The First Echo

Because nostalgia has made me its bitch, I can't help but frequently flashback to earlier times when life was relatively easier. My recent ticket to Memory Lane came to me courtesy of some resurrected mix CDs I had made nearly 8 years ago; Today's spotlight falls on the fourth volume of my seasonal compilations. For those of you wondering, BLOOMED was Number 49 (Take that, NOW That's What I Call Music ). It was the summer of '00. The Y2K scare was an embarrassing thing of the past. Britney was hot, without the mess. I was able to work on my tan at the beach during my summer gig at Glen Island Park in Westchester. I experienced my first big New York City club as an underager (Exit, located on the West Side; the train ride back home at 5 in the morning was quite hazy). And my parents finally subscribed to HBO, allowing four fabulous ladies who favored cosmopolitans to enter our home and instantly win me over. These were the songs that accompanied me throughout this

March 8, 2008. Insomnia Cafe on Beverly Boulevard. The dude who has just ordered a turkey wrap with the Asian woman at the counter has situated himself on the sunken-in couch below the Impressionist painting of two policemen patrolling the rainy, cobblestoned streets of a European city. Dude carefully plops his backpack on the couch and pulls out a thick paperback novel, slightly tattered and torn from a long residence within the weathered recycled-cloth bag. He's trying to educate himself on the material for the upcoming independent film he's shooting this weekend. It's an updated adaptation of a turn-of-the-20th-century morality tale (written by some dead dude, natch), and this should be the role he'll be proud to put on his reel, especially after co-starring in that homoerotic horror flick he shot last winter. The book is a challenge to read, and he is all about conquering it. Plus, he'll have the chance to sound intellectual at the press junket when asked if

Free drink special. Big Chocolate at the turntables. And me, which should be enough of a reason.

I've been bursting at the ears with new music for y'all to enjoy. Never before have I had to put out TWO compilations for spring, but here we are. From Madge to MIKA, I proudly unveil these must-downloads of the season...and if you're lucky, you may just get a live sample at this Friday's HOT MIX 2 : 1. "Four Minutes" by Madonna featuring Justin Timberlake & Timbaland 2. "Hometown Glory" by ADELE 3. "Time After Time" by Quietdrive 4. "Fascination" by Alphabeat - I've become obsessed with this irresistible dancerock-pop group from Denmark. The beat echoes back to Bowie's "Modern Love," and the adorable video is a retro-tastic burst of Crayola-enhanced fun: 5. "Come On Girl" by Taio Cruz and Luciana - Sick beats from this R&B newcomer drive this juiced-up club track featuring the chick who lent her vocals to last year's dance hits from Bodyrox: . 6. "Denial" by Sugababes 7.

It's not so often that I get to be the main topic of discussion in someone else's blog . But alas, the ever-effervescent Kathleen Newlove has posted a recent entry about how "famous" I've apparently become, the Kathleen of NEWLOVE, that link you see near the bottom on the panel to your right (yes, that's her real surname, "like, as in old hate ," and it's quite kickass, no?). After reading her recent blog about moi, I'd like to say that anyone who knows Kathleen knows she's famous in her own right. Famous for being a hi- larry -ous storyteller with a sharp memory for detail. Famous for being a ginormous hater of cilantro. Famous for her near-psychotic obsession with Hugh Grant. And, most importantly, famous for being the Mistress of Globetrotting. Let me elaborate. Whenever I'm out with friends, and I'm asked for an update on the popular Ms. Newlove, I honestly can't give a thorough answer because, frankly, I never know wh

Cut to: me, home on a sunny Saturday afternoon, checking some new tunes online and discovering this shiny-happy band of people from Denmark. They're called Alphabeat. The single is called "Fascination," a major get-up-and-go ditty with vague recollections of David Bowie's "Modern Love." The Brits are already putting them on top of the charts (go figure), and y'all need to fall in love...NOW (like, before iTunes flaunts them as a "Single of the Week" or a "Discovery Download"):

We're less than 2 months away until the summer movie parade starts blowing up megaplexes across the country. And the trailers for every CGI-filled piece of eye candy keep popping up, teasing us with glimpses of the fantastic ( Indiana Jones ) and the fabulous ( Sex and the City ). Ed Norton steps into the role of THE INCREDIBLE HULK this time around with Liv Tyler by his side and Tim Roth and William Hurt playing the baddies...that's all you need to know, right? Doctor gets angry, turns green, and come June 13 the proverbial shit hits the fan...looks way more fun than the first (sorry, Ang): But before Hulk punches through theaters, catch Emile Hirsch, Susan Sarandon, John Goodman and Christina Ricci in what may be the most vibrantly colorful film of the year, SPEED RACER , a flick for folk fond of fast cars (whew, say that five times fast). Basically, it looks like the result of a miniature crew filming the inside of a Hot Wheels racetrack toy and turning it into a Nin

The tuition and board for the 2008-09 school year at Boston University , my alma mater, will be an obscene $50,000. I silently weep for the future debtors from the Class of 2012.

Catch my latest interview for Hot in Hollywood, this time with Sean Faris, star of the upcoming Never Back Down (Opens March 14 in theaters).

What is Michelle Branch up to nowadays?

There's a scene from 1989's An Eight is Enough Wedding that had been pretty intense for me as a fourth-grader. David and Tommy got into a violent brawl resulting in Tommy getting thrown out of David's cabin-in-the-woods bachelor party. Fists went flying when little Nicholas let it slip that Tommy (a pre- Charles in Charge Willie Aames) was still abusing drugs and alcohol. I'm sure watching this melodramatic moment today wouldn't carry much resonance, but back then, never had I expected these once-wholesome characters to get so Jerry Springer on each other. The Wedding TV-movie was a sequel of sorts. Two years prior, An Eight is Enough Family Reunion premiered on NBC to stellar ratings. It was this telepic that kicked off my late-80s/early-90s obsession with The Reunion TV Movie Event, a phenomenon known for popping up every sweeps period. Like millions of other nostalgic Americans, I savored the kitsch, the modernized theme songs and the new hairstyles worn