrd and an 18-year resident of Fort Myers, agrees. "There’s a cool vibe about a show here, it’s about that hometown vibe," he tells me. "You’ll have fans from all walks of life: cowboys, motorcyclists, gold-chain hip-hop guys. But the common denominator is music, rock and roll."

Saturday’s show also runs "across our radio dial," says Harb: rock, country, hip-hop, pop. "The people coming for Skynyrd and Kid? Some of ’em came for No Doubt, too."

When Skynyrd broke big in the ’70s, Ronnie Van Zant & Co. waved the Battle Flag and let Neil Young know a "Southern Man don’t need him around anyhow." But over time, Skynyrd, while still capable of throaty jingoism, has become a party band, hollering for shaggy independence, turn-it-up freedoms.

Spring break and Skynyrd — a match made at Shephard’s.

"We now have three generations of fans watching the show," says Medlocke, referring to Skynyrd Nation, a song on the band’s upcoming album, God & Guns. "You can be hip-hop to the max, but you still know Sweet Home Alabama."

Kid Rock was once a Motor City street punk named Bob Ritchie. He was a rapper, a Run DMC disciple. But he’s gone from Midwestern MC — Give a toast to the sun, drink with the stars / Get thrown in the mix and tossed out of bars — to Southern transplant, Devil Without a Cause to Rock N Roll Jesus.

One of us, one of us.

"My dad used to pay me to collect apples," Rock told London’s Daily Mail. "But from the moment I heard rap I didn’t want to be in the orchard any more. I wanted to be a hip-hop DJ in Detroit." But now, he says: "My songs still seem to relate to working-class people. If you ever wanted to rob a trailer park, do it during a Kid Rock concert."

In 2007, Rock scored a hit that blended Michigan memories with the hook of Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama, a merging of new school and old, North and South. The song was a No. 1 smash — escapist fare perfect for a beach day — and it especially sounded good here:

Catching walleye from the dock / Watching the waves roll off the rocks / She'll forever hold a spot inside my soul / We'd blister in the sun / We couldn't wait for night to come /To hit that sand and play some rock and roll.

The song is All Summer Long. And when they play that Saturday, look for Tampa Bay to sing louder than anywhere else.

After all, it's all ours.

Kodak kills Kodachrome, Paul Simon weeps

 
After all those years of nice, bright colors, Eastman Kodak Co. is discontinuing its oldest film stock -- Kodachrome, developed in 1935. Sales of Kodachrome represented less than 1 percent of the company's total take, and only one commercial lab in the world still processed it. Kodachrome will be spiked at the end of the year.

According to wire reports, Abraham Zapruder used Kodachrome in filming President John F. Kennedy's assassination. Photojournalist Steve McCurry's portrait of an Afghan refugee girl, shot on Kodachrome, appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985. At Kodak's request, McCurry will shoot one of the last rolls of Kodachrome film and donate the images to the George Eastman House museum in upstate Rochester.

Rhymin' Simon wrote his tribute to Kodachrome in 1973: When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all...

Sean Daly's The Big Showoff

Look! Another contest!

Are you double-jointed? Triple-tongued? Can you juggle three chainsaws while milking a goat with your feet? If so, click on my face for your chance at fame and fortune!

(There are billboards of this going up around Tampa Bay. Please don't crash your car while getting lost in my eyes...or chins.)

(And yes, I'll put my name and likeness on anything.)

Are you the next Tampa Bay Idol?

Hey Idol wannabes: FOX 13, home of the unsinkable Charley Belcher, is once again looking to send a Tampa Bay singer to American Idol auditions, this time in Orlando, July 9. Winner of the local contest skips to the front of the sweltering, serpentine line for a guaranteed shot in front of producers for Season 9.

Last year's lucky lungs belonged to Tampa's Cesar De La Rosa, who made it all the way to Hollywood, only to be doinked by Cowell & Co. Eric Deggans and I will be celeb judges this year, along with Belcher and a cavalcade of stars. If you're interested, HERE'S THE SCOOP on all the action.

Sugarland coming to the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa on Sept. 25

Sugarland |MTV Music

I don't know much about Sugarland, the country duo coming to the St. Pete Times Forum on Friday, Sept. 25. So I called my pal Guy, who described lead singer Jennifer Nettles as "Kirsten Dunst with better teeth." That didn't really help, but it was funny. Guy also said All I Want to Do is their catchiest song, so here you go. It's a harmless lil' number, and I appreciate the 'kini. By the way, the Sugarland dude is Kristian Bush. Guy had a joke about him, too, but this a family blog. Tickets range from $25 to $45, and can be purchased at ticketmaster.com.

Podcast! John Belushi was my guidance counselor (or: Why Chicago is stuck in the '80s)

Hey kids, the newest Stuck in the '80s podcast is up and running. It's loud, it's bawdy, it's co-ed! Cathy Wos has returned to talk about the music and movies of Chicago during that magical decade.

