"Actor Michael McKean, who starred in the film "This is Spinal Tap" and TV's "Laverne and Shirley," was recovering Tuesday night in a Manhattan hospital after he was struck by a car on the upper West Side, police sources said.

McKean, 64, who played Lenny on the hit television show, was seen bleeding from the head after a car barreled into him at W. 86th St. and Broadway just before 3 p.m., witnesses and the FDNY said.

The actor, who also portrayed Spinal Tap's lead singer and guitarist David St. Hubbins in the cult classic "This is Spinal Tap," was initially taken to St. Luke's Hospital in critical condition, fire officials said.

His status was upgraded to stable condition at the hospital where doctors discovered he had a broken leg, according to his publicist Harriet Sternberg. [Daily News]

Ouch! But it sounds like he's doing ok (though he won't be able to perform his latest Broadway role as "Dick Jensen" in Gore Vidal's "The Best Man" this Wednesday - it will be the first time he's ever missed work according to the Daily News.)

None More Eleven: A Spinal Tap Appreciation Event

On the historic evening of 11/11/11, musicians from the rock, pop, soul, metal, jazz, classical, & experimental worlds will present a tribute to the sights, sounds, and smells of a hard-working rock band on the road. The night will feature literal adapations of Tap classics, non-literal deconstructions of Tap failures, world premieres of never performed Tap "lost gems", and lots and lots of exploding drummers.

Featuring performances by Julee Cruise ("Twin Peaks"), Chris Butler (The Waitresses), Mike Fornatale (The Left Banke/The Monks), Joe McGinty (The Psychedelic Furs/Loser's Lounge), Weasel Walter (The Flying Luttenbachers), Mike Lerner (Behold...The Arctopus), The Tall Pines, & members of Project/Object, Kayo Dot, Time of Orchids, Spray Paint Star, Illuminati, and many more.

If you've ever listened to the flower people, stood in a hell hole, or worked on a sex farm, then tonight we're gonna rock you. And have a good time all the time.

Tickets are still on sale for the show happening at at The Rock Shop in Brooklyn tonight.

The Left Banke, if you want to call them that, play Drom on Saturday (11/12)

DOWNLOAD: The Raveonettes - Come on Santa (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Pollyn - December as a Child (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Future Clouds and Radar - Christmas Day 1923 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: 65daysofstatic - I'm Dreaming of a White Noise Christmas (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Bran Flakes - Lovely Sleigh Ride (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Whitman - Hangover Holiday (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Nina Hynes - Twinkle (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gorgons - Silver Bells (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Charles De Mar - This Christmas (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Secret Machines (Brandon Curtis) - Silent Night (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Coulourmusic - In A Sentimental Mood (MP3)

tonight in NYC
* DM Stith @ The Stone
* Processing X-Mas @ The Stone

Merry Christmas!

Our thoughts and prayers are with Vic Chesnutt.

On TV:

What started out as a scheduling lark -- Turner's 24-hour "A Christmas Story" marathon -- has now spread across the cable yuletide landscape.

For the 13th year in a row, Turner will dust off the 1983 cult fave, which will air this year from 8 p.m. Christmas Eve until 8 p.m. Christmas Day on TBS....Turner rivals have taken notice -- which means TBS isn't the only cabler decking the halls with a wall-to-wall marathon this year.

Leading the alternatives to "A Christmas Story" is FX, which is planning to run the movie "Night at the Museum" for a full day, also from Christmas Eve evening to Christmas Day evening. FX sister Fox Movie Channel will do the same with "Home Alone."...Over at AMC, the cabler is splitting its holiday marathon in two, running 1954's "White Christmas" all Christmas Eve night, and then 1989's "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" all Christmas day.

Then there's Spike TV, which will spend Dec. 25 running "Bad Santa" over and over again. [Variety]

A Holiday Poem from Brendan Benson and Cory Chisel, and other videos below.

What else?

Continue reading "What's Going on Friday? (Christmas)"

Beast @ CMJ 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

Lady Gaga was nominated five times. Considering her rocket to fame over the last year, many were expecting more for her. But at least the contests are going to be really interesting: Beyoncé, [Taylor] Swift and Lady Gaga are going head to head in three of the most important categories: album, record and song of the year. Will one of them sweep, or will the lady vote be split?

One of the usual complaints about the Grammys is that it over-rewards older, established, familiar acts at the expense of newer, fresher ones. MGMT, the Brooklyn synth-rock duo, was nominated for best new artist, a big coup although not unexpected. But some of the shoulda-been names that have been circulated and Tweeted: Grizzly Bear, another acclaimed Brooklyn group; Regina Spektor, a young New York songwriter who started in the underground and has found some mainstream popularity; Diane Birch, a young soul-style singer, just the revivalist type the Grammys usually adore; and the Decemberists, an alt-folk-rock band from Portland, Ore., that released an ambitious concept album this year. [NY Times]

Neko Case, Imogen Heap, Phoenix, Silversun Pickups, David Byrne, Wilco, Death Cab for Cutie, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs are some of the other familiar names in the list of Grammy nominees this year. As Ben Sisario in the NY Times alludes, the nominations are a complete joke and predictable... but fun to look at anyway. Nobody expects Animal Collective to get picked, despite their soon-to-be status of being one of the highly rated artists of the year (and decade maybe).

