Saturday, July 15, 2023

Around the Tubes: July 15, 2023


I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post includes blurbs on Beastie Boys, MisterWives, Chelsea Cutler, Lord Huron, Claire Rosinkranz, This FoolThe Hardy Boys, Goliath, and A House Made of Splinters.


Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Beastie Boys’ multi-platinum selling album ‘Hello Nasty,’ on September 8, 2023, UME will reissue the highly sought after and long out-of-print limited deluxe edition 4LP box set originally released as a limited run in 2009 featuring 21 bonus tracks including rarities, remixes, and b-sides. Pressed on 180g vinyl in an 8-panel gatefold package housed in a hardcover “coffee table book” slipcase with a removable sew-on patch, ‘Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty (4LP Deluxe Edition)’ is now available for pre-order at Beastie Boys’ official online store, HERE.  Preceded by the universal smash “Intergalactic,” Hello Nasty crashed into the #1 spots of charts worldwide upon its July 1998 release, with first week sales of nearly 700,000 in the U.S. alone. Buoyed by the launch of the 360 in the round tour, Hello Nasty would yield B Boys classics “Body Movin’,” “Three MCs and One DJ,” “Remote Control,” “Super Disco Breakin’” and more, win two Grammys, see the band presented with an MTV Video Vanguard lifetime achievement award, and ultimately sell some 7 million copies worldwide.


New York City/Los Angeles-based alt-pop group MisterWives share their fervent, highly anticipated fourth studio album Nosebleeds out everywhere now. Alongside the full album, the band share focus tracks "Dagger" and "Sideways" out now. Plus, The Don't Look Down Tour with Bishop Briggs will set out across North America this fall beginning September 8 with tickets on sale now via misterwives.com/tour.  Nosebleeds, the highly anticipated fourth studio album by MisterWives out today, propels the group into all new territory, this time, equipped with bravery, confidence and strength. Through a decade-long career, of tremendous highs and lows, the forthcoming project meets the band at their most evolved as they turn their pain into power. Over ten compelling tracks, the band digs deeper than they ever have before, capturing the nuances of life's highs and lows and re-defining what it means to succeed and to fail.


Following a fabulous plaque presentation by Hoda Kotb from TODAY at her sold-out Madison Square Garden show last night, Shania Twain announces the release of multiple expanded U.S. and International Diamond Editions of her all-time classic third studio album, November 1997’s Come On Over – due for release on August 25, 2023 via Mercury/UMe.  Come On Over is the record that confirmed Twain’s status as an international crossover-format superstar, having been certified as being both the top-selling country album and the highest-selling album by a female artist of all time. In celebration of this benchmark album’s 25th anniversary and its accumulation of over 40 million-plus in global album sales, both the U.S. and International versions of Come On Over have been remastered from the original tapes for the first time ever.  Come On Over will be released in the following formats: 3CD Super Deluxe, 3LP Super Deluxe, 3LP International Super Deluxe, 2LP Deluxe, 2CD Deluxe, and Digital.  2LP Deluxe Retail Exclusives will also be available in the U.S.  All versions of Come On Over can be pre-ordered HERE.


Platinum-Certified singer, songwriter, and producer Chelsea Cutler is back with her new single, “I Don’t Feel Alive”—listen HERE & watch the visualizer HERE. The song is the latest track from her anxiously awaited and soon-to-be-announced third studio album, set for release later this year.  “I Don’t Feel Alive” highlights Chelsea’s unfiltered honesty front-and-center. Written and produced in a burst of inspiration, breezy guitar coasts through handclaps as she confesses, “I’m writing feelings in a journal, ‘cause that’s what people who have their shit together seem to do.” Overwhelming self-doubt gives way to reflection on the refrain, “I swim against the current with two arms that can not fly, and I don’t feel alive.”  On the song, Chelsea openly shares, “‘I Don’t Feel Alive’ is a song about existing versus truly living. There is a crucial difference between going through the motions of your day and actually being present in your body to experience everything around you. While it’s a bit scary to put this one out, I’d like to be done with all of my beating around the bush. This song is the elephant in the room, the things I’ve been too afraid to talk about. It is my crippling fear of failure and my reluctance to take up more space. But now that I say these things aloud, I am free. I hope this song brings comfort and emboldens others to confront their biggest fears as well.” Read more about Chelsea’s statement on the song HERE.


Lord Huron and Ben Schneider present Music for The Starling Girlthe Original Soundtrack accompanying the acclaimed film The Starling Girl. The album consists of both the movie’s original score by Lord Huron vocalist/songwriter Ben Schneider and the new Lord Huron song “Ace Up My Sleeve.” Listen to Music for The Starling GirlHERE. Meanwhile, The Starling Girl is now available to stream on VOD.  Ace Up My Sleeve” has already collected over 1 million Spotify streams and counting. Beyond plugs from Stereogum and Under The Radar MagazineBrooklyn Vegan hailed the song as “lovely, tender alt-country.” Listen to “Ace Up My Sleeve” HERE.


