One of the things that makes The Hold Steady great, besides their aural blend of The Replacements and Springsteen (I can’t tell you how many times people have actually asked if it was The Boss we were listening to) is that Craig Finn is one of us.  You get the sense that even though he is now a rock star, at 37 the dude hasn’t forgotten how unbearably shitty or equally wonderful life can be.  And on both occasions he’s in the bar drinking away the pain or pouring another in celebration.

Their new tune sounds a lot like several of their other tunes, which is slightly annoying but also gratifyingly sweet.  Much in the same way that Craig Finn probably looks at life when he was attending Boston College or working some crap job watching the clock and bolting out the door at 5 p.m. and heading for the bar or the practice space.

Mp3: The Hold Steady - “Sequestered in Memphis”

“Sequested In Memphis,” from the forthcoming Stay Positive LP, is available on iTunes now.  The album will be available 6/15 on Vagrant.  Also, the band is currently on tour so check them out when they cruise into town.

Also: Some early reviews of the album have begun to pop up online. UNCUT Magazine has a very positive one here and The Music Magazine Blog has a track by track breakdown here.

HOLD STEADY SUMMER TOUR
07.17 - Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
07.18 - Pontiac, MI - Crofoot Ballroom
07.19 - Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Festival
07.21 - Madison, WI - Majestic Theatre
07.22 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
07.23 - Fargo, ND - Fargo Theatre
07.26 - Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party
07.27 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
07.29 - San Francisco, CA - Mezzanine
07.30 - Los Angeles, CA - Avalon
08.02 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre
08.03 - El Paso, TX - Club 101
08.05 - Dallas, TX - Palladium Ballroom
08.06 - Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa
08.08 - Oxford, MS - Proud Larry’s
08.09 - Athens, GA - 40 Watt
08.10 - Charleston, SC - The Pourhouse
08.12 - Carrborro, NC - Cat’s Cradle
08.13 - Norfolk, VA - The Norva

We’ve been concentrating a lot on the new Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku project at FOX, Dollhouse. But FOX also has a new show in the works from god J.J. Abrams. It’s called Fringe and is sort of an FBI investigation show, revolving around mystery and science.

Hercules at AICN put it best: “What if somebody at ABC said, “Y’know, David Lynch is a fucking genius. Maybe we should give his show a year in a decent timeslot and see what happens.”

What if someone at Fox said, “Y’know, what would happen if Scully started remembering all the crazy shit she saw in the previous episode every week?”

What if somebody at ABC said, “Y’know, J.J., instead of exploring Sydney’s relationship with her boring fucking half-sister for two seasons, how about digging a little deeper into this Milo Rambaldi business?”

Press Release: From J.J. Abrams (”Lost”), Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the team behind “Star Trek,” “Mission: Impossible III” and “Alias,” comes a new drama that will thrill, terrify and explore the blurring line between science fiction and reality.

When an international flight lands at Boston’s Logan Airport and the passengers and crew have all died grisly deaths, FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham (newcomer Anna Torv) is called in to investigate. After her partner, Special Agent John Scott (Mark Valley, “Boston Legal”), is nearly killed during the investigation, a desperate Olivia searches frantically for someone to help, leading her to DR. Walter Bishop (John Noble, “Lord of the Rings”), our generation’s Einstein. There’s only one catch: he’s been institutionalized for the last 20 years, and the only way to question him requires pulling his estranged son Peter (Joshua Jackson, “Dawson’s Creek”) in to help.

When Olivia’s investigation leads her to manipulative corporate executive Nina Sharp (Blair Brown, “Altered States”), our unlikely trio along with fellow FBI Agents Phillip Broyles (Lance Reddick, “The Wire”), Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo, “Oz”) and Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”) will discover that what happened on Flight 627 is only a small piece of a larger, more shocking truth.

I had high hopes for the CW’s remake of 90210 when it was announced Cupid and Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas was going to be the creative force behind this show.  Alas, he’s nowhere to be found and the new showrunners are Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah.  The duo were writer’s on the short lived Judd Apatow high school show Freaks & Geeks, but they are also responsible for Life As We Know It.

The thing is, if you watch reruns of the original Beverly Hills 90210, created by Darren Star, it wasn’t that good.  Poorly written and acted, but for whatever reason there is something that works about the show.  Ian Zeiring perhaps?

And obviously the template of following around salacious rich kids works.  See The OC and Gossip Girl. Regardless, the update with some random people like Aunt Becky from Full House and Jessica “Lucille Bluth” Walters and Michael from The Wire (dear god how do you go from that show to this?  They should have worked in the plot line that his character was the same and Michael got adopted by a rich family and had to move from inner-city Baltimore) doesn’t look promising.  I can honestly say, this is one show I’m not anticipating in the fall.

