TVSquad

Well-read indie rockers the Decemberists, whose guitarist, Chris Funk, faced off against Stephen Colbert in an epic guitar battle that made that whole "Devil Went Down to Georgia" confrontation look like two little girls fighting over the last candy bar, are getting a bit of exposure again on Comedy Central.

This time, it's lead singer Colin Meloy, who will appear on an episode of L'il Bush voicing an "un-dumbed" Jeb Bush. I've placed a clip from the episode below.

Korean pop star Rain, the bane of Stephen Colbert's existence (see video below) is in negotiations to appear in the upcoming Speed Racer film from the Wachowski brothers, the duo behind the Matrix trilogy. Rain will join already-cast Matthew Fox (Lost), Christina Ricci, Emile Hirsch, John Goodman and Susan Sarandon.

Rain, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, appeared in the 2006 Korean film I'm a Cyborg, but that's OK (doesn't that sound like a Monty Python song)? He is not officially part of Speed Racer just yet. What's also not clear is how big his role will be.

The movie begins shooting this summer and is slated for release sometime next May.

It's clear the music in television commercials is no longer limited to mainstream music. In fact, more and more advertisers are using "alternative" and "underground" (or whatever you want to call it) music in their ads. In fact, it's a great way to get your music heard if you're a struggling new band, says Cyndi Lauper.

This helps to explain why Lauper signed on as a creative consultant for Alka Seltzer's Battle of the Bands contest. The contest is seeking bands to write their own version of the popular "Plop Plop Fizz Fizz" jingle. I don't know if reworking that particular jingle will launch any band to superstardom, but I think Lauper has a point about how commercials can help a band get exposure that's harder to come by these days with more and more clubs and smaller venues closing down for good.

When I first typed that headline I accidentally typed "Everybody HITS Chris." Then I couldn't help but imagine a sitcom where every episode revolved around the main character being slapped around by everyone else. Sorry, I'm just really amused by my mistakes.

So anyway, Vincent Martella, who plays Chris' best friend Greg on the series, is also a musician. You can listen to one of his original songs on his MySpace page. The song, "Closest Thing to Heaven," probably won't blow the lid off popular music as we know it, but I sure as hell wasn't writing songs like that when I was his age, and the fact that he's performing his own music and not just singing some other person's songs is pretty cool. If you want to hear more of Vin Man's singing, click here for his rendition of some popular tunes. If his music doesn't quite do it for you, step outside, find the nearest junior high girl, and have her listen to it, because this music is really for them and not for you.

The album is available on iTunes.

Bennett? I think I broke it!

Sorry, punchline to an old joke, couldn't help myself. Anyway, Tony Bennett, whose albums have made the charts in every decade since the 1950s, will sing a series of duets this evening with the likes of Barbara Streisand, Elton John, Christina Aguilera, John Legend, Diana Krall, k.d. lang and Michael Buble. Tony Bennett: An American Classic, which celebrates Bennett's 80th birthday, airs tonight at 8:00 on NBC and is directed by Rob Marshall, who also directed Chicago and Memoirs of Geisha. The tribute will include big production numbers and stories about Bennett from folks such as Billy Crystal and John Travolta.

Call me old fashioned, but I'd rather just see Tony on stage by himself singing his hits and a few standards without all the extravagance and folderol, but what the heck, it's good to acknowledge that he's still influencing artists from different generations.

(S05E08) This episode opens behind the scenes at a rock festival. A roadie is upset with a rock musician for stealing one of his songs and putting it on an album. Luckily (well, actually unluckily) for Stork, the roadie, he mailed the sheet music to himself so as to have proof that he wrote the song. The musician, Kris Kedder, knocks Stork unconscious with a beer bottle.

Back in Monkland, Monk and Natalie are trying to get Stottlemeyer to compensate them for a dry cleaning bill from a suit that was soiled while Monk was investigating another case. Stottlemeyer tells them Disher handles such things, but Disher is home sick. While they're arguing, Stottlemeyer gets a call that his son has skipped school to attend a rock concert.

Some of you may recognize comedian Brian Posehn from his role on Just Shoot Me, while others of us remember him from HBO's Mr. Show. Either way, he's a funny guy, and if you've seen even a little bit of his act you know the man loves himself some metal. The clip I placed after the jump is a music video based on his song "Metal by Numbers" from his new comedy album, Live In: Nerd Rage. His band is called Posehn and features Scott Ian of Anthrax, Joey Vera of Armored Saint, and John Tempesta of The Cult. The song itself is only so-so, and Posehn doesn't exactly stay on top of the beat, but damn it Jim, he's a comedian, not a singer. Besides, there are some funny moments sprinkled throughout the video, including a cameo by his old Mr. Show pal, Bob Odenkirk. Check it out:

At least, that's what gossip rag Starpulse is claiming. Apparently the middle-of-the-road crooner thinks he might actually have a fighting chance in the cutthroat world of talk shows, but he's not quite ready to put in the amount of work it takes to create a good show. Bolton claims, "I could do a show where I could look at topics and social issues and have fun, but also do my musical thing at the same time." That's a really great idea, and it's only been done by, well, everybody. Frankly, I don't think Mr. Bolton has the slightest clue what makes a talk show successful, so I'm here to tell him, right now, that making a talk show takes time, love, and tenderness. Also, it's not wise to start a talk show and then end it suddenly, because how are we supposed to live without you, when we've been loving you so long? Okay, I've run out of Michael Bolton lyrical references, so I'll just stop now.