TVSquad

One of my favorite bands ever and a television wunderkind I'm fairly indifferent about are teaming up to bring the Flaming Lips' 2002 album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots to Broadway. The album itself is not a story or concept album of any kind, save for about three songs that tell a kind of sonic tale about a young girl named Yoshimi and the robot she fights.

The musical itself, which just started production and is being penned by Aaron Sorkin, is described by lead singer Wayne Coyne as such: "this girl, the Yoshimi character, is dying of something. And these two guys are battling to come visit her in the hospital. And as one of the boyfriends envisions trying to save the girl, he enters this other dimension where Yoshimi is this Japanese warrior and the pink robots are an incarnation of her disease."

That works for me. I think The Soft Bulletin would make a better, darker musical, but it's not as if the Yoshimi musical will be lacking in the "hope vs. despair" and "light vs. dark" dynamics that seem to be the guiding ethos of the Lips and their music.

You can listen to some tracks off Yoshimi on the Flaming Lips' Web site.

Thanks to my pal Wild Bill for the tip.