Rolling Stone Rock and Roll Daily 2007 March

Since we as a nation obviously can t get enough of To Catch a Predator (it runs so frequently it’s bound to become its own network any day now), and the news media just can’t get enough of reporting on a presidential election that’s still 18 freakin’ months away (um, yeah, of that, too), why not apply the concept of Predator to the political arena? Ashton Kutcher’s not really doing anything, so he’d probably be down for a show that targets politicians in a publicly humiliating, and possibly campaign destroying, way.
Sure, the news media already follow these candidates wherever they go, fighting over every juicy crumb of gossip and scandal looking for the next Monica Lewinsky, but no one’s taking the initiative in creating that scandal.

That’s where Kutcher’s expertise comes in setting up situations that can’t be escaped except through embarrassment and ridicule.
And unlike Predator, not all the set-ups have to be as predictable and illegal as trying to have sex with children (although were that to happen it would probably help us make a more educated decision come November ’08). Some can merely be morally repugnant.

A few ideas…

An actor masquerading as a Yemeni oil baron asks to set up a private one-on-one meeting with a candidate to discuss making a “sizable donation” to the campaign. Once the meeting begins, the oil baron makes it very clear that in exchange for $20 million, donated from hundreds of independent untraceable sources, he needs to be able to tell his “associates” that the candidate promises to remove all U.S.

troops from Iraq by 2009. Oh, wait until you see the look on that candidate’s face when he’s told there are cameras taping the whole thing!

As a candidate who might have had a couple of adult beverages is driving away from a fundraising dinner, a hired stunt man hurls himself against the hood of the candidate’s car.

Will he pretend nothing happened? Order his driver to step on it? Get out and actually help the poor man (who would then admit to sleeping with the candidate’s wife to make sure there’s no happy ending)?

As a candidate is going through airport security to fly to a campaign stop in the Midwest, an actor pretending to be a TSA agent asks him to step out of line for a personal inspection. Naturally, the wand has been set to go off repeatedly, and the guard has to ask the candidate to strip down, getting more and more physically invasive with his use of the wand. If the candidate isn’t making for good TV by getting naturally upset, a supervisor will step in, pick up an article of the candidate’s clothing, and remove a small bag of white powder he’s planted inside.

What compromising scenarios would you like to see presidential candidates forced into on national TV? Let us know! Every month or so, Weezer bestow upon loyal Web site readers a comprehensive post that seems to get at pretty much anything the band has been amused by or has been pondering since the last post.

So what s been cracking them up? In the band s (our title, not theirs) they point out a collection of Weezer covers by goofy YouTube-ers.
1.

Malaysian Weezer tribute band Unlike Honey cover fan-love anthem Across The Sea.
2. Appropriately geeky Weezer fan Tom Teslik covers Holiday in what appears to be an actual coffee house.

3. Weezer-head Daniel takes on Jamie, proves he can splice multiple Weezer images together to create accompanying video.
Which one do you like best?

Do you know of other, more excellent Weezer cover artists out there? Remember when Beyonce was cool? Okay, not cool, exactly, but cooler.

She broke away from the occasionally charming Destiny’s Child thing and came out with this giant solo album Dangerously in Love, dominated international airspace with her runaway single “Crazy in Love” and started showing up everywhere on Jay-Z’s arm.
Since then, her boyfriend has released a mediocre comeback album and is helping sell Budweiser and diet Cherry Coke for dudes. B, meanwhile, had to watch an American Idol reject steal the Dreamgirls spotlight and has been reduced to chasing the alleged Latin audience with Beautiful Liar, a militant, guy-loathing duet with Shakira.

(If you ve done something bad, atone by watching the video .)
And now this Upgrade U video comes out. It features a bling-wearing alligator, shots of the pop star doing a J Lo impression while sitting awkwardly in the trunk of a white Rolls, some terrifically bad hair and a weird sequence in which Beyonce impersonates her boyfriend.

(In her eyes Jay apparently wears gold hoop earrings and regularly curls his lip like a blinged out cross-dressing Elvis impersonator).
For a second there, it was possible Beyonce was going to be the R B diva version of J.T.

, transforming from cheesy pop tart to genius pop star in one solo album. Instead she s become a glossy self-parody, whose artistic influence on her formerly untouchably awesome boyfriend seems to be the opposite of good.
What the hell is going on here?

Is this a rock couple that needs to break up? Was “Crazy in Love” a fluke?

Another book about Dylan?

Wow! That sounds so unnecessary! Actually, the book (out in June) sounds kinda cool.

It s an oral history that explores the great man s influence on culture via the musings of his peers/admirers. When that list includes the Beatles, the Band, Bono, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen and many others, the idea sounds a lot more compelling.

Whoa, apparently Pearl Jam will be headlining Lollapalooza?

According to the the legendary rockers (who gave their young career a boost performing at the festival back in 1992) are expected to take over the top spot at this year s festival, held August 3-5.

Bobby Brown, who was , after paying the balance of what he owed to Kim Ward, the mother of his kids.

Wilco tease all of American by announcing a slew of tour dates, all of which will take place overseas.

However, as points out, the band s scheduled appearance at Bonnaroo in June makes an American tour plausible. Tour dates after the jump.

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