Articles by John Lucas.

Blog - Music

Ian Curtis's headstone stolen

Someone has stolen Joy Division singer Ian Curtis's headstone from his Macclesfield gravesite. The morbid thief made off with the stone some time between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. The local police are appealing for anyone with information on its whereabouts to come forward. Curtis's gravestone (click here for a photo) is inscribed "Ian Curtis, 18-5-80", along with the words "Love Will Tear Us Apart", the title of Joy Division's best-known song.
Theatre

Nudge, nudge, wink, wink -- welcome to Spamalot

All hail the Holy Grail: the new stage-musical adaptation of the Monty Python classic maintains the original's deadpan surrealism and sheer absurdity while also sending up musicals.
Blog - Music

Canada's unofficial national anthems

If you have any other suggestions, please feel free to post them below.
Blog - Music

Boy George postpones North American tour

Here's the official word, according to a news release issued by Live Nation today:
Blog - Music

CSS: "Rat Is Dead (Rage)"

The first single from the new album, Donkey, due out July 21.
Blog - Music

Jay-Z at Glastonbury: "Wonderwall/99 Problems"

Having beef with other performers is a hip-hop tradition, and pissing everyone off is an Oasis tradition. A few months back, Noel Gallagher combined the two by opining that a rapper like Jay-Z had no place at Glastonbury, which is one of the world's biggest rock festivals.
Blog - Movies

"Stop!" by Mathijs Geijskes

For a clever example of the film-within-a-film approach, check out this short from the Netherlands.
Blog - Music

Boy George denied U.S. visa UPDATED

Because of a pending court case, singer Boy George has been denied a visa to enter the United States. This has forced the former Culture Club front man to cancel his scheduled North American tour (which was to stop in Vancouver on July 21).
Local Motion

Painted Birds not afraid of the dark

For someone who named his band after a Jerzy Kosi?ski book and penned a song called “East of Eden”, inspired by the John Steinbeck novel of the same title, Dominique Fricot has a surprising admission. “I wouldn’t call myself a big reader,” the Painted Birds singer-guitarist-keyboardist says, reached in Toronto in the middle of a cross-Canada tour.
Blog - Sports

Shaquille O'Neal raps (again)

The story behind this clip is that Phoenix Suns centre Shaquille O'Neal took the stage at a New York nightclub on June 22 to freestyle some rhymes to crow about his former team, the Los Angeles Lakers, having lost the NBA championship. He had particularly colorful words for Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant.
Blog - Music

Did Cute Is What We Aim For rip off the Counting Crows?

In a blog item posted on You Thought We Wouldn't Notice on June 13, the design company Alphabet Arm pointed out similarities between the cover of a new album by emo band Cute Is What We Aim For (see above right) and a Counting Crows logo (above left) that Alphabet Arm designed a few years ago:
Blog - Music

Beck's Modern Guilt teaser trailer

Modern Guilt, the new Beck album, is scheduled to come out on July 8. Here's a suitably '60s-inspired teaser trailer for what sounds like a psychedlia-tinged effort.
Recordings

Said the Whale

Howe Sounds/Taking Abalonia (Upper Management Recording Co.)
Recordings

16mm

Darling Democrat (Independent)
Blog - Music

New Sex Pistols album on the way?

In a recent interview with BBC 6, John Lydon responded to rumours that the Sex Pistols are planning a new album by neither confirming nor denying it. “It’s a nice rumour and it might possibly be true we are attempting to," the singer said. "It’s like all things Sex Pistols—it’s riddled in chaos. You know, who knows what the future will hold, maybe no future. So far I’ve proved that wrong. I’ve got a splendid future.”
Blog - Music

When Rock Stars Attack

LimeWire Music Blog has compiled some of the best on-stage rock-star meltdowns and audience altercations, from Bjork freaking out in the Tokyo airport to Kurt Cobain smashing his guitar into the face of an overzealous bouncer. Click here to check it out.
Blog - Music

The Brighton Port Authority: "Toe Jam"

