Are the Decemberists coming to Broadway? Maybe! In a recent Billboard interview vocalist/guitarist Colin Meloy discussed the prospect and pointed out that he grew up doing theater. Further, “it happens that the director Michael Mayer, who directed Green Day’s American Idiot musical on Broadway, is the guy that got me going about doing a musical...We’re still talking and there’s potential for a musical down the line, for sure.” Okay, we're not going to hold our breath then, but still—that'd be fun. And while we're thinking about bands making musicals, we wonder what ever happened to the planned Aaron Sorkin-scripted musical of the Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots... [via Stereogum] more ›

In our review of the Broadway premiere of American Idiot in April, we wrote that the spectacle consists of "a lot of apathetic whining, self-pity, and drug-fueled degeneracy passed off as 'punk.'... And the tinny score, at once anthemic and trite, sounds like it was assembled in a jingle factory by stoned teenagers convinced they were making something profound for the ages." But Green Day fans have been eating it up, and now they're due for seconds, because frontman Billie Joe Armstrong will be joining the show for eight performances from this Tuesday through Sunday. Arts Beat reports that Tony Vincent, the actor who plays creepy emo drug kingpin St. Jimmy, is leaving for two weeks "to deal with a family matter," and Armstrong will step in for the first week of his absence. more ›

We guess if New Yorkers want to see Drake, they'll need to pay up. Because apparently his plans to appear in Central Park during Good Morning, America have been thwarted by powers that be, who may have been concerned about crowds after the near riot before his planned free concert at the South Street Seaport. more ›

How punk is Broadway? About as punk as Green Day, which is to say about as punk as a shopping mall Hot Topic. The band formed in Berkeley in 1987 (which, interestingly, is the same year that Green Day's polar opposite, Fugazi, formed in D.C.), and even if you're not familiar with their derivative ersatz punk oeuvre, you'll surely recognize their acoustic smash hit single "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)." It was playing everywhere in 1998 (even on Seinfeld), and part of the reason why I decided to see American Idiot was because I thought I wouldn't have to suffer through "Time of Your Life" again. But this being Broadway, I should have known better. more ›

The stage adaptation of Green Day's Grammy-winning rock opera American Idiot is coming to Broadway, following a successful debut at Berkeley Rep. A spokesman for the production tells Playbill, "There is a Broadway future for the show, but at this time no dates or theatre are confirmed." So, you know, get excited... or indifferent. We're no fans of Green Day's simplistic faux-punk mascara rock, but if this thing's a hit, maybe we can look forward to Steady Diet of Nothing: The Musical? Tony Roberts would make a great Justice Brennan. more ›

Is the media frenzy over the balloon boy stunt making you sick? You're not the only one! Parents Richard and Mayumi Heene are very busy pimping themselves out to the networks, and they're not about to let their li'l star's stomach virus stand in the way of their precious 15 minutes. This morning Falcon—the six-year-old boy who was hiding in the attic while America was voyeuristically titillated worried sick that he was in a runaway helium balloon—vomited twice on two different talk shows this morning, just like a pussified wus. Here's the Today Show spew, at 5:50 in: more ›

With many people trying to keep up that perennial New Year's resolution to lose weight/work out/get in shape, they're hitting their computers (or CDs!) to create the perfect soundtracks for their workouts. The other day, the NY Times chatted with a number of experts - physicians, life coaches, workout music producers - to figure out what makes a good work out song. more ›