Idolator: Paul McCartney

ZZ Top Is Rick Rubin's Latest High-Profile Comeback Production

Anthony Miccio — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:00:00 EDT

ZZ Top! Of course! The trio will celebrate its 40th anniversary by herding into the studio with Rick Rubin later this year, after they wrap up a co-headlining tour with Brooks & Dunn. The band is aiming a sound more "La Grange" than "Sleeping Bag" (aw, can't they do both?), and Rick Rubin does seem the painfully obvious choice for a high-profile authenticity move. The band has also signed to Rubin's American Recordings, which heightens the prospect that its forthcoming album will get his full attention, rather than being one of eight projects he watches through a large telescope from inside his ashram. In recent years Rubin has worked with the Dixie Chicks, Linkin Park, Metallica, Weezer, U2, Kanye, Green Day, the dude from Semisonic... is there any respected figure in music that Rubin has yet to work with? I was able to come up with five who would be definite collaboration coups for both sides.

1. Paul McCartney
"Well, Paul... I think... we should go back... to Ram..."

2. Ian MacKaye
If the Evens ever break up, with Jeff Nelson not even in D.C., I'm sure the god of authenticity cash-ins would be happy to come down to Inner Ear and console Ian. "Maybe Henry... could fly in and join you... for some duets. I want to capture... your friendship."

3. Nickelback
"I want to hear... Canada... in you. I want to bring out... the Randy Bachman... in Nickelback."

4. Bruce Springsteen
They're both associated with Columbia, you know. And judging from Magic, the Boss could really use a fresh pair of ears. "Bruce... I only want... one song... about a motorcycle. But make it... definitive."

5. The Beastie Boys
Everyone's older, everyone's wiser, and the Beastie Boys clearly need help from somebody.

Plus, there's always Ray Stevens.

Exclusive: ZZ Top Signs To American Recordings [Billboard]
In The Studio With Rick Rubin And Ray Stevens [YouTube]

New Macca Doc Shows The High Cost Of Flippant Answers To The Media

Anthony Miccio — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:45:00 EDT

In 1965, Paul McCartney told a Ruth Anson, a teenage interviewer, that he'd only have wedding plans in the future "if you'd marry me." More than 40 years later, Anson, now a married professor with kids, wants to get in touch with the newly single Macca and see if this aside still haunts him as much as it haunts her. Desperately Seeking Paul McCartney, a documentary about her plight, will have its LA debut at the 2008 Mockfest Film Festival on May 18. The trailer reveals a documentary that's as much as about the attempt to make a movie about Anson as it is about the woman herself, with the filmmakers wrestling with whether to treat her as a crazed stalker or a sympathetic figure.

With photo in hand, Ruth goes to a pitch session on screenwriting and tells her story to a panel of professionals. Their response is initially mixed, until an opportunist director/producer, Marc Cushman, decides to take on the project.

In the spirit of reality TV, he has a camera crew follow Ruth. She goes to her old haunts and tracks down previous interviewees, but no one will allow her in the door or grant her an on camera interview. He decides to set her up with a Paul impersonator, to practice for the big interview, but the Fake Paul thinks she's crazy. He then goes to his shrink and sends her to a session, just to confirm both of their sanities, but the shrink stops returning his phone calls. He gets her beauty and fashion advice, which she refuses to listen to and, on top of that, they are refused press passes for the Grammy's where they know McCartney will be in attendance. Faced with mounting production costs, which include paying for the original news clip, Ruth's unsupportive family, and unable to locate a local address for Sir Paul, Cushman is forced to realize that this documentary is well on its way to becoming a real dud. That is, until he has a brainstorm. He will manipulate it into a real life on-camera embarrassment for Ruth, but in the eleventh hour a 'larger than life' character comes to her rescue and helps her to succeed in "Desperately Seeking Paul McCartney."

Ooh, a larger than life character? I wonder who would have the time to assist this troubled soul. A former Wing? Heather Mills? Ringo?