Like Sigur Ros's "Gobbledigook", this video features lots of naked people (mostly hot girls, to put it simply). However, it also features lots of black bars covering up what are arguably the best bits. Oh well. It's still a fun song.
Blog - Music

R. Kelly acquitted in child-porn trial

According to an Associated Press article posted on Billboard.com, R&B singer R. Kelly was acquitted on all counts today in his child-pornography trial in Chicago.
Blog - Movies

Requiem for a Day Off (recut trailer)

You probably don't remember Ferris Beuller's Day Off as an intense psychological drama, but it certainly seems like one when you set it to the score from Requiem for a Dream.
Blog - Music

R.E.M. w/Johnny Marr: "Fall on Me"

Here's something Vancouverites didn't get to see when R.E.M. played at Deer Lake Park: a guest appearance by legendary Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr (on the tour as a member of Modest Mouse). This fan-shot video is from a June 6 concert at Chicago's United Center.
Blog - Music

Old 97's: "Dance With Me" (starring Tricia Helfer)

Yes, that's Canadian super-hottie Tricia Helfer, star of Battlestar Galactica and the subject of a Straight cover story last November.
Blog - Music

The Supremes: "The Happening"

Okay, I might have a weirdo sense of humour, but I really want someone to post a video to YouTube featuring this song combined with scenes from the new M. Night Shyamalan film of the same title, which seems to be about some sort of plague that causes mass suicides.
Blog - Music

The Organ reunites for new EP

According to a blog item posted on the CBC Radio 3 Web site, formerly defunct Vancouver indie-pop band the Organ has reunited to record a six-song EP, due out in October.
Theatre

Cirque du Soleil dreams up another dazzler

With performances including juggling, tight-wire walking, and a rapid-fire horizontal-bar routine, Corteo shows off a series of truly spectacular displays of acrobatic virtuosity.
Payback Time

Payback Time

You tell Courtney Love the music section stole Kurt Cobain’s ashes and we reward you with a Payback Time T-shirt, two recently released major-label CDs, and two tickets to a Live Nation club show taking place in Vancouver within the next four weeks. Here’s this week’s winning whine.
Blog - Music

Tay Zonday and Brian Bell: "Pork and Beans"

The new Weezer album is out today and... um... this is apparently some sort of ad for it.
Blog - Music

Rolling Stone picks 100 greatest guitar songs

It's a move guaranteed to garner responses along the lines of "I was shocked that you ignored (name of musician here), the greatest guitarist of all time, and his incredible solo on (title of song here)! This list lacks any credibility!" Rolling Stone has compiled a list of the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time. Here are the top 10:
Blog - Music

Kurt Cobain's ashes stolen

The News of the World reported today that Kurt Cobain's remains have been stolen.
Concert Reviews

The Cure revives its finest moments

It seemed just like old times—sort of. When I last saw the Cure play live, in the summer of ’92 at the Coliseum, the veteran British alt-rock band started with "Open" and ended with "A Forest", which is precisely what it did on Monday night. In between, the group played all of its best-known songs, a smattering of new tunes, and, for the benefit of those who obsess over such things, even a few semi-obscurities.
Payback Time

Payback time

You trap the music section between the Jonas Brothers and a pack of ravenous tweens and we reward you with a Payback Time T-shirt, two recently released major-label CDs, and two tickets to a Live Nation club show taking place in Vancouver within the next four weeks. Here’s this week’s winning whine.
Blog - Music

Jessica Simpson goes country

Here's an interesting career move. Clearly realizing that her career as a pop singer has been largely overshadowed by her status as a tabloid fixture, Jessica Simpson (or her management) has made a bid to be taken seriously in the new-country genre. Here's her first single, "Come On Over":
Blog - Music

Sigur Rós: "Gobbledigook"

This video sure has lots of nekkid people running around in it.
Blog - Music

Weezer goes viral with "Pork and Beans"