There were a ton of great '80s flicks based in the Windy City; John Hughes and the Belushi bros took care of that. My fave is '81's Continental Divide. If you've never seen it, get thee to Netflix. John B. plays Ernie Souchak, a hardscrabble Metro columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times. After getting roughed up by a shady politico ("Yablonowitz! YABLONOWITZ!"), Souchak is sent to the Rockies to do a fluff piece on "eagle freak" Nell Porter (Blair Brown). Rom-com hijinks ensue, and there's a unique, satisfying finish.

But more than that...the movie forever altered the life of an 11-year-old Massachusetts boy in ill-fitting Toughskins. Yesterday I told you how Rodney Dangerfield influenced my parenting. Today, I'm letting you know that John Belushi, the pride of Chi-Town, dictated my choice in vocation. And you know what? I wouldn't change my role models for anything. ENJOY THE SHOW!   

The Father's Day Playlist (or: The Monty Capuletti School of Parenting)

Hey kids, still up in Baltimore with my dad, but coming back early Sunday to bask in the daughterly love of Kid Lulu and Mai-Mai. Don't have a ton of time to futz around, but while JD is asleep, thought I'd open up a Father's Day Playlist for those hoping to dedicate a Pop song.

About the Rodney picture from Easy Money: My father took me to see the 1983 comedy when I was still a few years from understanding all the gags -- but old enough to love every minute of it. ("Yeah, well you were the inspiration for twin beds!")  We saw the flick on summer vacation, in a makeshift theater in Ogunquit, Maine. Dad would later take me to a Dangerfield concert at the Chateau de Ville in Burlington, Mass. I understood even fewer of the jokes at that one, but Rodney became my shaman.

Twenty-six years later, I think of Easy Money for whole new reasons: In the flick, baby photog Monty Capuletti ("Monty see, Monty do, ya know?") is a smoking, drinking, gambling ramshackle father of two smart, pretty daughters. He also has an understanding, eye-rolling better half who puts up with all his crap. You see where I'm going with this? In a way, it's not my fault. It was destiny! Or, uh, something.

Anyway, Happy Father's Day to all you Dads doing the best you can. Here's to you, gentlemen. Have one helluva day...

THE DAD PLAYLIST
Old Man -- Neil Young
Father and Daughter -- Paul Simon
Memo to My Son -- Randy Newman
Daddy's Home -- Shep and the Limelites
Papa Don't Preach -- Madonna
Papa's Got a Brand New Bag -- James Brown
I'm a Man -- Spencer Davis Group
Oh My Pa-Pa -- Eddie Fisher
Listen to What the Man Said -- Wings
Papa Can You Hear Me? -- Barbra Streisand
Funiculi, Funicula -- Rodney Dangerfield

Pyromania Deluxe: Def Leppard 1983 classic gets remixed, remastered, rerocked

Def Leppard
Album: Pyromania: Deluxe Edition (Island/Mercury)
In stores: Tuesday, June 23
Why we care: Back in ’83, when Def Leppard was king and its drummer still had two arms, rock radio (not to mention a relatively fresh phenomenon called MTV) was overrun by the flaming hits of Pyromania. Produced by Robert “Mutt” Lange, whose isolated guitar riffs and lumbering drums helped break AC/DC, the album charted big, fat head-banging goodness: Photograph, Foolin’, Rock of Ages. It was style over substance — and it sure defined that magical decade.
Why we like it: This special ’luxe treatment gives you the remastered album plus a full, shaggy live show from ’83, which features a surprise appearance from Queen’s Brian May. (1992's Adrenalize has also been spiffed up, this one with B-sides, covers and live cuts.)
Reminds us of: Def Leppard, Poison and Cheap Trick play Tampa's Ford Amphitheatre on Aug. 14 (TICKETS)
Download this: Travelin’ Band (w/May) (LISTEN)
Grade: A

And now...FIVE BEST DEF LEPPARD SONGS!!
5. Bringin' on the Heartbreak (1981) (VIDEO)
4. Stagefright (1983)
3. Photograph (1983) (VIDEO)
2. Foolin' (1983)  (VIDEO)
1. Hysteria (1987) (VIDEO)

Hannah Montana's Mitchel "Smokin' Oaken" Musso to play State Theatre in St. Pete Sept. 20

Mitchel Musso, the kid who plays Oliver on Hannah Montana, has emerged from puberty a scampy, mop-topped singer. (Of course he has. That's the Disney Channel way. If they're cute, get 'em a microphone.) In vids for his self-titled debut album, the kid seems a little too big for his britches, a little too cocky. But appropriately enough, my 5-year-old loves him. So maybe, just maybe, I'll take her to Mitchel Musso's show at St. Pete's intimate State Theatre on Sunday, Sept. 20. Don't worry, moms and dads: Doors are at 5, the show starts at 6. Tickets -- which go on sale Saturday, June 20 at 10 a.m. -- are $18 in advance, $20 day of the show. You can buy your tickets right here or at Daddy Kool's in downtown St. Pete.

Hate Mail! Chickenfoot review has loyal reader taking aim, action

Sean:

I have got to tell you: Your review today finally proved to me while I will be canceling my subscription after 27 years.