One surprise (for me anyway) came this year in the video category. Montreal's Beast were nominated for "Mr. Hurricane". That video with a list of some of the other nominees, below...

Continue reading "Beast's 'Mr. Hurricane' video & other 2009 Grammy nominees "

Tickets are on sale (@10am) for the recently added Unwigged & Unplugged (Spinal Tap) show at The Beacon Theatre.

Tickets for Metallica's MSG show go on "Internet Presale" at 10am [ password(s) = TRUNK and/or hemetal ]. Regular sale starts Saturday.

Spoof band Spinal Tap have announced a "world tour" consisting of a single June date at London's Wembley Arena.

The tour marks the 25th anniversary of mockumentary film, This is Spinal Tap, which launched the band's career.

The band will be backed by 1960s folk trio The Folksmen, the focus of another spoof film, 2003's A Mighty Wind.

Spinal Tap's lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel commented: "If we're going to do a World tour on only one night, at least it's this world."

Bassist Derek Smalls added: "one night is not enough, and it's way too much". [BB C]

Christopher Guest, Michael McKean & Harry Shearer, the men wearing the wigs in Spinal Tap, aren't going on a world tour, but they are going on a much larger tour which includes 2 NYC shows at Beacon Theater. One (5/26) has been on sale for over a month. One (5/27), though initially announced by the band, was just announced by the venue.

Tickets for the March May 27th show at Beacon Theater go on pre-sale this morning at 10 am. [ Password = UNWIGGED ]. Regular sale starts 24 hours later.

Video from Spinal Tap's 2007 Live Earth appearance, below...

Continue reading "2nd Unwigged show PRESALE & a Spinal Tap "World Tour""

Christopher Guest had a one-season stint, 1984-85, as a cast member on NBC's Saturday Night Live. Recurring characters on SNL played by Guest include: Frankie, of Willie and Frankie (two co-workers who recount in detail physically painful situations in which they've found themselves); Herb Minkman, a shady novelty toymaker with a brother named Al (played by Billy Crystal); Rajeev Vindaloo, an eccentric foreign man in the same vein as Andy Kaufman's Latka character from Taxi; and Senor Cosa, a Spanish ventriloquist often seen on the recurring spoof of The Joe Franklin Show. He also experimented behind the camera with pre-filmed sketches, notably directing a documentary-style short starring Harry Shearer and Martin Short as synchronized swimmers. In another short film from SNL, Guest and Crystal appear as retired Negro-League baseball players, "The Rooster and the King."

He has also appeared as Count Rugen in The Princess Bride, Charley Ford in The Long Riders, Lord Cromer in Mrs Henderson Presents and Dr. Stone in A Few Good Men. He had a cameo role as Dylan, a smarmy pedestrian, in the 1986 remake of The Little Shop of Horrors. As a co-writer and director, Guest made the Hollywood satire The Big Picture.

Guest's biggest role of the first two decades of his career, however, is likely that of Nigel Tufnel in the 1984 "rockumentary" film This Is Spinal Tap. Amplifier manufacturers actually began to produce amps with knobs going up to 11 (rather than the traditional scale of 10), as a result of a popular scene where a benighted Tufnel proudly shows off such an amp, believing it to be louder. "This one goes to 11!" has become something of a mantra among musicians ever since. Guest made his first appearance as Tufnel on the 1978 sketch comedy program The TV Show, and appears as Tufnel most recently in a television ad for Volkswagen. [Wikipedia]

Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer will be performing songs from Spinal Tap, Break Like The Wind, and A Mighty Wind on the UNWIGGED & UNPLUGGED TOUR this spring.

Tickets for the first of two NYC shows at the Beacon Theater go on "Internet presale" today, Thursday, at 10 AM. PASSWORD = UNWIGGED

The trio made two separate videos promoting the tour. Check them out below...

Continue reading "Spinal Tap (Unwigged & Unplugged) - Beacon Theater PRESALE & tour-related videos"

Actors/Directors/Musicians and Comedy Icons Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer are doing something they have never done before; performing a six week, 30 city multi-media acoustic tour without wigs and electric instruments.

UNWIGGED & UNPLUGGED: An Evening with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer has the legendary musical and comedic trio performing music from heavy metal's loudest band Spinal Tap along with the folk music from A Mighty Wind, and more.

Tickets for the UNWIGGED & UNPLUGGED tour go on sale Friday, March 6th (mostly at Ticketmaster), with the tour starting Friday, April 17th in Vancouver and ending Sunday, May 31st in Milwaukee.

UNWIGGED & UNPLUGGED is not about funny costumes and characters, but rather three long time friends and collaborators who make each laugh and love nothing better than to find some excuse to get together and play music. The trio commented, "With this being the 25th Anniversary of the film This is Spinal Tap, we thought this would be a fun and at the same time, a little challenging, as we have never performed as ourselves. Think of the evening as three old friends jamming in your living room. As opposed to OUR living rooms; we won't be home."

The NYC shows (plural) are May 26th and May 27th at the Beacon Theatre. More info, all dates and exact on-sale dates, below....

Continue reading "Christopher Guest, Michael McKean & Harry Shearer performing music from SPINAL TAP & more - 2009 DATES"