The Rebirth of Cool

Caught In The Net got to feed its twin Sopranos and E Street Band obsessions last week when it had a mineral water – phew, rock ‘n’ roll! – with Steve Van Zandt who in real life laughs just like Sil, and had some very interesting things to say about illegal filesharing (“disgusting and immoral”), which we’ll be expanding on in a future issue.
Not content with being Bruce’s sotto capo, the 58-year-old also presents his own syndicated Underground Garage radio show (www.undergroundgarage.com); programme directs two satallite radio channels (www.sirius.com); and runs a record label (www.wickedcoolrecords.com), which includes Dublin outfit The Urges among its signings.
Rock ‘n’ roll evangelist that he is, Steve has compiled a Cool Garage Stuff list which includes links to classic tracks by the likes of The Electric Prunes, The Amboy Dukes, The Seeds, Barry & The Remains, The Shadows Of The Knight and Nazz who were the closest America got during the ‘60s to the Rolling Stones.
Best of all though are the archived Underground Garage shows, which find Little Steven’s DJ-ing ability to be commensurate with his acting and guitar-playing skills.
Meanwhile in New Jersey crime circles, www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/nj_corruption_probe_includes_f.html reports on a FBI sting operation that netted 44 people including five Sephardic rabbis who are accused of selling black market kidneys and laundering tens of millions of dollars. Gleefully dubbed the ‘Kosher Nostra’ by the local media, they’d have gotten on famously with Tony Soprano and the gang at the Bada Bing
From there it’s but a mere mouse-click to www.ign.com, our favourite new movie site which last weekend premiered the trailer for Tim Burton’s ‘re-imagining’ of Alice In Wonderland. Starring Mia Wasikowsky as Alice and a suitably bonkers looking Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter, it’s already being talked about in Hollywood as a potential Oscar winner. There are also leaked stills on www.glamourvanity.com/tag/tim-burton.
Which just leaves time for quick visits to www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf13MmZIcLs (techno DJ Steve Porter gets his own back on Henry Rollins); dailyweek.com (“Heather McCartney to marry The Jonas Brothers”); www.thisdayinmusic.com (trivia treasure trove); and www.viceland.com/wp/2009/07/babes-of-the-bnp (“the acceptable new face of the unacceptable”).