Tom DeLonge: “They Have Someone Doing My Job for Me”

Jason Tate Mar 8, 2017

Tom DeLonge talked with the San Diego Tribune:

“Blink is in my DNA,” he said, suggesting an eventual reunion is likely. “I talk to Travis quite a bit and we try and figure out how and when it’s going to make sense.
“It’s not like I (permanently) walked away. They have someone doing my job for me (in blink). It’s just that I’m so busy. If I wanted to, I could be back (in blink) in a period of days.”
From a business perspective, DeLonge never left blink.
“I still own the band,” he noted, before quickly clarifying that he, Hoppus and Barker “own everything” blink-related.

Now I just can’t stop humming “I Could if I Wanted To.”

Punchline Launch Kickstarter

Jason Tate Mar 7, 2017

Punchline have launched a Kickstarter to help fund a documentary about the band:

Our band, Punchline, will be celebrating our 20 year anniversary this July. It’s been a remarkable journey to get where we are today, and we would like to commemorate it with an ambitious goal: to make a Netflix Music Special.

The ‘Garden State’ Soundtrack — Where Are They Now?

Jason Tate Mar 7, 2017

Craig Manning, writing for Modern Vinyl:

Few soundtracks rise to the level of cultural ubiquity that the 13-song Garden State album achieved. Along with the music from the FOX teen soap The O.C., the Garden State soundtrack was probably responsible for getting a lot of us out of our shitty adolescent music taste stages and pushing us toward more interesting, left-of-the-dial material. The album, put together by writer/director Zach Braff, was described as a mix CD of the songs he was listening to when he was writing the film’s screenplay. Needless to say, his mix CD changed a lot of lives.

Nintendo Switch Seems to Be Doing Well

Jason Tate Mar 7, 2017

The Nintendo Switch is having a very good launch.

Best Medical Images of the Year

Jason Tate Mar 7, 2017

The Wellcome Image Awards have showcased the best images related to healthcare and biomedical science taken within the last year:

The Wellcome Image Awards are Wellcome’s most eye-catching celebration of science, medicine and life. Now in their 20th year, the Awards recognise the creators of informative, striking and technically excellent images that communicate significant aspects of healthcare and biomedical science. Those featured are selected from all of the new images acquired by Wellcome Images during the preceding year. The judges are experts from medical science and science communication.

The Hawaiian bobtail squid is a personal favorite.

‘Indiana Jones 5’ Coming in July 2019

Jason Tate Mar 7, 2017

Indiana Jones 5 will be released on July 19th, 2019:

Harrison Ford is returning to the title role and Steven Spielberg is directing. The pair last teamed up for 2008’s Indiana Jones And The Crystal Skull. Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall will serve as producers.

I mean, it can’t be worse than the last one, right?

George Michael Died of Natural Causes

Jason Tate Mar 7, 2017

CBS News has reported that George Michael died of natural causes:

Darren Salter, senior coroner for Oxfordshire, says a post-mortem has found that the singer died of “dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver.”
Dilated cardiomyopathy is a condition in which the heart’s ability to pump blood is limited, while myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle.

John Nolan Compilation Up for Pre-Order

Jason Tate Mar 6, 2017

John Nolan’s Music for Everyone: A Compilation to Benefit the ACLU is now up for pre-order.

JetSmarter Tries To Extort Positive Coverage

Jason Tate Mar 6, 2017

T.C. Sottek, writing for The Verge:

We’ve seen plenty of aggressive requests from companies that want positive coverage, but perhaps none as absurd as what we just got from JetSmarter — a startup that’s been called the “Uber for private jets.” In exchange for a demonstration of the service (a round-trip flight in the US), JetSmarter sent us an agreement that demands an uncritical puff piece.
The rub? JetSmarter wanted the credit card number of a Verge reporter, so that it could charge them $2,000 if they didn’t publish a positive story “within 5 business days.”

Bold. I’ve never had a band or PR person try that.

