Ad-Rock

​It used to be that plays like Hair epitomized the marriage between rock and musical, but recent years have seen the combination pushed to new limits. You probably know Green Day's American Idiot and U2's constantly flailing Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark, but have you heard of Serj Tankian's musical based around ancient Greek gods? Or witnessed Dave Grohl as Satan? Or the heavy metal murder musical that just premiered in the US?

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​If you're one of the Steel Panther fans anxiously awaiting the band's new record, Balls Out, well, you're just going to have to wait a little longer. The band announced on its website yesterday that the record has been pushed from its original release date of October 18 to October 31.

Practically the entire track list is a collection of sex phrases. If titles like "Supersonic Sex Machine," "17 Girls in a Row," and "That's What Girls Are For" don't impress you, delve further into the album for "Weenie Ride," "Gold Digging Whore," "Let Me Cum In," and--wait for it-- "It Won't Suck Itself" and "Just Like Tiger Woods."

But have no fear. Pretty much every genre, from country to punk to hair metal, is loaded with testosterone to keep you sated while you wait for Steel Panther's opus. And we're not talking garden variety innuendo. Get ready to go deeper than just scoring some sweet cherry pie or pulling the trigger on Gene Simmon's love gun.

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​NBA commissioner David Stern has asked rapper Jay-Z -- a part owner of the New Jersey Nets franchise -- to release an edited version of his hit song "Empire State of Mind" to be played during the league's free agency period this summer.

The issue is a verse of the hit song where hip-hop star born as Sean Carter apparently makes contract offers to Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James and Miami Heat guard Dwayne Wade: "If [unintelligible] is payin' LeBron/I'm payin Dwyane Wade."

This could be considered tampering, Stern said.

A spokesman for Jay's Roc Nation record label did not immediately
return a call for comment.

"It's simply against the league's rules for the owner of an NBA franchise to make contract offers to players who are under obligation to negotiate exclusively with another team," said Stern in an exclusive interview with Phoenix New Times after a meeting Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo, who heads the NBA's rules committee.

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Tom Green.

​Tom Green is about to perform a three day stint at Tempe's Improv,
and to get the word out, he wants to take it to the streets. Robot
style.

Yesterday morning I had a few minutes to chat with comedian Tom Green. He was gracious enough to call in for a few minutes as part of The Blaze's Guest DJ Week, and he'll be hosting an hour long DJ spot tomorrow morning from 9 to 10 a.m.

Though his MTV days may be long gone -- along with one of his balls -- Green lacks nothing in spunk, creativity, and awesome publicity stunts.

 He's asking his Phoenix fans to meet him outside of the Improv at 6:45 this evening with a roll of tin foil. Then, everyone will wrap the tin foil around their heads, thus creating robot hats. The crowd will then proceed to Mill Avenue, to walk around, hang out, and hand out fliers for the show. The event will be video taped, and featured on YouTube and Green's website.

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I've been a huge fan of the Valley improv scene for years now and have taken classes with The Torch Theatre and performed as part of Jester'z at Theater 168.

Now a couple of my former Jester'z buddies are teaching classes of their own at Art on Boston at Chandler. It's called Valley Fever Improv, and students learn way more than what you'll ever see on Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Valley Fever performers

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 What does P.Diddy smell like? We wanted to know, so we headed to a fragrance store to sample the scents marketed by some of pop music's bigger stars. Some were great, some were terrible and all were very, very telling.

Check out this slide show to see what we thought each musician's scent would smell like, and what they actually do smell like.

Also check out this podcast to hear John LaBarera talk about his experience doing the reviews.

Stand-up-comedian-turned-mediocre-movie-star Dane Cook blew up about 10 years ago with his brand of frat boy/locker room humor (I personally prefer Jason Sudeikis' impression to the real thing, but that's neither here nor there).

But it's no secret that Cook borrows bits and pieces every now and then from his predecessors, including comedian Robert Schimmel. A dirtier, rawer version of Cook, Schimmel has been a fixture on the stand-up circuit for more than 20 years (Check out this highly NSFW but also highly hilarious clip). Schimmel will be at the Tempe Improv from Thursday through Sunday, likely pontificating on sex and people he doesn't like, and could even mine his battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma for some humor.

A fitting opener for Schimmel's Valley stint, college comedy favorite Daniel Tosh will be performing at ASU Gammage tomorrow night. His material is slightly less raunchy but clever, complete with spot-on observations of the homeless, Middle America and Cold Stone Creamery.

And if all that doesn't quench your thirst for off-color, bro-dog humor, Crown Prince Cook will be swinging through the Valley May 28. 

Richard Lewis will guilt you into submission.

Coming from a long line of neurotic Jews and, on occasion, being one myself, I give mad props to anyone who can figure out a way to make a living out of doing what comes naturally to people who grow up with the guilt of the world on their shoulders and mothers who just do not know when to quit.

Woody Allen is the undisputed king, but he holds court with a pretty impressive cast of characters: Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Jackie Mason, Mel Brooks and Richard Lewis, just to name a few. And when two neurotic Jews combine neurotic forces a la Larry David and Richard Lewis in Curb Your Enthusiasm, well, it makes me, in the words of a famous fictional Jew, a little verklempt (talk amongst yourselves).
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"After 20 years the Simpsons have changed their opening sequence. Tonight the show had its premiere in HD and with it brought the first revamp of the main titles since 1989." - The Huffington Post

I am not so sure I know what to think of this. Is it reaching for help, grasping to stay relevant? Or is it a sign that the show has a new life and new vitality?

The past few seasons have been somewhat weak, the movie was a letdown, and South Park beats them to most important social comments these days but there have been at least some good episodes recently, and the movie had its moments. But the show is now 20 years old and only one year away from drinking with us at the bar, so who knows what this new intro will mean for the show when we look back on it? 

Last week I wrote about Steve Martin's album The Crow New Songs for the 5-String Banjo. Well, last Saturday night Martin hosted Saturday Night Live (he curently holds the record for most times hosting the comedy show at 15 times) preforming a song called "Late For School" off of his CD The Crow.