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Weekend reading: The Beatles, Death Cab, Randy Newman

Published 11:21 am Friday, August 29, 2008

Bumbershoot fast approaches, and so we get an interview with Ben Gibbard in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The singer says his band may never have as big a hit as “Plans,” the group’s major label debut, and also extols the virtue of Australia, where the group recently toured.

It’s a solid Q&A, as are all these other articles. Dig in:

  • Death Cab for Cutie are “certainly not Aerosmith,” Ben Gibbard tells the PI, also mentioning he likes Obama because he’s “electric,” but “not a diety.”
  • We find out in this Rolling Stone excerpt that Randy Newman isn’t crazy about Disney animators re-writing history, while the New York Times also profiles the songwriter. (You may need to register with the NYT to access that article.)
  • We are reminded by the New Yorker that rapper David Banner was born with the much more awesome name of Lavell Crump.
  • While talking with an LA Times blogger, Zach de la Rocha deftly sidesteps a question about how Rage’s meathead fans grew violent at Lollapalooza. He’s a regular politician, that Zach!
  • God took away George Martin’s hearing to knock the Beatles’ producer down a peg or two, we find out in the Washington Post.