Father John Misty Explains His Taylor Swift Lyric

Jason Tate Mar 6, 2017

Josh Tillman, aka Father John Misty, explained the Taylor Swift lyric from his new song “Total Entertainment Forever” in an interview with Exclaim:

Human civilizations have been entertaining themselves in disgusting ways all through human history — I mean, whether it’s lighting Christians on fire, or whatever. We have to consider that maybe there are ways in which we entertain ourselves now that are equally as disturbing. I think that that’s important — to not assume that everything about the way we live is the direct product of progress.
The fact of the matter is, I don’t want that to happen to Taylor Swift. That is the worst thing I can think of; that is so horrible. But again, this plays into progress, where like, the internet was supposed to be this new democracy, a utopia of information where everyone had a voice and we were all interconnected, and we would experience true democracy — and it turned into pornography, followed only by outrage. The tools represent some kind of technological advancement, but if we can’t act like more than angry ecstasy freaks with the most advanced technology in the world, then how much have we really progressed?
And if you don’t think that this virtual reality thing isn’t going to turn into sex with celebrities, then you’re kidding yourself. That face recognition stuff? I mean, there are people working on it right now. It’s absurd. Someone sitting with this headset on, you know? Oh God, it’s just, how many different ways do human beings need to masturbate?
So on the album there are more than a few songs where I’m saying ‘Is this progress? Like, is this really what progress looks like?’

Future First Artist in History to Have Back-to-Back Number One Albums

Jason Tate Mar 6, 2017

Future is the first artist in history to have two different number one albums two weeks in a row:

Future is the first act in the nearly 61-year history of the chart to achieve back-to-back No. 1 debuts in successive weeks. The rapper is also the first artist to succeed himself at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 at all (counting not only debuts) since 1968. He’s additionally the first soloist ever to claim the honor.

In Conversation: David Letterman

Jason Tate Mar 6, 2017

David Marchese has a fantastic interview with David Letterman:

It’s still hard. I have trouble operating the phone. That’s the God’s truth. I needed a pair of shoelaces. And I thought, Hell, where do you get shoelaces? And my friend said, there’s a place over off I-84, it’s the Designer Shoe Warehouse. So I go over there, and it’s a building the size of the Pentagon. It’s enormous. If you took somebody from — I don’t know, pick a country where they don’t have Designer Shoe Warehouses — blindfolded them and turned them loose in this place, they would just think, You people are insane. Who needs this many shoes? It’s sinful. It’s one of these places where there’s no employees and every now and then there’s just a scrum of shoe boxes. I’m not finding the damn shoelaces, and finally I think, Maybe it’s one of those items they’ve got at the counter. I go up there and I’m nosing around the counter and, by God, there’s shoelaces. This is after about an hour. So now I’m waiting in line and the woman checking people out says in a big loud voice, “May I help our next shoe lover, please?” I just started to tremble. Nobody else seems to have a problem with going to a store! You don’t want to have painted yourself into some elite position where it’s “Bob, go out and get me some shoelaces.” It makes you feel stupid. Here’s where I’m comfortable: There’s a bait-and-tackle store near my house. They’ve got guys in there, and you can buy live bait, you can buy artificial bait, they’ll put new line on your reel. You can talk to them about rods. They’ll tell you where to go for a largemouth bass. That’s exactly where I want to be.

Passion Pit Frontman Shares Essay About Mental Health

Jason Tate Mar 6, 2017

Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos has shared an essay on Facebook about mental health and horrific blog comments:

So in this tent, I had entered the lion’s den. It was the culmination of all of my childhood pain, but actualized on such an absurdly profound level, in that I was playing a show for a bunch of people I was absolutely certain did not like me, were not looking to be impressed but looking to watch me fail, and were, in fact, the comment section. They were my nightmare. And I was going to perform for them. Smiling.
And then I had, what I later learned, a literal breakdown. In front of the audience. That was not the art. But it was perceived as the art. It was perceived as insane, as melodramatic, as a cry for help. It was beyond a cry for help — that cry had been ignored, had been dismissed, had been mistaken for the antics of a “snowflake.”

‘Star Wars Rebels’ Renewed for Fourth Season

Jason Tate Mar 3, 2017

Star Wars Rebels has been renewed for a fourth season:

Star Wars Rebels is set to return for a fourth season, Lucasfilm announced today, premiering later this year on Disney XD. Production is already underway. Marc Buhaj, senior vice president, programming and general manager, Disney XD said, “The team behind Star Wars Rebels delivers epic storytelling that has captivated fans of all ages across the globe. We’re excited to continue sharing the journey of these fan-favorite rebels with our audience in the fall.”