"Desperately Seeking Paul McCartney" Has Los Angeles Debut at the 2008 Mockfest Film Festival [Beatles Unlimited via I Guess I'm Floating]
DESPERATELY SEEKING PAUL MCCARTNEY [YouTube]

Even After His Divorce Settlement, Paul McCartney Has More Money Than Everyone Who Reads Music Blogs Put Together

Jess Harvell — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:30:00 EDT

Friend-of-the-kangaroo Paul McCartney is all settled up with his ex-wife Heather Mills, and though you'd imagine $48.6 million changing hands in a divorce proceeding would put a damper on a man's fancy come springtime, no one should be surprised that Sir Paul won't be emergency stocking-up at Big Lots this weekend to see him through the fallow early days of studio-apartment bachelorhood. Look upon his post-settlement bank balance, ye white-collar workers, and despair.

1. The fundamental issue was what financial provision should be made for Ms. Mills. She sought an award of almost 125 million pounds ($250 million). Sir Paul proposed that the wife should exit the marriage with assets of 15.8 million pounds ($31.6 million) inclusive of any lump sum award.

2. The judge decided that the husband should pay the wife a lump sum of 16.5 million pounds ($33 million) which together with her assets of 7.8 million pounds ($15.6 million) (which include her current properties) means that she exits her marriage with total assets of 24.3 million pounds ($48.6 million) inclusive of a deemed figure of 500,000 pounds ($1 million) referable to her overspending in the period of separation.

3. The judge found that the total value of all the husband's assets, including his business assets, was about 400 million pounds ($800 million). There was no evidence at all before him that he was worth 800 million pounds ($1.6 billion)...

7. The lump sum of 16.5 million pounds ($33 million) is made up of a sum of 14 million pounds ($28 million) as the capitalized figure for the wife's income needs, which the judge assessed at 600,000 pounds ($1.2 million) per annum, and a sum of 2.5 million pounds ($5 million) for the wife to buy a property in London.

8. Financial provision for Beatrice consists of a periodical payments order of 35,000 pounds ($70,000) per annum, the husband agreeing to pay for her nanny and her school fees.

Which calculates roughly as: $800 million minus $48.6 million = he can still afford to pay for your date. Get cracking, ladies/gents who look convincing enough in drag to pull one over on a sixtysomething rock icon.

Mills Awarded $48.6M From McCartney [Yahoo via AP]
Text Of Mills-McCartney Settlement [Yahoo via AP]

Sir Paul McCartney has publicly denounced ...

Kate Richardson — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:45:00 EDT

Sir Paul McCartney has publicly denounced the culling of kangaroos in Australia, which are apparently so abundant that they "impact" other species. "There is an urgent need for action to protect kangaroos from a barbaric industry which slaughters them for meat and leather," said McCartney as he distributed boxing gloves to a horde of ready-to-fight 'roos. [NME]

BREAKING: Paul McCartney did not have an ...

Jess Harvell — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:00:47 EST

BREAKING: Paul McCartney did not have an angioplasty because his innards were long ago removed and replaced with Country Bear Jamboree-style animatronics. [AP]

The tabloid loose talk that Ozzy Osbourne ...

jharv — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:15:59 EST

The tabloid loose talk that Ozzy Osbourne was going to perform with Paul McCartney at this year's Brit Awards is untrue, leaving Ozzy more time to audition for TV announcer spots and/or be gently mocked by the producers at CNN. [Blabbermouth]

How can you make the warbly Paul McCartney-Michael ...

mjohnston — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:20:26 EST

How can you make the warbly Paul McCartney-Michael Jackson duet/Thriller lowlight "The Girl Is Mine"—which someone actually requested at a wedding I attended recently, for serious—even more worthy of the "skip" button? How about treating it to a remix by will.i.am in a clearly misguided effort to "honor" it? [The Leak Source]

How Many Bad Beatles Puns Can You Fit Into A Google News Search?

mjohnston — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:30:10 EST

Judging by the cringeworthy Beatles-punning headlines floating around the Internet today, the opportunity provided by the news of Paul McCartney's budding relationship with a rich New Yorker must have thrilled many a Fab Four-loving copyeditor during a long, cold night of dotting is and crossing ts; sadly, not all of the efforts put forth hit the right note. After the jump, we present four of them to you, and ask: Which one was written by someone who needs to come together with a stylebook ASAP?

