The Capri Lounge: Rants and Raves from Rolling Stone's Editors

Shut the F*** Up, Chico

June 17, 2008 1:00 PM

I was super-excited to see the Breeders play live last week at Webster Hall in New York City — but clearly not as excited as the guy behind me. I'm pretty sure he was the President of the Breeders Fan Club (of which I'm only a member), based on the unbridled exuberance and near-orgasmic joy with which he greeted every song. Ordinarily, I'd applaud his enthusiasm. But here's the rub: dude was singing along — loudly — to every song. And not just the lyrics — our Breeders-loving hero sang along to the guitar parts too. As if he hadn't already proven his loyalty by knowing the words to songs by Kim Deal's side project, the Amps.

We all know the concert-going stereotypes: jaded hipsters who won't move a muscle versus overenthusiastic fan boys who spill their adoration and beer all over you. Lame-ass scenesters who talk through the whole show, how do you sleep at night?

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He's Frank Black, I'm Kim Deal: Testing "Doolittle" on "Rock Band"

June 13, 2008 12:45 PM

Yesterday RS.com photo editor John Gara and I learned a valuable lesson: being Frank Black for more than 20 minutes results in a sore throat. Because I've written a book on the Pixies and John is the owner of a vintage Pixies shirt, we felt most qualified to demo the new Doolittle songs that will be added to Rock Band later this month. For an hour of pure bliss, we learned which lyrics might be embarassing to yell in front of a co-worker ("Whores in my bed!"), and that we could indeed pant in harmony ("Tame"). Keep reading for our breakdown of the game's (pretty damn cool) new additions.

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Caryn Ganz

I Don't Feel Bad For Shania Twain Because I Worked For Her Once

June 10, 2008 1:46 PM

Just a disclaimer: The following story will probably damage my cred, both specifically as a rock critic and generally as a human being, but many people insist I tell this tale. So enjoy this knowing that I'm risking my psychological health and whatever is left of my dignity.

Much has been made in the past few weeks of the end of the marriage between country crossover sensation Shania Twain and '80s hair metal producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Most of the public sympathy seems to have landed on the side of Shania, as Lange appears to have cheated on his wife with a mutual friend of theirs. I'm not the sort of guy to condone cheating, but if Lange's personal experience with Shania was anything like mine, then I'm surprised he lasted that long. Of course, I was never involved in a relationship with Shania (if I was, you can bet I wouldn't be giving my story away for free on this fine blog), but rather as an unofficial employee. For in the summer of 1998, I was a member of Shania Twain's touring band.

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The Next Rock Stars (Of Pro Cycling): Team Slipstream-Chipotle

June 9, 2008 4:42 PM

Visiting the Rolling Stone offices on Friday June 6: Team Slipstream-Chipotle! No, that's not some British DJ duo — it's the classy American racing outfit that's making serious waves in the professional bike racing scene. Now you might think that the Capri Lounge is no place for a post about a pro bike racing team. Well, I think it's no place for an affectionate post about the New Kids on the Block, and we've sure had plenty of those recently. So put that in your Joey McIntyre doll and smoke it, fanboy.

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Jason Gay

The Capri Lounge Hits the "Sex And The City" Pink Carpet

May 30, 2008 5:23 PM

Click here for Peter Travers' video review of Sex and the City

Dear Diary,

Don't hate me. Tonight I did something that most women would never speak to me again for doing, and/or give away organs to do themselves. Practical, intelligent women; and I'm not talking kidneys.

Yes, tonight, I attended the Sex and the City movie premiere at Radio City Music Hall in New York City (with my bestie Ally Lewis.) Shoutoutz!

When we arrived at the pink carpet, the situation was about as glamorous as those Season One episodes where Carrie would turn to the camera and say what was on her mind. (Props to whoever put an end to this.) The rain was coming down, the make-up was running, and the line to get in resembled one of those extreme hamster cages with the psycho tubing.

A mousey girl with a heinous beret climbed onto the nearest barricade and began pouting. "Who's in charge here?" she asked no one in particular. "I've been waiting since 5:30!"

"I've been waiting four years!" I wanted to say back. But no. There was no reason to unleash my inner anger at Minnie Mouse when it was clearly Kim Catrall I wanted words with.

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Natalie Zfat

When Archie Met Cookie

May 28, 2008 3:20 PM

American Idol is the type of show you either hate, or fist-fight your roommate over when they suggest watching House during commercial breaks.

For the latter, the only thing possibly sweeter than having six-day-champ David Cook show up at your office for lunch is runner-up David Archuleta joining him, and the two spending the afternoon calling each other "Cookie" and "Archie" as they attempt to figure out which of them is being addressed.

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Natalie Zfat

The "Sex and the City" Movie: The First Review!

May 23, 2008 1:50 PM

Hey guys, just got back from a screening of the Sex and the City movie here in New York City. To date, it's only been shown to select critics and at a premiere in London last week. Obviously, anticipation for this movie is HUGE. We're talking Indiana Jones meets Iron Man huge. Here in New York, there are people scalping tickets to opening night showings for as much as $200 — that's just a seat at the movies!

So on to the review……SPOILER ALERTS EVERYWHERE. DO NOT READ IF YOU WISH TO BE SURPRISED BY THE SATC MOVIE.

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Jason Gay

Toughest Rock Trivia Question Ever

May 23, 2008 12:05 PM

I’ve managed to stump most my co-workers with this trivia question, so I figured I'd unleash it on the web. What do the Velvet Underground, Public Enemy, The Sugarcubes, Pearl Jam, the Pixies, Primus and the Ramones all have in common? If nobody gets in right in the next few days I'll post a hint in the comments section. No Googling!


Andy Greene

Reconsidering "Southland Tales"

May 22, 2008 3:01 PM

Sometimes I forget just how badly the Bush Administration has fucked things up for the rest of us.

During their reign, the worst stereotypes about America have been realized and amplified. And, what's worse, every transgression they've made has been done right under our noses, taking full advantage of the fact that, given a choice between action and non-action, we as a society choose non-action every time. The reason they were able to get over on us like they did was they acted like it was completely normal, and the media did the same. The fact that they've tried to repeal our civil liberties under something named "The Patriot Act" is just a brazen, in your-face "fuck you" to our nation’s values and common sense. These are the thoughts I had while watching the first few minutes of Southland Tales, Richard Kelly's much-maligned, allegorical, apocalyptic sci-fi brainteaser, now out on DVD.

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Dispatches From the Intern Desk: Welcome to Guam

May 22, 2008 12:48 PM

Before starting my online internship at Rolling Stone, I thought that there was a magical program that popped all editorial content onto the website. Little did I know that for every article in the magazine, it takes a complicated series of modifications to tailor it for your viewing pleasure.

Take HTML formatting. You wouldn't think twice about the foreign characters in Beyoncé or Mötley Crüe's names, but it's my job to plug in the nerdy combos of ampersands and numbers that make them look pretty on the site.

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RS Intern
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