I am 55 years old, a successful businessman, who doesn't have a lot of time to listen to music on the radio or Internet. So it was of great interest to me when I opened the paper this morning and saw an almost half-page review of "Chickenfoot" whom I have not heard yet.

You are a music reviewer, right? So where is the review? How many songs? What type of tempos? No, you spend almost the entire article hammering the musicians. "It's hard to hate on a merry band of millionaires jamming just for the fun of it"? What has that got to do with the music? Anyways, good luck to you, Sean. I actually feel sorry for you to be under so much pressure from the paper to be negative.
 
Sammy and Mike snap: Associated Press

Review: Jonas Brothers new album 'Lines, Vines and Trying Times'

Jonas Brothers
Album: Lines, Vines and Trying Times (Hear)
In stores: Now
Why we care: On their whiningly titled new album, the JoBros air out all the problems inherent with being the richest, cutest, most popular boys in the world. For instance, what’s with all the girls chasing them? And, like, why are so many people talking about them? Plus it’s soooo not as cool making out with Taylor Swift as you might think.
Why we like it: Ditching pure power pop for self-penned drip-hop (a Common cameo!) diet funk (Earth Wind & Fire the Producer) and uncountry (the fauxbilly of What Did I Do to Your Heart), Nick, Joe and Kevin don’t catch like before. This album feels rushed, but more than that, it sounds snotty (don't hate them, 'cause "Hey, America built me"). But at the very least, they sure do goose the gossips, dinging Swift on Much Better (“Now I’m done with superstars / All the tears on her guitar”).
Reminds us of: So Miley Cyrus, who used to date Nick, is best friends with Swift, who used to date Joe. But now Miley is back duetting with Nick on Before the Storm. Drama!
Download this: Fly With Me
Grade: C

The JoBros play the St. Pete Times Forum on Aug. 18. (TICKETS) 

Bocephus for Prez: Hank Jr. and Jimmy Fallon honor a 'Family Tradition'

Hank Williams Jr. is doing press for his new album, 127 Rose Avenue. But the madman known as Bocephus is too much of a party dude to deny us the hits. So on the Jimmy Fallon show he teed up Family Tradition and invited the host to join him. Is that a gang sign Hank flashes at the beginning? Yikes.

Fowl Play: Best of the Bird Bands!

With supergroup Chickenfoot squawking up a storm, our hungry minds developed a taste for other poultry-inspired bands. Here’s our controversial cluckdown, from Chicks to Eagles...to Wings.

10) The Partridge Family I think I love you, Shirley Jones.

9) The Ravyns Charm City rockers “raised on the radio.”

8) A Flock of Seagulls Definitive band — and ’do — of the ’80s.

7) The Black Crowes Robinson bros think they should be higher.

6) The Yardbirds Clapton, Beck and Page — ’nuff said.

5) Dixie Chicks Liked ’em better killing Earl than drilling Bush.

4) Counting Crows Definitive band — and dreads — of the ’90s.

3) The Byrds Jingle-jangle Dylan thieves still sound great.

2) The Eagles Definitive band — and Don Henley gigantic ’fro — of the ’70s.

1) Wings Paul’s post-Beatles bird calling is criminally underrated. “Well, the rain exploded with a mighty crash as we fell into the sun.” Total bliss.

Others that just miss the cut: The Orioles, Eagles of Death Metal, the Jawhawks, the O'Jays, the Housemartins 

Chickenfoot's Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Chad Smith, Joe Satriani raise summer ruckus

Last week, a spunky lil’ band with a clunky lil’ name raised a ruckus by topping Billboard’s Indie Albums chart. Perhaps you’ve heard of Chickenfoot? If not, maybe you’ve heard of its members: Van Halen howler Sammy Hagar and bassist Michael Anthony, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and guitar-geek god Joe Satriani.

Okay, not your typical up-and-coming indie crew. But the supergroup formed at a 2008 Hagar show, started messing with new tunes and signed with Nashville’s humble Redline label. Sales have been crazy good so far, and why not? Besides being skilled at their job — especially Smith, who plays drums like Kong swats planes — each player has a huge following.

But are they any good? Well, that depends on how many Cabo Wabo tequila shots you’ve done. At its best, Chickenfoot ultimately sounds like post-Diamond Dave VH, aka Van Hagar, with its polished thunder, harmonizing from Anthony and sexual innuendo with zero room for interpretation. (Hmm, what are they trying to say on Sexy Little Thing and  Get It Up?)

In between the nookie numbers, they sneak in message music, tackling Latin American violence and border wars on Avenida Revolucion, national woes on Runnin’ Out and, uh, sadness on Learning to Fall. Hagar and Satriani co-wrote most of the cuts, and while they’re tasty in a 7-Eleven Big Bite sort of way, the lyrics are faux-deep and silly (“Runnin’ out of money / Runnin’ out of dreams / Runnin’ out of sex / We’re runnin’ out of future / Runnin’ out of past...” And so on and on.)

