The impending Spider-Man musical (Spider-Man Turn on the Dark) makes me giggle with delight. It seems like possibly the worst and best idea I’ve ever heard. I love Julie Taymor, so I’m definitely going to see it, and the idea that Bono and the Edge are doing the music makes it even more intriguing.

The concept of a guy in a Spider-Man costume singing… it’s just beyond words.

I just imagine the entire show looking like this:

Although it’s already been announced that Evan Rachel Wood (who also starred in Taymor’s Beatles musical, Across the Universe) will play Mary Jane and Alan Cumming (another Taymor alum — he was in Titus) will be playing the Green Goblin, there has been no announcement as to who will be playing Peter Parker himself.

The super-cute Jim Sturgess has done workshops of the musical during its development, but so far has not signed on to be Spidey.

Which leads me to the following bit of amusing info. Writes a long-time reader from Norway:

I thought you might like to know that Sondre Lerche auditioned for the new Spider-Man musical they’re setting up on Broadway. He auditioned for the role as Spider-Man and sang songs with Bono and The Edge!

Sondre told this story on a talk show in Norway last night. He said that he hasn’t heard anything from the casting people so he figures he didn’t get the part even though he said he really got a long with Bono. Sondre summed it by saying: “It was a bizarre and really fun experience that I will definitely tell my grandchildren.”

Sondre confirmed this with the following tweet: “I broke the news today…oh, boy: singing-session with Bono & the Edge, auditioning for Spiderman. The weird stuff I get into!”

And I suppose if you read Norweigan, he’s mentioned it in this Musikknyheter interview as well.

I cannot find video of the interview, but you can learn how to play “To Be Surprised” with this awesome Q video:

Currently my Gmail account is at 97% full–I know that seems humanly impossible, but it’s true.

So I’m taking some time this weekend to go through and delete some of the old stuff I have on the account, and I came across some things that I thought some of you might enjoy.

Check it out:

Sept 24, 2004: Scans of a Sondre Lerche interview in Interview magazine.

October 11, 2004: An image of Julian Casablancas taken at the Ramones Tribute gig at Irving Plaza.

October 17, 2004: email announcing the relaunch of TheModernAge.org proper:

Laura Slash Temp NO MORE!!

I’m please to announce the return of The Modern Age to the main
directory!

I started redesigning the site back in September, but it’s took me
this long to actually implement the new design.

Here’s what’s changed about the site:

I coded the new site entirely in XHTML and now I use fancy shmantzy
Style Sheets.

I’ve enabled the COMMENT function for each post. Please don’t make me
regret it!

I’ve included an “OLD” link in the navigation. It’s a link to the old
school TMA archives. Re-read your favorite entries from 2001-2003.

I know it looks crappy in Netscape and Safari…but unless you can
tell me how to fix it, don’t bitch about it. Use IE.

I hope you enjoy it!

xo,
mm

October 20, 2004: A horrible photo of Britney Spears taken during a video shoot.

October 24, 2004: Screenshots of a former incarnation of TheModernAge.org

September 6, 2004: A photo of Britney Spears with her adorable dog.

December 12, 2005: File attachment of the then new Kate Moss commercial for Virgin Mobile. (This was right after those photos of her snorting coke got her in trouble, and dropped, from a few campaigns.)

Yesterday I was flipping through my choices on Netflix Instant (aka The Best Thing Ever Created) when I decided to watch Season 1 of Family Ties, which was probably the best decision I’ve made all year long.

Family Ties is possibly the best show EVER. Even 20+ years later, the episodes are still funny and still great.

As I was watching the episode “Summer of ’82,” I kept wondering what was so… familiar… about Michael J. Fox’s portrayal of tight-laced young Republican Alex P. Keaton. Then it hit me: Sondre Lerche.

Is it just me, or does it appear as though Sondre Lerche has basically stolen all his mannerisms and cadence from the young Alex P. Keaton (and perhaps a bit of his 80s hairstyle)?

Anyone else picking up on this? Contrast and compare:

Alex Keaton:

Sondre Lerche:

Video from this past Thursday’s Sondre Lerche show at Bowery. New song, “I Guess It’s Gonna Rain Tonight”:

My computer power cord snapped this morning, so unfortunately my videos are held hostage at the moment, but last night’s Sondre Lerche show at Bowery Ballroom was charming as per usual. Hopefully a photo will do for now:

Sondre tested out four new songs he’s been working on, including “Heartbeat Radio,” and the “world premiere” of an upbeat tune called “Don’t Look Now.

Opener Sylvie Lewis came on stage for a number of Sondre’s duet songs, “Modern Nature” and “Hell No.” Very cute.

Her own set was quite nice. One song in particular was captivating–a song she had written about New York where she makes beautiful metaphors about rain puddles and the like.

Also at the show Sondre was selling his “Polaroid Pumpkin Party” EP, which contained 6 new songs, and a Polaroid photograph taken by Sondre during Election Night in NYC, featuring friends and random strangers. Hahah!

One of my favorite things about the TriBeCa Film Festival is that it’s a relatively low-key event. Basically the only time I remember it’s going on is when I see people walking around with those big stupid purplish badges slung around their necks as if to say, “No, I don’t know how to blend in, and Yes, I would like to get mugged.”

Another thing that fills me with glee is the fact that at least once a year a slew of free music events and movies are held delightfully close to where I live (hooray downtown Manhattan). So although I pass on a lot of the stuff going on, I do get to take advantage of some of the great happenings that go on–a prime example being the TriBeCa Film Festival Music Lounge at the Canal Room.

I was thrilled to see that their lineup for Wednesday included a set by TMA fave, the Norwegian wunderkid, Sondre Lerche, who was slated to play from 5-5:30 pm.

