He filled in at the last minute for "The Tourist", which wasn't great, but not a debacle. I can't blame him for that. He's made so many dire movies the last decade or so, I don't really know that I can point to one. But, honestly, at this point, and at his age, I'm not sure how many more amazing performances we were…

It was pretty great. Saw them in Phoenix, at Compton Terrace (outdoor venue). Two main memories are 1) when the band broke into "Why Can't I Be You" the crowd started dancing around us, and kicked up such a plume of dust that I had to stand on my tip toes just to breathe and 2) at some point, one of the big amplifiers…

Only to a gorilla I met when we worked together at a Hobo Joe's.
He took it well, but our friendship was strained after that.

'24 Hour Party People's' Sean Harris is better

Some people are just jerks

They should reform and open for Haim

I saw them in '89 for "Disintegration" and it was great; even this trilogy series they did about a decade ago was really good. I'd be curious what era he's gonna be pulling from. If he says "This is from 'The Top'", just smile politely and hope for the best.

Yes, you're right. I feel a fool!

That is kinda surprising. I love the Cure, they probably are still underrated in a lot of ways, but it's not like they've been particularly relevant for, what, over 20 years. It's not like it's a comeback tour or anything; Fat Bob has been playing shows off and on the whole time. Still, more power to 'em.

Probably something to that.

Yeah, I think I probably watched that BB show. It's a well documented joke at this point, but the fact that the show was done with the actors in character (and a replacement Cindy) is really deserving of it's own bio pic.

Yep, a lot of them were just summer replacement series. I'm sure there were even more bizarre ones I'm not remembering now.

This is all correct. Good lord what a time to be alive!

Not exactly news, but that era was a pigpile of variety shows that people who didn't grow up in the time period probably wouldn't believe. The Starland Vocal Band had a variety show. Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr (formerly of the 5th Dimension) had a variety show. Nothing will likely top the notion of two mimes…

I used to get so excited about those as a kid. How else would I have learned about the new "Far Out Space Nuts" show?

Yeah, they were a necessary culture phenomenon to happen at a time when, I imagine, a lot of the UK music press was already burned out on Acid House and the like (there was only so much you could write about). They had the right look/gear/"attitude" to fill the bill. Doesn't mean the record isn't great, it is. But…

That's fine. I'm actually amused by how many things, past and present, I see her in, where I probably wouldn't have noticed five years ago. The term ubiquitous doesn't fully describe it. It's not just her; the actor, Tom Hollander, from Night Manager, has done a ton of stuff, too. Most recently he was in a well-liked…

Agree totally on LCD. It's perfectly adequate, but the praise it's garnished over the years is really odd to me. I got a kick out of 'Losing My Edge' when I first heard it because I got all his references, but the whole package left me cold.

I was a big reader of the Melody Maker/NME when the Roses first broke out, so it was fun getting caught up in the hype of it all. It is a really good record, but it also came at a time when there was a pretty big void in the UK music scene for bands, and the press really wanted to jump on something to hype up. It fit…

Turn on a BBC series from the last 15 years, and odds are good you'll see her.