My biggest problem with Chickenfoot is Joey Satch, the guitar virtuoso. The man can fly, and pick, and stick a lick for sure. But there’s no soul, no joy in his playing. Eddie Van Halen was a showoff, too, but there was a liquid glee in his tapping. Satriani’s solos, while technically mind-blowing, just don’t engage.

Still, it’s hard to hate on a merry band of millionaires who are playing just for the fun of it. Hagar’s comments that Chickenfoot is better than Led Zeppelin lets you know that the Red Rocker is feeling this (if totally nuts). The album crunches and rumbles and catches, and I thumped the steering wheel more than once. It’s summer, the beach is packed and the radio is loud. Who’s up for another shot?

Ashley Tisdale + lap dance + Obama = ???

Last week, a brave Ashley Tisdale appeared on zany Spanish talk show El Hormiguero (which, ironically enough, was also my nickname in college). Hijinks ensued when the High School Musical star demonstrated what not to do when giving the Leader of the Free World a lapper. Her technique is lousy, but her moxie is first-rate! Tisdale's new album, Guilty Pleasure, is due out July 28. Hopefully she won't have to resort to stripping for years to come.

Jonas Brothers, Larry King kibbitz on Thursday, 9 p.m. (perhaps Uncle Sean Jonas will appear!)

With new Jonas Brothers album Lines, Vines and Trying Times being released this week, my good chums Kevin, Joe and Nick are running the press gauntlet. On Thursday, June 18, they'll appear on CNN's Larry King Live at 9 p.m.

The 75-year-old King, who will not have heard of the Jonas Brothers until a few minutes before the interview, will chat with the Wyckoff, N.J., trio from the stage of Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, where they'll kick off their upcoming tour. The JoBros play the St. Pete Times Forum on Aug. 18. (TICKETS) 

Podcast! Two magic words: Wang Chung

Hey boys and girls, my Stuck in the '80s co-host Steve Spears just had a heart-to-heart talk with Wang Chung's Jack Hues. It's good stuff -- especially all the To Live and Die in L.A. goodies -- so check out the new podcast. And yes, I show up here and there to make sure it doesn't get too classy. ENJOY!

The Ice Skating Playlist

So on Saturday, the Forever Fiancee says she has to return some clothes at Countryside Mall in Clearwater. I can either (1) stay home and watch my daughters, Kid Lulu and Mai-Mai or (2) stuff the brood in the car, chase the kids around the mall and maybe get an Orange Julius. So I say sure, why not, let's go to the mall.

We're not there five minutes when we discover, lo and behold, a giant ice rink amidst the bustling consumerism. Instantly, 5-year-old Lulu turns it up: "Can we go ice skating, Daddy? Please! Please! Pleeeeeaaaassse!" I was born in Massachusetts, so I've laced up the blades a few times -- but that was 25 years ago, and I sucked then, and I haven't exactly acquired Boitano-esque skillz in the interim. But I also have lingering Northerner-in-Florida guilt. My daughters have never made snowballs or gone sledding or wizzed their names in the snow. And that's just wrong. 

So I say sure, why not, let's go skating. The FF and Mai-Mai take off to shop, and Dad and his oldest hit the ice. Lu was pretty good -- she landed on her tuchus a few times, and clung to me for dear life. But by the end of an hour she was getting her footing, getting some speed. I, on the other hand, was like a gin-soaked Tin Man, wobbly yet kneecapless, my bending ability kaput. Couple that with the fact I was dressed in crummy shorts and a ratty Guns N' Roses tee -- plus I was the only dude on the ice -- and the moms in the gallery were keeping their kiddies close.

But you know what? Lulu loved it. And my Northerner-in-Florida guilt subsided. And before we left the ice and pulled the skates from our throbby feet, I bladed up some ice for my daughter, bent down...and made her a snowball. She smiled and threw it at my head. I'd never been so proud.

So in honor of my parental derring-do, today's Ultimate Playlist Challenge is all about skating and ice and snow. Here's a few cold ones to get us started...

Cold as Ice -- Foreigner
Slip Sliding Away -- Paul Simon
Crashing Down -- Mat Kearney
Running on Ice -- Billy Joel
Great Day for Skating -- Satanic Surfers
Shiver -- Coldplay
Snowball -- Devo
River -- Joni Mitchell
Skating -- Vince Guaraldi Trio

Daly TV: Talkin' Pat Benatar, Bob Marley and...Amanda Overmyer!

First of all, John Thomas of ABC Action News has the greatest posture of all time. Dude should run for president! I swear I was sitting up straight when we taped the following video, but jeez, I look like I should be schlepping brains for Dr. Frankenstein. Anyway, here's another fast, sweaty segment on upcoming albums and concerts: Today we're talking Steve Martin's The Crow and Ziggy Marley's Dad tribute B is for Bob, plus Pat Benatar's June 27 show at Tropicana Field and the July 4's Amanda Overmyer-Daly throwdown at Albert Whitted Airport in St. Pete. GO HERE!