PAUL'S NEW N.Y. HONEY PIE [NYP]

LA Weekly continues high standard of New ...

mjohnston — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 17:51:51 EDT

LA Weekly continues high standard of ~~New Times~~ Village Voice Media music writing, assigns "I go to the Paul McCartney show at Amoeba and get crabby about it" story to stripper-store expert. [LA Weekly]

Liner Notes: Paul McCartney Makes The Bean-Counters Happy

Brian Raftery — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 13:00:43 EDT

- Paul McCartney's Starbucks-sold Memory Almost Full is on track to move 180,000 copies this week. In unrelated news, the Satellite Party has just signed an "exceedingly artist-friendly" distribution deal with Carl's Jr. [HITS]
- Now that Sporty Spice is finally on board for the Spice Girls reunion, sales of canary-yellow sports bras have spiked nearly 3 percent. [OK!]
- Britney Spears may be dating her drug counselor. It's like the Stockholm Syndrome, but with [ALLEGED SUBSTANCE REDACTED]! [Scoop]

Tomorrow's New Releases Revealed Today

mjohnston — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:45:02 EDT

Welcome to On The Shelf, Idolator's weekly look at new releases hitting the shelves of record stores and digital-music outlets every Tuesday. This week brings a fairly heavy slate of brand-new albums; after the jump, we give a once-over to new albums from Rihanna, Big & Rich, Paul McCartney, Poison, and T-Pain.

Rihanna, Good Girl Gone Bad
The artist: Barbados cover girl with a seemingly tireless album-release schedule.
The sound: Crunchy, futuristic radio-pop.
The first in line: Chart followers looking for another track to add to their "Summer Jams Of '07" playlist.

Big & Rich, Between Raising Hell And Amazing Grace
The artist: Country duo that's just finding out about this hot trend called "crunk."
The sound: A ride around Nashville that picks up AC/DC and Wyclef along the way.
The first in line: Good old boys, the bad girls who love to ride 'em, and curious John Legend aficionados.

Paul McCartney, Memory Almost Full
The artist: Former Beatle plunging into the digital/Starbucks era.
The sound: One of the songs is titled "Ever Present Past"; that sort of sums up the feel of the album, 21st-century distribution methods aside.
The first in line: A harried vice-president with a latte jones.

Poison, Poison'd
The artist: Hard rock stalwarts who somehow managed to survive the Capitol-Virgin merger.
The sound: Lipstick-kissed covers of Bowie, Kiss, and The Cars.
The first in line: Rocklahoma road-trippers.

T-Pain, Epiphany
The artist: Drank-buyin', stripper-lovin' flirt.
The sound: Vocodered, airy R & B.
The first in line: VIP-room DJs looking for post-last-call fodder.

On The CD Front [Pause & Play]

Paul McCartney Wants His HSN

mjohnston — Tue, 29 May 2007 14:44:07 EDT

Paul McCartney has announced that he'll be hawking his forthcoming album, Memory Almost Full, on the Home Shopping Network in a special this week. While this news is being met with gnashed teeth in some quarters, we actually don't see much of a problem with the idea of McCartney taking to the airwaves for the purpose of moving units—hey, it even worked for Neil Sedaka. (However, we reserve the right to change our minds if Sir Paul devotes any of the half-hour to a rendition of "Freedom.")

