The Grammy's were basically the best Rock Assembly ever...

Back when I was at boarding school each term one assembly was fully dedicated to student performance and called Rock Assembly, which is what I always kinda thought The Grammy's were, but with more famous people and more cleavage. Year after year I've tuned in for the performances, but this year I actually cared about the awards, because I was hoping Radiohead or M.I.A would win, and they both kinda did in their own respects, "In Rainbows" won the award for Best Alternative Album, and "Swagger Like Us" which was inspired by M.I.A's Paper Planes won Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Though of course those awards weren't broadcast because the show would have been 8 hours long, you can check out all the winners here, if you actually want to know who won what.

I don't know if you caught the broadcast but here are a few of my favorite performances.


First and foremost Radiohead doing 15 Step with the USC Band was epic, fun and proved Thom Yorke is quite possibly the dopest MOFO on the planet because he's always willing to push the boundaries and create amazing music as well as phenomenal live performances. Plus Gwenyth introduced them, so that was pretty dope (as was her outfit.)



Possibly the coolest performance of the night and definitely the winner for best showmanship and of course swagger.



Coldplay and Jay-Z



I'm still on the fence about this song/performance but hopefully the new album will rock once it comes out March 2nd

"Japanese Cartoon," and I don't mean Anime...ok I do just a little

'Japanese Cartoon' is Lupe Fiasco's side project where he sings in a British accent, with a band to "post punk alternative, indie" music according to myspace where you can check out a few tracks (plus Hypem also has them up of course.) While I'm not completely obsessed with Lupe, I think Japanese Cartoon is pretty rad because it's silly and fun all at the same time. It got my toes tapping and while it wasn't as sick asMr. Mike Skinner, the fact that he threw in a couple instruments and a few rock influences kept me listening after the first 16 bars.

Now that Weezy is working on a rock album maybe they can collaborate!?! So here's a clip of "Heirplanes" by Japanese Cartoon.

While I'm on the subject of an interest in Asian Animation, I thought I should mention that a live-action Cowboy Bebop is in the works! For those of you not in the know, CB was one of the coolest anime serials ever made, about a bounty hunter named Spike travelling the galaxy in 2071 with a badass crew on their ship called the Bebop. It came out in Japan a decade ago, and then premiered in The States on Cartoon Network's ever brilliant Adult Swim. I spent many a night in college watching, and when I went to The Swap Shop Drive-In with Craig to see "White Noise," I just watched the Bebop Movie on my laptop instead.

So it turns out for the live-action movie Keanu Reeves has been cast as Spike, which is intriguing because physically he's definitely the guy to go with, since Spike is tall, pale, thin, has dark floppy hair and wears a suit like a BAMF. & while Keanu hasn't aged in like (1)7 years, I think he may be too old to play Spike, but I guess it's really dependent on who else they cast.

You can judge for yourself by checking out Part 1 of Ep 1 below it's called "Asteroid Blues"

Lil Wayne Rocks...literally

So it turns out Weezy's next project is going to be a rock album. I'm starting to think he and Joaquin Phoenix got caught up in some Freaky Friday experiment and are swapping potential musical careers. I just hope it's not a total train wreck and at the same time I kind of hope it is. There's a sample of "Prom Queen" and what we cane expect from him as he jumps into the genre.

“Prom Queen”