It is my extreme pleasure to inform you all that this week’s post has as many great links as last week’s. Enjoy!: Secrets of the space blobs … It’s like “tryin’ to breathe through your feet” … Behold the bamboo bike … Spike Lee marks 20 years since Do the Right Thing, and it’s been 25 years since the release of Prince’s masterpiece, Purple Rain … “I have huge respect for many thoughtful religious people—I just think they’re incorrect” … But not as incorrect as Fox News … Rock on: Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White spend two days together; “He was just screaming, ‘Kill, kill, kill‘ in Swedish as they were holding him down”; a thousand pounds of heavy metal; dad, dad, daddy-o … 
Speaking of fathers, the First Dad reflects … A couple of tough old warriors are still taking orders and carrying them out … “[T]hat’s been the problem with our Jewish friends for centuries” … The whole word could be fed solely by Africa … “You know you’re screwed when two of your biggest creditors are your ex-wife and your former boss” … I love America, so many choices … The making of a memory … I scream, you scream, we all scream wtf … Soundgarden reunion in the works? … A 250,000,000-year nap … Guess what country’s lingerie stores are staffed almost entirely by men … Richard Marx is ashamed, but not of his career … For footy fetishists: the US is slowly climbing the ladder; life bans on some brave Iranians; damn the vuvuzela … We might be related … Ryan Grim explains how the media covered for the CIA amid the Iran-Contra drug scandal … I was happy to see Jeff Buckley on it but Stevie Wonder shoulda been higher, Brian Wilson shoulda been way higher, and Chris Cornell, Brad Delp, Bruce Dickinson, Ronnie James Dio, Elizabeth Fraser, Michael McDonald, Seal, Geoff Tate and Ann Wilson shoulda been on the list … More on that list’s No. 25: Stevie Wonder took it hard; “I hope they cover up the autopsy report”; A. Whitney Brown on the celebrity sickness; he’s “only a ‘symbol of our cultural rot’ because we put him there“; a talented singer in his own right recalls the Gloved One talking with Leonard Bernstein about acne; Diana Ross didn’t discover MJ, and you’ll be surprised to know who did … Friend of S&R Wendy Norris is moving on … And finally, the one and only William Shatner gives Conan O’Brien a night to remember. ∞
Categories: Features, Nota Bene, scholars and rogues
Progressive Culture | Scholars & Rogues 
The Malmsteen story is outrageous. Hard to believe they got away with it. Airline really only had to check its seating records to charge them with crimes.
That Rolling Stone greatest singers list (actually from last year) is probably their strangest best-of ever. And I’ve liked none of them. Part of the problem, besides, as usual, seeming to be arrived at by some consensus of what should be on there (as opposed to what they want to be on it), is that it tried to include too much: r & b, blues, jazz. It’s neither here nor there.
Now that you mention it, strange that Elizabeth Fraser — one of the most inventive singers in rock history — wasn’t included. Thanks for citing her!
We can always argue over placement when it’s close, and I obviously don’t like all of the RS rankings here. But they have Sam Cooke at #4 (three spots too low, but close enough) and Orbison in the top 15. So at least there aren’t any quick reasons to automatically dismiss the list, and that’s unusual for these kinds of projects.
“The Malmsteen story is outrageous”
Fortunately for them, this was still in the Golden Age of Asshat Rockers Acting with Impunity which of course reached its pinnacle with Keith Moon. 9/11 pretty much ended all that.
“That Rolling Stone greatest singers list (actually from last year) is probably their strangest best-of ever.”
RS has reeked since the mid-80’s… still, better than Blender. I used that link as an excuse to mention some of my favorites. I did dig some of the guest commentaries though.
“Elizabeth Fraser”
Based on what I’ve heard over the years from friends, strangers and critics, she probably has as many detractors as devotees. I think her voice is often miraculous, especially on the Twins’ later work. ‘Heaven or Las Vegas’ is a particular favorite.