A rumor began circulating early last week that star of the popular 2008 rom-com “How To Be”, Robert Pattinson had stopped by Rockworms.com for somewhere between 45 seconds and one minute and twenty-seven seconds, based on detailed Google Analytics statistics.

Pattinson, having Lexus-Nexus searched for information regarding the then-breaking story of Steven Tyler leaving Aerosmith, supposedly took a look at our popular music news blog before deciding that RollingStone.com might be a better option.

Pattinson joins the lengthy echelon of popular public figures to have potentially visited our blog in the last 2 years including Taylor Swift (searching for info on which member of Boyz II Men contracted the H1N1 virus), actress Julianne Moore and President of the United States Barack Obama, who inadvertently clicked on our banner ad.

You are always welcome back Robert Pattinson! Next time you come through, be sure to leave a comment!

Almost forgot about this.

I went to check out The Clipse show at HIRO Ballroom here in New York last month.

It was a pretty good show. The opening acts were pretty decent. However, The Clipse, were by far, the best on the bill. As they should have been.

I saw a bouncer throw a cocky dude down the hallway as I was leaving. That was my favorite part.

Tyler, who it seems to have left the band to further cement his brand, which he clever dubbed “Brand Tyler”  has been unavailable for comment.  Aerosmith guitar virtuoso Joe Perry was quoted as saying that Steve might still be in the band, but since Tyler is “notoriously bad” at returning phone calls, he really doesn’t know.

This story got much less interesting as I researched it more.

I’m sure the band is still together. Go back about your business, nerds.

One Swine Day?

Water Runs Swine?

I hope that he doesn’t die. That would make me evil.

The new short, We Were Once A Fairytale was shot over 2 days at a West Hollywood nightclub. “We rehearsed the night before we shot, and talked about trying to get to that raw place, that sad, pathetic, drunken, lost place,” Jonze said. “I told him, the more shameless it is, the more pathetic it is, the better. He just went for it.”

Jonze, currently received both critical and audience praise for his helming of the current top-grossing motion picture “Where The Wild Things Are” knows that not everyone is currently sitting comfortably atop the Kanye West bandwagon. This doesn’t fade the auteur.

“I like Kanye and I care about him. This video is a side of him. I don’t know what the reception is going to be, but I love making stuff with him. I love the guy.”

While no official release date for the short film has been announced, West did place an unfinished copy on his blog, which he then later pulled in favor of keeping the short under wraps until a finalized, more polished project could be unveiled.

Credit: Rolling Stone and 411mania.com

WOW!

Its only been 4 years since I worked daily in college radio, but I totally forgot that CMJ was happening right now right here in Manhattan! Am I going to attend? NO! But I did pick up a free pamphlet that told me all about the festival and let me tell you all something: I don’t recognize anybody! Even the headliner of the fest (Atlas Sound) means nothing to me! What has happened? Have I lost touched with my indie roots? Have I gotten too caught up on the endless cycle of the shuffle button on my iPod that I have forgotten about the necessary need to reload the machine with new bands and songs? Yes! And more stuff like that too!

But the festival does look pretty nice. Judging from the L Magazine, Brooklyn’s own “The Grooms” are going to be a major attraction at this years fest. Also “the XX” (which the Romans dubbed simply as “twenty”) are expected to make a substantial apperance. Also the old trustworthy’s Ted Leo, Cold Cave, and Surf City.

But my favorite part of the fesitval is going through the directory and picking out my favorite unknown band names. Criteria for picking out bands as “favs” comes from a few sources: most originality, best obscure pop culture references and most importantly, how foolish a hipster would look if he attempted to brag about seeing them while keeping a straight face.

Below are my favorites from CMJ 2009:

-Tiger! Shit! Tiger! Tiger!
-Philip Seymour Hoffman
-Paper or Plastic?
-Rumspringa
-Steve Shiffman and the Land of No
-Silly Kissers
-Die! Die! Die!
-Freelance Whales
-Surprise guest (might not actually be the name of a band as much as an announcement, but if that ISN’T a real name, I would totally use it)
-You, You’re Awesome
-Das Racist
-Moondoggies
-Casino vs. Japan
-Unicycle Loves You

Hope everyone had a good time at the festival! Feel free to tell my editors you saw me there, feverishly scribbling notes in chunky black framed glasses while wearing New Balance sneakers and drinking fair-trade decaf espresso!

Today a pleasant surprise came to my inbox. Star & Micey. “Soulful Folk Pop” from Memphis, TN. The album is due out 10/20, and I’m gonna get my listen on and post a review soon. In the meantime, the good people at Ardent Music are offering a few tracks for free.
Here are a few tracks:

You can download the MP3 for free at: http://starandmicey.bandcamp.com/

Keep us posted on your life Star & Micey. We just met you, but we’d like to stay in touch!

