Glen's on the mend!

One of my heroes is Glen Phillips, who wrote and sang the songs for Toad the Wet Sprocket (with whom he still tours on occasion) and continues to make amazing solo music brimming with his trademark wisdom and warmth.

Glen recently had an accident with a glass coffee table and did some major damage to the ulnar nerve below the elbow on his left arm.

(This is particularly bad because Glen’s a left-handed guitarist.)

Glen filed this new report yesterday saying that he’s out of surgery; his doctor is confident, and Glen’s in good spirits and ready to get back in the studio and on the road.

I’ll be seeing Glen and my good friend Jonatha Brooke performing together in Pittsburgh on December 6; it’s going to be an epic meeting of two voices I’ve been loving since 1994 and 1995, respectively.

And you should check out their duet, “Sweetest Angel,” on Jonatha’s latest album, The Works.

Get well, Mr. Phillips! Your music has been a source of goodness and light in my life for a long time.

_______________

Previous Glen coverage here.

Iron Man 2: Howard out, Cheadle in

People need to stop messing with my superhero movies.

I am not happy about this.

I really, really liked Iron Man:

Movie Review: Iron Man

One of my favorite things about the movie was Terrence Howard’s performance as Tony Stark’s Air Force buddy, Jim Rhodes, and the chemistry Howard had with Robert Downey Jr.

And today, I read this:

Hollywood Reporter: Don Cheadle joins ‘Iron Man 2’

Howard’s out due to “financial differences, among other reasons.”

Don Cheadle is replacing him.

I don’t know much about movies, but if I had Iron Man money I’d probably pay the man what he wanted.

But I don’t.

So there you go.

Don Cheadle is awesome, but I don’t like mid-stream recasting.

And I loved Terrence Howard as Rhodes.

He was perfect.

He was awesome.

Oh, well.

It’s out April 30, 2010.

(And it’s not too late to pay the man. Write the check!)

New Batman comic book reviews

My good friend Bill “Jett” Ramey over at Batman on Film — the hardest-working Batman fan on the planet — has posted my two most recent Batman comic book reviews:

Detective Comics #849:

Batman Confidential #22:

The issue of Detective is amazing; the current creative team led by writer Paul Dini and artist Dustin Nguyen continues to craft a terrifying tale packed with wicked twists, scary secrets, and brutal surprises.

The issue of Confidential, on the other hand, was pretty terrible.

Thanks again to Bill for the opportunity!