Multichannel Retailer HSN Teams With Hear Music to Create 30-Minute Television Special in Honor of New Paul McCartney Release of Memory Almost Full, [PR Newswire, via Hypebot]
Earlier: Home Shoppers Clogging Up The Phones With Requests For Music

Liner Notes: Paul McCartney Is Possibly Not Your Baby Daddy

Brian Raftery — Fri, 25 May 2007 12:00:03 EDT

- A German court has stopped its investigation whether Paul McCartney faked a paternity test in 1984; meanwhile, the country's 23-year quest to find who was responsible for fathering Give My Regards To Broad Street continues. [Reuters]
- Bono will be awarded the Liberty Medal from National Constitution Center in September. Is he just making these up at this point? [NME]
- Michael Jackson is getting paid a reported $10 million to appear at a private birthday party in England. In related news, Idolator.com is offering $10 to anyone who can provide a Michael Jackson punchline we haven't used umpteen times already. [The Scoop]

Liner Notes: The Smashing Pumpkins Go Ape

Brian Raftery — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:25:01 EDT

- The cover for the new Smashing Pumpkins album: One part Al Gore, one part Charlton Heston, and one part Roland Emmerich [Billboard]
- The British government is taking steps to extend copyright protection for musicians, meaning that you'll have to wait until long after Paul McCartney's dead until you can get public-domain rights for your cover of "Spies Like Us." [NME]
- You know that rumor about Eve dating Sean Penn? No? Well, either way, she says it's not true. [SOHH]

Listening Station: Paul McCartney Dips Into The Past

mjohnston — Mon, 14 May 2007 16:20:20 EDT

Paul McCartney's solo catalog will be available in digital stores soon, and his caffeine-fueled next record, Memory Almost Full, will arrive in Starbucks just as Frappucino season begins next month; "Ever Present Past" is the first song we've heard from the record, and its percolating melody makes us wonder if McCartney's been spending his recent days mulling over the XTC back catalog's indebtedness to his former band:

~~Paul McCartney - Ever Present Past~~ [MP3, link expired]
Paul McCartney [Official site]

Paul McCartney Now Caught Up To The Year 2000

Brian Raftery — Fri, 11 May 2007 09:53:36 EDT

Ex-Wings frontman Paul McCartney is finally getting into the digital-music world: After long refusing to put any of his solo catalog online—a bummer to those of us who want to use "Say Say Say" as our ringtone—Billboard reports that he'll make his forthcoming Memory Almost Full available for download.

As part of its digital marketing strategy, Starbucks plans to give "Memory Almost Full" prime positioning in its Hear Music area in the Apple iTunes Store. The digital distribution deal for McCartney is believed to pertain solely to the new album and not back catalog.

However, the pact signals increased willingness on the part of the former Beatles to make music available for consumption online. Music from the Beatles and the band's former members has been conspicuously missing from digital distribution offerings, and a glaring content hole for operators of music download and subscription services.

Two purely speculative thoughts on this: 1) Steve Jobs will give a keynote speech at a Mac conference next month in San Francisco, which could be the perfect time to formally announce the Beatles deal; and 2) that "glaring content hole" line is going to draw a lot of confused late-night Googlers.

Exclusive: McCartney Goes Digital, Beatles 'Virtually Settled' [Billboard]

A Quick Brush-Up On Today's Unsexy-But-Important Business News

Brian Raftery — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 10:59:53 EDT

- Paul McCartney has confirmed a one-album deal with Starbucks' Hear Music label; in addition to being sold in the chain's 4.2 kajillion stores, the new album—due in early June—will be made available to other retailers. McCartney's Chaos and Creation in the Backyard bored approximately 533,000 listeners, according to Nielsen SoundScan. [NYT]
- Borders is scaling back its brick-and-mortar outlets, and will sell or franchise its 73 overseas superstores. The chain also plans to reduce the number of CDs it sells, and is planning new "digital centers" in which customers can download music. As Borders' CFO notes: "We are looking to get into the downloading business." And why not? It's going so well these days! [WSJ]
- Stagecoach, the countrified Coachella spin-off, will offer 3,000 reserved seats set up by the front of the stage, which will allow Willie Nelson to wander off mid-set and take a nap under a lawn chair. [LA Times]

Starbucks To Make Boring Music More Widely Distributed

Brian Raftery — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:40:28 EDT

In its continuing quest to eventually ~~harvest human organs for beans~~ conquer the global market, Starbucks is mulling over the launch of a new record label:

Having already proven that it can sell other companies' music, coffee giant Starbucks is planning to launch its own record label and is close to a deal for the next album from former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney to be its first release, according to sources familiar with the plans...

