- Lenny Kravitz has been around a while and endured a lot of crap and criticism from a lot of people. He’s dated high-profile hotties like Nicole Kidman and released more albums (eight) than you probably realize. I for one am a fan of Kravitz’s, and although he’s not one of my favorite artists to listen to, I have most of his music in my substantial iTunes collection. His latest effort, It’s Time for a Revolution, is his first in four years and in the time off, Kravitz clearly looked back to what has made him successful so far. Love Revolution opens the album and reminds you a lot of Are You Gonna Go My Way, one of the biggest hits of his career to this point. Kravitz also channels Led Zeppelin, never a bad thing, by using the main riff from Zep’s Custard Pie as the base upon which he builds Bring It On. Love and faith are big topics on the ablum and while Lenny isn’t going to be drawing comparisons of John Lennon for lyrical brilliance, he rocks out with a familiar style and a retro-soul vibe that melds actual musicianship (take that, American Karaoke!) and a message of some substance. For people who were disappointed in the slickness of Kravitz’s last album Baptized, this album will be more of the Lenny you came to know and love before that effort. It’s worth a listen, though.
- Attaboy, Barack Obama. I knew you had it in you and you proved me right by winning all three state presidential primaries held over the weekend. Obama won handily in Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington state and the U.S. Virgin Islands, narrowing Hank Clinton’s leading and giving his own campaign much-needed momentum. Hank chose to focus not on the losses, but rather on likely Republican nominee John McCain, calling his probable selection “more of the same” for Republicans. Not so fast, Hank. While you have to admire that dude’s focus, Hank needs to worry about the Democratic nomination, which Barack Obama is slowly ripping from Hank’s mannish hands. Now Hank still leads by a narrow 1,055-998 margin, but there’s positive news there as well. Obama is looking strong heading into this week’s so-called “Potomac Primaries” in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., meaning he could take the lead in delegates. A total of 2,055 delegates is needed to win the nomination, so we’re at about the halfway point there. I’m counting on all the voters in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. to do the right thing and get Hank Clinton out of this race ASAP, because unless that dude is gone, this race becomes a recipe for disaster as we head toward November.
- For a magazine the purports to be about high finance, business, wealth and intelligence, you’d think Forbes would be a little smart than this. For the second straight year, Forbes.com has ranked Boulder as the smartest city in the USA. How did they arrive at this conclusion, you ask? By making the fundamental mistake of equating “best educated” with smartest, that’s how. The rankings were based on the percentage of adults 25 and older with at least a bachelor's degree. In Boulder, 53 percent of adults do. Ninety-three percent graduated from high school and 4 percent have a PhD. That’s great, but they don’t make Boulder the smartest city in America, just the best educated. Intelligence has nothing to do with how much formal education you have; there’s a definite distinction to be made there. Besides, if Boulder residents were really that smart, with the education they have, they’d be living somewhere that isn’t friggin’ freezing cold much of the year and perpetually under a blanket of snow. Besides, when other Colorado cities deride your city as the place that banned couches from porches and required landowners to get a permit to kill a prairie dog, as Boulder did, that doesn’t scream country’s smartest city. “Boulder is one of the greenest cities in the United States, and the residents take advantage of the many outdoor recreational activities available to the students, professors and overwhelmingly young adult population,” the magazine raved. Yeah, except that any activities not involving snowshoes, gloves, ski masks and four layers of clothing are on hold for most of the year in Boulder. Others among the "smartest" cities include: Ames and Iowa City, Iowa; Lawrence, Kan., Corvallis, Ore.; Ithaca, N.Y.; Ann Arbor, Mich., and Cambridge, Mass. in the top 10. Personally if I’m one of those “smart” people in Boulder with a PhD, I’m moving to Phoenix, Southern California, south Florida or Hawaii....
- Who could have possibly seen this coming? When you have two stellar, blockbuster movies like Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show and Paris Hilton’s Hottie & the Nottie coming out, who could possibly foresee both of those fantastic flicks bombing out in the same weekend? Oh, other than everyone, I mean, Vaughn and the Skank-Also-Known-As Paris Hilton both scored mega-flops with their new projects this weekend. Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show doc from Picturehouse opened at 962 locations, and averaged only $150 in tickets sold per location on Friday. Based on an $8 ticket price, that’s only 19 tickets at each theatre where the movie is showing. To put that in different terms, in most theaters that means you could have not only your own row but a solid 3-row block of seats to enjoy the film in solitude. However, Vaughn’s project looks like the second coming of Casablance when held up against Hilton’s Hottie & the Nottie (Regent Releasing). Debuting on 111 screens, it could only muster $76 (yes, $76, the same amount you could find under the couch cushions of whatever couch Hilton is currently having sex on with some random dude while a video camera rolls) per location on its opening day. That means that, on average, 10 people purchased a ticket to see this abomination of a movie at each theater dumb enough to book it. Hottie will sell only an anticipated $23,000 during the 3-day weekend for a $207 per theatre average. That’s about 26 ticket buyers per location for Friday-Sunday. With a crowd that size, you’re looking at about 5-6 dudes who have had sex with Hilton at one time or another being in the crowd, so yes, it is an incredibly small audience. That the top-earning movie of the weekend, Fool’s Gold, starring the man who can’t find a shirt in any picture taken of him, Matthew McCaunaghey, isn’t that much better of a movie is irrelevant. At least it’s not as bad as these two debacles, which should be making their way to DVD by this weekend and be in the discount bin by next Monday.
- It may be early in the case, but score one for West Virginia University in its battle to collect the $4 million that its former football coach Rich Fraud-riguez owes it in buyout money under the terms of his contract. A federal judge ruled Monday that the matter belongs in Monongalia County Circuit Court. That’s the same court where WVU filed the case after Fraud-riguez resigned to take the head coaching job at Michigan. In its appeal, WVU had argued that because it's an arm of state government, it can only be sued in state court and U.S. District Court Judge John Bailey concurs. In announcing his decision, he said the university is not an independent body. Also, the ruling also says it's clear the outcome of the case will have an impact on state funds because any money paid to or held by the university is considered the state's money. In other words, Fraud-riguez isn’t just screwing the university; he’s giving the proverbial middle finger to the whole state of West Virginia, a state he lied, er, claims to love. Love, maybe. Love as much as money, power and the prestige of a better coaching job, not so much. Pay up, Fraud-riguez. You wanted to leave to be head coach at Michigan less than a year after flirting with Alabama about their coaching job and agreeing to take it before doubling back under public pressure, agreeing to stay at WVU and signing that phat new contract, fine. But honor the deal you signed and to what it says you have to do to leave - PAY THE FREAKING $4 MILLION, YOU PIECE OF CRAP.
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