The Beatles: Rock Band! Here's the new trailer (and final reason for me to buy a Nintendo Wii)

Video Games | The Beatles: Rock Band | E3 09: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

The Cavern Club. The Ed Sullivan Show. Shea Stadium. How beautiful, and careful, and dazzling, does the The Beatles: Rock Band look? Holy cripes! The game is released Sept. 9 (9/9/9), and will be available in Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 formats. I haven't owned a vid console since the N64 in the '90s. (Loooved Goldeneye.) But that could change. Sure, it's only a trailer, but I'm digging the attention to detail: Paul's bass (and Get Back beard), Ringo's hunch, the Walrus!!! Plus all that love for George. What are you hard-core gamers hearing about this?

Best Pixar Music: Randy Newman & Co. get 'hits' treatment from Disney Records

In the peerless pantheon of Pixar flicks — the new Up makes it an even 10 gems — A Bug’s Life always seems to get ranked last. It’s not that the 1998 movie is bad; it’s just not Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., the two Toys, etc.

But if you revisit A Bug’s Life — and you should — pay attention to Randy Newman’s score. The harrumphy satirist has worked five Pixar jobs, and his marching music for Flik & Co. is nothing short of magnificent. It’s Fanfare for the Common Ant, and it nods not just to Americana composer Aaron Copland and Manifest Destiny, but to the magic of Marceline, Mizzou’s famous son: Walter Elias Disney, a guy who knew about patriotism, pluck and talking insects.

A Bug’s Life Suite is presented in its entirety on the new Disney Pixar Greatest, a compilation of nine songs and 16 orchestral pieces. Pixar genius, and my personal hero, John Lasseter writes the liner-note intro, saying, “Music can help bring out the underlying emotion of a scene.” He’s right, of course, but more than that, Pixar’s music — some of cinema’s best in the past 14 years — humanizes and makes visceral digital ’toons created on emotionless machines.

Thomas Newman, Randy’s cousin, has scored two Pixar movies, and both of his soundtracks — Finding Nemo and WALL*E — are masterworks of minimalism, each one slyly evoking its movie’s theme: the soothing undulations of the big blue sea, the starry weightlessness of space. I have both on my iPod, and routinely use them to (1) chill out and (2) chase the crud from a bad day.

Michael Giacchino is the third composer in the Pixar bullpen, and his score for Up is an appropriately buoyant homage to the flying music of both John Williams and the Sherman Brothers, Uncle Walt’s songwriters for Mary Poppins, Jungle Book and so on. By slyly referencing Disney movies of old, Giacchino reminds adult viewers (subconsciously and otherwise) of when we were young, thus making Up, a movie about the brutal passage of time, even more heart-breaking.

Speaking of sobbing like a giant ninny: The first half of Disney Pixar Greatest is made up of vocal tracks, and Sarah McLachlan’s When She Loved Me, from Toy Story 2, is just waiting to tear your heart out — again. Also devastating is James Taylor’s Cars weeper Our Town, about the dissolution of a once-gleaming burg. Randy Newman wrote both of the above songs, and I blame him for my snozzling loudly into movie-theater napkins. The best Pixar music never settles for bouncy and fun — it often longs to move you to tears, as well.

I’m obviously a big drooling fanboy, but I’ll admit that Disney Pixar Greatest isn’t perfect: Rascal Flatts’ cover of Life Is a Highway is a stinkeroo. Giacchino’s Ratatouille Francophilia is tedious. And I never liked Peter Gabriel’s cloying Down to Earth from WALL*E. Plus there are glaring omissions: Where’s Strange Things from Toy Story? Or Robbie Williams cheeky take on Beyond the Sea from Nemo? It also would have been cool to have the Randy Newman-Lyle Lovett duet of You’ve Got a Friend in Me.

Still, there’s a reason Pixar songs and scores have been nominated for, and won, scads of Grammys and Oscars. The music is rousing, multifaceted, seductive. Kudos for including Randy Newman’s The Cleaner from Toy Story 2, which plays when that gentle old man puts poor Woody back together again. The music borrows from the elfin whimsy of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite. Crossing continents and generations, Giacchino’s Incredibles score swings with ’60s jazzbo velocity and cop-show swagger. Both are smart, vibrant lessons in history — Pixar’s, popular music’s and ours.

Susanna Hoffs, Matthew Sweet are getting back "Under the Covers" on July 21

Back in 2006, Bangles singer Susanna Hoffs and jangle-pop scruff Matthew Sweet teamed up for Under the Covers Vol. I, a layered, harmony-happy treatment of their fave old songs: Different Drum, Warmth of the Sun, Monday Monday... Her coo plus his power-pop instincts led to great, shimmery results. And now lookee here: On July 21, they'll release Vol. II, which will include the Grateful Dead (Sugar Magnolia), Carly Simon (You're So Vain), Mott the Hoople (All the Young Dudes). Up top is Yes' I've Seen All Good People, a proggy song I never liked...until I heard Hoffs' baby-doll treatment. 

DALY TV: Struck by Lightning Round!