It’s funny cause you don’t know what they’re saying and it’s sort of racist. What? No Hello Kitty? Still, Kristen Wiig needs to get her own sitcom cause she’s an SNL MVP. Also, it’s worth watching for the hilarious introduction by Ricky Gervais, which only confirms that the original is still the better of the two.

No-hitters are not uncommon in baseball. In any given season you maybe get two, possibly three. It’s not like the no-hitter is a perfect game (17 since MLB has been keeping stats) or the unassisted triple play (the rarest of feats with only 14 accomplished since records have been kept), but when you are a Cancer-survivor, only a year removed from treatment, it is something beyond special.

It is a benchmark, like Lance Armstrong or Mario Lemieux before him, that Jon Lester has set; not just for other pitchers but for Cancer survivors and those going through treatment everywhere. Last night Jon Lester told the world that yes, anything is indeed possible. Cancer is not necessarily an end.

In a baseball season quickly becoming remembered for the illicit actions of past players like the detestable Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, it is moments like last night that remind us why we love baseball.

And Lester? He’s looked like a 24-year-old former wunderkind in the middle of a learning curve. He’s physically stronger now that he’s further removed from cancer treatments, and he has added a changeup to complement his fastball, curveball and cutter. But he entered the game with a 2-2 record, a 3.95 ERA and 33 strikeouts and 29 walks.

Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury’s diving catch on Guillen’s blooper in the fourth will be remembered as the no-hit saver in much the same way Dustin Pedroia’s spectacular defense preserved Buchholz’s no-hitter against Baltimore in September. But it was impossible to overlook the contribution of catcher Jason Varitek, who did the usual mind-meld with his pitcher on the way to catching his fourth career no-hitter. “Every pitcher has complete trust in what he calls,” Farrell said when reached by phone Monday night, “and that allows guys to relax so that their best stuff comes out.”

Catcher Jason Varitek has now caught four no-hitters by four different pitchers, which is, I believe a record.  But the story of the night is the Red Sox pitcher.  He may never be a Cy Young Award winner (so often those who throw no-hitters seem to not be Cy Young Award winners and vice versa [remember Nolan Ryan, he of seven no-hitters never won the Cy Young Award!?!]) but Lester will slot in nicely to the middle of the rotation for years to come.  Very good and reliable third and fourth starters are what helps build championships.

When the game ended, the no-hitter no longer in doubt, manager Terry Francona came onto the field and hugged the pitcher like a dad would his son.  Hugging the breath right out of him.  Lester shared the essence of their conversation in an on-field TV interview.

“He said he was proud of me,” Lester said. “We’ve been through a lot the last couple of years, and he’s been like a second dad to me. It’s just a special moment right there.”

Photo credit: (Jim Davis/Boston Globe)

Actress Scarlet Johansson came out with an album of Tom Waits covers recently. And it was slightly better than Eddie Murphy’s album with “Party All the Time” but not as good as Zooey Deschanel’s album. Anyway, Johansson sings just like you’d expect. She’s all husky vocals and sounds like she’s about to choke all over the words. Still, her scruffy looking hipster backing band is quite good and she’s pleasant on the eyes. So here ya go.

The more I see of this Ben Stiller directed movie, the more I think it could be a sleeper hit this summer.  Besides having comedy heavy weights like Stiller and Jack Black in the cast, it’s got Robert Downey Jr. lampooning “serious actors” and coming off the success of Iron Man.

And it actually looks funny.

Tropic Thunder blows shit up August 15

The Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy starring, Matrix-y like thriller Wanted has been dragging its feet in the sand. It looks a bit silly and is having a hard time gaining any sort of traction in this summer landscape.

This new featurette courtesy of Empire Online shows that the film will be long of insane action sequences and probably short of coherent plot points. Ah summer movies.

In the movie James McAvoy is recruited by a stoic (would you expect any other emotive quality?) Morgan Freeman to assassinate people with magical bullets. Definitely worth checking out, since it made me think I’d be excited for this movie, even if I’m not really.

I don’t know what it is about Pixar’s upcoming Wall-E, but he’s such an endearing robot and the movie isn’t even out yet. I think people respond to him in a way that they haven’t responded to an animated character before. It’s like there is this strange connection for the little guy. We’ll see if that carries over when the movie comes out.

Disney and Pixar have created a live action Wall-E and the little guy is just as cute.

So someone challenged Jessica Alba to a staring contest on I Beat You and she responded in kind. To be honest I blinked like 20 seconds into the video as soon as it dawned on me that yes, that really is Jessica Alba. Very cool of her to do this.

