Mel Is No Mench

Mel Gibson director of "The Passion Of The Christ" and star of classic films such as "The Man Without A Face" and "Bird On A Wire," was arrested on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu yesterday on suspicion of drunk driving. According to Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Spokesman, Steve Whitmore, Gibson was stopped and briefly talked with the deputy. At that point the deputy smelled alcohol in the car and asked Gibson to perform a field sobriety test.

According to the police report, Gibson became agitated after he was stopped and told he was to be detained for driving under the influence of alcohol. The award winning hyphenate began swearing uncontrollably, repeatedly slurring, "My life is fucked." Mel was obvioulsy worried about the career ramifications of his arrest and even threatened the police with revenge.

The story gets worse than than the ending to M. Night Shamalamadingdong's "Signs." Mel, as the police report says "then launched into a barrage of anti-Semitic statements: "Fucking Jews... The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Gibson then asked the deputy, "Are you a Jew?"

Ok, so he was drunk. Wicked drunk. Everyone says stupid shit when they are drunk. Ask Gary Busey. But really, don't you think that after making a movie that basically blames the Jews for the death of Jesus, you should keep your anti-Semitic mouth shut? Kinda defeats the power of that film when put into this context doesn't it?

Today Gibson released the following statement:

"After drinking alcohol on Thursday night, I did a number of things that were very wrong and for which I am ashamed. I drove a car when I should not have, and was stopped by the LA County Sheriffs. The arresting officer was just doing his job and I feel fortunate that I was apprehended before I caused injury to any other person. I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am deeply ashamed of everything I said. Also, I take this opportunity to apologize to the deputies involved for my belligerent behavior. They have always been there for me in my community and indeed probably saved me from myself. I disgraced myself and my family with my behavior and for that I am truly sorry. I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse. I apologize for any behavior unbecoming of me in my inebriated state and have already taken necessary steps to ensure my return to health."

Gibson's next feature is called "Apocalypto," about a declining Mayan kingdom where it's rulers insist the key to prosperity is to build more temples and offer human sacrifices. Jaguar Paw, a young man chosen for sacrifice, flees the kingdom to avoid his fate.

It is not known in this telling if the Jews are responsible for the fall of the Mayan civilization. I'm Just Oy Veyin'

Here's Mel goin batty on South Park:

The Second Comming Of Pearl Jam

Rolling Stone has a great article by BRIAN HIATT about the band, where they've been, and where they're at. Yes, they have made a few albums since Vitalogy. To read the article just click on Eddie's face, I'm Just Sayin'

KaBlam! Kazaa To Pay More Than $115 Million

First it was Napster, now it's Kazaa. May the freewheelin, downloadin days of the nineties rest in peace. Kazaa, one of just a handful of pioneering file-sharing programs, in an effort to become more legitimate has settled their lawsuits from around the world for a mighty sum of 115 million dollars. Score one for the music and movie industry as another great internet program becomes their emasculated lapdog.

"Kazaa" said Thursday it will redesign its pioneering file-sharing program to block customers who try to find and download copyrighted music and movies. It also will offer licensed entertainment for a price. Whoopie! In other words, it's going to suck. Oh, and just to keep you more thrilled, Kazaa will still have their signature spyware attached to the application. So enjoy that. Not only will you not get to download anything cool, but they'll still be giving away all of your information about it as well.

"Kazaa has been yesterday's file-sharing technology for some time now," said Eric Garland, chief executive at BigChampagne Online Media Measurement, which tracks online entertainment. "We're resolving court battles months or even years after the cultural relevance of these software applications has waned." So basically, we moved on... to blogs. Am I next? Better get that Van Halen track while you can!

Just a side note, that picture of Eddie below still cracks me up! Dirty old man. I'm just sayin!

Ain't Talkin' Bout Love!

Eddie Van Halen has officially lost it. First he lost his band, then he lost his hot TV wife, and now he has flat out lost his mind. If you haven't heard already, Eddie has signed a deal to supply two original songs for the soundtrack to director Michael Ninn's latest film. And if you are like most of America, you are asking yourself, "Who the hell is Michael Ninn?" Well, let's just say he's been busy directing movies since 1992... in porn. Eddie Van Halen, rock innovator and guitar god, is supplying two original songs for a skin flick. You read that right, pornography. It is not known who will supply the vocals for the songs, but since Diamond Dave's failed attempt to replace Howard Stern in New York resulted in his career change to an NYC paramedic, he is available for hire... and cheap.