Unlike its Hear Music operation, which releases the Artists Choice compilation series that features musicians such as Sheryl Crow or The Rolling Stones selecting songs that influenced them, Starbucks Records is expected sign, record and produce its own artists rather than licensing songs from other labels...That's where Sir Paul comes in. The wrinkly rocker not only fits with the Starbucks demographic, but also is a free agent not signed to any label, sources said.

If Starbucks intends to revamp the record industry the same way it revamped the coffee industry, expect all albums to be $2-$3 more expensive than normal, and available only after a 15-minute mid-afternoon wait. That said, while we have no do doubt that landing McCartney will be a publicity coup—the Post has already managed to yield two Beatles puns out of this story so far—his most recent solo albums weren't chart successes, and it's doubtful he's ever going to knock out another "Live And Let Die" (or heck, even a "Spies Like Us") at this point in his career.

LET IT BEAN [New York Post]

Liner Notes: Lil Wayne Is Running A Lil Late

Brian Raftery — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 12:58:43 EST

- Lil Wayne is being sued by a group of Florida concert promoters, who claim the rapper still owes them $45,000 after he failed to show up for a performance in October. [AP]
- Heather Mills has "reportedly" (translation: "rumoredly") landed a $63 million settlement from Paul McCartney. [E!]
- Stevie Nicks will perform Feb. 4th a pre-Superbowl gig at Dolphin Stadium. Nicks agreed to the performance only because she thought she would be playing to a stadium full of actual dolphins. [Pollstar]

Liner Notes: Madonna Somehow Looking More Artificial Than Usual

Brian Raftery — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 14:23:13 EDT

—Madonna something something African baby. We don't care (and neither do you), but we did want to run this picture, which proves that the good people at WISN in Milwaukee are even worse at Photoshopping than we are. [TheMilwaukeeChannel]
—In order to make up for the money he'll lose in his divorce, Paul McCartney may launch an extensive tour next year. Who knew Ringo would end up looking like the smart one? [Daily Mail]
—Swedish rockers The Ark nearly started an international incident when they joked about 9/11 at the Swedish Embassy in Washington, D.C. this weekend. After reading the comments, we're not sure they're any more offensive than the band's music. [Washington Post]

Liner Notes: Special Mid-Life Crisis Edition

Brian Raftery — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 13:20:41 EDT

-George Michael defends himself: "The public think I'm a man on the brink of a breakdown because I fell asleep in my car, I hit a parked car and because I cruise as a gay man." Yes, but what he doesn't mention is that he did all three of those things just this morning. [Mirror]
-NBC has deleted footage of Madonna performing on a cross on her upcoming concert special, The Strain Is Starting To Show.[BBC]
-Paul McCartney makes it through an entire week of salacious back-and-forth divorce-proceedings gossip—and not one newspaper manages a "Say Say Say" joke? England, we're so disappointed in you. [Times Online]

'Blair Witch Project' + 'Cribs' = More People Hating On Americans

mjohnston — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 17:34:34 EDT

A lesson: How not to spend, and document, your summer vacation abroad.
1. Break into Paul McCartney's estate, cameraphone at the ready.
2. Take shaky video footage of your trespassing, all the while freaking out that you're going to get caught.
3. Post said footage to YouTube; coo about petting Macca's cat.
4. Wait a few months for post to be found by press.
5. Watch as comment section turns into a haven for zingers from UK Beatles fans like "USA kills babies."

Paul McCartney's House: All Comments [YouTube, via Stereogum]
Exclusive: Break-In At Macca's [Mirror.co.uk]