So I graciously go on FOX 13's Lightning Round to give my valuable expert opinion on Adam Lambert, Miley Cyrus, paperless ticketing, etc. And what do I get in return? Guff. Mockery. An in-studio temp of 157 degrees. I gotta hear about how great my colleagues Stephanie Hayes and Ernest Hooper are when they come on the show. And yet, I continue to adore and respect my beloved on-air chums Mark "Eruption" Wilson, Paul "Thunderclap" Dellegatto and Chip "Dead to Me" Carter. Why? Because I'm a big giant TV slut. On with the show!

The Lovemakers, Allison Iraheta, Miranda Lambert to release new albums

Here's some cheap, quickie, topless album news for you...

* Oakland electropoppers the Lovemakers -- aka former paramours Scott Blonde and Lisa Light fighting and [bleeping] in catchy, clashy dance-floor fashion -- will release sophomore album Let's Be Friends (yeah, right) on Sept. 1. Love these guys. Here's my REVIEW from 2005.

* American Idol fourth-placer Allison Iraheta -- she of the raspy voice and underage driver's license -- has signed to 19 Recordings, with a licensing deal through Jive Records. This is the same group that Idol champ Kris Allen and runner-up Adam Lambert signed to earlier. No set release date for her new album, but should be in the fall. The new "Red Rocker" (so sorry, Sammy) will perform at the St. Pete Times Forum July 28 as part of the American Idols Live tour (TICKETS). 

* Miranda Lambert's new song Dead Flowers might stink, but she's still the top female star in Nashville right now. Her third album, Revolution, will be released Sept. 29. Her first two albums, Kerosene and the downright brilliant Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, were sexy quasi-psychotic smashes. Here's a badass interview I did with the crossbow-totin' Lambert back in 2007. I thought we were in love, but she soon left me for Blake Shelton. But hey, that's another blog...

Obama BFF Ludacris to play free postgame concert after Rays-Nats tussle on Saturday

Having a couple of wisdom teeth yanked is a cruel fate for a man who makes his living quick-lipping outlandish rhymes. But having a sore, swollen yap, Atlanta rapper Ludacris isn’t worried about his postgame gig at Tropicana Field Saturday.

“Oh, I’ll definitely be ready,” the 31-year-old Atlanta rapper assures us (albeit slowly) with his trademark braggodocio.

Luda, aka Christopher Bridges aka an MC with ego to spare, will be busting out all his hip-hop hits — Get Back, Stand Up, Money Maker, Pimpin’ All Over the World — as soon as the Tampa Bay Rays get done dusting the Washington Nationals. And they will win; after all, Longoria & Co. are 9-0 on “Free Concert” nights.

During a recent conference call, the rapper said he feels “no pressure” keeping the team’s winning streak alive. Although he does add with a laugh: “I’m not sure who I’m going to root for. But probably the Rays.”

Here are a few other Luda moments from the chat:

Your upcoming album Battle of the Sexes is an intense back-and-forth between you and Shawnna, the daughter of Buddy Guy. How did you come up with the concept?
This is definitely what’s needed in hip-hop right now. I haven’t heard a hip-hop album with a full dialogue between a man and woman before — except for maybe the Fugees.

You were a boisterous ally for Barack Obama during his campaign. Did you get your invite to the White House yet?
I went to the White House Correspondents Dinner, and that was just as good as the White House. It was Mother’s Day, so I brought my mom. I was at the People magazine table, so I wasn’t sitting with anyone weird.

What can folks expect from your show Saturday? You’re the biggest star the Rays have landed.
Expect it to be extremely energetic, and for you to get your money’s worth and more. Writing music is one thing, but being able to perform in stadiums is another....Sometimes I get a little nervous, but once I hit the stage, it’s all energy from there.

Wait — Ludacris actually gets nervous?!
Yeah, but all I need is one mike, and then it’s takeoff.

Ludacris performs as part of the Rays Summer Concert Series. Game admission is good for concert, too. Game time is 6:08 p.m.; expect Ludacris to perform around 9 p.m.. Tropicana Field, 1 Stadium Drive, St. Petersburg. (888) 326-7297. TICKETS

Wanted: Your Sony Walkman memories

On July 1, 1979, the first Sony Walkman went on sale -- thus ushering in a generation of people who would never talk to each other again. The Walkman was a revolutionary device, a head-down, turn-it-up, block-out-the-world gizmo that would change everything.

And I loved it.

I'm working on a high-falutin' 30th anniversary piece for next month. And I'd love to hear YOUR testimonials about Sony's ear-pleasing invention. For most of the '80s, I would burn through one Walkman a year -- that sucker would be scratched, the door would be hanging off, there'd be sand caked in the crevices. Bliss. Not to get too maudlin, but the Walkman was also a pivotal device for a kid with loud, warring parents. Just pop in a tape, and the world was adios.

Anyway, let's hear it for the Sony Walkman...

Review: Animal Collective at the State Theatre, St. Pete

The sunshine dreams of Brian Wilson as remixed by Pablo Picasso. Or maybe: the Mormon Tabernacle Choir directed by the HAL 9000. Or how about this one: ringing Vegas slot machines as programmed by Timothy Leary. Yeah, that might do it.