Gearing up for a major moment, 19-year-old Southern California singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Claire Rosinkranz serves up a new single and music video entitled “Screw Time” today. Listen to “Screw Time”— HERE.  Watch the music video—HERE.  Most importantly, it paves the way for her highly anticipated debut album Just Because, landing on October 6th via slowplay/Republic Records. Pre-order/Pre-save Just BecauseHERE. She further opened up the world of the record by sharing the Official Album Trailer too. Watch HERE.


Wake up and smell the coffee... "This Fool" is back! The critically-acclaimed series returns on Friday, July 28th with a whole lot of Mugs, Not Thugs. Trailer: HERE.  "This Fool" is an irreverent, cinematic half-hour comedy set in working class South Central Los Angeles. After Julio's job and love life blew up at the end of last season, this season, new roommates Julio and Luis embark on finding new careers and romances with the help of Minister Payne, Chef Percy and other former Huggers.


"The Hardy Boys" returns for its third and final season on July 26, and things are getting dangerous for our heroes. Getting in on the action is guest star Bailee Madison ("Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin"), who joins the mix as the mysterious Drew Darrow. Trailer: HERE.  When Frank (Rohan Campbell) and Joe Hardy (Alexander Elliot) receive mysterious posthumous instructions from their grandmother, they find themselves on the hunt for a third powerful relic — the same one their Great Grandfather was after. However, they aren’t the only ones looking it…so the race is on to stop a power from being unleashed on the world! Nothing is what it seems, as The Hardy Boys and their friends face their most dangerous and unpredictable case yet. The future is coming for our heroes, whether they’re ready or not. 


 SHOWTIME SPORTS has released a sneak peek from Episode One of GOLIATH, the three-part documentary series that examines the historic life, career and impact of Wilt Chamberlain, one of the greatest and most misunderstood athletes of all time. GOLIATH premieres on Friday, July 14 on demand and on streaming platforms for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers before making its on-air debut on SHOWTIME® on Sunday, July 16 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, with additional episodes premiering each Sunday.  To watch and share the clip, go to:  https://youtu.be/HRwQaW23X0A.  In the teaser clip, Chamberlain’s two living sisters, Selina Chamberlain Gross and Barbara Lewis, talk about their parents and childhoods together in West Philadelphia. Selina recalls how her parents, even though they were poor, had a big family and never finished school, were still proud homeowners, while Barbara reminisces on Wilt’s tremendous growth spurts and how his height surprised his mom after a summer away on a farm in the South.


Following its award winning festival run, the Oscar® nominated A House Made of Splinters directed by POV alum Simon Lemeng Wilmont (The Distant Barking of Dogs) and produced by Oscars® nominee Monica Hellström (Flee) will make its national broadcast premiere next Monday, July 17, 2023 (check local listings) and will be available to stream until October 15, 2023 at pbs.org, and the PBS App.  In addition to standard closed captioning for the film, POV, in partnership with audio description service DiCapta, provides real time audio interpretations for audiences with sensory disabilities.


Tuesday, July 11, 2023

The 19th Annual Scooter Television Awards


Welcome to the 19th Annual Scooter Television Awards honoring show that aired a majority of their season between July 2022 and June 2023. Without further ado, here are the winners of the 2023 STA's:

 

Best Drama: Tell Me Lies

 

Best Comedy: Only Murders in the Building

 

Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show: Star Wars: Andor

 

Best Comic Book Adaptation: Harley Quinn

 

Best Period Show: The Great

 

Best Animated Show: Harley Quinn

 

Best Reality Show: Selena + Chef

 

Best Remake, Reboot, or (non-comic book) Adaptation: Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head

 

Best Miniseries: Flieshman Is in Trouble

 

Best Talk Show: Pardon the Interruption

 

Best New Show: Extraordinary

  

Guiltiest Guilty Pleasure: The Watchful Eye

 

Worst Show I Made Though an Entire Season Of: Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin

 

Best Hour of TV: The Bullet or the Bear (The Great)

 

Best Half Hour of TV: I Know Who Did It (Only Murders in the Building)

 

Biggest Shocker: Peter falling through the ice (The Great)

 

Best Line: “Olimabel - It’s our ship name! The Charles is silent.”  (Oliver: Only Murders in the Building)

 

Worst Idea: Letting the guy who did an unnecessary gritty version of A Christmas Carol, to do another unnecessary gritty version of a Charles Dickens novel.  

