Foxx takes side against hounds

Jamie Foxx has chosen to squander much of the goodwill he's built up over his career to date by not only defending animal torturer Michael Vick, but also suggesting that it's a black thing:

"It's a cultural thing, I think. Most brothers didn't know that, you know. I used to see dogs fighting in the neighbourhood all the time. I didn't know that was Fed time. So, Mike probably just didn't read his handbook on what not to do as a black star.

"I know that cruelty to animals is bad, but sometimes people shoot people and kill people and don't get time.

"I think in this situation, he really didn't know the extent of it, so I always give him the benefit of the doubt."

So, we have an appeal to a benefit of doubt - which, erm, isn't there, with Vick announcing his intention to plead guilty; a bid to offer some sort of moral equivalance - hey, sometimes people don't go to prison for torturing people; and a kind of confusing suggestion that making dogs rip themselves to pieces for enjoyment and betting is part of a black culture (even if that insulting stereotype was true, it wouldn't make it right, and what would happen if a white artist played the 'the black boys in the 'hood don't know any better' card). Then it's all topped off with the suggestion that it's a problem because Vick is famous - he hadn't read the book on being "a black star": two parts insinuating that Vick is being prosecuted for being a black man who dared to get rich, rather than because he's a sick bastard who killed and tortured creatures for fun, to one part suggesting that it's celebrity and not criminality that has caused Vick his current troubles.

Darren Hayes reminds us he's gay

Presumably not because he wants us to remember that, hey, he's a member of an opressed minority himself for any reason, Darren Hayes has been talking about why, after years and years of living in the closet, he finally came out.

You know, after everyone else had done the hard work by coming out when it was difficult, and still a career-threatening move.

Hayes, apparently, was inspired to stand up and be honest about his sexual preferences by... Michael Jackson:

"I connected with that gorgeous, wounded creature that he was."

Yes. Jackson. There's someone who's always been proud to be honest and matter-of-fact about what he likes in a sexual partner.

Kelly Clarkson: In reduced circumstances

Kelly Clarkson has finally got round to reorganising those tour dates she pulled when foolishly exploring artistic freedom earlier in the year; the venues are much, much smaller.

Reading's role as Bloc's foundation

After they've done Leeds tomorrow, Bloc Party are going to head into the studio to spend the autumn making their thrid album. Today, mind, they were at Reading, which turns out to be the band's Woolton Village Fete:

"This is the third time we played Reading and we've always been successful here so it's got a special place in our hearts," he explained, adding that without the event the band may never have formed.

"I met Russell our guitar player over there and we decided to be in a band."

Understandable, of course: most of the line-ups at Reading are so poor you'd believe that forming a band with some you've just bumped into at random would have to do better.

Music without control

The lovely people at Techcrunch are exploring the current state of (American) DRM-free sales; for those of you too busy, too proud or too important to plough through the article, there's a spreadsheet with the same information.

SoundExchange offer fairly-expensive olive branches

The initial two offers from SoundExchange to try and find some middle ground in the dispute over US internet music royalties - a capped USD50,000 a year for big broadcasters, and a discounted rate for smaller webcasters - have shown that finally, the royalties body is accepting that if it doesn't bend a little, it's going to be looking at a very dead golden goose and watching a large number of webcasters heading overseas. They haven't, though, quite got the knack of "not throttling" down yet. They're going to have to move further.

Rhianna apologises for the poor weather, kind of

After some people (and by "some people" we mean people who fill in the gaps between the journalism in newspapers) blamed Rhianna for cursing the British summer - because she made a song about Umbrellas, which meteorologists have proven could affect the ocean surface temperature in the mid-Atlantic to a point that would lead to an additional two or three inches rainfall across the UK - Rhianna has said... that she feels bad. A bit:

"I feel bad about that," Rihanna told WENN. "I don't think it's my fault. I think the weather helped to keep the song there for so long. It worked for me."

Aha. So it must have been arranged by her marketing department then: "sod the novelty umbrellas, we're spending the entire advertising budget on seeding clouds..."

[Thanks to James P]

New Neubaten

Einsturzende Neubaten are abandoning traditional record labels to self-release their new album Alles Wieder Offen; it'll be offered in two versions, with extra tracks and a DVD for the neubauten.org supporter project - in effect, working like shareholder perks.

A new dawn for London After Midnight

We suspect the sudden reappearance of London After Midnight - nearly a decade after their last album - isn't because they've been reactivated to open for dates on the Spice Girls tour.

Violent Acts Of Beauty emerges on October 26th in a variety of formats. We're putting bets on America's A Fucking Disease being the lead-off single. Except, probably, in America.

Thurston Moore math: Neil Young is greater than Avril Lavigne

It's not really much of a revelation, but Thurston Moore thinks older rock stars beat the pants off young pop stars:

"I am playing with Yoko Ono, and she's well past 70 and she rocks. Neil Young rocks. It's certainly not John Mayer or Avril Lavigne. Those people don't rock.

"If that's the young generation in the culture, then forget it. In the underground, the old guys are cool. I like the fact that the older we get the more we can rock."

There's a pretty strong argument that would suggest that Yoko Ono and Avril Lavigne both rock about precisely the same amount that we could advance here, but we're choosing not to.

Who the hell does Jeff Dreadnaught think he is?

It's probably best to ignore bad reviews, pop people. It's equally best to ignore the good ones, but ignoring the bad ones is a good place to start.

Believe me, having a coked-up guitarist shouting in your face in a winebar doesn't tend to do anything to raise the reviewer's opinion of a band, and it never comes as surprise to a journalist when a band tells them that they disagree with his or her opinion that they're not very good. I've nver quite understood why bands think that screeching "you know nothing about music" at someone who doesn't like the work is going to achieve anything.

Having said which, Deerhunter's exchange of emails with Jeff Weiss of the LA Weekly does at least manage to be amusing and Weiss makes a fairly wise observation:

The fact is that you are probably in one of the most critically
acclaimed bands out right now. Why care so much about one
writer who doesn't care for your music? Is it really worth your time to
write sarcastic e-mails? It's not going to change my mind or hurt my
feelings. I'm sorry you have such a low self-worth and lack of
confidence in your band.

Do you really think you make some form of populist music that
EVERYONE will like. To quote Wayne's World: Led Zeppelin didn't write