My confession is thus: More than Iron Man, The DarK Knight or even Indiana Jones the movie I’m most looking forward to this summer is Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

There’s no reason behind it, but I sort of jibe to the Hellboy world and how he’s this petulant teenager that may or may not be the son of Satan, but rather than succumb to his destiny he chooses to be good.  That makes the tagline of this poster really sweet: “Believe it or not he’s the good guy.”

Director Guillermo del Toro looks to be hitting his stride creatively and it’s kind of cool to see this movie advertised as “From the visionary directory of Pan’s Labyrinth.” [coming soon]

Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army hits theaters on July 11th 2008.

The damn is starting to break on Joss Whedon’s upcoming FOX show Dollhouse, which was conceived alongside star Eliza Dusku.  The idea for the show came during a lunch meeting between the two, according to an interview that Joss gave with the LA Times.

“But I was trying to get a movie off the ground, “Goners.” “Wonder Woman” had already crashed and burned. “Goners” they had already lost control of the instruments, but who knows? So things were not that auspicious, but I was working it. Not shunning television but not intending to come back. But as we discussed Eliza’s predicament, I started giving her some ideas about what I thought she would need: a genre show so she could be political without being partisan; an ensemble show so she didn’t have to be in every scene. And I thought about it for a bit and then literally went, oh, curse word, I just came up with the show and the title. And it was the title that I knew I was doomed. Because if you have the title, you know it’s right. And that’s just bad,” said Whedon.

“When we really discussed the whole thing, she said, ‘You’re talking about my life. In my life, everybody tells me who they want me to be while I try and figure out who I am.’ And that spoke to me. I agreed that I’ll write and maybe oversee the pilot. So I went home and said, ‘Honey, I’m sorry, I accidentally agreed to a Fox show at lunch.’”

The show is set up as a midseason replacement that will air as the lead in show to 24, probably as good as any time slot as you could hope.  It’s just dependent on how fatigued the audience is for 24. The past two seasons have been pretty poor quality wise.  Regardless, it’s a good slot for Joss and Eliza’s new show.

What’s interesting though, is that FOX is going to try a new advertising model with Dollhouse and the J.J. Abrams produced Fringe. According to the Hollywood Reporter, FOX has decided to show only five-minutes worth of commercials during the hour-long shows, which is significantly less than the standard 15-20 minutes.

“It’s a simple concept and potentially revolutionary,” Fox Entertainment Chairman Peter Liguori said. “We’re going to have less commercials, less promotional time, and less reason for viewers to use the remote. We’re going to redefine the viewing experience.”

But ultimately that depends on the quality of the shows.  Whedon and Abrams are two of the best in the business and now FOX needs to stand by them and support the shows by guaranteeing a full season order.  That’s one reason why people don’t become invested in shows right away, because there is no guarantee that the show will air for more than five or six episodes.

So, what can you expect of Dollhouse? Here’s the press release:

Joss Whedon, creator of groundbreaking cult favorites “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly,” returns to television and reunites with fellow “Buffy” alumna Eliza Dushku for a thrilling new drama, DOLLHOUSE.

ECHO (Dushku) is an “Active,” a member of a highly illegal and underground group who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. Confined to a secret facility known as the “Dollhouse,” Echo and the other Actives including SIERRA (Dichen Lachman, “Neighbours”) and VICTOR (Enver Gjokaj, “The Unit”) carry out engagements assigned by ADELLE (Olivia Williams, “X-Men: The Last Stand,” “Rushmore”), one of the Dollhouse leaders.

The engagements cater to the wealthy, powerful and connected, and require the Actives to immerse themselves in all manner of scenarios romantic, criminal, uplifting, dangerous, comical and the occasional “pro bono” good deed. After each scenario, Echo, always under the watchful eye of her handler BOYD (Harry Lennix, “Commander in Chief,” 24), returns to the mysterious Dollhouse where her thoughts, feelings and experiences are erased by TOPHER (Fran Kranz, “Welcome to the Captain”), the Dollhouse’s genius programmer. Echo enters the next scenario with no memory of before. Or does she?

As the series progresses, FBI Agent PAUL SMITH (Tahmoh Penikett, “Battlestar Galactica”) pieces together clues that lead him closer to the Dollhouse, while Echo stops forgetting, her memories begin to return and she slowly pieces together her mysterious past. DOLLHOUSE revolves around Echo’s blossoming self-awareness and her desire to discover her true identity. But with each new engagement, comes a new memory and increased danger inside and outside the Dollhouse.

Sounds intrigueing and the premise leaves lots of room for Whedon to balance the mythology of the show with stand alone episodes.  Something he did to great effect with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Given the time he no doubt would have done it superbly with Firefly.

Update: Seat42F has an exclusive clip of the show.  I’m at work so I haven’t been able to watch.  The clip appears to be a finished scene and is, in all likelihood, out of context.  Take it for what you would.