 

Worst Moment: The reveal of “A” (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin)

 

Biggest Disappointment: The Great kept killing off Nicholas Hoult

 

Best Musical Moment: Fork tha Police (Yellowjackets)

 

Best Karaoke: Angel in Flip-Flops (Only Murders in the Building)

 

Best New Title Sequence: House of the Dragon

 

Best GIF:

 

  

Best Character: Catherine the Great (The Great)

 

Best Recurring Character: Bunny Folger (Only Murders in the Building)

 

Best Guest Appearance: Sazz Pataki (Only Murders in the Building)

 

Best Cast Addition: Harper Spiller (The White Lotus)

 

Best Duo: Lucia and Mia (The White Lotus)

 

Best Trio:  Mabel Mora, Charles Hayden Savage, and Oliver Putnum (Only Murders in the Building)

 

Most Entertaining Male Reality “Star”:  Danny McCray (The Challenge)

 

Most Entertaining Female Reality “Star”:  Selena Gomez (Selena + Chef)

 

Most Annoying Reality:  Faysal (The Challenge)

 

Most Anticipated New Show of the Next Season: The Curse

 

Most Anticipated Reboot:  Justified: City Primeval

 

Show That Should Be Brought Back: Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies

 

Biggest Question for 2023-2024: When will the writer’s (and maybe actor’s) strike end?

 


Monday, July 10, 2023

The Twenty-Five Best Shows of 2022-23


1.  Only Murders in the Building

2.  The Great

3.  Tell Me Lies

4.  Extraordinary

5.  Star Wars: Andor

6.  Harley Quinn

7.  Ghosts

8.  The White Lotus

9.  Yellowjackets

10.  Ms. Marvel

11.  Single Drunk Female

12.  The Boys

13.  Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head

14.  Abbott Elementary

15.  Wedding Season

16.  The Mandalorian

17.  The Last of Us

18.  The Capture

19.  Wreck

20.  Reboot

21.  She-Hulk: Attorney at Law

22.  The Head

23.  Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies

24.  History of the World, Part II

25.  House of the Dragon


To be eligible for this list, the show must have aired a majority of their season between July 2022 and June 2023.


Sunday, July 09, 2023

57 Channels and Only This Is On: July 9, 2023

  

The Walking Dead: Dead City:  Did Negan just kill that dude by cheese grater to the face?  Seems like that would just be painful, not actually kill you.

 

Cruel Summer:  I said after the second episode that Isabelle and Parker had some unspoken connection and not so surprising when the Landry’s kicked her out, it looks like she moved into Parker’s.  Then you had Parker stirring things up by pushing her towards Luke even though she was with Jeff.  And was that the crazy neighbor Megan was helping, I do wonder how he fits into all this.

 

Secret Invasion:  Why did the Skrull cared so much that Fury had the kid of the person he was impersonating? And is G'iah really dead? Kind of strange for a shape shifter to not shift her shape when trying to escape. But I guess if G'iah really is dead someone who looks like Emilia Clarke is chilling in one of those pods and will be rescued as soon as next week.

 

The Clearing:  So Freya killed Asha, except maybe not because someone else said Adrianne did.   So did Adrianne convince Freya she killed Asha, or was the guy just trying to comfort Freya by putting blame elsewhere?  Meh, what a meaningless show.

 

The Blacklist:  Finally we have gotten to the endgame, Red is on the outs and people think he is dead, except, he forgot to put decoy bodies in the plane.  Ooops.


Saturday, July 08, 2023

Around the Tubes: July 8, 2023

 

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post includes blurbs on Cyndi Lauper, Lily & Madeleine, U2, Taylor Swift, Meduza, Smiling Friends, and POV.


Cyndi Lauper's new song for the series "Oh, Dolores" is now available on all digital platforms. Co-written by Cyndi Lauper and Ben Hopkins, and produced and performed by Lauper, the song release coincides with the series premiere, in which Lauper plays the character Ruthie.  Click HERE to listen!  Based on the hit Spotify podcast series of the same name The Horror of Dolores Roach is a contemporary Sweeney Todd-inspired urban legend of love, betrayal, weed, cannibalism and survival of the fittest. Dolores Roach (Justina Machado) is released from prison after 16 years and returns to a gentrified Washington Heights. She reunites with an old stoner friend, Luis (Alejandro Hernandez), who lets her live and work as a masseuse in the basement under his empanada shop. When the promise of her newfound stability is quickly threatened, “Magic Hands” Dolores is driven to shocking extremes to survive.