Now, you must understand, I love early evening shows because that means I can get home in time to really have that quality “me time” I crave. (And by “me time” I mean “time for me to watch bad reality television shows on Bravo.”) But the thing I hate about early shows is that if they start before 6:30pm, that means I’ll be dashing out of the office like a mad woman, racing against the clock to get to said concert, as was the case on Wed.

I was getting some on-the-scene updates from my friend Matt over at the Music Slut, who filled me in to the fact that everything was running a little late, and at 5:20 there was about 10 minutes until Sondre was going to be on, so I got my running shoes on and made like a banana.

As I’m literally running from the subway station to the venue, dodging sluggish-moving tourists and sketchy homeless dudes by that pizza place on the corner of Canal, I was huffing, “I’m… too… old… for…. this… shii….pffftttss.”

I manage to slide into the Canal Room just a few minutes into Sondre’s set–coming in during “To Be Surprised,” a favorite song of mine from the Dan in Real Life soundtrack which Sondre wrote.

Wearing a green plaid shirt, a red LEGO-block necklace, jeans, and a pair of gray/pink Pumas, Sondre blasted through some other faves, both new and old, such as “My Hands Are Shaking” (DIRL) and “Tragic Mirror” (Phantom Punch).

He rounded off the night with a quite punky version of “Sleep On Needles” (from his first album, Faces Down)–loudly tapping his foot to keep the beat and add a rhythmic element to his solo electric guitar sound–then he segued into a spirited version of “Two Way Monologue” (Two Way Monologue, obvs.), which, as always, called for increased amounts of hair whipping and (endearingly) spaz-attack-worthy guitar playing by Sondre.

By 6:15 I was out of there–with enough time to go home and eat a little something before heading out to a movie screening for a film about street/underground artists called Beautiful Losers.

Oh, and I managed to get home in time to watch Top Chef too! SCORE!

More of my photos from the show over at Almack’s Dance Hall.

PS- I HATE SPIKE!

Ever since he scampered onto the screen as Mr. Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, James McAvoy has been on my shortlist of most favorite movie star crushes. Sorry, but I’m a sucker for pale, blue-eyed Scottish boys. Throw in the fact that he’s wee (James is only 5’7″) AND has a vague resemblance to Sondre Lerche, and well, I’m hooked of course. Just like Scot hottie Ewan McGregor, James is a very fine actor, which increases his hottness by 10.

Anyhoo, I just saw him in Atonement, the film adaption of the novel by Ian McEwan co-starring Kiera Knightley. Having read the book before seeing the movie was probably the main cause of why I thought the movie wasn’t all THAT great, and I really wished that there had been more James (of course). Atonement still has nothing on his performance in The Last King of Scotland.

But in any case, I’d love to see him get recognized for his work in Atonement at this year’s Academy Awards, as well as Sondre for his music for Dan in Real Life. Just imagine it: James McAvoy AND Sondre Lerche at the Oscars. My head would surely explode!

Check out James being interviewed about being nominated for awards on “Shootout.” The full episode of him being interviewed alongside Atonement director Joe Wright) airs again this Sunday at 11am on AMC:

Here’s Sondre talking about music and blah blah blah to some dude from YeboTV:

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Sondre Lerche at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ, for the last show of his month-long tour promoting the Dan In Real Life soundtrack.

Got home a little late (and fell asleep watching the latest Dexter online), so more thoughts/pictures later.

Hooray!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 15, 2007

SONDRE LERCHE PERFORMS “TO BE SURPRISED”
FROM DAN IN REAL LIFE SOUNDTRACK
ON “LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN”
THIS TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16th

Film & Soundtrack Due Out Next Week

Album features 11 New Sondre Lerche Compositions And
Performances By A Fine Frenzy And Regina Spektor

Sondre Lerche will perform “To Be Surprised” from the original soundtrack for the upcoming Touchstone Pictures film Dan In Real Life on “Late Show with David Letterman” tomorrow, October 16th. The film and the soundtrack are both scheduled for release next week.

UPDATE: Here’s the video (below) and Sondre’s blog entry

I was so thrilled when I heard that Sondre Lerche was coming out with a new album in October. I was even more thrilled when I heard that the album was actually the soundtrack for a major motion picture by Peter Hedges (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape) called Dan in Real Life, starring Steve Carrell and Juliette Binoche!

According to Sondre’s blog entry on the project, he not only got to work with many of the amazing actors on the film, but he and the Faces Down also get to make an on-screen appearance, performing “Modern Nature” in the final scene of the film.

He also teams up with Regina Spektor on a song called “Hell No” featured on the soundtrack.

The album includes:

1. Family Theme Waltz – Sondre Lerche
2. To Be Surprised – Sondre Lerche
3. I’ll Be OK – Sondre Lerche
4. Dan and Marie Picking Hum – Sondre Lerche
5. My Hands Are Shaking – Sondre Lerche
6. Dan In Real Life – Sondre Lerche
7. Hell No – Sondre Lerche and Regina Spektor
8. Family Theme – Sondre Lerche
9. Fever – A Fine Frenzy
10. Airport Taxi Reception – Sondre Lerche and The Faces Down
11. Dan and Marie Melody – Sondre Lerche
12. Human Hands – Sondre Lerche and The Faces Down Quartet
13. I’ll Be OK (Instrumental Reprise) – Sondre Lerche
14. Let My Love Open The Door – Sondre Lerche
15. Dan and Marie Finale Theme – Sondre Lerche
16. Modern Nature – Sondre Lerche and Lillian Samdal

Check out the trailer for the film!