Actually, to say that I am a fan of them at all would be a bit of a stretch. I’ve never dug their sound and aesthetically, their pomp was always a bit much for me (same reason I never got into hair metal) . But about every 2 years, I will get onto a bit of a Stones kick (I should rename is my bi-yearly “kick in the Stones”). I am on one of them right now. I am primarily just listening to two track “Under My Thumb” and “Get Off Of My Cloud”, but there is some other pretty great music out there.

I hear stories of people in my parents generation having to kind of take a stand and defend if they were a Beatles fan or a Stones fan and if you were one you couldn’t be the other. I think that mindset rolls over in the subconscious of mine and perhaps future generations. At a young age, I chose the Fab 4 and have been hesitant to listen to anything Jaggar related. But the more I hear, the more I realize how different their styles are. I would argue the Rolling Stones to be much more comparable to The Doors than the Beatles.

Either way, I am giving them another look. It won’t last long, but it will be fun.

I know you wanted to know.

And then she dragged her daughter out on stage. That didn’t help matters much. Her daughter kept repeating “clap your hands” a demand which no one in the capacity, standing room outside venue took to heart. Mainly because she said it so unenthusiastically that no one really believed that they had to. And they didn’t. So they did not.

In short, I don’t know if this is a return of Whitney, because truthfully I didn’t know that she had gone anywhere, but for the people who were going nuts for her in the crowd…they may want to re-consider their choices in female quasi-pop talent.

Because she sucked.

The book, titled The Gospel of Hip Hop: The First Instrument, is Kris’s (his Christian name) plea for all true b-boys and cipher circles to embrace the coming age where we all will abandon what they currently perceive to be truth, and embrace the acknowledgment that all pure peace and understanding can only come from the glory of basking in the light of all that is Chingy. Omarion had no comment.

“It explores the spirituality of Hip-Hop, the divinity of Hip-Hop. I’m suggesting that in 100 years, this book will be a new religion on the earth,” - says the remaining, living member of Boogie Down Productions.  Hip-Hop blogs are excited about this and are blogging about it like its going to bring Big L back (spoiler alert: he won’t. He is very, very dead).

You probably won’t want to read this book. Just a heads up.

Credit: my good friends at The Onion’s A/V Club.

Pete actually has the ability to make girls eyes glow with lust when he sings to them.

Other than looking a little blurry, he put on a fantastic show!

As an added bonus, Malaysian Micro-Sensation Zee Avi opened up for Yorn. Zee belted out smooth and sorrowful melodies set to finger snapping drum n bass and she plucked along on her guitar (named Monty) and her Ukulele.

I’VE HAD BLISTAS ON MY FINGAS!!!

MSG.com - O.A.R. at MSG Sweepstakes - Madison Square Garden - New York

MSG.com is giving away tix to the OAR show next week. Click the image for deets!

Jay-Z aka Young Hova will release his newest collection of ill cuts The Blueprint 3 on September the 11th. Check out the art.

Oooooooookaaaaay…

Not really what any of us were expecting, but more power to you Jay. This cover is the first time a Jay-Z album has been released without his face on it. Yup. Its true. Google it.

At the recent Green Day show at New York’s Madison Square Garden, opening act, the quite talented Kaiser Chiefs‘ frontman Ricky Wilson BROKE HIS FREAKIN’ RIB!

Before the power of rock!

The band relseased a statment today to announce Wilson’s injury: “Ricky Wilson fell jumping between the barrier and the stage, breaking a rib in the process whilst the band had been playing. The rest of the shows will still go ahead as they criss-cross America – Ricky’s had treatment and decided the tour goes on.”

The Kaiser Chiefs are supposed to open all the way to Green Day’s August 7th show in New Orleans, LA, following which Franz Ferdinand, one of my favorite bands, will take over as their feature. Green Day has American dates booked through August 25th at which point they are crossing the pond and flooding Europe followed by Australia with their ear-splitting (and evidently, rib-breaking) brand of rock.

Credit: Music-News.com

Pete will be playing the Fine Line in Minneapolis on Thursday - August 13th (link). No rumors yet that Ms. Johansson will join him on stage - but we’ll be there, and we sure wouldn’t mind!

Billy Joe and Crew are warming up at MSG for tonight and tomorrow nights shows.

Really AOL? This is your company picnic?

A sweet little article about how U2 continues to reach…if not musically, at least aesthetically.

Even though the kids I went to school with who liked Cursive were all weird…this still looks like a pretty solid freebie tape:

O+S, Beep Beep, Ladyfinger, Cursive and Tokyo Police Club all contributed a song or two… give it a spin - it’s free!

I really like the way these three Rocafella artists were arranged on this song and it makes for an enjoyable listen. Not so much a hot trunk banga’ for the thugs and the clubs but more as just a quality single. From what I hear, this along with D.O.A. (Death of Autotune) are setting the stage quite well for the upcoming album.

Give it a listen and let us ROCK BOYZ know how you feel? Less Rihanna? More Kanye? Just perfect?