You could spend great chunks of time, and a whole lotta drugs, trying to describe the deconstructed pop puzzles of Animal Collective, the Baltimore-based sound artists that have become the It Indie Band of 2009. They are restless, roving spirits -- definitely not radio ready. And yet they are hugely popular, hugely beloved, especially by the 705 fans at a sold-out and sparkling State Theatre on Monday.

Animal Collective -- sampler and sequencer Brian "Geologist" Weitz, singer/guitarist/spaz David "Avey Tare" Portner and singer/beatmaker Noah "Panda Bear" Lennox (pictured) -- is touring behind its eighth album, the newish Merriweather Post Pavilion, a titular nod to the Frank Gehry-designed concert venue in the planned prefab community of Columbia, Md. It's a brilliant concept album: an examination of suburban responsibility (the musicians are husbands, fathers) through fractured, but ultimately harmonious, pieces.

These guys make Radiohead look as grounded as the Stones, and yet in many ways, the good-natured AC is more accessible than Thom Yorke's mercurial crew. They blend the natural (guitar licks, real banging drums, angelic harmonies, quasi-yodeling) with blinking, bleeping electronic equipment that looks swiped from the the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. The ACers are also incurable romantics -- you just need to know where to listen.

Adam Lambert comes out to 'Rolling Stone': Yep, he's gay (and he was hot for Kris Allen!)

In the new ish of Rolling Stone, American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert finally reveals (or better yet confirms) that he's gay: "I'm proud of my sexuality. I embrace it. It's just another part of me."

The far juicier scoop is how he felt about Idol champ Kris Allen, the Evangelical aw-shucks Christian who was Lambert's roommate:

“I was like, ‘Oh, (bleep), they put me with the cute guy,”’ Lambert says. “Distracting! He’s the one guy that I found attractive in the whole group on the show: nice, nonchalant, pretty and totally my type — except that he has a wife. I mean, he’s open-minded and liberal, but he’s definitely 100 percent straight.”

In related news, Lambert today officially signed to 19 Recordings/RCA. His debut album is set for an autumnal release.

Lambert, Allen and the whole gang will bring the American Idols Live  tour to Tampa's St. Pete Times Forum on July 28. (TICKETS)

Brooke Hogan naked -- almost

Brooke Hogan |MTV Music

Did I ever tell you the story about Brooke Hogan kissing me? I was covering the MTV VMAs in Miami a few years back, and she was walking down the "white" carpet. (No, that's not a euphemism. MTV was so clever, they made the red carpet white.) Anyway, Brooke saw my press lanyard for the St. Pete Times and cried out, "My hometown paper! We love you guys!" She then descended upon me with rugged strength and planted one on my cheek. Unfortunately, it was 157 degrees in Miami that day, and I was coated in 6-inches of rank swampy sweat. So when she pulled away, I had slimed her good. The look on her face was horror. Ah, good times, good times. By the way, I'm willing to bet she doesn't "love" her hometown paper anymore. Just a hunch...

Here's new single Falling from her upcoming trainwreck The Redemption, due in stores July 21.

Questions for Counting Crows' Adam Duritz?

Adam Duritz and his mates in Counting Crows are coming to Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater on Aug. 17 (TICKETS). I've been a fan since the beginning, when I won a copy of 1993's August and Everything After at a crab-eating competition in Ocean City, Md. (Hey, I was lonely and had nothing better to do. This was right before I met the FF. Once I met her, I vowed never again to eat crustaceans for prize money.) I've seen the Crows scads of times, and I usually dig their live sound -- although it irks me to no end when Adam starts ad-libbing during A Murder of One. That song is too good to screw with. Just give it to me straight, man. I'll bug Adam about that when I interview him. But what else should I ask. Now's your chance...

WHO HAS QUESTIONS FOR ADAM DURITZ?

New Daughtry song "No Surprise"

Daughtry |MTV Music

Every now and then I like creamed chipped beef on toast. And every now and then I like a Daughtry song. The Bald Wonder sure has discovered a comfy microwaveable template, hasn't he? No surprise, indeed. New album Leave This Town comes out July 14. Whattaya think, Pop Lifers? You like the song?

Fogerty, Springsteen, Henley team up for new "Blue Ridge Rangers" album

Way back when, in the year 1973, John Fogerty released an album called The Blue Ridge Rangers, a tribute to his country roots. It was made after his acrimonious split with Creedence Clearwater Revival; as a thumbed-nose to his former mates, John played all the instruments in his new "band." Jambalaya was the big hit.

Now, 36 years later, in a grammatically suspect sequel called The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again, Fogerty is having his roots done one more time. But this time, instead of going it alone, he's called on such pals as Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit and drumming god Kenny Aronoff to help with such covers as John Prine's Paradise, John Denver's Back Home Again and the Everly Brothers' When Will I Be Loved. Should be a hoot(enanny). No release date yet, but he's shooting for late summer/early fall.

