April 2015 | Liner Notes

RIVERS CUOMO, frontman of WEEZER and nerdcrush of hundreds of
thousands of awkward teen girls, is producing a pilot for Fox based on his
life. The show Detour will not be
strictly autobiographical, but will follow a rock star who leaves his band to
pursue a college degree, as Cuomo did. Ben Aldridge was cast in the lead role,
with Peter Gallagher (most recently from HBO’s phenomenal Togetherness) and Oliva Thirlby (from Bored to Death and The
Wackness) rounding out the cast. Cuomo collaborated with BIG DATA for a track “Snowed In”
earlier this year.

Dozens
of eBay auctions have sprung up in the last few weeks purporting to sell air
from KANYE WEST concerts, GARTH BROOKS concerts, and even
captured “flatulence” from YEEZY
himself. This behavior, which eBay has discouraged and, in several cases,
eliminated, follows an auction of Kanye Air which reached nearly $60,000. This
is not the first item associated with Kayne to sell (or nearly sell—the auction
was shut down by eBay) for a high price. Blank white t-shirts have sold for
over $100­. Not shirts worn by the artist, but designed by him. Shoes by Yeezy
have fetched up to $5,000. Kanye has done nothing to encourage these sales, nor
has he verified their claims. But it’s not hard to see why everyone was so
willing to believe that the items were authentic. Hot air has always been
Kanye’s specialty.

If
you were ever trying to sleep while your roommate drunkenly slammed drumsticks
against barely-cushioned plastic, you’ll be as excited as I am to hear about
the return of Rockband, a game that
convinced people all over the world not to learn actual instruments. Harmonix,
the company that makes the games, says that it will have details to announce
about Rockband 4 at this year’s E3
gaming convention. They’re working to make sure the instruments are compatible
with modern gaming systems and that the large libraries of songs purchased by
die-hard fans will still be playable on the new game.

The
first-ever recording of ELVIS was
purchased recently by an anonymous bidder for $300,000. That bidder has now
revealed himself to be JACK WHITE,
who will reissue the recording on vinyl for Record Store Day. White, one of the
leading proponents of Record Store Day and one of the bellwethers of the vinyl
revival, has proved himself to be quite the analogue Robin Hood.

Fans
of BLINK-182 were treated to a
painful back-and-forth in recent months; the news that TOM DELONGE had left the band (again) hit the internet and caused a
new cresting wave of Tom-hate. Within 24 hours, Tom corrected the press and
said that he had never (this time) left the band and that there was simply a
miscommunication between him and his publicist about miscommunications between
him and his band.

MARK HOPPUS and TRAVIS BARKER, however, let it be known
in interviews after the incident that Tom should just leave. In return, Tom announced
the release of To the Stars . . . Demos,
Odds and Ends, a collection that he claims to have pulled from his
“personal stash.” He also went on and on about the government covering up
aliens and his own personal encounters with beings from another planet.
Overall, it’s been pretty typical Tom behavior.

Travis
is tired of extended hiatuses and indefinite leaves-of-absence. He insists that
there’s no “bad blood” between himself and Tom, but that he needs to “just man
up and quit.” Those of us who were hoping for one (or three) more Blink albums
can be disappointed, though not surprised. When Tom left previously to found ANGELS AND AIRWAVES, the pop-punk world
erupted with questions. What broke up this seemingly fun and creative band? The
answer then is the answer now: Tom is his own Yoko.