Now comes word that the rapper is testing out new material on strangers he happens to meet in airport lounges. So says Rilo Kiley singer Jenny Lewis, who bumped into the rap megastar at an airport a couple of weeks back while she was en route to performing at the Democratic Convention. "We missed our flight and had to wait a couple of hours in the lounge," says Lewis, whose second solo album, Acid Tongue, is scheduled for release on Sept. 23. "I noticed Kanye West was waiting for the same flight. He looked over and said, 'Excuse me, would you mind listening to my new track?' And so he put his headphones on my head and I listened to two of his new songs. He had no idea who I was. I guess he was doing research."

The most surprising thing about this whole story? Kanye West was flying commercial.

Kanye West's airport encounter...with Jenny Lewis? [Hollywood Insider]

There may have been other factors involved, but I concluded that pants were indeed the major underlying cause. As a long-time fan I've witnessed several fashion phases of the band, the most prominent of which has been Jenny's gravitation towards hot pants. At first this was badass: sexually confident, stylish in an ugly kind of way. As long as the music was good, I'd have accepted bright green leotards, leopard print halters, anything at all.

But as soon as Under the Blacklight soured their charm for me, I became suspicious of the hot pants. Logic tells me that if something bad happens at the same time change occurs, then this change is directly to blame. Therefore what defeated Rilo Kiley was not "stylistic evolution," but rather an article of clothing. The following graph illustrates my point:

Keep in mind that this is a very general representation of the decline. In reality, 2002 to 2003 would be on level with, if not above 2001, but that's a different post entirely. To further illustrate my point, here are samples of their music from each progression:

"Pictures of Success" from Take-Offs and Landings (2001):

"Capturing Moods" from The Execution of All Things (2002):

Side note: this is a great fan vid!

"Does He Love You?" from More Adventurous (2004):

"The Moneymaker" from Under the Blacklight (2007):

Clearly something has gone wrong. Whether pants are truly to blame is debatable. But you have to admit, the correlation is eerie.

Dolly Parton, "I Will Always Love You," c. 1974

I feel like you just don't see this kind of stellar performance on TV anymore, except maybe on Austin City Limits. But in general, TV musical performances are relegated to crappy late-night talk shows or terrible award shows, and they definitely don't have the kind of rockin' special effects you get at the end of this one. I don't know much about the technical aspects of music, but it seems that this might be a pretty tricky song to sing, and yet there's Dolly, hitting every damn note with a downright chilling sincerity. Not to sound like a total coot, but maybe everyone who performed at the VMAs should have been forced to watch this video until they understood the merits of a quality live performance. It is better to have sung and not danced than to never have sung at all. Anyway, this is a near-perfect performance in every way, and for anyone who's only ever heard the Whitney version, it is a must.

Fleetwood Mac, "Rhiannon," c. 1975

This video's got something for everyone: great vocals, great hair, flowing chiffon, and a rad jam session at the end. And this take, like Dolly's, is actually superior to the recorded version of the song. I've said it before and I'll say it again: if I ever come into some money I will hire a full-time staff to maintain this incredible Stevie Nicks hairdo. Seriously, power hour of hair! What the hell? Anyway, she looks pretty coked out, but it doesn't stop her from ripping through this song with an inspiring ferocity.

Rilo Kiley, "My Slumbering Heart," c. 2003

(FF to 3:56 to skip their technical difficulty.)
There was a time in my life, not too long ago, when I traversed the great state of Texas to see Rilo Kiley perform live multiple times in one week. My favorite song of theirs to hear live has always been "My Slumbering Heart," so I was excited to find this high-quality live video. This song is from their 2002 masterwork The Execution of All Things, a staggeringly beautiful album that will always, sadly, live in the shadows of their latter-day sins (I will never forgive them for this new album).

Diego Luna/Gael García Bernal tribute video

So this isn't exactly essential, but it has long been one of my favorite tribute videos. Everything about it is right: the subject (seriously, you need to see Y tu mamá también), the song choice, the scrappy-but-determined editing. It's very good-natured and always gives me hope when the tribute-video world starts to get weird.

And just for good measure...

Jimmy Buffett, "Come Monday," 1974

This is for my parents. I'm not really going to explain anything here. Just enjoy the easy listening and try to forget that you're too cool for Jimmy. And if you can't unclench a little and just enjoy it, at least consider how ahead of the curve he was, music video-wise. That slo-mo fruit-eating sequence is seminal.

But seriously, have these people no shame? Do they not type these ridiculous, indefensible, but ultimately simply inappropriate headline questions—questions based on imperfect comparisons at best and on a total horseshit whim at worst—and not feel some sort of guilt or at least a sharp, shooting pain akin to colitis or swallowing a bucket full of thumbtacks as their inner hack strains itself beyond logic and reason? Is Cheech Marin the new Pope John Paul II? Are baked beans the new natiional security policy? Is a horse the new frisbee?

Are Rilo Kiley the new Fleetwood Mac? Because they used to fuck, broke up, but have since stuck it out as a songwriting pair? Because they're white people making rock music in America? Because they're humans born in the 20th-century with no visible deformities? Jenny Lewis isn't fit to carry the train of one of Stevie's '80s nightmare frocks and Lindsay Buckingham wouldn't have killed Blake Lewis and used his corpse's sternum as a pale, scrawny coffee table to do lines off of. And trust me, once you hear the compressed turd that is the "radio-ready" new Rilo Kiley album, the comparison's going to seem even more ridiculous. And I like Rilo Kiley.

[EDIT: I just noticed the little asterix next to the headline, which means there's probably some cutesy little "just kidding!" get-out-of-jail clause somewhere within the magazine. But I'm sticking with my semi-exhausted ire, dammit.]

[EDIT 2: This goof dryly notes that I accidentally typed "Lewis" twice when the Rilo Kiley chump's name is Blake Sennett. I'd make a joke about Rilo Kiley fans bein' self-righteous/cranky but anyone listening to Robert Pollard solo albums and Bad Religion in 2007 is helpfully taking care of the jokes themselves.]