Indianapolis-based folk-pop duo Lily & Madeleine announce their enchanting fifth studio album Nite Swim available to pre-order nowAlongside the announcement, the band share the soothing official first taste of the project, the track and video, "Windowless Bedroomout everywhere now. Plus, the pair will hit the road this summer with stops in Columbus, OH and Nashville, TN and tickets are on sale now via lilandmad.com.  Nite Swim, Lily & Madeleine's forthcoming fifth studio album is an expansive journey introducing the listener to various vignettes of the duo's lives over the past five years. Its central thesis explores vulnerability, acceptance, embracing shame and acknowledging one's feelings rather than running from them. Lily says the project dives into the feeling of "wanting to be intimate with someone but feeling like they’ll reject you when they see how complicated you are inside." Over ten tracks, the listener is led through intimate scenes of Lily & Madeleine's lives, collectively as sisters and individually as artists. The foundation of the songwriting was built when the band began taking stock of their lives and who is important to them. Madeleine explains, "As we go through personal hardships, it’s worth noticing the people who remain at our side and the people who disappear. What would it have been like if they stayed? Are we truly better off without them?" The album was produced by longtime friend and collaborator Shannon Hayden and other instrumentation was provided by Devon Ashley, Heidi Gluk, and Jared May.


Island Records, Interscope, and UMe announce the release of Zooropa – 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Gatefold – a transparent yellow vinyl pressing celebrating three decades of U2’s Grammy-winning eighth studio album. This very special release is coming in October 2023 to coincide with the band’s next ambitious project, their long-awaited live return with U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At The Sphere, which kicks off on September  29, 2023, for a run of shows in Las Vegas. Pre-order Zooropa - 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Gatefold HERE  Produced by Flood, Brian Eno, and The Edge, Zooropa was released on July 5, 1993, on Island Records. U2 began writing and recording Zooropa in Dublin in February of that year, during a six-month break between legs of the industry-defining ZOO TV Tour.  Initially intended as just an EP, Zooropa became a fully-fledged album with 10 tracks – including singles “Numb,” “Lemon,” and “Stay (Faraway, So Close!)” - recorded in just six weeks, making it the fastest U2 album ever produced. Inspired by the band’s experiences on the ZOO TV Tour, Zooropa expanded on many of the tour’s themes of technology and media oversaturation. The album went to Number 1 in Ireland, the USA, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Sweden, Austria, France, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. In 1994, Zooropa saw the band collect the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.


Taylor Swift released Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).  The 22 track album of new recordings is the third instalment of Taylor’s Version albums. All songs on Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) are written by Taylor Swift.  Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) includes six never before released songs, including “Castles Crumbling” (From The Vault) featuring Hayley Williams, “Electric Touch” (From The Vault) featuring Fall Out Boy and “I Can See You” (From The Vault).   LISTEN TO SPEAK NOW (TAYLOR’S VERSION) HERE


- Multi-platinum selling global hitmakers Meduza return with new single “Phone”, featuring Sam Tompkins and Em Beihold, listen HERE via Island UK / Republic Records.  A slamming house beat with melody at its heart, “Phone” is the story of a frustrated relationship told through an endlessly ringing phone. The track’s rousing groove and signature atmospheric sonics provide the perfect setting for a stunning duet between rising British star Sam Tompkins and platinum-certified US singer-songwriter Em Beihold.


Turn that frown upside down! From creators Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack, go on a journey across a bizarre and colorful world with SMILING FRIENDS: The Complete First Season on Blu-ray™ and DVD August 29, 2023. You’ll be grinning ear to ear while you binge on all 8 episodes, alongside a bonus special and audio commentary. The series is available now to purchase Digitally.  The quarter-hour animated series is co-created by Cusack (YOLO: Crystal Fantasy) and Hadel (Hellbenders) and animated by Princess Bento Studio. SMILING FRIENDS has been viewed over 7 million times across linear, digital, and streaming.


- Following its award winning festival run, While We Watched directed by Vinay Shukla (An Insignificant Man) and produced by Luke W. Moody (founding producer, Lono Studio) and Khushboo Ranka (co-director, producer, An Insignificant Man), will make its national broadcast premiere on Monday, September 4, 2023 at 10pmET/9C (check local listings) and will be available to stream until December 3, 2023 at pbs.org, and the PBS App. In addition to standard closed captioning for the film, POV, in partnership with audio description service DiCapta, provides real time audio interpretations for audiences with sensory disabilities. Now in its historic 36th season, POV continues to share bold, visionary stories as America's longest running non-fiction series with Vinay Skukla’s timely look at the increasing threats to independent journalism and the public’s trust in news. 

 


Sunday, July 02, 2023

57 Channels and Only This Is On: July 2, 2023

 

The Walking Dead: Dead City:  When I first saw those helmet dudes, I thought the blades were a bit overkill, but I guess they could come in handy in a zombie apocalypse

 

Cruel Summer:  So Isabella has been connected to two drownings?  It seems way too early in the season for that not to be a red herring though.  I do wonder if we will see that summer with the dead chick at some point.

 

Secret Invasion:  Wait, Shooter McGavin is a Skrull?!?!?!  I feel so betrayed. 

 

The Blacklist:  Yet another week, yet another dismantling for Red’s criminal empire.  This season really did not need to be 22 episodes.  How is there still three left?  Let us just to Red's reason why he is doing it.