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Day of 'Reckoning' comes for R.E.M.

Back in 1983, when Spring Break was still welcomed in Daytona Beach, we remember heading out to the Bandshell to see a couple of bands do their thing. The headliner was Big Country, who had a fairly large hit with "In A Big Country," but we really didn't care and they quickly disappeared off our radar.
     
No, gentle readers, we were there to see the opening act, this scrappy little band that was about to release its influential second album, "Reckoning." That group, R.E.M., would go on to be the quintessential indie band, still making music today and doing things their way.
     
Fans of this simpler time can now rejoice. "Reckoning (Deluxe Edition)" has been rereleased and not only contains the original material ("So. Central Rain," "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville") but a 1984 concert from the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. Both the studio material and the live stuff highlight R.E.M.'s early, ragged, scruffy, joyful glory, something that's sorely missing from today's music scene.

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Movie site is a whiz
 
You're enjoying a film when disaster strikes: You need to go to the bathroom. What do you do?
     
Fret no more. Thanks to the good folks over at runpee.com, the problem is solved.
     
Simply head to the site, click the film you're planning to watch and you'll find out when to go, how long you have and what you'll miss -- all at the click of a button.
     
And it's not just for new movies, either. Your classic favorites from "The Thing" to "Jurassic Park" are also included.
     
You can also add your own times for films not listed, e-mail listings to friends and find out when times are added to your favorite films.

Dave Matthews pours "Whiskey"

 How has the Dave Matthews Band coped musically with the August 2008 death of founding sax player LeRoi Moore?
    
Fans can find out right now, even though "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King," the new DMB album, isn't due in stores until June 2. The entire album currently is available for listen at pandora.com/davematthewsband.
     
Yes, Dave and company deliver a few mellow tunes, but "Whiskey" is surprisingly feisty and riff-heavy thanks to such songs as "Shake Me Like a Monkey" and "Seven." And on the spirited rocker "Why I Am," Matthews pays tribute to his late friend by singing, "Still dancing with the GrooGrux King" -- which was Moore's nickname.
     
Want more Dave? The band's concert June 1 at the Beacon Theatre in New York City will be telecast live beginning at 9 p.m. on Fuse TV and streamed on Hulu.com.

Shock rock king Marilyn Manson told Steppin' Out magazine late last year that his new CD, "The High End of Low," was "very ruthless, very heavy and very violent."
     
Yikes. 
     
He may be right. The title of the disc's first radio single -- yes, something meant to be played on the radio -- is unprintable in a family newspaper, and Manson told Rolling Stone's blog that the video for "I Want to Kill You Like They Do in the Movies" is ... nine minutes long. Severely sadist. Basically it's murder, sex, death, the end."
     
Double yikes.
     
Manson is once again reunited with longtime bandmate Twiggy Ramirez and will be touring behind the new album, though only European dates have been booked.
 
Consider yourself warned.

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Never 'Metacritic' we didn't like
 
Everyone is a critic. But as much as we vilify them when their reviews disagree with our pop-culture world view, we still turn to them to at least get a base line for our entertainment needs.

Metacritic.com does that and then some. With a stated mission of helping you "make an informed decision about how to spend your money on entertainment," the Web site takes a cross section of respected criticism in different entertainment fields -- movies, DVDs, TV, music and games -- averages them out, and assigns a numerical score up 100 points to the product in question.

How about the new "Star Trek" movie? It gets an 84 rating. Yay. However, the news is not so good for the new Beyonce film, "Obsessed." It only gets a 25. Ouch.

Color coding is also assigned with the score: Yellow indicates favorable reviews, green means mixed and dreaded red highlights the real stinkers. The site also offers an extensive explanation on how the scores are calculated, just to ease your pop culture-addled little mind.

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Earle pays tribute to songwriter mentor with 'Townes'

Alt-country god Steve Earle worships at the altar of the late country-folk cult hero Townes Van Zandt. And that's even after their first meeting ended with Van Zandt heckling Earle at a concert in 1972. The two remained close friends until Van Zandt's death in 1997.

On Tuesday, Earle released "Townes," his tribute to his dear friend and mentor. A few guests sat in on the fun, including Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, singer-songwriter Allison Moorer, who is Earle's wife, and some kid named Justin Townes Earle. (Yup, it's Steve Earle's son, who has his own career as a singer-songwriter. And yes, Steve named him after Van Zandt. We told you he worshipped the guy.).

