Arizona drains: Artists cancel, but slowly

With the new 'papers, please' law targeting people who don't look like the right sort of person in Arizona, there's a gentle cultural backlash starting to gather pace:

Hip-hop acts Pitbull and Cypress Hill have canceled upcoming shows in Arizona to protest the new law, which will take effect July 29. The legislation will require local authorities to determine a person's immigration status if he or she is suspected of being undocumented.

Banda star Jenni Rivera and reggaeton chart-toppers Wisin & Yandel are skipping the state on their AEG Live-promoted summer tours, while Mexican acts Conjunto Primavera and Espinoza Paz have canceled their previously announced concerts in Phoenix.

Amongst those seemingly quite happy to have their identities questioned by playing Arizona in the coming months are Tony Bennett, 50 Cent, She And Him, Iron Maiden, Athlete and Kings Of Leon. Imagine what sort of message that lot pulling out would make.

Wedding Car For Cutie

Congratulations to Death Cabbie Ben Gibbard and Zoey Deschanel out of She & Him (for our purposes, anyway): They had a Saturday night wedding.

Actors who can sing

We're going to have to go and have a doctor hit our knee, as our jerk-out-reaction whenever we hear the words "... taking a break from acting to release an album" seems to be seizing up. Not only is Zooey Deschanel's She And Him project better than her entire acting CV put together (yes, even the episode of Frasier where she was Roz's cousin. Even including that one.)

Now, Shawnee Smith and Missi Pyle have set aside the handicap of being Jill Cleveland in Murder, She Wrote and the woman with the monotone voice in Boston Legal to put together the imaginatively-titled Smith and Pyle, and it's actually sounding - well, quite good. At least on the basis of advance mp3s Spankin and Sugar.