Rock Sick List: Bradford Cox

Deerhunter's Bradford Cox got hit by a car and is in both a bad way, and hospital:

Cox said he was hit by a car and was “still waiting for X-ray results or any real diagnoses” and that he “can’t move much” and is in “incredible pain.”

According to wonderingsound.com, Cox has been hospitalized at the Marcus Trauma Center in Grady Memorial Hospital.

Tim McGraw slaps woman, sorrynotsorry

This weekend, Tim McGraw was playing a gig in Atlanta this weekend. His fans got a little bit boisterous, ripping at his jeans...

Wait a moment. Tim McGraw? People ripping at his clothing? Really?

Apparently so. Carry on.

So his jeans were tattered. One woman tried to grab the already rent garment, and McGraw slapped her.

Since then, he's had time to think about slapping a woman in the face for behaving like a fan at a Tim McGraw gig, and you know what? He thinks he did the right thing:

“Sometimes things can lose context and perspective. I reacted in an instinctive, defensive way from my perspective of what was going on,” he told [TMZ]. “I think it was an unfortunate situation I think all the way around. But it happened, it happened in a split second, it was pure instinctive reaction, I think you just got to move on.

Now, it's a while since anyone hit me (hard to believe, I guess, but it's true) but isn't the "let's move on" generally in the gift of the person whose face bears the imprint of the other's hand?

“It is one of those things that happen, nobody feels good about it, but there’s nothing that could be done about it,” the Grammy winner added. “You are in that position, you are out there, you are vulnerable, things happen and sometimes you react. There’s nothing to be said about it.”

Except you weren't really vulnerable, were you, Tim. Leaving aside the fact you were surrounded by security, generally the vulnerable end of a slapping is the one not attached to the hand.

It's good to see that McGraw doesn't feel good about it - although not as badly as the woman whose face he slapped, you'd imagine. But strange he can't think of anything that can be done about it.

Or, more precisely, given that any sort of apology might be taken as a weakness opening a door to a potential lawsuit, he can't think of anything that could be done.

Mind you, the woman's probably lucky. Given this was in Georgia, and they have a stand your ground law, she's lucky that McGraw didn't have a gun.

Justin Bieber's ring of fire

Sure, this is what they say:

Justin Bieber's new home is being closely guarded by police officers.

Law enforcement officials in Atlanta, Georgia are sending patrol cars to the 19-year-old star's house, which he has rented from music producer Dallas Austin for three months as he continues to search for his dream home to buy in the city, several times a day to make sure his fans don't get too close for the singer's comfort.

I suspect, though, the Georgia police have encircled Bieber's house not to keep fans out, but to ensure they can keep him in. The last thing Atlanta needs is a Bieber wandering round getting up to overfunded preteen antics.

Panic! At the venue

Panic At The Disco had to cut short their Atlanta gig last night, when the venue's floor started to collapse. 11Alive have the story:

According to reports from people who were called to pick others up there, "the floor cracked."


The concert was stopped and concert promoters asked everyone to quickly leave the venue. The evacuation was orderly, and no injuries were reported.

Afterward, Panic at the Disco lead singer Brendon Urie tweeted, "Damn. That was crazy. Glad everyone's ok, even though it still sucks we can't play. We'll see your beautiful faces in the summer."

Meanwhile, someone snitty got quickly to the Tabernacle's Wikipedia page:

During the Panic! At the Disco concert after the second song the building was evacuated due to possible cracking in the floor. People who hailed mostly from the outer boroughs expressed dismay that such a terrible thing could have happened to them, meaning they were slightly discomfited, and expressed no remorse for damaging the structure of a 116 year old building. Many Atlantans offered to drive them back to their far flung homes for free just to remove their potential threat to downtown buildings.

Shopwatch: Criminal Records

Criminal Records has been in Atlanta for 20 years; its owner, Eric Levin, is the president of the Alliance Of Independent Media Stores. And, unless Eric can clear a $150,000 debt by November 1st, it's likely it'll go out of business.

Levin is optimistic that he can make it:

Criminal is reminding people its end is not certain. "OK, y'all, please hold off on the RIPs and farewells," they wrote at the Criminal Records Twitter page. We're not dead and gone yet."

"It's up to the public and Atlanta now," says Levin. "We've done our part."

And bands are rallying round - Manchester Orchestra is offering to do an in-store. But it's clearly touch and go. It's not often you'd wish Criminals good luck, but these deserve everybody's support.

Rockobit: Ronnie Hammond

In something of a grim week for musical check-outs, Ronnie Hammond, singer with the Atlanta Rhythm Section, has died.

Hammond benefited from being in the right place at the right time: when Buddie Buie, the impressario behind ARS needed a replacement for lead singer Rodney Justo, Hammond was working at a recording studio and had impressed Buie with his fill-in voice.

He would remain with the band through fifteen albums and a gig at the White House for Jimmy Carter's son before quitting in the early 1980s - he went off to try some solo material and was replaced by Justo. The Rhythm Section wound down, a slump which would continue until 1989 and Hammond's return.

The band continued to release music and tour with various line-ups during the 90s, while Hammond entered something of a personal slump. Suffering from alcoholism and depression, he managed to get in an argument with cops. He attempted to attack a policeman with a guitar. The policeman had a gun. You can tell how it would end.

Luckily, the serious injuries were a bottoming out, rather than a full stop. Hammond returned to health, and performing; the Rhythm Section rolled on - although, eventually, without Hammond.

Ronald Hammond died Monday from heart failure; he was 60.

Trash Can Sinatras weekend: All The Dark Horses

Recorded live during an instore (or rather, just outside store) at Criminal Records in Atlanta, Georgia:



[Part of Trash Can Sinatras weekend]

Where's the Cougar musical, matey?

Those holding their breath for the Stephen King/John Mellencamp musical might need to ask David Blaine for a few lessons, as they're going to need to hold their breath for another year.

Although the musical Ghost Brothers of Darkland County had been due to open in the forthcoming season at the Alliance Theatre, Atlanta. But now it won't, because, erm, it's not even been written yet.

Given that the pencilled in date was April 2009, and they're already off schedule for that, even the "2009/2010 season" might be looking a little optimistic. Is it really that hard to come up with rhymes for "ghosties"?

Going to court lands R Kelly in court

R Kelly must be thinking something along the lines of "I live a very model of a Kafkaesque existence" right now - okay, he's probably putting it more like "sucky sucks sucks suck" - as his enforced appearance in a Chicago courtroom last December has now landed him with fresh new legal proceedings from the promoter of the gig in Atlanta he missed as result.

It appears Mr. Kelly has forgotten to return the upfront fee he pocketed for the event he never paid; the promoter has decided, actually, he'd quite like it back, with expenses.

Akon continues slide into sitcom

Those of us who were convinced that Akon's disaster-strewn career was all part of a subtle campaign to pitch him as a Terry Scott for a new generation will be unsurprised to hear that he's now been involved in a collapsing tent incident. It's not thought he was actually carrying a tray full of refreshing drinks at the time.

(The canopy actually fell while the stage for his Atlanta Gig was being set up; a couple of people were injured but, we believe, nobody was seriously hurt. The gig, however, has been axed.)

Cops nick Kid Rock

It's probably not surprising that Kid Rock has been arrested on rumble-related charges "along with five of his entourage" after a fight in an Atlanta Waffle House car park.

What is puzzling, though, is what sort of person goes to a Waffle House with an entourage?