Review: The Black Eyed Peas' new album "The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies)"

The Black Eyed Peas
Album: The E.N.D. (Interscope)
In stores: Tuesday, June 9 
Why we care: The Black Eyed Peas have as much use for subtlety as fierce floozy Fergie has for pants. The quartet deals in oomphy, obvious, below-the-belt gestures — look no further than Boom Boom Pow, the biggest pop hit of the year, for a taste of what else is on The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies). Ringleader/beatmaker Will.i.am has no qualms (aka shame) biting iconic hooks for his own rumpy, midnight means, this includes swiping the juice from dance-floor classic It Takes Two by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock.
Why we like it: Fergie, who's even bigger as a solo star, and Will get all the loud parts, with Taboo and Apl.de.ap filling in the cracks. The vibe is buzzing synth, laser strikes, robo-beats -- buck-naked Buck Rogers. Zero calories, but good drunk food.
Reminds us of: The future...circa 1988
Download this: I Gotta Feeling
Grade: C+

Ultimate Playlist Challenge: The Circus Playlist

I just got the call from our pals at Personal Best. This week's Ultimate Playlist Challenge is all about...the circus. PB is doing a fitness-y cover story on Cirque du Soleil, which is bringing its Saltimbanco thingie to the St. Pete Times Forum June 25 to July 5. (TICKETS) To be honest, I'm not really into high-artsy double-jointed water aerobics crap, although the FF and I did enjoy Cirque's LOVE show in Vegas.

Anyway, PB wants iPod songs with a circus theme: clowns, tigers, rings of fire!!!! You can go with the whole Cirque acro-spinny stuff. I'm not sure if freaks are part of a circus, but what the heck, we'll take dog-faced boys and bearded ladies, too. So step right up and play The Circus Playlist. Here's a few to get us started...

Send in the Clowns -- Judy Collins (LISTEN)
I Want Out of the Circus -- Cracker
Elephant -- Damien Rice
Trapeze -- Patty Griffin
Ring of Fire -- Johnny Cash
Ballad of a Thin Man -- Bob Dylan
Hanginaround -- Counting Crows
Big Top Women -- Hank Williams Jr. (LISTEN)
Tears of a Clown -- Smokey Robinson

Podcast! My BFF William Katt talks 'Greatest American Hero', 'House' and 'Star Wars'

Look at what's happened to mee-eee-eee! I can't believe it myself! As many of you know, I'm a giant dork, and as a giant dork, I was downright giddy, babbly, stoopid when my boy William Katt called the Stuck in the '80s studios to talk about The Greatest American Hero. Not only did I love that show, but rumor has it I might own the first two seasons on DVD. Bill (yeah, he let me call him Bill) is a funny, candid dude with some great stories -- including how he auditioned for the role of Luke Skywalker. This week's podcast is another stellar production job from my co-host Steve Spears. Suddenly I'm up on top of the world! It should have been somebody else! ENJOY THE SHOW. 

A Wild 'n' Foggy Mountain Breakdown: Steve Martin's new banjo album 'The Crow'

Steve Martin
Album: The Crow (Rounder)
In stores: Now
Why we care: “This is the most expensive banjo album in the history of the universe, and that includes possible alternative universes, too.” Yes, it’s that Steve Martin, and yes this is a serious, star-studded undertaking. The day-job comedian has been playing the banjo (and playing it well) for 45 years, and for a vanity project, it's altogether winning. The bluegrass is straight-faced, the clawhammer is frenzied, yet there’s great yuks, too. From the droll, entertaining liner notes to the joyous kids’ cut Late for School (go to the 1:43 mark on the video above -- it's the only cut he sings on), the Other Steve is always lurking.
Why we like it: Lord of the banjo Earl Scruggs shows up to get down. Vince Gill and Dolly Parton duet on heartbreaker Pretty Flowers, which Martin performed on an admittedly odd, awkward American Idol spot. (It didn't help that he was saddled with Megan Joy and "Big Oil" Michael Sarver as vocalists.) Although it probably wasn't intended for young'uns, The Crow makes a great children's album, too.
Reminds us of: Wild ’n’ Foggy Mountain Breakdown (or maybe My Bluegrass Heaven)
Download this: Late for School
Grade: A

Questions for Ludacris?

Ludacris, aka rapper-actor-Obama-lovin'-gadly Christopher Bridges, will be giving a "free" concert after the Rays-Nats game at Tropicana Field on June 13. You still have to buy a ticket to watch our boys of summer beat on D.C. butt, but you get to stick around and shake yo rump to such bumpin' Luda hits as Money Maker and my mom's favorite Pimpin' All Over the World. (TICKETS) I like the Hotlanta star a lot, and am looking forward to chatting with him on Friday. He has a new album out this fall (Battle of the Sexes) and has two new movies coming out (Ball Don't Lie and Gamer). But more than that, I wanna ask him about the pressure of playing after a Rays game. After all, Longoria & Co. are 9-0 on Free Concert Night. Luda doesn't want to be the guy who ends that streak. Anyway...

WHO HAS QUESTIONS FOR LUDACRIS?