Van Halen is the first famous rock star to record new material especially for an adult movie (there have been plenty who starred in one) and his new tunes, "Rise" and "Catherine," will be featured in the film, "Sacred Sin."

Eddie is not concerned about being criticized for promoting pornography: "I'm working with a friend. Very simple, I like his work." Apparently Eddie has had a lot of free time on his hands not playing with his legendary band. At least now the world knows what he has been playing with. "Michael Ninn is like Spielberg to me: the imagery, the way he makes things look, just sensual." Insert your "Eruption" joke here. I'm just sayin.

For your consideration:
Van Halen - Ain't Talkin' Bout Love Mp3

FIle Under: Does A Bear Shit In The Woods?

Lance Bass: Friend of Kathy Griffin
He's Just Gayin'

Two Buck Coyne: The Flaming Lips At The Bowl

The Hollywood Bowl. Quite a room. Quite a big room. Sunday night, I was one of many sticky people, who graced the historic landmark, to witness Wayne Coyne and his group "The Flaming Lips," cool me. But on a record setting day for highs in the temperature, and even while their intensions were good, ultimately, they flamed out. But ya can't blame the band for everything. One in a while you gotta blame someone else. This time, the culprit is everyone's favorite environmentally sound and world renown trail mix peddler, Trader Joe's.

You see, while binoculars were not allowed at The Forum for the Pearl Jam show, just about anything you could think of was allowed to fill the bowl. Picnic baskets that would make Yogi Bear drool were as rampant as Kabbalah bracelets at a Madonna concert. These baskets were filled with cheeses from around the world, crackers of every shape, and fruit salads of the Gods. Ahhh, but the most important part of the basket was the wine. Oh the wines! The reds, the whites, and of course, the Two Buck Chuck.

There is no bigger drunken asshole than the "Trader Joe" drunken asshole. See, at a ball game or a Metallica concert, you expect, nay, you prepare for those drunken assholes. They rock out with their cock out, pardon the expression. But the pompous, Trader Joe drunk is not only drunk on cheap wine, but drunk on privilege. It's as if the rest of us crashed their party. These are the same type of people who don't use their turn signal on the freeway. You getting the picture?

How could the rest of us seated behind these people (who literally packed the kitchen sink) enjoy the show while they interacted with each other as if the band on stage was background music to their private party? There was no way The Corporation or the Lips could battle that. It took us (and those around me) right out of the show. I've never wanted to punch somebody more than those morons who danced in front of us while eating cheese. To me, the whole idea of eating cheese at a concert falls under my theory about eating sushi at a baseball game. If you do, you don't belong there... and you should probably be at home listening to NPR.

Other than that, the show was great.

Thievery Corporation put on a great live show. I had the good fortune of seeing them last year do a DJ set, but if you can see them with a full band, opt for that instead. They reproduce all of their tracks faithfully, and add a bit of flare (or is it groove?) at all of the right moments. The Bowl might be too big of a room for them though, as their type of music tends to play better in clubs, where the dancing is feroucious and the bass is thick, but they were up to the challenge, and succeeded

The Flaming Lips were there to shoot a DVD that will hopefully be released later on this year. Frankly, I'm really curious to see it. The set list was tight, and they played all of their recent hits, but between songs Wayne often pandered to the crowd to keep their energy up for the sake of the DVD. Look folks, if you gotta ask that of your fans, maybe, just maybe, you're not doing your job. Which for Wayne Coyne, a man who crowd surfs in a giant hamster ball, uses puppets during his act, and employs a cast of at least 50 dancers dressed in Santa Claus costumes, seems a bit unusual. Perhaps the Hollywood Bowl might have been the wrong venue for their theatrics, as I said from the top, it's the big room. I'm just sayin'....

Here's a sample of what you missed. Looks like fun, right?

The Monster Mash

Well, it's Monday again, and you know what that means! It's Monday Mashup day! Thank goodness too, cause I'm still recovering from seeing The Flaming Lips and Thievery Corporation last night at the Hollywood Bowl. (There will be my review of the show and specially related Mp3's later on this week, so check back.)

This week's mashup is an oldie but a goodie, "Boulevard of Broken Songs," which features Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," Oasis's "Wonderwall," some bits of Starsailor and for some odd reason, it ends with Aerosmith's "Dream On." This track might be the first mashup I ever heard played on LA's own Indie 103.1. The track was produced by Party Ben: The Indie Jive Bunny, and is also available at Party Ben's website. Enjoy!


For your consideration:
Party Ben: The Indie Jive Bunny - Boulevard of Broken Songs Mp3