The Numa Numa guy. Tay Zonday. "All your base are belong to us." Mentos and Diet Coke. "Leave Britney alone!" Kelly. Miss Teen USA South Carolina. Afro Ninja.
Music Features

R.E.M. resume life in the fast lane

By most accounts its new record Accelerate is the best thing the pioneering alternative-rock group has produced in the past 10 years.
Music Features

M83 gets all misty-eyed about teen sex and drugs

For someone involved in what is officially a solo project, M83’s Anthony Gonzalez is remarkably generous when it comes to sharing the spotlight. In addition to the French multi-instrumentalist’s own subdued singing, M83’s fifth album, Saturdays=Youth, features memorable contributions from American singer Morgan Kibby, whose dulcet soprano adds a dreamy aura to tracks such as “Skin of the Night”.
Music Features

Ladytron embraces vintage analogue tones

There was a time when Ladytron was an easy band to pigeonhole. On its first two albums—2001’s 604 and the following year’s Light & Magic—the Liverpool, England–formed quartet offered a self-consciously retro brand of synthetic pop that leaned toward riding-on-the-metro new wave but also proved a natural fit on the play lists of electroclash DJs.
Blog - Music

New Coldplay video: "Violet Hill"

The first single from the Brian Eno-produced Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, due out June 17.
Blog - Music

The Cure: "The Only One"

Here's the video for the Cure's new single. The band's still-untitled new album isn't due out until September, but it will be preceded by four singles, to be released on the 13th of each month.
Blog - Music

"Happy Birthday to You" copyright in dispute

Ever wonder why, during birthday scenes in movies and TV shows, you never hear anyone singing "Happy Birthday to You"? It's because producers are loath to pay the hefty licensing fees (reportedly as high as US$10,000) for the four-line ditty, the rights to which are owned by Warner/Chappell Music and the descendants of the song's authors, Mildred and Patty Hill... or are they?
Blog - Music

StSanders shreds

At the request of AJ Marshall from the Straight's accounting department, I'm posting some clips created by STSanders, whose specialty is taking videos of famous guitarists and dubbing his own intentionally bad playing over them. Apparently StSanders got kicked off YouTube for copyright violation, but plenty of other people have reposted his work. Pretty amusing stuff.
Music Features

Dead Meadow strips down for a druggy Old Growth

When the Straight reaches Dead Meadow singer-guitarist Jason Simon in the group’s tour van somewhere outside of Fargo, North Dakota, the dude sounds supremely relaxed. Perhaps the Midwestern landscape rolling gently by has chilled him out. Or maybe it’s something else. After all, Simon does pause mid-interview to partake of a bowl of “killer weed” that his bandmates are passing around.
Georgia Straight Living

Summertime, and the sipping is easy

We asked a few of our favourite local mixologists to give us suggestions for drinks that would cool us down when the temperature begins to rise.
Blog - Music

New Portishead video: "The Rip"

Am I the only one who still hasn't heard the new Portishead album?
Blog - Music

A tribute to mothers

Okay, so if your mother is anything like mine, she'll actually hate most of these songs, but someone's mom is sure to like them.
Blog - Music

Sad Kermit sings Elliott Smith's "Needle in the Hay"

It takes some serious effort to find pathos in a green frog puppet, but somehow the brain trust behind Sad Kermit has done it again. (You might remember Sad Kermit's Johnny Cash-esque take on the Nine Inch Nails classic "Hurt", a Net sensation from a few months ago).
Local Motion

Dawntreader’s persistence pays off

The band has had more drummers than Spinal Tap, but Santa Fe Stalker suggests it was all worth it
Blog - Music

Scarlett Johansson: "Falling Down"

It's a Tom Waits song with David Bowie on backing vocals. How could it go wrong? It doesn't, really, but it's fair to say that ScarJo's singing career is unlikely to overshadow her Hollywood acting gig.
Blog - Music

The Captain and Tennille: "Muskrat Love"

There are some things that are legendary for their awfulness, and this song is definitely one of them. Oddly enough, however, despite having heard about it for most of my life, I had never actually heard the song until today.