You can catch Steve Earle playing some of the new CD on June 14 when he rolls into Jacksonville to play the Florida Theatre.

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Eminem pals with Stewie

Sure, that Eminem guy is set to release his fifth full-length album, "Relapse," this comingon Tuesday.

But there's bigger news from the Em camp: The rapper will join Stewie of "Family Guy" fame on Sunday to host Animation Domination -- the Fox network's lineup of animated shows.
Segments will feature an animated version of the hip-hop superstar -- and yes, that's Em actually voicing his cartoon alter-ego.
 

-- Staff Report

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A 'Breakdown' for Green Day

In 2004, seminal punkers Green Day unleashed "American Idiot," a sprawling, ambitious rock opera that went on to sell more than 5 million copies in the U.S. alone, and win Grammys for best rock album and record of the year. On May 15, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool unleash "21st Century Breakdown," their new disc that plays on an even grander scale than "Idiot."

Broken into three acts -- "Heroes and Cons," "Charlatans and Saints" and "Horseshoe and Handgrenades" -- "Breakdown" consists of 18 songs and clocks in at 69 minutes. Of the new record, New York Times music critic Jon Pareles wrote "The music is more expansive in every way, encompassing more styles and arriving in a newly spacious, three-dimensional production."

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Sun rises on Cracker

David Lowery has always been, um, just a wee bit quirky.  
 
His 80s indie/alt/roots rock band Camper Van Beethoven merged punk, folk, psychedelic and world beats into a calliope of musical landscapes that brought them much critical praise but little mass popularity. 

Lowery formed Cracker in 1992, and immediately found mainstream success with such slacker hits like Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now), Get Off This, Low and a You Must personal favorite, Euro-Trash Girl (a hidden track on the album Kerosene Hat). 

The band has continued on, with different lineups, and Lowery and the lads return with a new disc Tuesday, Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey. On crackersoul.com, Lowery says of the new music, "We weren't kicking back on an island in the Caribbean, waiting for the muse to hit us. We got down to work, found the punk and glam rock in our blood...."

Helping out on the disc are Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers, X's John Doe and Adam Duritz of Counting Crows.

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Big Bob finds new life
 
Bob Dylan's 1997 disc, "Time Out of Mind," was a bit of a rebirth for the grizzled troubadour, and he and his band furiously hit the road to tour behind it and subsequent releases.
 
April 28 finds yet another release of new tracks from Zimmy, "Together Through Life," as he teams up with Tom Petty's longtime guitarist Mike Campbell and Los Lobos co-founder David Hildago for his 46th album.
 
"Life" finds Dylan and Co. again worshiping at the altar of roots rock 'n' roll, with a bluesy set of ruminations on devil women, mariachi, gospel and the apocalypse. "Throw on the dust! Pile 
on the dust!" shouts Dylan on "It's All Good," but one thing is certain about the legendary songwriter. He ain't letting any dust gather 'round him.

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Em flirts with Spock, Palin

Leave it to Eminem to discover what really lurks under Bret Michaels' head scarf and under the covers of Sarah Palin's bed. (Answers: a bald head, a polar bear and an Eskimo).

Those aren't the only celebs his Eminem-ness parodies in his new video for "We Made You." Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, an uber-butted Kim Kardashian and a very scary Amy Winehouse all make guest appearances (OK, it's their look-alikes).

Em himself spends a lot of time portraying Michaels (of "Rock of Love" fame), "Jailhouse Rock"-era Elvis and everyone's fav Vulcan, Mr. Spock.

Yeah, the bouncy song, replete with a female-sung chorus, is disposable. But the video is a howler. We found it at mtv.com.

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Who's in the attic? Pete!

When Rachel Fuller isn't busy being Pete Townshend's significant other, she's hosting and producing her internet video, music 'n' chat show, "In the Attic." OK, sometimes she does both at the same time, given that Pete is a frequent guest on the show.
 
Other guests on the show have included Lou Reed, the Flaming Lips, Tenacious D (performing a "Tommy" medley), Ben Harper and comedian Tracey Ullman. "Attic" is part "MTV Unplugged," part "Wayne's World," part reality show, part lots of Brits dropping F-bombs in really thick accents.
 
A two CD/one DVD set, "Rachel Fuller Presents: In the Attic With Pete Townshend and Friends," is available now, or go online at intheattic.mevio.com.